Inherit the Sky (Lang Downs 1 ) by Ariel Tachna Read Free Book Online Page B

comfortable silence or pleasant conversation, Caine figured he’d live with the rest, and as they got to know each other better, maybe those moments of tension would come less often.
    “Not a thing, pup,” Macklin said, “except for you to open that gate so I can drive through.”
“S-s-sorry,” Caine said, not having realized Macklin would expect him to help. “I d-didn’t know.” He jumped out of the Jeep and opened the gate, waiting until Macklin drove through so he could latch it behind them. He ran back and climbed in.
“Don’t give me that beaten-down look,” Macklin scolded as he drove on. “I wasn’t yelling at you. No reason for you to get upset. If you get upset at every correction or suggestion, you aren’t going to last long out here.”
“I’ll learn,” Caine said again, more fiercely this time, as he cursed his stutter silently. Nobody ever had to guess if he was nervous or upset because his voice gave him away instantly.
Macklin let it go at that, steering the Jeep across the open pastureland, a rutted dirt path the only indication now of where they were going. Caine grabbed the armrest on the door as they bounced along, the bumps jarring him even at the much slower speed. If he had this to look forward to for the next four hours, he was going to arrive at Lang Downs so sore he wouldn’t be able to walk.
“This part of the road is used by the heavy delivery trucks so it gets torn up a lot faster than the roads deeper in the station,” Macklin said, seeing Caine’s distress. “Taylor doesn’t bother maintaining it more because it’s a lost cause. Once we get past the next gate, it won’t be quite so rough.”
Caine hoped that was true because he’d hit his head on the roof twice already, even with his seatbelt in place. “And on Lang Downs?” he asked.
“We’d never let a road get in this condition,” Macklin said, his pride in his home so clear in his voice that Caine felt his heart beat a little faster.
    “I’m glad. I know it’s not my home yet, but it will be, and I want to be as proud of it as you are.”
“Taylor runs his station as he sees fit,” Macklin replied with a shrug.“Michael ran Lang Downs on a different set of priorities.”
“And what set is that?” Caine asked curiously. “If I’m going to fit in, if I’m going to help you continue the tradition you’re so proud of, I have to know what I’m upholding.”
“He believed in working with the land instead of against it,” Macklin said. “He believed taking pride in even the smallest job led to pride in the whole, and he was never afraid to get his hands dirty next to the jackaroos. He never asked anyone to do something he wasn’t willing to do himself. Eventually he got to the point where he couldn’t do some things because of his age, but there wasn’t a job on the station he hadn’t done at one time or another, from shoveling sheep shit to patching up roads to doctoring sick lambs.”
“I can’t say I know how to do any of those things,” Caine admitted, “well, except maybe shoveling shit because how hard can that be, but I want to learn, and I want people to say the same thing about me when I’m Uncle Michael’s age. Especially the part about taking pride in what I do. Even when I worked in the mail room in a job that nobody else cared about, I tried to do my best because if I didn’t, I knew it, even if no one else did.”
“With that attitude, you can learn the rest,” Macklin said. He frowned suddenly and put on the brakes. “Stay here, pup.”
“What’s going on?” Caine asked, scanning the range and looking for whatever had caught Macklin’s attention. He didn’t want to disregard the foreman’s order, but he’d just finished saying he wanted to be remembered as being willing to pitch in with whatever needed to be done. That said, his ignorance at the moment might be more hindrance than help, so he stayed where he was, watching in case another pair of hands became