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He kept pecking at the keyboard. “What do you need? I’ll pick it up for you.”
I shuffled my feet. “No, that’s not it. I’m… uh… leaving.”
“Leaving what?”
Jesus, why did he have to make this so hard? “Leaving here. Going back to New York.”
His hands stilled. Slowly, he leaned back in his office chair and swiveled until he was facing me. He spent a long time appraising me before asking, “Something happen I should know about? The guys giving you a hard time, or—”
“No,” I said, startled by the question. “No, not at all. Everyone’s been lovely. Truly.”
“Everyone?” he asked, lifting an eyebrow.
It was obvious he meant Boone. I shrugged. “I mean… more or less.”
He grunted and turned back to the computer. “You got something you gotta get home to?”
I thought about my lack of apartment, lack of a job, and lack of money. “Not exactly.”
“Someone, then?”
I thought about my friends. I didn’t even know what continent they might be on, and they certainly weren’t expecting to see me anytime soon. James would be out on the Cape with Sawyer, and I hadn’t heard from my father in weeks.
“I just think it’s time I left, that’s all.” I forced a laugh. “I mean, look at me.” I gestured to my Balenciaga tabloid shirt and Givenchy pink crackled jeans. They didn’t really match my red-and-black boots, but such was life when you were living out of a suitcase. “Do I look like a ranch hand? We all knew the minute I arrived, I wouldn’t be staying long.”
“Then why’d you come at all?”
I lifted a shoulder, suddenly embarrassed. “A friend of a friend told me he didn’t think I could handle the work. I wanted to prove him wrong.”
“Did you?”
This time, my laugh was genuine. “We both know the answer to that.”
“Do we?” It almost sounded like the question was serious, which was preposterous.
I rolled my eyes. “Yesterday alone, I screwed up the simple task of tying up a horse and invited the son of Boone’s sworn enemy to work at the ranch.”
He waved a hand. “Victory wasn’t going anywhere, and we both know it. She’s too addicted to those sweets Boone always has on him. And offering Tyler a job was a good call. We need the help, and he needs a place to stay and a good mentor. He’ll get both here.”
“Someone should tell Boone that,” I grumbled.
“Tell him yourself. He’s up at Mob Creek. I’ll draw you a map.”
“Is that on the way into town?”
“Nope,” Jed said as he pulled out a blank sheet of paper and began to scribble on it. “Opposite direction entirely. It’s about eight miles east by horse.”
I frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“We had some heifers go missing, and Boone’s gone to track them down. Only problem is that he thinks he’s looking for two, but the damn spreadsheet we use to track everything wasn’t up to date, and we’re actually missing three.”
My shoulders slumped. I’d been the one in charge of updating the spreadsheets, so if Boone had bad information, that was something else I’d screwed up. “Sorry, I thought I’d updated everything. I must have messed that up too.”
He scowled at me. “The hell you talking about? It’s because you updated it that I figured out we’re missing three heifers instead of two.”
I lifted my eyebrows in surprise. “Really?”
“Yup. But now someone’s got to go let Boone know, and cell reception’s unpredictable up that way. You best get a move on if you wanna catch up to him.”
A small panic began to brew in my chest. “You want me to ride a horse. Eight miles. Alone. With no idea where I’m going? Me?”
He shoved the paper he’d been drawing on at me. “Here’s a map. Now you know where you’re going.”
It looked like nothing more than a few random lines. I couldn’t even tell which way was up. “I don’t suppose you have an address I can plug in my map app?”
He barked a laugh at that. “Tell Norma where you’re going and that you’ll be staying there to help Boone, so you might be gone a night or two. She’ll pack you food and help you sort through the camping equipment.”
A night or two?
“Jed, I wish I could help,” I said, holding up my hands. “But I really, really don’t think you want me doing this. I’m a menace to anything ranch related. You should send someone qualified—”
“I am.” Jed spoke the words like they were a simple fact, though his eyes watched me intently. “I’m sending the man who’s given a hundred percent to every task we’ve asked of him this week and has the blisters to prove it. I’m sending someone I trust to put aside his own plans for a little while so he can help Boone in his hour of need. You telling me you’re not that man?”
