Chapter 3

   "10 hours later I arrived at the ranch. I said hello to my Mom. I hadn't seen her since spring break but it wasn't time to socialize. I wasn't able to get off work the day before so the boys were already down at the corral with the cows. I had been up for close to 24 hours at this point but there was work to be done. As we got the bulk of the herd finished, I started snapping pictures of the boys wrestling calves, tagging them and giving them their shots. When we were finished it was time to gather the kids up. We played ball with the kids while mom finished up dinner. We sat around catching up and playing games and I posted the photos from the day.Finally I snuck off to get a shower and hopefully fall into blissful sleep.

   Just as I was about to step into a steamy shower that was probably too hot but I didn't care, because my body craved the heat, DING! Almost crying because I needed the shower to relax my tired overworked body I grabbed my phone. I thought it was one of my brothers needing something for one of my kids. It was Keith. I am so confused by him and I open the message.

   "Glad you made it, it is beautiful there. When are you coming back?"

Who is this guy? Why is he questioning me? Why does he care? We don't know each other, we have spoken 1 time face to face. I just stare at the message brooding but I'm too tired to be rude so I just answer.

   "We arrived around 10am but have been busy since. No rest for the weary, it was a good hard day. We are leaving early Sunday morning." I waited for a response but it never came. I jumped in the shower and scrubbed my body clean and fell into a fitful sleep dreaming of a frustrating man I could never have.

Saturday consisted of checking fence, bailing and hauling hay, and going to the sale barn to buy a few more heifers to add to the herd. That night we sat down and had a huge Thanksgiving dinner. I posted more pictures. Keith immediately liked them all. My stomach fluttered knowing he was watching me through F******k, but then I chastised myself for feeling that way because he belonged to someone else.

   I woke the kids early Sunday morning. I gathered our stuff making sure we had everything. The kids were saying goodbye to my mom. DING! my phone alerted me to another message. It was Keith. "Be careful coming home," was all it said. Figuring he wouldn't respond anyways I left the message on read. I got the kids in the car said a final goodbye and we headed home.