Juan patted his shoulder. “It’ll be fine.” He unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled up his sleeves. “Let’s work in parallel. You do the first flagged sequence, I’ll do the second.”

###

Frank O’Reilly supervised as his two hundred and fifty Angus cattle trailed eagerly into pasture four and Buck, his freckle-faced ranch hand, closed the gate behind them.

But Frank’s thoughts were elsewhere. That morning, he and Megan had dropped Kathy off at the airport, and he still felt like he’d been gut punched. A few days ago, out of the blue, she’d come home from church and said she was going back to school. He didn’t realize until now how much he’d liked having her home. It was only a few hours and he missed her something fierce.

But he understood. Kathy needed to get her life back on track, and he could think of worse things for his baby to be doing.

His body ached as he climbed off his horse and tossed the reins to the ranch hand.

Buck caught the reins and nodded toward the cattle. “Mr. O’Reilly, the cattle should get pretty fat on this fresh grass.”

Frank winced with pain as he raised his arm and waved toward the now-empty pasture. “Buck, there’s plenty of good manure on pasture three. Make sure the boys till the soil good, and then we’ll plant the alfalfa in a couple weeks. In the meantime, it’s almost time to harvest the hay off pasture two.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll get the tiller and start working number three this afternoon.”

Frank worked his arm back and forth, trying to rid himself of the ache he’d been feeling. He noticed Buck watching him. “What?”

Buck shook his head. “Nothing. I’m just thinking about what’s left to do today.”

“Buck, you’ve been working for me since you were twelve, and full-time since you graduated high school. I know you better than you know yourself—and I know your mind is working overtime. I can smell the smoke. What’s going on in your head?”

Scuffing the tip of his right boot into the dirt, Buck took on a worried expression. “Sir, it’s just… you’re not looking so good. I’m just hoping you’re not overworked, making yourself sick.”

Frank scoffed. “Give me a break. I’ve just got things on my mind. My baby girl left me this morning, you know. Back to college.”

“Well, college is good, right? She was always a smart kid.”

Frank snorted. “A whole lot better than what she’d been doing. Anyway, you’ll have to excuse me for a bit if I seem distracted.” He gave the well-meaning ranch hand a lopsided grin. “I’ll go kick your ass later when I have less important things to do.”