“Ma’am?”

“The broken reins. At the breakfast ride,” she reminded him. “You saved one of those wranglers a lot of time by not having to ride back to the barn.”

Henry shrugged, and then finished pounding the nail into the rail.

“You’re a pretty fair hand. Where you headed after you leave here?”

“No offence, ma’am.” Henry headed over to the pile of rails, but stopped and looked back at her before pulling one out. “Because you sure got a nice place. But to be honest, I’ll probably just see if’n I can find a job chasin’ cattle somewhere.”

“I see,” Jessie nodded.

Henry pulled a rail from the pile, brought it back and put it in place at the bottom of the next section. Jessie grabbed the other end to steady it as Henry began to pound the nail that would hold his end in place.

“This place used to be a cattle outfit years ago,” she said with a smile. “Turned out my father liked horses more than he liked cattle, though.”

Henry went over and pounded the nail in the other end of the rail near Jessie. It went in quickly.

“He started gathering and training mustangs about forty years ago,” Jessie continued. “In fact, when my father first started to bring guests on the place to help pay the rent, mustangs were all we had, so that’s what they rode. Our neighbors found out dad’s horses were safe enough for near beginners, so they began to come around and buy them up from us, to use on their ranches or for their kids. To keep up with the demand, he started teaching me how to do the training.”

After the rail was secured, she walked over to where a canteen was hanging on the fence, took a drink and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. She then offered the canteen to Henry, who was still somewhat dehydrated from the night before, and took a long drink, as well.

“What about you?” she asked as he handed the canteen back to her. “Ever done much horse training?”

“Some.” Henry shrugged. “Mostly I just got on till they quit bucking, then we’d go to work.” He retrieved another rail from the pile and positioned it above the last.

“The cowboy way, eh?” Jessie asked knowingly.

“It always worked for me.” Henry set the nail in one end and began pounding.

“Let me ask you this,” she said, positioning the other end of the rail for him. “Would you ever be interested in learning an easier way? I mean, if the opportunity presented itself?”

“I’m always for findin’ an easier way to do anything.” He started a nail on the end she was holding. “When it comes to horses, I been doing it the same way for so long I don’t know if I could do it any different.”

“I bet you never thought you could ever work on a guest ranch either,” she said glibly. Henry stopped and looked at her. She was right—that was something he never thought he could do. Quietly, he turned and went back to the pile to gather another rail.