The Wrangler

Gus saw her point. “Before we make any decision, ask him to come out for coffee and cookies. I’ll interview him.”

Heart sinking, Val nodded. Her grandmother had the money, not the Bar H, which meant she could have the final say if she wanted it. “He’s a city slicker, Gus.”

“Yes, but his soul was born here.” She jabbed her finger down at the floor. “He’s got Wyoming blood movin’ through his veins. I’d like to scope him out myself if you don’t mind?”

“Sure,” she agreed, finishing off her coffee. There was a lot of work to get to and Val knew every day counted before the snow started falling in early September.

“Good,” Gus said. “You call the Horse Emporium. I’d like to see McPherson tomorrow afternoon if Andy will give him a couple hours off.”

“I’ll call Andy now,” Val promised, moving into the formal dining room to use the the landline phone set on a hundred-year-old walnut sideboard.

* * *

GRIFF TRIED NOT TO FEEL anxious, but he did. Getting out of his dented blue Ford pickup, he shut the creaky door and looked up at the main ranch house on the Bar H. The day was sunny and warm, the sky clear. He had been told by Andy yesterday that he was going out for a second job interview with Gus Hunter, one of the three matriarchs in the valley. He knew Iris Mason very well and loved the straight-shooting woman who owned Elk Horn Ranch. He’d never met Gus but had heard plenty about her. She was a pistol-packing granny and had a gruff personality from what Andy had told him.

Removing his red bandanna, Griff felt his nerves. He’d taken a cleansing shower, put on his best clothes, polished his well-worn boots and made sure his Stetson was free of hay or straw. His boots sounded hollowly as he climbed the reddish-gold cedar steps. Quickly wiping his face, he retied the red bandanna around his neck. The screen door was open. Would Val be present? Griff wasn’t sure. He knew she wasn’t too enthused about him working here. Andy said Gus was the boss of the Bar H and Griff wasn’t sure if that was good or bad news.

Standing at the screen door, Griff knocked. He could see a long, gleaming hall through the screen. Val appeared from a side room and walked toward him. Instantly, Griff’s heart pounded hard to underscore seeing her once more. Her shoulder-length red hair lay like a shining cloak around her shoulders. Today, she wore a mint-green short-sleeved blouse, Levi’s and cowboy boots. Stuffed in her belt was a ragged pair of leather gloves. Clearly, she had been out working earlier.

“Hello,” he murmured as she opened the screen door.

“Come in, Mr. McPherson. Gus is in the kitchen waiting to see you.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Griff said, nodding deferentially to Val as he removed his hat.

Val caught the faint scent of lime soap as he passed by her. Today, he looked spruced up and much cleaner. Her heart beat a little more quickly as she closed the screen door and gestured for him to go down the hall.

“Turn right,” she called out to him.

Griff turned and found himself in a large kitchen. At the table sat a wiry woman with short silver hair, a cane leaning against the table next to her. He smiled and walked over to the table. “Mrs. Hunter?” he asked, holding out his hand toward her. “I’m Griff McPherson. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Call me Gus, young man,” she said, and gripped his hand firmly. Feeling the calluses, she said, “My granddaughter, Val, will bring us coffee.” She gestured to a cedar chair opposite her. “Have a seat. We can chat a spell.”

“Thank you,” Griff said in a respectful tone. Gus Hunter might be small, but she was like packed dynamite ready to go off. She, like Val, wore work clothes. The lavender blouse brought out the glint in Gus’s blue eyes. Her hair was like a curly silver crown around her head.

“I made you chocolate-chip cookies,” Gus said proudly, pointing to the large plate on the table.

Heartened, Griff smiled a little. “That was mighty kind of you, ma’am.”

Snorting, Gus said, “Don’t ma’am me! Call me Gus.”

“Yes…Miss Gus,” Griff murmured, trying to curb a smile over the elder’s spunky personality. Andy had warned him Gus took no prisoners.

Val brought over the coffee and set it in front of them.

“Sit down, Val,” Gus ordered, pointing to the chair next to the wrangler.

Val took a seat next to Griff. She could see her grandmother measuring and weighing the wrangler as he poured cream into his coffee. He was tall, muscular and relaxed.

“Take a couple of cookies, too,” Gus ordered him. She pushed the plate directly in front of Griff.

“Thank you,” he said, reaching for one. “I don’t usually get home cooking and these look real good.” He bit into the cookie, filled with chocolate chips and walnuts. It melted in his mouth. Griff couldn’t speak but held up the remainder of the delicious dessert to Gus to show his appreciation.

Gus glowed. “Now, young man, this is an interview for a job as our wrangler here at the Bar H. You understand that?”

“Yes, ma—I mean, Miss Gus, I do.”

“Val told me you’re from back east.”

Griff swallowed the cookie, nodded and told her the story of how he’d wound up in New York City, as well as how he landed back in Jackson Hole.

“So, you were filthy rich and lost it all in the crash on Wall Street?” Gus surmised. She saw the sunburned wrangler’s brow dip.

“Yes, I lost everything.”

“And did your brother Slade call you and invite you back to your family ranch?”

Her questions were sharp and painful for Griff. “No, he didn’t call me. I wanted to come home because I had nowhere else to go. I thought I could stay with him and we could rebuild the Tetons Ranch together.”

“Well,” Gus said, brows knitting, “everyone in the valley knew Slade was a heartbeat away from losing his ranch. When the economy went south, he and a whole bunch of ranchers were walking the line on bank foreclosure. If it weren’t for Dr. Jordana Lawton and his horse, Thor, winning that ten grand at the endurance race, the bank would own that ranch by now.”

“I know. I helped them out during the endurance contest.” Griff finished off the cookie. Gus was firing off questions almost faster than he could answer them. Just as Andy had warned him she would….

“So how come you’re not working for your brother now?”

Moving uncomfortably, Griff said, “We got split up at six years old, Miss Gus. I was bad about staying in touch with him over the years, and I guess it took its toll. The fault was mine. I was living in a rich, wealthy city and frankly, I looked down on him and the ranch. Half the ranch is legally mine, but it was Slade whose hard work, sweat and blood kept it going. Not mine.”

“You’re honest to a fault, aren’t you?”

Griff gave her a twisted grin. “Is there any other way to be?”

“No, frankly, there isn’t. But the generations ahead think it’s okay to tell half-truths or no truth when it suits them. In my book a lie is a lie, pure and simple.”

Nodding, Griff said, “Some do, that’s true, but not all of them. I’m from the same generation you’re talking about.”

“Points scored,” she said, respect clear in her voice. She glanced over at Val, who looked worried. Gus couldn’t fathom why. So far, this gent was the real deal. “Okay, Mr. McPherson, you tell me why you think you’d be a good addition to the Bar H.”

Griff wondered if Val had shared with Gus his answer to a similar question she’d asked him. Devoting his attention to Gus, he replied, “It’s clear to me now that Wyoming is where I belong. I couldn’t help that Slade and I were split up at six and sent to different uncles to be raised. I’m grateful they were there for us. Coming home after the stock market crash, at first, I hated it. Then, every day, it seemed as though Wyoming was working a little more of her magic on me. It was scrubbing off all those city years and I was rediscovering what I really loved to do. Working with my hands gives me a satisfaction that no Wall Street job ever did. Mending a fence and making sure it’s stout and can withstand a bull makes me feel good.”

Gus saw some redness appear in the wrangler’s cheeks. He was struggling to put his feelings into words. She studied his hands. “You got work hands,” she confirmed. Holding up her own, she added, “Hands to thrust into the rich soil of Wyoming. To help things grow. There’s a feeling that comes with being one with the land. And if you weren’t born here, you couldn’t understand.”

“Right.” Griff studied the old woman’s long, thin hands. Her knuckles were slightly enlarged due to arthritis. He saw the calluses across her palms. Her nails were short and jagged. Despite her cane, it was clear nothing could stop her from working on the ranch. He liked the sturdy, straight-talking elder. Griff wondered if his mother had lived, would she have turned out to be like Gus? He wanted to think so because the elder had a backbone of steel.

“I was missing something out in New York. I had the best of everything. My aunt and uncle loved me fiercely and I loved them. In my heart—” and Griff touched his chest “—I felt an emptiness and I never understood it until I arrived back here. When I worked with Slade at the Tetons Ranch, the ache started to go away. Later, I realized I was starving for my roots. My real home.” He became serious, his voice low. “I want a job as a wrangler because I feel I can contribute. My heart is in my work, Miss Gus. It’s true, I don’t know everything about wrangling, but I’m hungry to learn.”

Nodding, Gus shot a look across the table toward Val. She looked vulnerable, her eyes glinting with unshed tears. Gus knew she hadn’t been yearning to come home the way Griff was describing. Pinching her lips, Gus swung her gaze back to Griff. “Young man, I like where you come from. It’s true, you aren’t a fully realized wrangler yet, but I feel over time it will happen. Now, I can’t give you much money. Ten dollars an hour for eight hours a day. And you know you’ll be workin’ twelve hours a day, from dawn to dusk.”

“That’s more than fair,” Griff answered, grateful. “I’ll prove my worth to you.”