{Chapter 8}

Adam woke up to take the third shift after Wade to watch the herd. He was sore and bone tired, but neither of those things were any excuse to shirk his job. Wade gave him the rifle that the guard was given, the only weapon allowed in possession of any of the cowboys. Adam was thankful for the feel of the gun in his hands. He wasn’t used to not having his Colt revolver on his hip at all times.

He mounted his horse and rode out to where the herd was sleeping, some lying down, some standing. There was something intimidating about the animals. There were around three thousand six hundred head of Texas Longhorns out there, give or take a few, and all of them had a set of horns. Adam didn’t want to get on their bad side. Lightning flashed in the distance, and Adam’s stomach clenched. Not a storm…

One loud clap of thunder could startle the cattle and they could stampede. That would put a serious kink in their plans.

Then Adam recognized the simple heat lightening. His muscles eased and he sighed. He was too jumpy. Cattle didn’t like jumpy people. He just needed to relax and not worry about things so much.

He breathed deep and tried to forget all his problems. In his effort to forget them, they only caused more confusion. His relationship with Kate was more awkward than ever, Mark was up to some shady business, there was a disturbing man who he frankly wanted to shoot in the face and be done with, and he was dog-tired. There would be no relaxing for a long while.

He rode around the herd on Blondie, trying to be as quiet as possible.

Had he told Kate of his reasons for ending their relationship soon enough? She had looked so happy with Ben, and he wasn’t sure she was over her grief of his death yet. Was he even attracted to her anymore? She was still the free-spirited, meddling woman she was five years ago, but Adam felt that he had changed somehow… that he wasn’t what she needed.

Maybe it was his need for revenge. He had to bring his brother’s murderer to justice. If that came in between anything, relationships included, then so be it. He wouldn’t fall victim to injustice when he was the very man that used to bring the justice. Feeling in his pocket, Adam felt the shape of the badge that he still carried with him. He couldn’t force himself to leave it behind when he had left Sundance. Something about him was still attached to upholding the law… and to catching those who broke it.

**********

“Coffee in the pot, bacon in the pan!” Katie hollered to wake the cowboys before dawn the next morning.

The sound of her voice wouldn’t startle the cattle at this distance.

The cowboys stirred and were up and around in a record time. They ate quickly, downed cups of coffee, a few thanked her, and then they all went about saddling their mounts. Katie washed the dishes with surprising speed and broke down the camp, putting it all in its proper place in the chuck wagon. They shoved off just as dawn was beginning to break. Katie went on before the herd alongside Mark, and the cowboys went about waking up the herd and getting them moving.

“Isn’t this the first time you’ve been the trail boss and not Toni?” Katie asked of Mark.

Mark nodded. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason” Katie shrugged.

“You don’t just ask a question, Katie. You’re always scheming someone’s demise, aren’t you?” Mark spat out.

Katie huffed. Everything she did or said annoyed Mark. The two of them had never got along too well. Ever since Mark first arrived at the MC they had been on opposing sides. She even doubted his salvation, yet she knew that it was not her place to judge his religious status.

“Just asking. You seem like you know how the cowboys are supposed to act” Katie said in a conniving tone.

She knew how to get under his skin, and rather enjoyed it.

Mark grumbled something under his breath and didn’t look at her. Katie smiled.

She fell silent with only the sounds of her thoughts in her head. She had to find some creative, amazing way to apologize to Adam. She couldn’t believe how stupid she had been all this time. They had been through so much in earlier years, how could she have ever doubted him. She should have seen right through her father. He had always tried to be the center of her life. Now they never spoke to eachother, so that took him to great places, didn’t it?

The man was insufferable, and all Adam had cared about was keeping her relationship with him at a tolerable point. Something didn’t screw on straight about that and told Katie that Adam wasn’t as big of an oaf as she had thought all these years. She had been so terribly wrong.

*How could I have been so wrong about him, God? I feel so foolish. I should have let him say his piece before writing him off. I know that I didn’t act as You would have had me to. I’m so sorry, Lord. Forgive me and please help me to find a way to make this right?*

**********

Adam swung the rope over his head and onto one of the stray cow’s horns. He groaned at his pathetic roping skills and tried again. One would think that after hours and hours of chasing the stupid cattle that he would have the hang of this roping thing by now. But that, of course, would be a good thing to happen, wouldn’t it? Heaven forbid.

Everything had gone wrong all morning long. First, Blondie got a rock stuck in her horseshoe so he had to spend a while getting that out. How the horse could manage to wedge a rock up in her shoe so tightly, he would never know. Then, he had spent five minutes trying to tug on a stubborn cow. Even more embarrassing was that Toni came and took the rope, leading the cow along like a little puppy dog. After that debacle he had roped so badly while Mark was watching that his rope surely got embarrassed. Now he was still fighting his poor roping skills. He was a terror on the trail, that was for sure. He was better with a gun, and now even that was stripped from him.

Then Adam reminded himself of why he needed to follow through with this cattle drive and was more determined than ever. He brother’s killers would be tracked down if it were the last thing he did.

Lord, please help me find them. Justice needs to be dealt with them.

At the end of the day, he felt like an old man with aching joints and stiff muscles. He could hardly dismount Blondie after helping the other cowboys bed the herd down. At least Mark hadn’t sent him to help the Cookie out again.

Glancing over at Katie, he found her glancing right back. Quickly averting their eyes, they both went on about their business. He had made things incredibly awkward for the both of them now. He had no idea what was going on in her head. Was she angry that he hadn’t told her sooner? Was she still confused? Why were women so hard to understand? He should just go over there and ask how she felt, but then she would see some underlying cause and then there was no telling what she would do. Knowing women, she would probably burst into tears for no apparent reason.

“Sterling!” Mark’s voice called.

Adam turned to the trail boss. “Yes sir?”

“Since you obviously didn’t work as hard as everyone else from what I saw, you can take first watch tonight so the ones who actually did their job can sleep” Mark’s condescending tone infuriated Adam, but he didn’t show it.

How was he supposed to do his job correctly when his boss was hovering over him and he couldn’t rope in the first place? Adam would have told him as much had he not been the trail boss.

“Sure” Adam said simply.

“You’re lucky I don’t send you packing right now,” Mark muttered.

*Don’t say anything, Adam*

Adam opened his mouth to voice a retort.

*Don’t you dare do it.*

He took a breath.

Think of Joel, Adam. You need to find his killers. That takes money.

His conscience won out, and he clamped his mouth shut. Undoing the cinch in Blondie’s saddle, Adam found himself contemplating the man’s slow, painful death. There would be tiny hacksaws and pliers.

Inhaling deep, Adam realized that Mark was right. He didn’t do half the work of the other cowboys, and frankly wasn’t worth his salt. It was a wonder he made it through yesterday.

This was going to be an interesting next two weeks until they got to Grayson City.

**********

Katie rustled up some beans, sourdough biscuits, and bacon for supper and brewed some coffee to go with it. She had ended up making two pots of the brew last night, so she went ahead and made another pot with the spare kettle. The cowboy’s ate, and Katie sat with her plate beside Toni on the wagon tongue.

“Go talk to Erik, Toni” she told her cousin.

Toni sighed. “Can’t.”

“Why?” Katie asked.

Toni huffed. “What if you did what you thought was right at the time, but it turns out that you did something wrong, yet in the back of your mind you still think that what was wrong was actually right? What if the person you wronged still thinks you’re wrong and you think you’re right, but you know that it’s still wrong? What do you do?”

Katie thought a moment. “Can’t say that I have that problem.”

Toni put her head down and looked toward where the cowboys all sat in a circle. “I hate being at odds with him. Just look at him.”

Katie looked over to where Erik was talking to Rawhide, laughing and joking about something. It appeared that he didn’t miss a good relationship with his wife much. The scoundrel.

“He’s the picture of handsome, isn’t he?” Toni swooned.

Katie eyed her cousin. It had never been in Toni’s character to swoon… even if the man was her husband.

“I miss him, Katie. I know it’s weak and feminine to want your husband around, but if that’s the label I’m slapped with, then so be it” Toni took a bite of a biscuit determinedly.

Katie smiled. She could see right through Toni. “Go talk to him” Katie nudged Toni with her elbow.

Toni looked to think real seriously on the idea, then shook her head. “No. I ain’t done nothin’ wrong so that I need to talk to him.”

“Then talk to him because you miss him. Do you really want to spend the rest of the cattle drive without speaking to him?” Katie pressed.

Toni didn’t reply.

Katie continued on. “It’s not as if he’s gonna come asking to talk to you first, is he? No, a man has too much pride for that. You wouldn’t want to damage your dear husband’s pride, would you?”

Toni looked back at Erik. “I do miss him.”

“Then get on out of here!” Katie nudged Toni again.

“Fine” Toni put her clean plate on the washtub and walked over to Erik with more determination in her stride than Katie had seen in a while.

Katie smiled at herself and finished off her plate. She still had the hang of it after two days of no matchmaking. That was a feat in and of itself.

**********

That night, Katie tossed and turned on her blanket below the chuck wagon. She couldn’t sleep to save her life. She had tried counting the stars, and stopped after twelve. She tried laying there stock still with her eyes closed, and that didn’t work. Giving up, she crawled out from under the chuck wagon and looked around the camp. All was peaceful and quiet, except for the loud, obnoxious snoring that came from Tiny. No wonder she couldn’t sleep.

She then remembered that Adam was out on guard duty. An idea popped into her head. He must be tired and worn out.

Quietly and swiftly, she poured him a cup of the coffee that was still hot and tiptoed out of camp. If Mark knew what she was doing, he would skin her alive. The thought made her adrenaline pump faster. Once she was out of earshot of the camp, she walked regularly. The moon gave off some light that brightened her path as she walked toward where they bedded down the herd. She reached the herd and looked around. She spotted Adam sitting on a rock about twenty feet away. She walked toward him, and when she neared him just within earshot, she stepped on a stick. It broke, echoing a cracking sound. Adam whirled around with the gun cocked and ready in two seconds flat. Katie started, splashing the now just-warm brew over the front of her dress and face.

Adam realized who he had just drawn his gun on and jumped up. “Katie?” He said in a strained whisper.

Katie nodded.

“What are you doing here?”

Katie looked at the now empty coffee cup. “Well, I was gonna bring you some coffee” she whispered.

Adam neared her and took the bandanna off from around his neck. “It’s dusty, but it’s all we got.”

Katie smiled and accepted the bandanna, wiping her face off.

“I couldn’t sleep, and I figured you were bored out here all by your lonesome,” she said.

“And I figure that we’re both gonna be dead if they find us out here” Adam warned.

“They’re all sleeping like babies. Tiny’s snoring ought to block out any noise we make” Katie helped herself to a seat on the rock, leaving room beside her for Adam. Adam set the rifle down and sat beside her.

They fell silent for a while.

“So what really brought you out here?” Adam asked eventually.

“What?” Katie asked, trying to think up a reasonable answer.

“Be realistic, Katie. It’s not like you care so much about me that you care if I’m lonely or not” Adam said with a faint smile in the moonlight.

Katie sighed. “Fine. I guess I feel guilty.”

“Of what?”

“Of how I’ve treated you. I feel so stupid. I’ve been completely cold to you for no good reason at all. Why did you take it knowing that you were completely innocent?” Katie asked.

Adam sighed. “I guess it was better than having you not talk to me at all.”

Katie smiled. “That still doesn’t answer my question.”

Adam thought a moment. “I don’t know.”

There was a silence for a moment.

"We had some good times together, didn’t we?” Katie asked.

Adam smiled. “That we did.”

“Remember when we scared the living daylights out of Mrs. Grayson that one year while Mr. Grayson was out of town?”

Adam laughed. “She actually thought we were ghosts.”

“Then we went to the graveyard out behind the church and the first one to leave lost?” Katie smiled.

“We stayed until daylight, didn’t we?”

“That we did. I was lucky. Not very many girls have had their beaus take them out to scare and be scared,” Katie grinned up at him.

“We weren’t exactly normal back then, either,” Adam reminded her.

Katie yawned. “No, we weren’t.”

“You better get on back to camp,” Adam told her.

Katie nodded.

“Sorry about your dress” he apologized.

Katie looked down at the front of her dress. “Oh, it’s fine. It’s dirty anyway.”

Adam smiled. “Good night.”

“Good night” Katie stood and took a few steps back to camp. She stopped.

Turning around, she clasped her hands in front of her. “Adam?”

Adam turned toward her. “Yeah?”

“We can be friends now, right?”

“Sure.”

 A penny for your thoughts? Oh, that's right... I can't give you a penny for your thoughts.. because unless there's an app for giving away cyber pennies, that's impossible:P

Sorry you had to endure that... *pushes up glasses that I don't wear*

Thanks for reading!