Ned's Big Payday Pt. 06

After a couple of circuits, she pulled up at Rob. A deep sense of satisfaction caused a brilliant smile. "That was fun. She's an amazing horse," Janet said.

"Dismount and let's go flying." He helped her slid off the saddle and supported her bottom as she eased to the ground. Janet immediately hugged and kissed him. She was thrilled to have overcome her fears. From the far siderail came the sound of clapping. She looked and saw Clayton and Rebecca watching and applauding her performance. Janet waved.

Clayton yelled, "Way to go, girl." They turned and walked back to the house as Janet led Ruby into the stable. Rob stored away the tack while Janet brushed Ruby's coat. Another apple cemented their new friendship. There would be many more in the future.

After a light lunch and playing a video game with the boys, Janet and Rob walked to the helicopter. Rob checked the fuel and oil levels. After both were seated and buckled, he started the engine. It was so loud that earphones equipped with communications were worn.

When the oil and engine reached proper temperature, Rob took it up slowly and turned. Within a couple of minutes, the first of the herds was seen grazing. He stayed high enough to not spook them. After carefully checking for new calves and that the watering stations were all working, they flew on to the next herd a couple of minutes away.

Again, they found no new calves and everything in working order. This was repeated in grazing area three, four and five. When circling six, Janet saw by using binoculars the new calf suckling. It looked up long enough for her to see the ear tag.

Rob flew on to the area the guys had worked the day before and could see a couple of coyotes feeding on the carcass. They ran away when they heard the copter overhead.

Over the next high ridge, a broad basin contained numerous oil wells. The pumps were all working it seemed. No service trucks were in the field but none were expected on Christmas day. Rob flew on to the collection tanks near the county road. They saw one tanker loading crude and another arriving on the site. He explained that the CNG tanker picked up every third day but the crude tankers took four loads a day.

They flew briefly over the Goddard oil field and it appeared to be as active as theirs. Rob said, "Dad called Sterling Goddard last week and suggested a joint review of the contracts. Mr. Goddard agreed and I'll be meeting with him this week to get a copy of his. The Goddards are great people. It was his daughter I told you about. I wonder what she's like now?"

"She's probably outgrown showing you hers if you showed her yours."

Rob laughed and responded, "I hope so."

***

At the ranch house, Matt and Ruth Ann had taken the boys to a movie in town. Zootopia was showing.

Clayton and Rebecca walked to their bedroom. Some afternoon delight was in order. As Clayton settled his face in her crotch, Rebecca moaned and pulled his hair. This was a familiar position for them and one that always resulted in Rebecca having an exciting orgasm. After her first one, they switched positions and Rebecca licked and sucked his erection, still firm for his age. When ready, she crawled under him to the missionary position, their favorite. He pounded her as she grinned and moaned with excitement. He soon shot his load into her familiar vagina. It felt great as always to both lovers.

As they lay recovering, Clayton said, "I'm surprised by how much I like Janet. She is not what I envisioned when Rob described her."

Rebecca replied, "In what way?"

"I can see her living on this ranch and raising their children. She's embracing our lifestyle and is showing talent at cooking. For a rank beginner, she did well on Ruby today. It's clear that Rob is happy and she is with him."

Rebecca asked, "Do you think Rob told her about the oil?"

"I don't know but I don't think it would make a difference to her. She obviously has her own resources with the businesses her parents owned. I see in her expressions and voice a woman who's in love."

"I see that also," Rebecca said. "I know they're sleeping together. Her bed hasn't been touched since yesterday."

Clayton replied, "That used to bother me. But times have changed and young people are quicker to have sex as part of their courtship. My parents would have kicked my butt if I'd attempted sex with you before our marriage."

"Right. My mom would have been so ashamed of me. But she didn't know what I found out when researching our ancestry. I don't think I ever told you. You grandfather was born only six months after his parents were married."

"Are you kidding me? Wow. Maybe that's why we never knew their anniversary date. They never talked about it. Well, I'll be."

Rebecca replied, "But we don't know the circumstances so we shouldn't judge them. Those were rough days and this ranch was only a small holding when that happened. They were married more than fifty years and had three great children. They were well respected in the area and no matter when they started having sex, it worked out for everyone."

Clayton said, "I'm going to let Rob tell her about the oil. I doubt it will make any difference to her. She's an amazing young lady and I think she and Rob will be a perfect match."

Rebecca added, "I do too."

***

The day after Christmas in Denver was relaxing and a time for watching football, reading and visiting. Chris was picked up by Uber for a trip to the airport. He flew home to be with Jennie. They had not yet set a date for their marriage, but Ned and Angie committed to be part of the wedding party whenever it was held.

Tom flew home to Nashville the following day. Kate and Angie returned to the office. They had tons of work waiting with many rough-cut videos to review. After much thought, Angie picked June 27 for her wedding. It best fit the schedule for a recording artist they really wanted.

Ron and Sue spent two more days with Ned at his house. It had been a great visit, and they were reluctant to leave. He was glad to hear they were still on very, very friendly personal terms during the night.

Ned returned to giving massages at the university. The women's schedule was busy through the holidays so much work was needed. After Ron and Sue flew home, Angie resumed her nightly sleep-overs. When they weren't having sex, she and Ned spent time thinking through new challenges Angie was encountering with business decisions she was expected to make.

As the mentoring from her mom and the consultants evolved, Angie gradually gained confidence that she could do what her mom had asked. The decision of how to organize the two production teams in Nashville was used as a case study by the consultants for Angie's training. She was asked to determine which people needed to be on each team and who the team leaders should be. After Angie made her decisions, the consultants and Kate reviewed them and suggested a couple of upgrades that they thought appropriate. Once Angie heard their logic, she agreed and learned from it.

Tom locked in Billy Joel for Angie's wedding. Although semi-retired, he confirmed his availability and agreed to the terms Tom offered. Joel's former wife Christie Brinkley and a former girlfriend Elle Macpherson were both supermodels who'd worked with Kate on several occasions. In many ways, the world of the supermodels was very small.

***

In Tampa, Beth and Mark became the center of attention of his parents and their friends. There had been a day-after-Christmas party his parents had begun hosting many years ago and was now a much-anticipated annual event. The idea was that everyone would bring leftover food they had prepared for Christmas to share with each other. A dozen or more families always participated. It was very interesting to see and taste what other families had served the day before. Everyone referred to them as "new-overs."

As each family arrived, Mark introduced them to Beth. Lots of smiles from the men and friendly hugs from the ladies greeted her. It many ways, it was a coming out party for Beth. She was seeing and experiencing a new set of friends that were mostly doctors, lawyers and business owners with a few real estate brokers and bankers tossed in. She was fully accepted as one of them from the first moment they met.

After hours of fun eating new-overs, showing off Christmas gifts, joking and reminiscing among these great friends who had known each other for twenty or more years, Beth and Mark were exhausted. She had tried her best to remember each person's name, and that impressed Mark's parents. The after-party discussions in the family room were mostly about Beth and comments made to Mark's parents during the party.

Mark's mom said that the women were very impressed by Beth and the way she interacted with everyone. One lady commented that Beth became everyone's daughter it seemed. She worked the room like no one else and was easily the center of the party.

Mark's dad said the men commented on Beth's beauty and social interaction skills in a crowd she'd just met. All were captivated by her maturity, conversational skill and appearance. Most all had congratulated Mark on finding such a magnificent young lady.

As Beth tried to sleep that night, she realized that nothing like this would have happened without Ned's help and commitment to her well-being. When she had first approached him, she was introverted and had closed her world to men. That rape almost destroyed her. Now she could enjoy being with unfamiliar men in social gatherings. Mark had been her life-line to this new social world. She was thankful.

Chapter 18

Back at the Ranch

The day after Christmas saw cowboys and more cowboys arriving. This was moving in day at the bunkhouse. The new arrivals had been working other jobs during the spring, summer and fall seasons like oil drilling on the offshore rigs, road building and home construction. Those jobs always slowed down in the winter. The busiest time on a ranch was winter when the new calves dropped and the herd had to be fed hay and grain daily. When snow came the challenge of feeding went up exponentially. It was then all hands-on-deck.

Clayton had always hired ten additional hands every winter for the last thirty years just to have the needed manpower the cattle demanded. All lived in the bunkhouse or rented rooms in the houses used by the married hands. The bunkhouse had a full kitchen and dining room for the men to use. A local widow and her forty-year-old daughter were always hired, and they arrived to cook and clean for the men living there. As Rob suspected, the thrice-divorced daughter was also the after-hours entertainment committee for the lonely cowboys. She kept all the men happy. His parents had no idea what was going on after hours.

As Janet learned, life on a ranch was hard work, not as glamorous as it seemed on many TV shows. At Rob's side, she was also having fun learning the way of life and its challenges. Every night was a welcomed break when sore butts and weary bodies could rest.

The arriving cowboys immediately started working with the horses they'd not seen in nine months. Almost all the horses had been turned out to pasture and not ridden during that time. Janet and Rob walked to the paddock siderails to watch the adventure of out-of-shape cowboys trying to ride horses that only wanted to be out to pasture. It was hilarious. None of the recent arrivals wanted to try the new stallion. That horse scared them.

The next morning, eight horses were saddled, loaded and trailered out to the grazing areas. At the first stop, four riders split up and began following the fence lines to make sure all barbed wire was tight, and all posts firmly set. The other four checked the herd for new calves and any signs of medical problems. At that first area, there were three new heifers and one bull calf. All were ear-tagged, and the bull castrated. As Janet learned from Rob, it was much less painful for the young bulls to be castrated soon after birth.

At the second grazing area, only four hands were available since the guys riding the fence lines in area one would take all of two days for just that first area. The cowboys rode through the second herd and found six new calves. Only two were heifers so the four bulls lost their balls and all were tagged. This pattern continued all day. A total of thirty-two calves had arrived and all appeared to be in good shape. They expected as many as three thousand over the next two months.

Only four areas could be checked for new calves each day. A lot of time in the saddle was required and daylight was short in late December. As the horses and riders were collected, the guys collapsed in the two trucks. They were worn out. The new arrivals had sore butts and legs. None of them would be up for any extracurricular exercise that night.

While eight hands were in saddle, the other nine repaired stalls and worked on the new barn that was to hold hay and grain. There was so much work to do that Clayton wondered if he'd hired enough men. It was then too late to hire more as all the other ranchers had booked them.

Rebecca invited Janet to go into town for shopping and groceries. The first stop was a very large western wear store. Rebecca wanted to buy apparel for Janet that would be more appropriate for riding. They had great fun picking out pairs of boot-cut jeans, western style shirts, riding boots and a gorgeous dark leather coat with heavy wool lining. Janet tried, but Rebecca refused to let her pay for anything.

When loading everything into the car, Rebecca said, "Clayton and I want you to feel that we're your second home. We're delighted that you and Rob have connected, and we hope to have you visit often. This ranch will pass to Rob, of course. And we couldn't be happier if you made it your permanent home as well." They hugged.

Janet replied, "Thank you. I love your son very much and we seem to be very compatible. I believe he loves me, and we have talked in passing about a future together. But we need time to be sure of our feelings. I learn new things about him daily. And I'm sure he's learning more about me every day. I like where our relationship is now and where I think it's going. I highly value your support."

Grocery shopping was quick. Jamie had called in the order, and it was ready for pickup when Rebecca arrived.

The forty-five-minute ride home allowed more discussion about their lives and growing up. Rebecca shared her feelings when first meeting Clayton at a high school dance. He had come with her classmate since he went to a different high school. She said she was smitten but had to think fast about how she could get a dance with him.

She convinced a nice-looking football player to ask Clayton's date to dance. Clayton was not about to challenge him, and Rebecca moved in to take him over. She was able to have several dances with him that night as more and more football players diverted his date's attention. She gave Clayton her number and he called a couple of days later. That began their lives together.

Janet laughed and said, "Love needs to be devious sometimes."

Rebecca replied, "Exactly. As they say, 'all's fair in love and war.'"

***

The following day, Rob had an appointment with Mr. Goddard at the neighboring ranch. His dad had said it was fine if Rob wanted to tell Janet about the oil. With that in mind, he invited her to go with him to meet their neighbors.

Sterling and his wife Martha invited them in and offered them drinks as they sat in the living room and visited. Rob hadn't seen them in almost a year. As Rob had said, they were extremely nice and personable neighbors. They were happy to meet Janet and she could tell that their friendliness was genuine. After almost thirty minutes of catching up, Rob asked about Susan, his childhood friend and their only daughter. Martha proudly said she was studying toxicology at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She was doing very well and planned to stay for her PhD. Janet and Rob glanced at each other and smiled.

The contract between Sterling and the oil company had been copied and it was given to Rob. Sterling asked what he planned to do when reviewing it.

Rob replied, "Dad is concerned about whether all oil being extracted is being counted. He's noticed an unexplained difference in flow rates now versus a year ago. None of the initial survey reports had indicated that might happen."

Sterling asked to be excused for a few minutes. He returned with a large three-ring binder of the weekly extraction reports from the drilling company. He said, "Rob, I've not checked the flow rates like your dad has. Take this binder with you and see what you can tell and let me know. When this much money is involved, I shouldn't trust them like I have."

Rob continued, "I'm also contacting the trucking company to get their pickup and delivery reports. By contract, we have the right to audit their records and since your oil is going out mixed with ours, I'll be representing you as well as Dad. Is that okay with you?"

"Absolutely. I'm thankful you're taking this job on. Let me know when you find out anything."

As they stood to leave, Martha said, "Janet, we're so happy to meet you. Clayton and Rebecca are old friends and great neighbors. Please come again and bring them with you."

"Thank you. I hope we can all get together. I know you're as busy as they are right now so it might be later this spring."

Sterling replied, "Exactly. Our caves are dropping like crazy over here and all my hands are swamped."

Rob asked, "How many head do you have these days."

"We've cut the herd due to the drought but still have 2800 give or take." I don't have the irrigation capability your folks have. We're more dependent on surface water and deep wells."

Farewells were said including friendly hugs from Martha. Janet was impressed with the Goddard's and hoped to see them again soon. They might even be her neighbors one day.

When in the car, Janet said, "At least Susan was able to overcome her shock of seeing your massive one-inch cock and ginormous balls."

Rob replied, "No comment."

***

The next day, their last before returning to Denver, Rob and Janet saddled Ruby and Stacy for a ride around the lake to one of Rob's favorite spots. Janet did well on Ruby, and nothing happened that she couldn't control. When they came to a smooth trail, Rob showed her how to get Ruby to gallop. While it felt very different than a trot, Janet adapted quickly and enjoyed the feel of extra speed. Rob followed behind to make suggestions, but none were needed. Sure, she bounced too much but that can be corrected with practice. Her bottom would probably be more sore than normal.

Arriving at a cove where a large spring surfaced before entering the lake, Rob and Janet dismounted to see this natural phenomenon. As gallons of water per second gushed from the ground, lots of green vegetation happily grew near the fifty-five-degree water rushing by. Rob explained that all winter long, the grass and bushes would flourish no matter how cold the weather turned. The relative warmth of the water coming from deep in the earth would protect them.

She said, "I'm glad you brought me here. This is a very important time in our lives and there is no more beautiful place to discuss us than here. Your world, Rob, is becoming my world. Your parents are becoming my parents and your friends, my friends. I never thought I could love a man like I've grown to love you. Just when I think I know everything, you show me that I'm just beginning to know the whole you. You're a complex man. Your talents are many, but your ego is subtle and rarely shows. I think you're very much like your dad and that's a good thing. I love you very much and its only growing more each day."