"Making a list of the mares we need to have the vet check when they come to make the rounds."
"Oh right," he said with a nod. "New vet in town. I haven't been around to catch a name yet. Have you heard who Doc Halloran brought on?"
I shook my head. "Nope, haven't heard a thing. Hope he's a good one. I don't really want to go looking for another at this time of the year. We've got too much work coming up for him."
"I heard it's a woman."
I stopped in my tracks and looked at my brother. "Seriously? The doc hired a woman?"
Jake nodded affirmatively. "Surprised me, too. I think a lot of the older guys are having a problem with it...well, I mean not the looks of her I'm sure. But you know how the old ones can be. They were already a little set against having a new vet, but the talk I've heard is the fact that it's a woman has them a little unsure about the whole thing."
I wasn't as backward or old fashioned as some of the ranchers in the area, but it was no surprise to me that they were against the idea of a female vet. Sure, there were some of them in the area, and it wasn't unheard of, but the one serving the nearby ranches for the past fifty years or so had been Doc Halloran, and they were accustomed to him. Having a new veterinarian working on their horses was one thing for them to get used to, having it be a woman when many of them still had pretty archaic ideas about what a woman's role was would be another thing altogether. And Doc Halloran had struck me as someone who might have fallen into this group that would have ideas about what a woman could and could not do. What that said to me was that he had a lot of faith in the abilities of this new vet and whether she was a man or a woman didn't matter to him one iota.
"Ah, well. I guess they'll have to get over it pretty quickly or find themselves someone new. And half the vets around here are women nowadays. They'll just have to get over whatever kind of old-fashioned ideas they have."
Jake nodded. "I agree."
We parted and went about our separate tasks and after I was done putting together my list of mares I headed back to the main barn to look for a can of WD-40 for that squeaky door. The supply closet was full to the brim with all sorts of things, but I couldn't find a single can of what I needed.
"Of all the damned things to be out of," I said as I pulled out my notebook to add it to my list.
I stopped by the main house on my way to my truck. Pete was in his office working on something on his computer and barely looked up to acknowledge me.
"Need something?" He asked. I could tell he was absorbed in his work.
"I was just going to ask if you needed me to grab anything. I'm on my way into Ashland to run a few errands."
Pete stopped to think and then shook his head. "Thanks for asking though. What are you going after?"
"Just a few things we need for maintenance. And since I'm there I think I'm going to stop in and meet the new vet. I've got the count of the mares we need to have checked, and I thought I'd give her a heads up about what our needs are. Jake tells me it's a lady vet."
Pete raised an eyebrow. "That surprises me."
"Me too. But you know Doc Halloran wouldn't have hired her if she wasn't the best around. I'd like to get a look at her." I said with a grin.
"Behave yourself, please," Pete said with an almost scowl. "We do not need to find a new vet right now. If you could keep your hands to yourself and your dick in your pants that would be great."
I threw my hands up in mock surrender. "I don't know what you're talking about."
My older brother shook his head. "I know you try to act like the twins are the ones with a reputation around here, but you've got one yourself with just about every new woman that moves anywhere nearby, and I would like if we could maintain a good relationship with someone we're going to be engaging with professionally for the foreseeable future. If she sticks around half as long as Doc Halloran, then she'll be here for the rest of her life, so unless you plan on marrying this girl, I want you to keep a wide berth of her."
I laughed. "I think you're taking it a little far. We'll have to see what she looks like first."
I waved to my brother as I headed back outside and over to my truck, starting the thing and speeding down the long road that led from the highway up to the main ranch house.
The drive into town was easy and uneventful, and the street parking in front of McCall's Hardware was nearly empty. I recognized all the vehicles there, save for one of them, and they all belonged to several of the older men in town who passed their time sitting on benches just inside the hardware store, sipping coffee that Mrs. McCall made every morning for her husband and the men who stopped by for what amounted to a gossip session.
"How are you doing there, Alex?" Charlie McCall bellowed from behind the counter as I pushed open the door and stepped inside the store, my arrival announced by the tinkling of a tiny bell overhead. I thought I detected a strange twinkle in his eye, but I couldn't imagine what that would be about unless one of the old codgers on the benches had just told a dirty joke.
"Not bad, just here to grab a can of WD-40 and a roll of twine if you've got the size I'm looking for."
"Good deal, you know where everything is. Holler if you need anything."
I nodded in greeting as I passed by the gentlemen enjoying their coffee and headed down the front of the shop until I found the aisle I was looking for. The lubricants were toward the back of the store, and once I found myself in the corner, I grabbed the can I was looking for and turned to head toward the rope and twine when I ran smack dab into a head full of curly red hair that barely reached the height of my collarbone.
"Sorry about that, miss. I..." I stopped and looked at the face in front of me and tried not to let out the gasp of surprise I felt when I realized I was face to face with Madison Graston, the woman I had thought I was going to marry, for the first time in a decade.
Chapter 2