When we left Beth, she had had her first meeting as boss with the employees of the Domino Ranch.

Beth awoke to the soft beep-beep of her little travel alarm clock. She shut it off and snuggled back down into the wonderful scent of lavender. She touched her forehead tenderly, wincing as her fingers brushed the big bump that seemed even larger than it had yesterday. Her head was throbbing slightly. She opened her eyes and looked around the room, remembering the events of the day before. She carefully sat up and slid off the bed, the sheepskin rug feeling incredibly warm and comforting to her bare feet.

She pulled the lace drapes to the side and saw that the sun was just starting to turn the sky shades of pink, purple and orange. Looked like it was going to be a clear day. She checked the closet and found a sweatshirt and pair of jeans that she thought would fit. Before long, she would need to go shopping. The clothes she had packed weren’t quite what she needed out on the ranch.

The sky was lightening quickly and the house was quiet. On impulse, Beth pulled her Keds on and headed down the hallway without freshening up. She’d never seen a sunrise in the country before. Come to think of it, she’d never seen a sunrise at all. Not on purpose or for pleasure, anyway. And no one was up, so she could just let her hair down for a little while and enjoy being out here. It was just so beautiful, and she couldn’t help but feel positive about this new venture.

Once on the front porch, she took a deep breath. The air really was better out here. She heard a meow and looked down to see a calico cat sitting at the bottom of the steps staring at her. She started down the steps to pet the cat, but just as she got to the bottom step, the cat hopped away.

“My goodness, kitty. You’ve only got three legs!” She said, moving slowly towards the brightly colored cat. The cat meowed, but it was a funny meow, sort of without the “m”. She thought that it sounded a lot like the little cat was saying “Ow”. Once again, when she drew near, the cat hopped away. This continued several times until the two had gone across the yard and the drive. Then the cat hopped under the white wooden fence and into the pasture. There was a strange attraction to the cat and Beth finally opened the gate, after fiddling with it a moment to figure the latch out. The cat meowed again. She glanced around, but she and the cat seemed to be completely alone. Apparently, no one was up yet. She wondered briefly where the horses and dogs were that her father had spoken so fondly of.

She and the cat continued their journey. The cat headed through the lush grass for a group of trees, and she followed, feeling a bit like Timmy following Lassie. Water was flowing and bubbling just ahead. As she got to the edge of the trees, she realized that a stream ran through the trees. It was such a peaceful setting, and literally looked like something right out of a movie. The calico cat was perched on a rock at the top of a little waterfall, grooming itself carefully. Beth sat down on large, smooth rock at the edge of the stream, and began talking softly to the cat. It was so peaceful with the babbling of the brook, the sun just beginning to shine through the trees . . .

“Damn it! Hey! I need help NOW!” came a shout from behind her. Beau’s voice broke the calm of the morning, and she sprang to her feet. The little cat continued to clean its orange and white face, oblivious to the yelling. She took one last look at the cat, decided the cat would be fine on its own, and quickly headed back the way she’d come. Her heart sank when she cleared the trees.

Beau was in the driveway, waving his arms at the two horses trying to head down the drive toward the highway. Another horse was happily grazing on the lush green grass in the front yard. And the gate she had gone through was wide open. Two men came running from the small cabin, and a teenaged girl came running from the barn, halters and leads in both hands.

She closed her eyes tightly for a moment and cursed herself for being so stupid as to leave a gate open, then ran towards the gate, hoping to salvage the situation by helping get the horses back in the pasture. Beau spotted her when she was just about to the gate. The anger flashing in his eyes was hard to mistake.

“You!” he yelled, “Get the hell away from that gate! We’re trying to get them in, not scare them away!”

“Where do you want me?” she asked, trying to keep her voice from cracking.

“Over here!” yelled the girl with the ponytail. She motioned to follow her along the fence. The girl tossed one halter to Beau and handed another to Beth.

She held thetangle of leather bunched up, not having any idea which side was up, but she was determined to stay close to the girl, who looked like she knew what she was doing even if she couldn’t have been more than 12 or 13. At the very least, Beth thought could hold the halter until someone needed it. The girl was intense, completely focused on the animals in front of her. She moved sideways slowly, her back to the fence. Beth followed suit. The two horses in the driveway were focused on Beau, who was talking to them constantly. The girl held her halter loosely, with the cotton lead thrown over her shoulder. Her steps were sure and confident as she approached the smaller of the two escapees. The brown horse saw her, nodded his head and pawed the ground. Beth was close enough to see the white showing around his eyes, and she was amazed at how muscular the animal was. The girl talked softly to the horse, and approached him slowly. When she got beside him, she gently pulled the halter over his head. Once caught, he stood patiently, waiting to be led.

The other horse was watching everything intently, his ears pricked forward. He seemed calm enough and Beth decided to make her move. She tried to imitate the girl, and began walking toward the animal, talking to him as she went. He let her get right up to him, but she didn’t know how to put the halter on. She glanced at the bay the girl was holding, and thought she could manage. It didn’t look that hard. She lifted her hands to put the halter over his head, but he ducked his head and spun away from her.

Fortunately, Beau was right there. He threw his arm over the horse’s neck and had the halter on and buckled in seconds. The cowboy looked at her and let his breath out through flared nostrils, his jaw muscles working furiously.

“You don’t ever, ever go through a gate and leave it open,” he hissed, “Do you understand me?”

“It wasn’t on purpose. I didn’t know.” Tears stung her eyes, and she bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling.

“Well, now you know.” Beau tossed over his shoulder as he and the teenager led the horses back to the gate. The other two men already had the horse from the yard back in the pasture and were waiting at the gate to help get the other two horses in. She gathered up every ounce of self esteem she had and forced herself to walk up the drive. The four ranch employees watched her silently from the gate. The stocky, dark-haired man spit tobacco juice on the ground just as she pulled even with them.

“I may have made a mistake, but I am still your boss,” she said as she turned to face the four, her own jaw set now. “Make no mistake about that.”

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