Tackling Summer (5 page)

“Well, there she is!” Fritz Harbor boomed and grabbed her into a rib-crushing hug. Chanel stood on tiptoe to kiss what she could see of Fritz’s weathered cheek. His giant, black handlebar mustache tickled her nose. “When did you get home?”

“Saturday afternoon. You were out on the mountain turning out pairs,” Chanel said. Fritz was her father’s right-hand man when it came to the herd.

“You plannin’ to do some ridin’ with me this summer?” Fritz asked.

“You know it!”

Chanel’s cousin, David, gave her a one-armed hug. “I thought you’d be showing up pretty soon.”
 

Jerry Spindle waddled through the front door of the shop. Jerry had started on at the Double O when Chanel was a senior in high school, and she’d never outgrown the urge to giggle when she hadn’t seen him for a while. The combination of his build and his last name were just too much.

“Sorry I’m late,” Jerry grouched. “Tried to get that kid outta bed. Not gonna happen.”
 

Mitch frowned at this report. “I told him seven last night at dinner.”
 

Jerry shrugged. “Don’t know what to tell ya. You’d think a hot shot athlete would be used to bein’ up with the chickens.” He shot a stream of tobacco into the metal barrel that served as a trashcan. Mitch had two hard and fast rules: no spitting on the concrete shop floor and no smoking in the barn.

“I’ll take care of him. Thanks for tryin’, Jer,” Mitch said. Then he switched to business. “The ground’s finally dry enough to seed the hay in those two new fields. I’m plannin’ to have Chanel teach Maddox how to drive the tractor and get that started. We’re about a week behind, so we’ll need to put some hustle into it.”

Chanel nodded, though she cringed inside. She would much rather go move cattle or put out salt blocks to supplement the herd’s diet than spend the day cooped up in a tractor with Maddox. It was going to be a tight squeeze, and that thought made her belly flutter just the tiniest bit, which did not amuse her.
 

Mitch continued, “Jer, there’s a stretch of down fence up on Big Dog Flat. Why don’t you take a six wheeler up there and fix it. If you get done early, check in with me. We’ve got some other little things to take care of today before we get totally behind. Fritz and David, go ahead and take the younger cow/calf pairs from the Bronc Pasture and start pointing them toward Eagle Summit. Jer, you got the salt out there Saturday, right?”

“Yep,” Jerry replied and spat again. His lower lip still bulged.

“I’ll get the kids lined out,” Mitch said and turned to Chanel. “Why don’t you go feed that bummer calf up in the barn while I root out Maddox.”

“Sure,” she replied. One of Chanel’s favorite things about living on a ranch was caring for the orphan calves. With the right nurturing, they could grow up as strong as the ones with mothers.

Chanel chewed her lip as she mixed the milk-replacer into a large plastic bottle and snapped on the nipple. This summer was going to be all kinds of complicated. Maddox was already causing problems by not being ready for work this morning. And she was still frustrated with her father for bringing him here and sticking her with him. On the other hand, Christine was right. Mitch was too busy to be tied up with babysitting Maddox. For years he’d assigned the summer help to her, so it shouldn’t be a surprise she was in charge again. However, the summer help was usually local high school guys or ones who’d just graduated. They already knew how to ride horses and operate equipment. All she had to do was point them to where they needed to go.
 

Her heavy thoughts melted away when she saw the small black calf with its white face and black mask. The brockle faces had always been her favorites. It was curled up in a pile of straw at the back of the stall.

“Hey, bud. I’ve got your breakfast,” she said softly not wanting to scare the baby. She knew what it was like to lose a mother. No matter your species, it was traumatic.

A tiny moo greeted her, and the calf stood and tried to back further into the corner. Fritz and David had brought it home with them Saturday evening. They’d found it alone under a serviceberry bush. Its mother was found some distance away, her udder dry. She hadn’t fed her baby in quite some time. They figured the little bull had survived by stealing drinks from other cows in the herd. The calf was small enough Fritz was able to carry him over his saddle back to the horse trailer.
 

Chanel knelt. “I know you’ve been through a lot, and this is kinda scary.” She gently shook the bottle in front of her. The sloshing of the milk replacer made the calf raise his head a little higher, eyes wide with interest, clearly remembering where his last meal had come from. He emitted another thin low and then slowly walked toward Chanel. She sat still and let the animal come to her. He sniffed the nipple with his damp black nose; hunger beat fear, and he took it eagerly.

“There you go,” Chanel said. She released a contented sigh and tipped the bottle higher and held on tight as the hungry little fella slurped, occasionally thrusting into the bottle as if it was his mother’s udder.

***

Maddox rounded the corner of the shop to find Chanel backing a huge green tractor out of a bay. The tires towered over his head, and he noticed she drove the machine with confidence—just like she’d hooked his car up to the truck yesterday and popped it out of the ditch. It was stupid, but her competence irked him. The fact that he was hungry and tired didn’t help his mood either. Was staying on the team really worth this crap?

Chanel swung out of the small cab and hopped to the ground, landing with ease. “Nice of you to join me.”

Forking his fingers through his tangled hair, Maddox remembered that Mitch hadn’t given him any time to eat or swallow some coffee. Not to mention, he hadn’t had time to brush his teeth or hair. Hell, he hadn’t even been allowed to fish a ball cap out of his duffle. Yesterday’s easygoing cowboy had stomped into his room beating on a frying pan with a wooden spoon. Startled from deep sleep, Maddox had shot straight up and tried to jump out of bed. His legs had been tangled in the sheets, though, and he’d fallen on the hard wood floor.

“When I say be at work at seven, I mean seven. Not a minute later. Get dressed. I’ll wait in the living room,” Mitch said before stomping back out of the bedroom. When Maddox stepped out of the room, Mitch opened the front door and escorted him to the edge of the yard and then pointed him toward the shop to find Chanel.

He wasn’t about to apologize to this girl, so he clenched his jaw and waited for her to start issuing orders. She arched an eyebrow at him, her eyes locked on his. Maddox knew he’d win this staring contest.

Finally, she said, “We’re a week late getting the hay in. That’s going to be your job for the next while.”

“K.”

“So, climb up.” Chanel gestured toward the tractor impatiently. “We don’t have time to waste.”

Annoyed, he hurried over to the idling tractor and made to skip the first tiny step leading to the cab, planning to use his muscular arms to pull himself up, but his foot slipped on the second step, causing him to lose his grip. Maddox bit back a curse when his shin smacked the metal edge. Heat flamed on his cheeks, and he resisted the urge to look back and see if Chanel had seen his foible. Swallowing his pride, he used the stupid stair and climbed into the tractor and settled on the seat. It was dusty, and there were levers and buttons all over the place. Not a mechanical kind of guy, he sighed. One more thing he didn’t know, but there was no way he was going to fess up to Chanel.

She shimmied into the small space and settled on the seat’s armrest. Her thigh pressed firmly against his shoulder. Maddox’s heart raced at her touch, and he could smell the sweet fragrance from her shampoo. He imagined pulling the elastic band from her ponytail and sending that dark blonde hair tumbling—

“Hey!”
 

The word cut into his fantasy, and he snapped to attention, sitting straighter in the seat.

“We need to get going. There’s a lot of ground to cover. Now, press in on the clutch with your left foot and—”

“I know how to drive a stick,” Maddox snapped. “That’s what my car is.”

“And we all know how well you drive that.”

Their eyes locked for a moment, but Maddox looked away first, slamming his foot down on the clutch. He grabbed the lever that looked most like a gearshift and ground it into first while stomping on the gas pedal. The tractor lurched to life, bouncing Chanel off the armrest and into his lap.

Surprised, Maddox took his feet off the pedals, and the machine died with a shudder. Chanel scrambled like a turtle on its back trying to get out of his lap. Their arms were tangled, and as Maddox tried to extract his from hers, the back of his hand grazed her boob. They both froze.

“That was an accident,” Maddox said.

Chanel’s cheeks went red. “I know,” she said shoving hard against his chest to heave herself off his legs.

He couldn’t decide if he wanted to leap from the cab, hightail it to his car, and get the hell out of this place or pull her back down in his lap and kiss those pouty lips.

She didn’t give him much time to debate. “Try it again. Just ease on and off the pedals. We’ll take a couple laps around the shop before hooking up the seeder.”

Once again, Maddox put his feet on the pedals but with more care. Despite his effort, the tractor hopped forward and died. This time Chanel was ready and gripping the handle above the door. A giggle edging on hysterical erupted from her throat. Maddox cast her a frustrated look that made her clap a hand over her mouth.

“Just a little higher geared than my car,” he grumbled.

Chanel snorted and pinched her nose. “Sorry,” she said in a nasal voice.
 

“It’s not funny. Maybe you should suit up and go out on the football field and see how you do. You’ve done this,” Maddox gestured around the cabin, “your whole damn life.”

Maddox turned the key and the tractor belched to life. He pressed the gas and lifted the clutch. The tractor bounced twice and then rolled forward. Neither spoke as he took a lap around the shop. He brought the tractor to a smooth stop at the rear of the building and lifted a blond eyebrow at Chanel as he shifted into neutral and set the brake.

“Should we attach that seeder now?”

“Uh, yeah. I think you’re ready. Let’s swap spots, and I’ll back up to it.”

Chanel tucked her legs up to allow Maddox room to rise from the driver’s seat. She wiggled over the armrest, her face almost touching his stomach on the way past. He swore she took a deep inhale like she was smelling him, and he hated that he kinda liked it.

Maddox hovered in between the seat and the door and raised his eyebrows at her nodding at the armrest. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Think I’ll jump out.”

“Good idea. I’ll show you how to hook it up once I get backed up.”

Ten minutes later, Maddox was back in the driver’s seat with Chanel on the armrest, the seeder rolling along behind them.
 

“We’ll start with the Slow Creek Field,” Chanel said pointing to the field on the left about a quarter mile from the headquarters. Maddox carefully angled the tractor into a wide turn so he could hit the gateway. He was getting a feel for the tractor. When he stopped, she climbed out to open the gate. Once through, Chanel directed him to the far right edge of the field. Then she showed him how to engage the hydraulics that would activate the seeder.

“Now just take it slow. The seeds will roll through the machine and be driven into the ground with little spikes. Then a layer of soil will be raked over the top,” she said as they chugged along. “I’ll ride with you for the first couple passes just to make sure you’re comfortable.”

“I got it,” Maddox said, his voice sharp. He needed some space. She was driving him crazy with her bossy chatter; yet, she smelled so good, his senses were overwhelmed. Besides, planting hayseeds wasn’t rocket science.

When he finally looked at her, he was met with a grim stare. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, her brows drawn in.

“Seriously,” he said. “I drive back and forth all day. I’m not an idiot.”

“I didn’t say you were,” Chanel replied coolly.

Maddox turned his gaze back to the windshield, shaking his head.

“What’s your problem?”

“Nothing.” He continued to stare straight ahead.

“We have to spend a lot of time together this summer, so if you have an issue, let’s take care of it now.”

Maddox looked over at her, his blue eyes narrowed, jaw still clenched. “It has nothing to do with you.”

“You acting like an jerk around me makes it my deal. The fact you’re working on my dad’s ranch makes it my deal.”

“It’s summer. I should be sleeping right now. This afternoon I should be hitting the waves. This,” he waved his hand indicating the tractor and everything around them, “is bullshit.”

“Then why are you here?” Chanel maneuvered herself so her back was to the door and her face was inches from his.
 

Maddox shrugged. “I want to play this fall.”

“And you sulking on my family’s ranch helps you do that how?”

“According to Coach, I’m not a team player. Not putting in my time. That team would be crap without me!” Maddox thumped the steering wheel, making Chanel jump in surprise.

 
“I out block half of the O line and outscore the receivers. I don’t need to spend hours watching tape and running drills. I know my job, and I do it.”

 
“Apparently everyone doesn’t see it that way, and now, out here you
don’t
know your job, and you have to suck it up and learn.” She studied him for a moment, but he tried to ignore her stare and focus on the empty field in front of him. “You’re only the best until the next one comes along. I’d think if football was so important to you you’d know that and do everything you could to hang onto your position.”

 
“According to Coach, I have no work ethic. I can’t believe my parents allowed him to force me out here.” He wasn’t going to let her win this argument.

“As I recall, you drove yourself.”