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Fine. Oh, he knew what that meant. It meant she’d work the camp with him, and he’d need his winter jacket for the chill whenever she came near.
“Great.” He drowned the word with another swig.
“We’ve hit a little snag, though,” he said.
“Beyond the fact that she was ready to fire me?”
Noah shrugged. “Technically, I’m your boss, and I’d do the firing—but we still don’t have an assistant for you.”
“I can’t take the kids out by myself.”
“The regular wrangler usually hires them. We’ve got a couple younger guys who’ve been on repeat for a few summers, but neither one is available.”
Grayson held up a hand. “I’m going to need more coffee before I can process that. Let me feed the horses, check out the three I brought in for you.” See what part of his summer plan he could salvage. “Do you have any ideas?”
Noah shook his head. “Neither did Beth. I don’t want to have to shut the horse camp down.” He took another drink. “The kids need this. I know you know that.”
Grayson closed his eyes. Nodded. He did know. “I still can’t believe Walter let me follow him around all day long, even when camp was over.” Who would he even be if he hadn’t become the unofficial horse camp volunteer after his parents died? The horses had saved him from a dark road. No, it hadn’t been without wrong turns, but he still remembered how lost he’d been as a child.
How much the grief and regret had overtaken him. How the horses had given him a purpose.
“He used to repeat some phrase—Churchill, I think. About the outside of a horse.”
Grayson nodded. “‘Is good for the inside of a man.’” He wondered if Walter knew how much he’d redirected Grayson’s life. He’d never even touched a horse before that first day of camp. “One ride and I was hooked. I’d completely forgotten how much I hadn’t wanted to come.”
“I remember.” Noah finished his coffee. “And you weren’t the last. Sure, some kids just come and go—it’s a fun activity for them. But others, I see it plant seeds in their lives. Change their trajectory.”
Grayson let Noah’s words settle over him and took a swig of the brew. The acid seared his gut. Maybe he could still make something of the trajectory of his own life.
“How did it go with your family?”
Grayson let out a sharp laugh. “Fine—Robin’s a little sore at me.” He tapped his fingers on his mug.
Noah raised a brow. “How’s that?”
“She doesn’t want me to sell the lot.”
“Oh. That’s tough.” He rubbed his beard. “She could buy it from you.”
“Oh, that would go over real well when I tell her that. She’d want me to give it to her.” Grayson shook his head. “Our parents had planned to build their dream home on that lot. They’d scraped and saved for it. It’s tough. I get where she’s coming from.” He set down his mug. “Selling that lot is like…”
Noah’s eyes softened. “Like letting them go.”
Grayson nodded. “It’s easy to imagine and make plans for it—much harder to follow through.”
“It’s not, though. Not letting them go. They’d want you to use it to pursue your plans.” Noah stared into his mug. “That land’s worth quite a bit of money now. It could take a chunk out of any loan you need for the place in Oregon.”
Grayson nodded. “Exactly.” When the numbers were crunched, no bank could offer him an affordable loan without the funds from the sale.
Noah finished his coffee and took his cup to the sink, washed it out, and set it on a folded towel. “Thank you for the coffee and for feeding the horses.”
“No problem.”
“I’ll check in with Beth later. If she wants this job, she’ll have to figure out an assistant wrangler hire.” Noah tucked his chair back in. “Unfortunately, I’ve got too much going on at Wilderness Challenge to deal with it.” He walked to the door, opened it.
“She’ll do great with it. Beth’s always been the one who’s everywhere, making sure things get done.”
“Sometimes to her own detriment.” Noah shook his head. “It’s an important position. I do hope it works out for her—and you.”
