Tackling Summer (7 page)

The house was quiet when he emerged from the office. Maddox spotted Mitch and Chanel still out on the deck. Feeling sorry for himself, he turned and slipped out the front door.

CHAPTER SIX

Cattle spilled over the hill, and Chanel’s heartbeat quickened. Watching horses gallop through a field was her favorite sight, but this was a close second. Mother cows calling to their calves, and the little ones bawling back created hundreds of voices raised in chaos. Cowboys yipped, and dogs barked as the crew funneled the herd into an oversized log corral.

A calf tried to break away, but Chanel spotted it and called out to Soda, “Left circle.” The black and white dog zipped around the calf and neatly tucked it back into the swarm of bovine bodies.

The dust would choke most people, but Chanel inhaled deeply the smell of manure, sagebrush, and dirt. Excitement zipped through her as she fingered the rope tied to her saddle. The night before she’d thrown a few loops around a roping dummy to warm up her shoulder. It’d been a year since she’d attempted to catch anything, and she knew the guys would be ready to give her a hard time if she was off today.

Jerry rattled the metal gate into place behind Fritz, David, and Mitch. They would begin sorting the grown cows and bulls out of the pen, leaving behind the calves to be branded and vaccinated.

Chanel led Vivi, her palomino mare, to a nearby tree and tied the lead rope to a branch. The sound of a motor, just audible above the mob of irritated cattle, made her peek over Vivi’s back. Christine’s red pickup bounced along the faded tracks of an ancient road. Her aunt pulled the truck into a shady spot under a couple of pine trees across the clearing from Vivi and Chanel. Maddox jumped out of the cab with Jessi close behind him.
 

“We’ll find out just how good he is at tackling things,” Chanel murmured, and the mare switched her white tale in response.
 

Chanel crossed the clearing to help unload the truck while the guys continued to sort the cattle. It would be a little bit before they got everything situated, so the branding could begin.

“Maddox, can you lift that barbeque out of the truck for me?” Christine asked, coming around the pickup. “Hey, Chanel. How was the gather?”

Chanel and the rest of the crew had set out at five o’clock that morning to round up the cattle for the branding. “Good. I think we got a fairly clean sweep. Hopefully, the stragglers will bring themselves in before we break camp tomorrow.” Every year the Double O set up camp on Jersey Flat for two days of working cattle. It was an adventure Chanel had loved since she was little. From the time she was five, she had a job in the middle of the action. She started carrying the bucket to catch the castrated testicles, and moved up to painting tar over the area to deter flies. By the time she was in middle school, she was giving shots and inserting fly tags, but she was practicing her roping skills on the sidelines. In high school she was heading, heeling, and taking turns on the ground crew, wrestling the struggling calves to the ground.

Maddox eased the heavy barbeque off the tailgate of the pickup, and Jessi slithered up to his side. Tied in a knot in the front, her tank top was revealing a good chunk of her belly.
 

“So, anyway, yeah, it’s gorgeous out here at night. I love taking the horses out for a ride in the dark,” the girl said twirling a finger in her long ponytail.

Smashing her lips into a thin line, Chanel stalked over to her cousin. With a flick of her wrist she freed the knot in the stretchy fabric and tugged it over Jessi’s flat tummy.

“Hey!” Jessi said grabbing the spot.
 

“Go find something to do.”

Jessi rolled her eyes and stomped off toward the corral.
 

“You’re kind of hard on her,” Maddox said.

“Really. So I should continue to let my seventeen-year-old cousin pitch herself at you? I suppose you just see her as easy pickings.”

“No, actually she drives me kinda nuts, but I just ignore her. She’s young and trying stuff out. Whatever. She’s a good kid. I have an older cousin, played for Arizona. I thought he was so cool, but he always treated me like a baby. He wasn’t that much older than me. It was demoralizing.”

Chanel laughed. It pissed her off when Maddox sounded like the adult in the conversation. “That’s an awfully big word, Jockstrap.”

Maddox stepped toward her, leaned down until they were nose to nose. His voice was low but filled with venom. “What’s your problem? You don’t know everything about everything, so back the hell off. I’m not interested in high school girls. Give me a little credit.”

 
Christine rounded the truck and reached into the bed for a large cooler. “I talked to Craig and Bea just before we left. They’re driving in and bringing their boys. They’ll get a kick out of working with Maddox.” She paused and took in the scene. “Did I interrupt something?”

“Nope,” Chanel replied, and before she could say anything more, the braying of a mule erupted nearby. “Sounds like Theo’s here.”

A black mule trotted across the flat. An older man rode straight in his saddle with a slightly squished cowboy hat on his head.

 
“Is he riding a donkey?”
 

Chanel laughed, her bad mood melting at the sight of her old friend. “A mule. The father is a donkey, the mother a horse. That’s Theo Sansberg. He’s ridden a mule ever since I’ve known him, says they’re smoother and safer on rough terrain than horses. He even roped from a mule, back when he could still throw a loop.”
 

Theo and his mule trundled up to the group. “Shellie, you’re back!” Theo was the only person allowed to call Chanel Shellie. He’d mispronounced her name the first time he met her as a baby, and the nickname stuck. The old man slid down from the mule’s back, making a slow landing. Then patted its neck. “Good girl, Matilda.”
 

Theo’s movements were stiffer than the previous summer. Chanel came forward to meet him with a hug. “You look great, Shellie,” he said into her ear. Chanel squeezed him a little harder. Theo had been like a grandfather to Chanel and her cousins. His wife, Janet, had died young, before they had children. He continued to live on his remote homestead with a few head of cattle, his mules, and what were left of his dogs.

“You too, Theo,” Chanel said. She stepped back and took in the lined face with the twinkling pale blue eyes shaded by his dirty straw cowboy hat. “You ready to make some steers out there?” Theo had been in charge of castrating the young bulls since he’d retired his rope. She hoped he could still maneuver quick enough to dodge people, horses, and calves in the tight quarters of the corral.

The old man winked at her. “Don’t you know it. I’m not stuck in a rockin’ chair yet.” Then he noticed Maddox. “Well, who’s this strapping young man? He belong to you, Shellie?”

Chanel choked on her own spit. Before she could recover, Maddox had his hand extended to Theo. “Maddox Warren. I’m working for Mitch this summer.”

The men shook hands, and Theo said, “You look like you could throw a calf with one hand tied behind your back.”

A confused look crossed Maddox’s face, and Chanel took advantage of his pause. “Maddox comes from the city, Theo. He’s in for a lot of surprises today.”

A shout came from the corral. “Heads up! Bull fight!”

Chanel looked over to see men on horseback dodging two giant animals heads pressed together, legs churning, oblivious to everything around them. They crashed into the side of the corral. The logs emitted a cracking sound but held firm. Jerry scrambled up and over the fence.

“What the hell?” Maddox murmured.

“Happens just about every time two or more bulls are crammed together in a small space surrounded by cows in heat,” Chanel said, her eyes never leaving the corral. Bull fights could be dangerous if a person wasn’t paying attention.

“How do you make them stop?”

Chanel looked over at him, his blond brows drawn together. “You don’t. They’ll get bored and quit soon.”

A moment later with snot and spit flying, a silent victor was decided. The bulls separated and went their separate ways. Jerry hopped down from the fence and opened the metal gate to let out the one closest. The sorting went quickly after that, and as the last few cows trotted out of the corral, leaving only bawling calves, another pickup truck pulled into the clearing. The Wilkins family piled out. Chanel greeted Bea, Craig, and their twin teenage boys, Brad and Ryan, with hugs.
 

“Everyone, this is Maddox Warren. Dad brought him on as an extra set of hands this summer,” Chanel said gesturing toward the blond giant standing beside her.

Brad and Ryan’s identical faces lit up as recognition hit.

“You outmaneuvered the Cleo State defense for three touchdowns last fall,” Ryan said. Chanel noticed the young man trying to keep his voice steady.

Brad held out a hand. “Great to meet ya. We play varsity at Clifford’s Bend High. I’m quarterback, and Ryan is a receiver. We’re hoping to get scholarships somewhere when we graduate next spring.”

Ryan took his turn pumping Maddox’s hand. “Yeah, but it’s not easy when you’re at such a small school. No one notices.”

“You just gotta be in the right place at the right time,” Maddox said, his smile broad and his chest expanding like Christine’s cocky rooster. His canned media answer made Chanel blink hard to avoid rolling her eyes.
   

A loud engine roared to life causing Maddox to jump and spin around looking for the source of the unexpected noise. Her father had fired up the generator to power the branding irons. It was time to get started.
 

The twins gave Maddox friendly slaps on the back and headed toward the corral to help set up the workstations. Metal stakes with rope and black tubing needed to be driven into the ground, so the calves could be stretched into position. Jessi was already filling syringes for the first round of shots. Another wave of excitement rippled through Chanel, and she turned to fetch Vivi. She couldn’t wait to get in there and start swinging her rope.

Maddox caught her by the elbow. When Chanel turned, she saw his grin from earlier was gone and had been replaced with a wide-eyed stare. “What do I do?”

“What you do best,” Chanel said, a grin taking over her lips. His insecurity had her feeling a little ornery. “Those calves are the defensive line, and it’s your job to take them down.”
 

Maddox ran a hand through his hair, looking agitated. Chanel pulled an extra hairband from her wrist. “And pull back that hair. No helmets out here to keep it out of the way.” She’d woven hers into a tight French braid before heading to the barn that morning and covered it with a baseball cap to keep the sun out of her eyes.

“My position doesn’t really take down a lot of guys. If I don’t have the ball, I protect the quarterback—no tackling.” Maddox shrugged, looking sheepish as he twirled the hair tie between his fingers.

A quick stab of embarrassment shot through Chanel at her football ignorance, but she willed it not to show on her face. After a beat, she said, “Watch Ryan and Brad for a while. They can teach you everything you need to know. And watch out for the horses and cords. Things are going to move fast in there, and you don’t want to trip or get knocked over.”

“I’m supposed to take orders from those kids?” Maddox asked as he raked the top half of his hair back into a tail. It hadn’t taken long for his bad attitude to return.

“If you’re smart you will.” Today would be a giant lesson in teamwork and humility for the hotshot. Chanel had a feeling Coach Talbot would approve. She headed to where Vivi was tied.
 

“What’re you going to do?” Maddox called after her.

Chanel looked over her shoulder and put a little wiggle in her step. “Rope me a football player if he doesn’t watch himself.”
 

***

Vivi pranced anxious hooves into the dust. Chanel reached down and gave her a quick pet on the neck and then adjusted the loop in her rope. She noted Maddox in conversation with the twins. He wore a dubious expression as the boys gestured toward the milling calves, miming how to dive and grab a front and back leg in order to flip the calf and get it tied down to rope attached to the stake in the ground, so the rider could stretch the animal out, exposing it for the tasks that needed to be done.

Mitch pulled up beside his daughter on his bay gelding and followed her gaze. “How’s he gonna do?”

“He’s about to get a lesson in following directions,” Chanel said, her lips a thin line. For as attracted to Maddox as she was, he sure could piss her off, and she had a feeling he was about to push her over the edge.

“He’s a quick learner.”

Chanel looked at her father. “Once he decides to.”

Mitch smiled and nodded. “Exactly. That’s why Talbot sent him out here. The kid’s limited until he learns to back down and realize his way isn’t always best.”

“We’re hot and ready, boss!” Jerry called holding up the branding iron with two sizzling interlocking O’s at the end.

“Let’s do it!” Mitch hollered.
 

The first round of ropers—Chanel, Mitch, David, and Fritz—began to move their horses slowly through the milling calves, keeping their eyes open for an easy shot at either a calf’s head or heels. Chanel missed with her first swing, but her father and Fritz caught right away. She watched them drag their calves over to the ground crew, curious to see how Maddox would do when it came to subduing a thrashing two hundred pound animal. He lunged passed the twins and lowered his shoulder. Chanel cringed as he collided with the kicking calf at the end of Fritz’s rope. Fritz had caught it by the head, leaving all four legs free. The calf bucked just as Maddox was about to make contact. He hit the dirt and skidded, the calf jumping on top of him.

Chanel heard him yell, “Son of a bitch!” as he tried to escape the trampling hooves. Craig Wilkins rushed over to help as Fritz released his dally allowing slack in the rope. Craig swung an arm around the calf’s neck successfully collaring it and then removed the rope. The calf continued to buck back into the herd.