Chapter Nine
Eliza
True to hisword, Falcon took out both of the coyotes as they raced into view. And theydidjust look like mangy, wild dogs.
It took us about twenty minutes to fix the fence. Falcon hummed some country song while he held huge nails in his mouth. He hammered them into the boards that I held in place and neither of us talked while we worked. I kept sneaking glances at him and the sense that I was missing something kept nagging at me. Once or twice, he’d look down at me and catch me looking at him. He’d give me a smile that melted my insides and his eyes would crinkle beneath the brim of his hat.
After that, he radioed back to Duke with the location of the coyotes bodies and instructed someone to come pick them up. He laughed at my face, which must have been full of disgust, and said that he figured having someone come get them was better than having me load them into the back of the truck with him to be disposed of.
I gagged and he laughed harder. He nodded, “See. I’m being a gentleman.”
I managed to ask why he needed to get the bodies at all. And, he said, “We can’t just leave them out in the open to decompose. This is a pasture for the cattle. Decaying bodies can carry disease and it invites other predators. We dispose of all of the carcasses the same way out here…”
I didn’t have the stomach to ask what that meant. But, he informed me that they incinerated them all.
We drove about three more miles of fence and found no problems. As he drove, we talked. I used the time to interview him, though it was more like a conversation and I found myself genuinely interested.
I asked him how often they checked the fences and he said they checked them every week to make certain there were no breaches, no sections had been damaged during the week, or it was just time for them to be replaced.
He also told me that they moved the cattle from one pasture to another every two weeks to prevent the land from being over grazed. He mentioned that they were moving one of the herds again in two days and that it took several days and about twenty ranch hands to do it.
I asked how many herds they had and all sorts of other questions that I could use for my story and he answered every one. His voice was strong and proud as he talked about it. His love for the ranch and the hard work running a spread this large took was evident.
We stopped for lunch and he removed the basket he brought out of the house with my hat from the backseat of truck. After directing me to sit on the grass in the shade of the truck, he unloaded the basket and we gorged on thick sandwiches, oranges, carrot sticks, and even hand-held apple pie. A thermos of iced tea, that was somehow still cold, and a thermos of water finished off our lunch.
I was shocked at how hungry I was. I never eat like this, but I put it all away like I’d never had a meal before in my life and then we packed everything up and headed back out to check the rest of the fence.
He glances overat me as we reach the edge of the quadrant he said we were checking today. “How about a break from the heat?”
God, yes!
Please!
I probably smell like a gym rat. I can’t smell myself, and I don’t want to, but I can imagine that the deodorant I applied this morning is long gone.
Note to self… deodorize the tits and not just the pits. Time to apply deodorant to the under boobs every day, too! I have lakes under my tits.
It’s so gross feeling.
I only nod at Falcon. “Sure. Is there an air conditioned cabin out here with ice cold showers I can drown myself in?”
He chuckles. “Sure, darlin’. Something like that. Only, it’s all natural and courtesy of Mother Nature.”
Huh? Courtesy of Mother Nature?
What does that mean?
My brow wrinkles as I ask, “What do you mean? Where are we going?”
Falcon grins and simply says, “You’ll see…”
“No, tell me. Where are we going? You’re not taking us back to the house so I can take an hour long shower?!” I ask, but he remains steadfast and only smiles at me before looking back out of the windshield. He reaches out and turns up the radio. Country fills the cab and he sings along with the song. His voice is nice… it causes a reaction.
Shit… What DOESN’T cause a damn reaction when it comes to Falcon Donovan?! Good or bad, he’s a pro at pulling emotions out of me.
Suddenly, my head connects the pieces of the puzzle and I whirl on the seat to stare at him. My eyes travel over the planes of his face and I go over everything everyone has said since we arrived here. Something from the meeting at the studio jumps to the forefront and I gasp.
Falcon glances over at me with a frown. “What’s wrong? Eliza are you ok?”
