His heart had been broken twice—once in the fifth grade when Miss Taylor had come back from Christmas break showing off an engagement ring and again ten years ago when he’d come home from work early and caught his former wife in bed with a former friend. Both times, he had sworn he was finished with women.
He had gone back on the first vow when he met his ex-wife, but when he had made the vow the second time, he meant it.
He didn’t need a woman nagging and bugging him. He had everything a man could want. He had a truck that ran most of the time, a couple of good horses and a trailer to haul them in. In his work, he had other fellas around him for interactions with human beings. He had a woman sixty-five miles away in another town to slake his lust when need be. Sylvia’s only expectation was to be satisfied in bed and Nick had no trouble in that department.
Most importantly, he had the ability and education to make a good living doing what he loved for a good boss. Harley Carruthers trusted him implicitly to do the right thing and gave him free rein to do his job. The Flying C was a solid ranching outfit that provided him with good pay, good medical insurance, a 401(k) and other small, but desirable benefits. It was a job that would serve his needs for as long as he wanted it to.
Yep, the only thing missing from his life was a good dog and soon he would have that, too.
Tugging on the rope, urging the cow to move along, he couldn’t hold back a grin. Women like that redhead were so damn cute, trying to be cool and aloof. Tiptoeing toward this ol’ cow and her calf, shooing at them with her hands. Damn cute, but she obviously didn’t understand cattle. She could have made hand signals all day long and this ol’ blister wouldn’t have moved an inch until some car or truck came along and plowed into her.
The woman might be dumb about cows, but she was good-looking. Had hair the color of this baby calf and he liked that. Nothing was prettier than a Hereford calf.
Chapter 7
Sandi reached Salt Lick mid-afternoon. With the crash of the oil market in the ’80s, the small town had almost turned into a ghost town, but the businesses that had been able to hang on were recovering and the little place again hummed with activity. A surge in new drilling had the entire Permian Basin enjoying a smaller scale version of a way of life that had been stalled for decades.
Sandi came to a stop near the Styling Station’s front door and looked at her passenger through the rear-view mirror. “Jake, listen to me now. This is going to be your new home. You don’t want to make a bad impression. No cussing. I’m serious. No cussing. You’ll be around ladies.”
The bird squawked and fluffed his feathers. “Hot damn.”
“Jake! I am not kidding. Do not say anything ugly.”
“Jake’s a good boy. Jake’s a good boy.”
“What are the ugly words you can’t say, Jake?”
“Tits, balls, fuck, shit. Tits, balls, fuck, shit. Tits—”
Good grief. Where did he learn those words? “Enough already! Those are the words you cannot say, Jake.”
“Jake’s a good boy.”
Sandi dragged the big cage out of the backend, rested it on her hip, reached for his plastic tub of supplies and headed for the Styling Station’s front door.
Though juggling her burdens, she still managed to open the front door. “Aunt Ed? Debbie Sue? We’re here.”
Edwina rushed to her, gave her a quick hug, then looked into Jake’s cage. “Good Lord, Sandi. I thought parakeets were little birds.”
Debbie Sue came over, grabbed the tub of supplies, then the cage and gingerly placed the cage on the nearest foot stool in front of a hairdryer.
“I don’t know where you got the idea he’s a parakeet, Aunt Ed. I told you, he’s an African Grey parrot.”
“My God, it’s bigger than a chicken. I guess if I get hungry, I could cut its head off and have it for supper.” She guffawed.
Jake squawked and hopped around on his perch. “Helllp! Call nine-one-one. Helllp!
Sandi’s heart leaped. She didn’t believe for a minute that her aunt would really eat Jake, but on the other hand, the woman did have a reputation in the family for being a little...well, eccentric. “Aunt Ed! Oh, my Lord —”
“I’m kidding, babygirl. You know I pop off. I wouldn’t really eat that thing.”
Relieved, Sandi drew a deep breath. If she thought for a minute that statement had a ring of truth to it, she couldn’t leave Jake here. “Don’t talk about eating him, Aunt Ed. You’ll scare him. He understands what you’re saying.”
“Riiight,” Edwina said, backing away and eyeing Jake from every angle.
Sandi almost wished her aunt would reject Jake, which would give her an excuse to take him back to her own home. “If he’s too big...if you want to change your mind—”
“Aawrk. Jake’s not fat. Jake’s not fat.”
“See? I told you he understands what we’re saying.”
“That’s amazing,” Debbie Sue said, obviously fascinated.
“It’s fine, Sandi, it’s fine,” Aunt Ed said. “Besides, it’s not for me, it’s for Vic. And I guess a larger bird makes sense for him. I mean, he’s a big guy and all.”
“Well, first off, Jake is a he, Aunt Ed. And he’s very alpha. That’s why his former owner named him Jake.”
“Alpha?” Edwina said, her brow furrowed.
Debbie Sue had been circling the foot stool, studying Jake. The parrot, as if he knew he was being scrutinized, showed his acrobatic skills by climbing upside down on the travel cage’s bars, then fluffed his feathers and strutted as much as he could in the cage’s limited space. Debbie Sue finally
