Holidays on the Ranch (Burnt Boot, Texas #1)(37)

“I’d like to go to Polly’s for a burger, but Martin needs to learn to ride the bus every day,” she said.

“Bus might have trouble turnin’ around at the end of our lane,” Finn said.

Our lane.

He said our lane, not the lane or my lane.





Chapter 11


A bright red cardinal lit on the windowsill as Callie was cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast. Its feathers were brilliant against the white snow banked up against the glass, and its inquisitive little eye looked like someone had painted a perfect black circle around it.

“Angel, you want to see something pretty?” she whispered.

She reached down and set the cat on the windowsill. Angel made a funny noise down in her throat, something between a purr and a chortle.

“Pretty bird. Pretty bird.” Joe whistled, and the cardinal chirped back at the noise.

Callie glanced over her shoulder to see Joe watching a different cardinal out on the front porch. She smiled and fussed at herself for even thinking that blasted parrot could see through walls.

The ringing of the phone startled her, but Angel didn’t move. Callie picked up the receiver of the old wall phone and leaned against the doorjamb.

“Hello,” she said.

“This is Verdie McElroy. Where is Finn?” Her voice had enough grain in it to suggest that she was a longtime smoker, yet nothing in the house gave testimony to that. No smoke smell, no ashtrays, not even a cigarette butt in the yard.

“He’s out doing chores,” Callie answered.

“Then you are Callie Brewster, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“See that chair right there beside you?”

“I do.”

“Well, it’s sittin’ there so folks can sit down to put on their boots or take them off or sit down to visit on the phone. Have a seat and tell me about Salt Draw. I’m so homesick I’ve been crying, and this tough old bitch don’t cry for nothing,” Verdie said.

Callie pulled the chair over a few more inches.

“Cord will reach just fine without you scootin’ it around,” Verdie said.

Callie sat down. “What do you want to know about Salt Draw?”

“Everything. Start with the room where the bunk beds are. That’s where Martin sleeps, ain’t it? Don’t get all worried. Burnt Boot is a little place and y’all are the new kids in town, so you are the topic for gossip until something else comes along. Gladys and Polly and I keep on top of things. We got to filter out what’s shit and what’s real. And after we talk about the ranch, we’ll go on to the feud. I can’t believe that damned Honey and Betsy are dragging you into their shit pile.”

“Rooms first, right?” Callie laughed.

“That’s right. Feud takes second place to my homesickness.”

“Martin loves the bunkhouse room, and he’s been trying to read the books. Some of them are above his pay grade, but he’ll grow into them.”

Verdie sighed. “The ranch needs kids, has for a long time. Now tell me about your bedroom. Do you like that one?”

“I do,” Callie said.

“It was my sister’s room. And mine was the other one on that wing. There were six boys and two girls who grew up in that house. The four youngest boys got the bunk room. Two of the older boys shared the other bedroom, and my sister got the third one. I came along when Mama had given up on having any more kids. The older boys had left home, but the younger ones were content in the bunk room, so when I got old enough to move from the nursery, I got the room with the twin beds. My sister was the next one up the sibling ladder and she was ten years older than me, so it wasn’t long until I was the only one in that part of the house.”

“Was it lonely?” Callie asked.

“Not a single day. I could read all the boys’ books, and I had my own, too. Television came into the house when I was a teenager, but it didn’t amount to much there at first. Then I got married and Mama died that same week. Oscar was already working as foreman on the ranch, so we just moved from our little bitty cabin on the back forty in with Daddy. We raised our boys there,” she said.

It didn’t take much prompting to keep Verdie talking. Callie was able to stretch the cord to the kitchen bar and hold the receiver on her shoulder while she made a pot of chili.

“What are you doing? I hear you moving around,” Verdie asked.

“Just putting together Finn’s dinner. We have the big meal of the day in the evening, since Martin is in school,” she answered.

“Why ain’t you out there helpin’ him?”

“I helped with the feeding. Now he’s cleaning the tack room and working on that old green tractor, and I’m doing housework,” she answered.

“And you were his partner when he was over there in the war?” Verdie changed subjects.

“I was.”

“What are you now?”

Callie gasped. “I’m a hired hand.”

“Are you slow-witted or blind?” Verdie asked.

“Pardon me?”

“You heard me. You got to be one of them things. That boy is damn fine-lookin’ and he’s a hardworkin’ cowboy, and you are livin’ under the same roof with him. If I was your age, I’d be figuring out a way to get him to bed. God, I miss the ranch.” The sigh would have been audible from Dallas even if they weren’t connected with a phone.