The Lonely Heart (7 page)

“Yeah.” Grady stopped talking. Isaiah waited, knowing Grady’s silences just as well as his conversation. This was the ‘wanting to bring up a difficult topic’ silence.

Grady cleared his throat, studying the scuffed tips of his boots. “You know, I’ve been doing some thinking. What would you say to not dipping so heavily into the cattle side of things next year?”

“We’re a cattle ranch. What, you wanna start breeding ostriches or something? ’Cause if so, I’m gone. I’ll wrangle damn near anything, but I draw the line at birds.”

As planned, the words forced a startled chuckle from Grady. Isaiah leant back in his chair and fixed his attention on Grady. The big cowboy had that look again, the one that popped up when he started plotting. Fortunately for Isaiah, the man’s plots were usually good. And profitable.

Well, most of the time, anyway.

“Look up Esther Farms,” Grady said instead of answering. Isaiah obeyed. His mouth swung open.

“Oh, no,” he declared. “Hell no. Do you have any idea how much one of those suckers eats? I think I’d rather have the birds.”

Grady bit his lip. “I’ve always liked ’em,” he defended.

Isaiah glared balefully at the picture staring up from the computer screen. Heavy muscles and a strong body narrowed into furry feet as the Shire horse stared blankly back at him. “And what, exactly, are we going to do with them?” Isaiah asked pointedly.

“Breed them. Show them. Their numbers drop every year. We’re stable financially.”

Isaiah looked at the expression on Grady’s face and bit back a groan. “Seriously, man?”

Grady looked away, a dull flush creeping up his face.

Shit. Why couldn’t Isaiah say no to that look? Damn it, Josh was going to play him like a master in a few years if he didn’t toughen up.

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THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 43

Isaiah sighed. “We can talk about it, I suppose. Just…let’s get set for the winter first, huh? There’s plenty of time before spring to make a decision. And while we might be in the black, no sense digging ourselves into a hole.”

“I suppose,” Grady murmured.

The look on the big rancher’s face was nearly enough to make Isaiah give in right then and there, but he stifled the urge. He was, after all, Grady’s business manager. It was up to him to keep Grady from chasing butterflies.

It was his job. Even if it sometimes made him feel about as big as a grasshopper.

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THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 44

“Josh!” Isaiah bellowed, planting his hands on his hips and throwing his head back.

Silence. He stomped off the porch, muttering to himself.

Isaiah snagged the first person he saw, grabbing Tommy’s arm as the big cowboy passed. “You seen Josh?”

“Not lately,” Tommy said. “Why, you lose him again?”

“I did not—” Isaiah cut himself off. It wasn’t Tommy’s fault that Isaiah was in a piss-poor mood.

Of course, the shit-eating grin he received wasn’t exactly helping Tommy’s cause.

“You’re a real jerk, you know that?”

“I aim to please.” Tommy grinned again.

Isaiah pinched the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes and tried to rein in his temper. All day he’d been wrestling with legal crap, forms and government regulations. Who knew so much was required just to get a kid into school? It was utterly ridiculous. He had an appointment set up with the principal over at the Barton school and Josh needed to go with him, but that wouldn’t work if he couldn’t
find
Josh.

“Just help me look, would you?” Isaiah asked. “And no snarky comments, please. I’m already running late.”

“Can’t you go without Josh?” Joseph sauntered up and clapped a hand on Isaiah’s shoulder. “Barton’s a bit of a haul. You could make sure it’s what you want to do before you go getting the kid involved.”

“I don’t really have many options,” Isaiah pointed out. “Josh needs to go to school and I’m not about to send him to Edmonton.”

Edmonton was the nearest town to the ranch. It was also a place to be avoided, at least in Isaiah’s mind. It was full of typical small-town bigotry. No way was he going to expose Josh to that. Word on the street—or rather, according to Grady—was that Barton was a much more liberal, accepting place.

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THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 45

“Besides, the principal mentioned something about tests,” Isaiah added. “Joseph, you can help look, too. Josh was supposed to muck out stalls. Start there. And if he didn’t finish, Tommy can do it.”

Joseph nodded, sent Tommy a glare that said ‘behave’ and took off.

“Fuck a duck.” Tommy scowled. If there was one job the big cowboy avoided, it was stall duty. He claimed they didn’t make the rakes long enough for someone of his height.

“Watch your language,” Isaiah snapped. He’d made the resolution that they all needed to cut back on the cussing, now that Josh was around.

“Why?” Tommy asked with his patented innocent grin. “It’s not like the squirt’s gonna pick up the words and start cussing back.”

“Tommy!” Isaiah yelled, shocked that Tommy would say something so…hell, he didn’t even have the words.
Damn it all, now I’ll have to fire the man and Tommy is a good—

A muffled sound stopped his thoughts dead in their rambling tracks. He looked over in the direction of the small snort. Josh was perched on the fence, fist shoved in his mouth to stifle his laughter. Isaiah didn’t know how he’d missed the kid earlier, especially as Josh looked quite comfortable, as if he’d been there a while.

“See?” Tommy said. “The squirt doesn’t mind.”

Heck, even Grady was smirking. Lungeing a horse in the corral behind Josh, he’d been listening to every word and his amusement was plain.

Isaiah threw up his hands. “Hell, I give up,” he yelled.

“Watch your language, boss,” Tommy said sombrely.

Isaiah growled. “Come on, Josh,” he almost bellowed. “Change your shoes first,” he told the kid as Josh passed. “I don’t want piles of manure in my truck.”

Josh smirked and waved at their audience. Isaiah growled again and stomped off the sound of raucous laughter behind him, deep and booming mingling with high and light.

From in front of him, small giggles sounded.

His men were really having a bad influence on Josh. But Isaiah smiled once he was out of sight, anyway.

It took nearly forty-five minutes to make the drive from the Branch to Barton, although part of that had to do with the flock of sheep that had taken up residence in the middle of Jackson Creek Road. Damn smelly, stubborn creatures.

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THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 46

Josh had been uncharacteristically still during the trip—his little body had almost been radiating worry. Even now, as they crossed the nearly deserted parking lot, Josh clung so tightly to Isaiah’s hand that his fingers ached. Isaiah suppressed a sigh, knowing any attempt to soothe frayed nerves would be ignored. Again. Hell, Isaiah had talked the whole way here, until his voice started to go raspy. Only time would cure this problem.

Isaiah pulled open the glass-fronted door, ushering Josh inside. Empty schools always gave him the creeps. They echoed and made strange noises and generally freaked him out.

Maybe he’d seen one too many episodes of Buffy.

The school wasn’t entirely empty, just emptied of students. It wasn’t natural—the halls should be crowded and loud, full of kids hurrying places they mostly didn’t want to go.

A thin man waited for them on the other side of the double doors. He was short, younger than Isaiah had expected, with a shock of messy brown hair and a bright, friendly smile. Isaiah squeezed Josh’s hand and extended the other to greet the man. Tony Malloy, the principal of Barton Elementary School, had a firm handshake, both confident and welcoming.

Some of Isaiah’s own tension relaxed.

“Isaiah, right? I’m Tony. And this must be Josh.” Tony turned his smile onto Josh, who tried to hide behind Isaiah’s legs. Isaiah rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, this is Josh. Gotta say, I’ve never seen him like this. Usually it’s all I can do to keep track of him.”

“School can be a scary thing,” Tony sympathised. “Come on with me and I’ll introduce you to Lydia. She’ll be Josh’s teacher and I do believe she has a few things for him to do while you and I talk.”

Josh dug in his heels and refused to move. Isaiah sighed and asked Tony, “Can you give us a minute?”

“Sure,” Tony replied. “When you’re ready, head straight down the hall, third door on the left, should be the only one open.”

Isaiah turned all his attention to Josh, squatting down and tilting that sharp chin up so he could look directly into those familiar green eyes.

“What’s wrong, buddy? This isn’t like you at all. It’s just us here, no other kids, no big deal.”

Josh scuffed at the vinyl floor with his toes and stubbornly shook his head.

“Josh, talk to me, please.”

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THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 47

Josh looked up and gave Isaiah a venomous glare.

“Oh. So that’s it.” Isaiah sighed. “I talked to Tony for quite a while on the phone. He says it’s not going to be a problem, that Lydia is a great teacher. Your new principal seems like a very nice man, and he assured me they’d do everything they could to help you fit in.”

“
But I never will!
” The gestures were short, angry. Isaiah tugged the skinny frame in for a tight hug.

“Give it a try, kiddo,” he said, running his hand over the baby-soft hair. “I promise, this isn’t a punishment. If you really, absolutely hate it, we’ll find another option.”

They would, too. What that option would be, Isaiah didn’t know. He wasn’t exactly qualified to homeschool Josh.

He didn’t really think it would be necessary. Josh was resilient, with a friendly and outgoing personality. Isaiah had the feeling the boy would fit in just fine, once he got over the newness of it all.

“Come on,” Isaiah urged, pulling back. “Today’s visit is harmless. You’ll meet your teacher, fill out some papers, then we can go home. Grady was talking about us all taking a ride later, maybe hauling some food along and having a picnic.”

Hey, Isaiah wasn’t above bribing. Not at all.

Josh sighed, his little face serious and looking far too old for his age. Isaiah stood, ruffling the boy’s hair, before grabbing his hand again. This time Josh came, albeit slowly, sneakers dragging along the floor.

Tony was waiting inside the classroom with a woman who looked nothing like any teacher Isaiah had had in school. She had short black hair, spiked at the top with deep blue tips. Her makeup was dramatic and she even had a tiny stud in her nose.

Drawings were scattered along the walls of the small room, desks askew. A coat rack in the corner sported one lone, tiny jacket. The building, at least, was average in the extreme.
To
make up for its staff
, Isaiah mused wryly.

“Lydia, I want you to meet Isaiah Preston. And this, of course, is his brother Josh.”

“Hey, Josh,” Lydia said with a bright, welcoming grin. Josh must have liked what he saw, because he waved. And then, to Isaiah’s pleased surprise, she repeated her greeting in sign language.

“Lydia started working with a local woman the day I told her about Josh. Between the two of them, they have some wonderful ideas for integrating ASL into the curriculum.”

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THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 48

“Wow, that’s—”

“Great for the kids, right?” Tony interrupted Isaiah, casting a warning look at him.

Isaiah closed his mouth and decided to just go with it.

“Why don’t you two go take care of boring paperwork and talk about whatever needs talking about?” Lydia ordered. Gently and sweetly, but it was still an order. “Josh and I will get acquainted.”

Isaiah hesitated for a minute, suddenly reluctant to leave Josh alone. But Tony grabbed his arm, agreeing cheerfully, and gave Isaiah no choice but to go along.

A few minutes later and Isaiah found himself in a principal’s office for the first time since high school. He squirmed in his chair. Dang, but this brought back memories.

Uncomfortable, irritating memories. He couldn’t quite get rid of the vague, nagging feeling that he was in trouble. Ridiculous, of course. He was just here to talk to the man about enrolling Josh in school, not to get in trouble for punching Billy Christians in the nose. Not like the little shit hadn’t deserved it, after all, but that was damn close to twenty years ago.

Strange, the shit a person remembered when they were nervous.

“You’re sure Josh will do okay here?” Isaiah blurted out, searching for reassurance. He was so new at this parenting stuff. Isaiah just knew he was going to screw it all up.
Then Josh
will be one of those damn troubled teenagers you see on television and—

Tony’s pen had been scratching madly as he put his signature on some complicated government form, but he paused to give Isaiah a considering look, blessedly cutting off Isaiah’s inner tangent into idiocy.

“He’ll do just fine here,” the principal finally assured Isaiah gently. “Our kids aren’t typical.”

Before Isaiah could ask for clarification on that odd statement, Tony continued, “May I ask you a somewhat personal question?”

Isaiah shrugged. “Go for it.”

“Is there a reason you’re putting him here instead of at Edmonton?”

Isaiah paused, but it wasn’t really a difficult question. It had taken some doing, and he’d been forced to jump through a couple of hoops to get Josh into the Barton school district.

But as the Branch wasn’t parcelled out to a school district, and both were funded by the same county, it had ended up being possible.

“I’ve heard that Barton is a little bit more…accepting than Edmonton.”