pulled out a chair beside Clayton and plonked into it. “Did you find the guy?” he asked Lucy.
“I found him,” she said. “I handled the whole situation rationally and calmly just the way it needed to be.”
Clayton chuckled and Lucy shot him a warning look to keep his mouth shut, which he promptly ignored.
“I’ve seen rational,” he told her. “And I’ve seen calm. But walking into a bar and challenging a guy twice your size in front of all his friends doesn’t qualify as either, Lucy.” He looked her straight in the eye. “You showed more guts than a lot of men I know.”
Thomas straightened as if he’d been shot and glared at Clayton. “She did that? You were there?”
Clayton nodded. “You would have been proud of her.” He glanced across at Lucy, who looked fit to strangle him. “She might be small, but there’s nothing tiny about her temper.”
Katie hoisted herself onto the waist-high breakfast bar. “Did you at least punch him out or kick him you-know-where?” At the look Clayton gave her, she added, “Lucy knows self-defence.”
Clayton could have sworn there was a thinly veiled warning in there. He smiled. “I know. She took lessons a while back.”
Thomas glared at her. “You walked in there with no one at your back? That’s the quickest way there is to wind up dead.”
Lucy knew she’d allowed her anger to cloud her judgement and she’d put herself in a dangerous position. She had to be more careful. Her family needed her.
“You’re right, Thomas. I shouldn’t have gone alone.”
Thomas shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
“Yeah, well,” he said, looking embarrassed at his display of concern. “Don’t go doing it again, okay? Any creep who’d hurt a kid as small as Max wouldn’t be afraid of taking on a woman.”
“Hey, I’m not small,” Max grumbled, wiping his eyes while avoiding the bruises. Clayton noticed now that his lip was cut too. “I’ll get bigger…but I don’t want to ride anymore.”
Clayton cautiously sipped the coffee while Lucy was fussing over Max. After the first taste, he placed the mug back on the table, forcing the liquid down his throat. Lucy’s coffee wasn’t bad. It was toxic. He heaped four sugars into it hoping it might at least make the stuff palatable.
“Where did you get the horse?”
“Col Peterson sold me three.” Lucy stroked Max’s head. “Give it a few days until the soreness goes away, sweetie, and then you can take her out again.”
The boy shook his head emphatically. Clayton had been around horses since before he could talk and had been riding them—albeit in his father’s arms—since before he’d taken his first steps.
“School doesn’t start back for another week,” Clayton said, “so anytime you want to come over to the Downs we could use another hand.” And maybe he could coax this kid not to give up on horse riding just yet. He’d let the fear recede first and then see what happened.
“Do you have jillaroos?” asked Katie, her excitement barely contained. “Everything is equal opportunity now, you know.”
Clayton hid a smile. “I don’t have a problem with that. You’ll find as many women doing farm labouring as there are men. In fact, we have three regular shed hands who hire on each year for shearing and they’re female.”
Katie’s eyes widened. “How about it, Lucy?”
Lucy didn’t really have a choice. Clayton McKinley had put the idea out there guessing she would never deny the kids the opportunity. If she had to have the kids learning from anyone, it might as well be him.
“All right, you can do it.”
“Sounds like I just hired myself two more hands.” He looked to Thomas and then to Lisa. “The invitation to visit is extended to all of you.” Thomas nodded slowly. Lisa shrugged.
“When you said hired, did you mean as in paid?”
“Max!” Lucy cast an apologetic look at her guest.
Clayton smiled. “All our hands get paid, even our part-timers.”
“No, McKinley, you’ve done—”
“Nothing more than hire extra hands to help around the farm. We’ve got fences to mend, stock to move and crops to finish harvesting, if they don’t get washed away first. I’ve got three orphaned lambs and no doubt we’ll have more before lambing season is over. Then there’s always the stables to muck out.”
Clayton could afford to pay these kids for the work they would do. He remembered how proud he’d felt when his after-school job had earned him enough money to buy the bike he’d wanted one year. Their eagerness told him he wouldn’t be disappointed. Of course, the fact that it would give him an excuse to see Lucy on a regular basis was just a fringe benefit.
“Lambs?” Katie’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Cool. I’ve never seen one up close.”
Max grinned, wincing slightly because of his split lip. “You want to see one up close, look at your hamburger the next time you eat one.”
“That’s beef,” she replied smugly, “And stop being so gross.” She looked at Clayton. “When do we start?”
“Tomorrow, if it’s okay with Lucy.”
Yeah, right, she thought. Now he defers to my opinion when he’s all but given them a bed and three square meals a day! Neighbourly or not she wasn’t just going to let him steamroll into her life and turn it upside down.
Katie smiled at Lucy’s nod. “What time?”
“I’m usually up and at it by about six.”
Max gulped. “In the morning?”
Katie’s bright smile faltered for the first time. “Are you out of your mind? The sun isn’t even up then.”
Lucy chuckled. “How would you know? You’re never awake that early.”
Katie looked horrified that it might actually be true. “I’m guessing.”
Clayton bit back a smile. “I’ll meet you at the house at ten.” Their relief was almost comical.
“Enough, back to bed everyone,” said Lucy.
Thomas glanced at Clayton then back to Lucy. “You’ll be okay?”
Touched by his concern, she smiled. “Of course. McKinley and I need to talk about a few things.”
Katie gave Clayton an assessing look. “See you in the morning…boss.” She tugged at Thomas’s hand and they followed Max out of the kitchen.
“Why did you offer them jobs?” Lucy asked as soon as the kids were gone.
Clayton
