He flashed back to the first time he’d seen Shep. His dad’s buddy Walt Collier had suffered a stroke, forcing him to move into the Sundance nursing home and give up his dog. Old Walt had owned Shep since he was a puppy. Around that same time Kane had moved into his trailer and was feeling a mite lonely.
When Kane’s dad asked if he’d be interested in taking the dog, he’d immediately said yes.
The first month had been rough. Shep mourned Walt. He hadn’t shown much of an appetite or interest in tagging along with Kane out on the range. Kane had begun to wonder if his company wasn’t even fit for a depressed dog.
But one afternoon when the cattle came in from the pasture to drink from the stock tank, a couple of calves raced off. Shep gave chase, snapping at them, driving them back to the herd where they belonged.
After that day, Shep had been a great cattle dog and a great companion.
“Damn, dog. Had to make a dramatic exit, didn’t ya?” He’d seen things like this happen too often on the ranch to chalk it up to coincidence. Animal instincts never ceased to amaze him.
Kane stayed crouched down, his gloved hand absently petting Shep’s head. He hadn’t realized he was crying until he couldn’t move his face, which had become covered in frozen tears.
“Kane!”
He didn’t turn around at his brother’s shout. He’d come out here anyway.
Kade stopped behind him, huffing and puffing after trudging through the knee-deep snow.
“Kane, what the hell are you doin’… Oh shit.”
Kane didn’t say a word. Couldn’t speak around the lump lodged in his throat.
“Aw, man, I’m sorry. Really f**kin’ sorry.” Pause. “How long…?”
“He went out this mornin’ and didn’t come back so I went lookin’ for him.” More tears fell and he didn’t bother to swipe them away. “Damn dog.”
After a bit, Kade clamped his hand on Kane’s shoulder. “This just sucks.”
“Yeah.” Kane stood and shivered. “I’m gonna head back to the barn and get a shovel. The ground’ll be a bitch to dig since it’s so f**kin’ frozen, but I ain’t gonna just leave him out here as buzzard and coyote bait…” Kane’s voice broke.
Kade squeezed his shoulder. “Lemme take care of this for you, bro.”
Kane looked at his twin, knowing the sunglasses masked his red eyes, but also knowing Kade didn’t need to see his eyes to know he’d been crying. “Thanks for the offer, but I should—”
“No man oughta hafta bury his own dog, Kane. I’ve been around Shep a lot too. This is the least I can do for you and for him.”
No sense arguing. Kane said, “Thanks. I’ll get the shovel.”
“I know where the shovels are. How about if you head to town and get that cake loaded? Then I’ll meetcha at Dewey’s for lunch.”
Kane nodded. They plodded through the snow in silence. Kade cut to the left toward the barn when the buildings came into view, while Kane went straight for his truck. He loaded the trailer. He hadn’t meant to look back, but just as he started down the driveway, he glanced in his rearview and saw his brother traipsing through the snow, dragging two shovels.
He cranked on the radio for the drive into town, but he flipped it off when Blake Shelton’s “Old Red”
came on.
At the feed store he wasn’t in the mood to make idle chitchat with Denny, but this was a small community, and Kane had been trying like the devil the last few years to overcome his previous brusque reputation. Once he and Denny finished jawing about the weather, the Broncos’ lousy season, the rash of new McKay babies and the upcoming calving season, Kane was ready to load up.
It took forever to load, which was odd because it wasn’t a full order. Kane wasn’t happy with only half the amount of cake they’d ordered. When Kane questioned why, Denny informed him Colt had already been by to pick up the other half for the McKay Ranch account.
That pissed Kane off. If Colt had intended on getting the cake all along, why had he made such a big deal about Kane picking it up right away? It incensed him further when he saw Colt’s rig—loaded with the other half of the cake—parked across from Sandstone Building.
Probably wasn’t the smartest thing, storming into the Sky Blue and India’s Ink in his present mood, spoiling for a fight. But Kane scaled the steps and burst through the door anyway, sending the cowbell door chime clanking. Not even the sweet scent of lavender that Ginger favored calmed him down.
Colt looked up from the magazine he was thumbing through. He yelled over his shoulder, “It’s just Kane, Indy.”
Just Kane. He fought a sneer.
“So what brings you by, cuz?” Colt asked as he strolled from behind the counter. “Lookin’ for some sweet-smelling potion to lure the ladies into your lair?”
“Fuck off.”
Colt froze. His eyes narrowed. “Jesus. What crawled up your butt and died?”
“You. I get sick of your wisecracks like I’m still some horny f**kin’ teenager.”
“Lighten up. I was jokin’.”
“Well, it ain’t funny. And it hasn’t been for years.”
“Ain’t you in a special mood? Why in the hell did you bust in here and decide to take it out on me?”
“You know goddamn good and well why I’m here.” Kane pointed to the street. “Why’d you only pick up half the order of cake?”
“Because we’re runnin’ low.”
“Who’s we?”
When Colt didn’t answer, Kane stepped closer. “Why didn’t you pick up the whole order?”
“Are you seriously chewing my ass for this?”
“Yes. Because you made it clear I needed to get to town ASAP and pick it up. So after a spectacularly shitty morning, I finally get to the feed store and find half our order is missin’.”
“It ain’t missin’, Kane, it’s right there in the goddamn trailer.”
“Oh yeah? So you’re gonna deliver that half to the hopper out by the old Foster place?”
Colt stared at him coolly.
Which gave Kane the answer he needed. “You son of a bitch. You took half the cake for your separate cattle operation with the Glanzers.”
“So? I didn’t take it all. And for Christsake, it’s supplemental feed. Not a big deal.”
Kane glared at him.
“When the feed store told me they were gonna be temporarily out of stock for a week, I took what we needed.”