This is the eleventh part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, and Part X before continuing.
It didn’t take us long to spot Phil’s truck, and from there it wasn’t hard to spot Jen on her horse.
I leaned over to Charlie and said, “Why don’t you talk to Phil about what he wants you to do, and I’ll go check in with Jen?”
She nodded and steered her horse around and behind Phil’s truck so she could approach the driver’s side without fear of getting run over.
I headed for Jen, pulling my horse to a walk to match her pace. “Do we see any cattle yet?”
She pointed to a patch of woods in the northeast corner of the pasture where the cows just about blended into the tree trunks. “They’re hiding out in the shade,” she said.
“So directing them away from the trees will mean we have to get in the trees.”
“Yep.”
“Well, what are we waitin’ for?”
“Two of us should head into the woods while the other hangs back to keep them from turning the wrong way. You need to go tell your girlfriend the plan.”
“She is not my girlfriend.”
“Uh huh.”
“She’s not.”
“Hun, everyone knows you’ve been crazy about that girl since the first summer her mama brought her to visit.”
I looked away. I hadn’t realized my feelings for Charlie had been so obvious.
“That was a long time ago.”
“Is that why you jumped at the chance to run all the way home to get her a horse?”
“Phil said he needed her on horseback.”
“Listen, Phil might act like a crotchety old man, but his eyes work just fine. He knew what he was doing.”
That news shocks me out of my pretense of nonchalance. I look over at Phil’s truck as I try to reconcile this duplicity with the man who’s been like a second father to me.
As soon as I turn my head, I see Charlie nodding to her uncle and turning her horse in my direction.
Could he…?
Charlie nods at Jen as she rides up and says, “Uncle Phil says he’ll ride off to the side and the back to keep the cows from backwards or too far to the west. The rest is up to us.”
I’ve barely had a chance to open my mouth before Jen says, “I’ll ride in back to round up any stragglers. You and Mike take the woods so they don’t have a chance to escape into the trees.”
“Sounds good,” Charlie says before guiding her horse toward the treeline.
I give Jen a dirty look, but she just grins back at me.
To be continued…