“Actually, Henry here was just heading out to fix that fence in the back pasture. I’ll be happy to give you a hand, though.”

“Thanks anyway,” she forced a smile. “But I know you’ve got more important things to do.” She turned to Henry. “Unless you’d rather get out and string wire all day.”

“No ma’am,” Henry smiled. “I’d be happy to give you a hand.”

“Good then. I’ll see you out back in, say, ten minutes?”

“Yes ma’am.”

Jessie continued on her way, saying hello to a few guests sitting at a nearby table as she breezed past.

“Don’t worry,” Chad said walking past Henry, “we’ll save that fence for you.”

Chad had to jog to catch up with Jessie, which he did once she got to the dining room porch.

“Say Jess,” he called. “Have you got a minute?”

“A minute,” she said coldly. “What?”

“I didn’t know if you heard, but I had to let Jim go this morning. He left the dang gate open again. I had half the crew out hunting horses all morning. We got them all back, but it took a little doing.”

“Were any horses hurt?”

“Luckily, no,” Chad said. “But I thought I’d better let him go just the same. After all, that was the fourth time it happened, and I figured it’d just be a matter of time before one did get hurt.”

“I guess it’s for the better, then,” she sighed. “Too bad.”

“Yeah, it is,” he said with mock sympathy, which Jessie saw through immediately. “Say, I was wondering. Now that Jim won’t be able to stay on after we close for the season, would you reconsider having me stay?”

“We talked about this, Chad.” She looked around to make sure no one was watching or listening. “I just don’t think it would be appropriate.”

“Dang Jess. I know it’s over between us. That’s not why I want to stay.”

“No? Why then? You sure haven’t been doing a very good job these last few months, or shown any interest in any of the young horses, have you?”

“Well now,” Chad nodded in fake agreement, “I can see how you’d think that. But I’ve had a lot on my mind lately. Personal stuff. I have it worked out now, though. What d’you say? Give me a chance?” He was grinning slightly and he reached gently for her. No sooner had his hand reached her shoulder then she angrily brushed it away.

“No, Chad.” There was no question this time that she meant it. “Now, is there anything else?”

Chad’s grin quickly faded. “No. I guess there isn’t.”

“Good. Then get back to work.”

Henry met Jessie by the unfinished round pen close to the barn ten minutes later. The pen had been an ongoing project for nearly five months with either Jessie or one of the wranglers working on it as time allowed. The only problem had been that over the past several months, there really hadn’t been much extra time to dedicate to it. As a result, the pen had been going up in fits and starts. Four months earlier, after the sixty-foot round pen had been measured and laid out, the holes were dug for the posts to go in. But then it had been weeks before the posts were able to be set. When they were, it was usually only two or three at a time. Two months later, once all the posts were set, the rails that would make up the fence needed to be nailed into place. Since this was a project that only got attention when two people were free to work on it, the rails went up three or four at a time. On a sixty-foot diameter, six foot tall, five-rail fence, that had proven to be time consuming.