Western Flame

Chapter 34

By the time Tanner was in his office, he was ready to collapse.

Sorting cattle in the cold sucked, but he'd needed the activity to calm the frustration running through him. From pushing the head up on horseback into the pens near the barns, then wrestling the frozen gate hardware to bring them through the chutes to check tags and health records, it was exactly what he'd needed, even if it wore him out.

Next week they'd be prepping for calving, and he and Harry had spent some time after that walking through and eyeballing rotund stomachs and condition on the placidly chewing heifers. The wind had sprung up again, and Tanner had relented and admitted to Brady when he saw him at lunch that he was glad for the tuque.

Jake was deep into his own side of things, and was clicking furiously on his laptop. Irritated, Tanner balled up a receipt he didn't need anymore and threw it, pinging it off Jake's temple.

"What was that for?" Jake yelped.

"Stop clicking," he snapped. "It's fucking irritating."

Jake raised one eyebrow and clicked the mouse several more times, then grinned and rapid clicked it. "Like this?" he said, and continued clicking, reaching towards his brother with the mouse.

"Go to hell," Tanner said, but then let out a laugh as Jake clicked it one more time slowly. Jake started laughing as well, and within moments they were gasping for air, both of them hit with the absurdity.

It felt good to laugh in the face of all they'd been through, and Tanner let out a breath. "Fuck, what are we doing?" he gasped, trying to get a hold of himself.

"It's been a helluva few days. Makes my arrival here seem like a friggin' picnic," Jake remarked and it slowed Tanner's laugh. That had been hard, but from both sides.

"Didn't feel like it then, but yeah," he replied.

"About this morning. I don't mean to needle you. You do your thing, it's your relationship," Jake said. "I know I come off like an arrogant prick. So I'm sorry if I've overstepped the past couple of days."

Tanner waved him off. "All good." In reality it was shit he needed to hear.

"Okay. Said my piece. Now, let's go get a coffee," Jake said, standing. "I'm beat and it's only two pm."

They left the office together. The sun was beaming across the front of the cattle barn, and they both stood in the warmth as they did up jackets, taking a moment to listen to the dripping noise of water off the roof, a sound Tanner loved. It signalled warmer weather. As he looked up, he saw Trevor was striding over to them quickly, so they waited.

"Hey. New horse settling in?" Jake asked. "Call the vet out to do a check up on him before we start anything, yeah?"

"Sure," Trevor said. He looked worried.

"What is it?" Tanner asked. He knew that look. Trevor was one of the most even keeled men on the ranch, so when he was worried, it was something big.

"Liam was caught fighting again this morning. Caitlin's friend Liana broke it up and offered to drive him out here to me. I was going to have him help for the day."

Tanner scanned the parking lot, but there was no little red Honda. "She's not here. I take it your boy isn't either?"

"No, they never arrived. At first I figured maybe she took him somewhere to go talk, Jenny said she might be a good person for him to know. But it's been hours. I asked Caitlin to call her but she's not picking up. My boy isn't either."

Something inside Tanner clenched up and he pulled out his phone. He dialled Liana, and it went straight to voicemail.

"Hi, you've reached Liana. You know what to do. Hang up and send me a text," her voice said.