However, after four months there were finally only six more rails to be hung before the pen would be finished, and Jessie was adamant about getting it done before the end of the season. It would be one less thing for her to have on her ever-growing list of things to do once the place closed down. On top of that, with Jim now out of the picture, it was looking more and more like whatever projects she had going into the summer were projects she would have to do on her own. Although she wasn’t afraid of hard work, she also didn’t see the need to work herself into the ground, either.

Henry could see what needed to be done, and without any direction from Jessie he grabbed one of the eight-foot long, three-inch diameter pine rails and brought it to the fence. Jessie climbed to the top of the fourth rail and straddled it while Henry propped the rail he had brought over into place just above the rail Jessie was astride. With Jessie holding one end of the rail, Henry nailed the other end into place.

Still upset about her conversation with Chad, and having detected alcohol on Henry’s breath in the dining room, Jessie couldn’t help herself.

“You smell like alcohol,” she said bluntly. “Have you been drinking?”

Henry stopped what he was doing, and looked over at Jessie. The question took him by surprise. “No ma’am.” He paused. “Not today anyway.”

“I see,” she was aggravated. “That smell is from drinking last night?”

“You’ll excuse me for sayin’ so, ma’am. But I reckon what I do on my own time is my own business.”

“That’s true enough. Except when it starts hurting my business. This is a family ranch and I can’t have my help smelling of liquor during the day.”

Henry let out a deep sigh. He hadn’t had this exact conversation with the people he worked for in the past, but he’d had similar ones, and he could see where it was going.

“If you’re goin’ to fire me,” he said, taking the last two swings at the nail. “I guess you’d best go on ahead and do it. I found this job, I reckon I’ll find another.”

“I don’t want to fire you or anybody else,” Jessie said, letting out an exhausted sigh of her own. “But I do need to do what’s best for my business. If you’re drinking continues, and I keep smelling liquor on you during the day, I will have to let you go.”

Henry nodded in agreement. After all, what else could he do? It was her place and her rules were her rules. Besides, he wasn’t so much of a drunk that he couldn’t see the practicality in what she was saying. He would have said the same thing to one of his employees if the shoe were on the other foot. He went to the end of the rail Jessie was holding up and started driving a nail into place. Jessie, seeing the two of them were in apparent agreement, decided to change the subject. “I liked the way you handled that situation a while back, by the way.”