Page 55 of The Cowboy Who Worked Late
Daddy got two new dogs, Chaz said, completely selling out their father without having to say a word that Daddy could hear.
Mitch laughed again.Of course Daddy got new dogs, he said.Is there room for Liberty back there?
Yes, there was room for Liberty, as Daddy had just opened Chaz’s door to let the hound up. She jumped up, and in total non-hearing-dog fashion, she licked his younger brother’s face while the girls grinned and grinned.
Daddy said something, but Mitch only caught part of it as he wasn’t facing him fully and Daddy hadn’t signed. Chaz interpreted,We’re going to stop and get burgers for everyone on the way back.
Sounds great, Mitch said.Airplane food is gross.
At least you’ve been on an airplane, Chaz said.
Don’t worry, buddy. You’ll get on an airplane someday. He turned around and faced the front when his father got in the car. Since he couldn’t hear the conversations around him, he didn’t usually like riding in the car.
He wasn’t sure if the other kids were talking, and right now, he didn’t have the energy to try to keep up. So he simply enjoyed the ride back to Three Rivers, where they got oodles of burgers and fries—way more than they needed for their family.
That should’ve been his first clue that it wasn’t only going to be his immediate family at the Edge Cabin. In fact, Daddy didn’t even go out to the Edge. He turned left at the top of the hill, just under the arch announcing their arrival at Shiloh Ridge Ranch, and parked in front of True Blue.
Mitch looked over to him, and Daddy made the sign forSorry. I should’ve told you. Everyone wants to see you.
I was just here three weeks ago, Mitch said.Everyone saw me then.
He wasn’t sure why, but he wasn’t prepared to be the center of attention for one hundred people this afternoon. He just wanted to have something good to eat, take in the view at the Edge, and lie down to play a couple of games on his phone.
The Edge Cabin burst at the seams with the number of people who lived in the small space. But April had arrived, and Daddyhad a couple of rooms made up in the barn for anyone who wanted to be by themselves. Then Mitch wouldn’t have to sleep on a bunk with Chaz beneath him.
Uncle Judge arrived, and he got out and retrieved several boxes of pizza from the back of his truck. So this had to be some sort of come-as-you-are, fast food event. Mitch got out and helped his daddy with his dog, the teens, and the bags and bags of hamburgers and French fries.
They went inside the barn, where Uncle Bear set down six pink boxes of doughnuts. More Glovers arrived, all of them with junk food or fast food. Nothing high-end and nothing homemade, which seemed so odd for the Glovers.
Confusion ran through Mitch, and he automatically looked for Link or Gunnison or Wilder. They’d be able to tell him what was going down here this afternoon. He found Smiles looking his way, and he signed,What’s happening here?
Smiles smiled, something he was very good at. He was very easy-going, go-with-the-flow, laid-back type of cowboy, and Mitch sometimes envied him for that.There’s no school today, Smiles said.Teacher work day before Spring Break, so Momma and Aunt Oakley decided we should have a movie afternoon with as much junk food as possible.
Mitch smiled too, because that so sounded like Aunt Sammy and Aunt Oakley. His own mother bustled out of the kitchen, searching the crowd, and when she spotted him, she burst into a quick jog toward him.
Mitch, baby, she signed, her whole face aglow.You made it.She hugged him as if she hadn’t seen him in years, and Mitch held onto her too.
He didn’t teach on Fridays, and Whispering Paws—the deaf academy and dog academy where he worked—had Spring Break next week. He’d decided to come for the whole week, and he hada special appointment on Monday that he hadn’t told anyone about yet.
It weighed on his mind and heavy in his fingers, and he pulled his momma away from the group and said,I need you and Daddy to come with me to an appointment on Monday.
Momma immediately detected a change in Mitch.What is it?she asked, her smile disappearing and her hands moving slower.
I have a meeting with a real estate agent, Mitch said.He’s going to show me a few pieces of property for something I’m thinking of doing.
Momma blinked a couple of times.What are you thinking about doing?
He glanced over as someone came toward him. Link. Love filled Mitch, and Link looked between Mitch and his momma, clearly understanding that he’d interrupted.Sorry, he signed.Sorry, I’ll come back.
No, no, it’s okay, Mitch said quickly. He faced his momma and grinned at her.I’ll tell you and Daddy about it tonight.
He didn’t wait for her to say okay before he turned to Link and grabbed onto him. He’d seen his cousin just three weeks ago too, but there was something different about this trip. Mitch realized it was him.Hewas different on this trip than he’d been the last time he’d come to town.
God had told him to do whatever he wanted with his life. He’d asked him,What do you want to do, Mitch?And Mitch hadn’t known.
He’d been angry; he just wanted God totellhim what to do. But the Lord wasn’t going to do that, so Mitch had started thinking about what he wanted to do with his life, what he wanted his life to be. What could he do so that every morning when he got up, he would be excited to do it?
He never wanted to feel the weight of his job in his shoulders, or moan and groan about having to do his work that day. Slowly,over the past several months, Mitch had sketched out a plan for what he wanted. The problem was, he had no idea how to execute plans as big as his. When he got down on his knees and told God that, his Heavenly Father had said,You do it one step at a time, Mitch.
