Learnin' The Ropes by Shanna Hatfield Read Free Book Online Page A

they looked made Lexi shake her head at her wayward thoughts.
    She walked into the kitchen to find Baby waiting near the refrigerator, wagging her tail. The dog somehow managed to open doors if they weren’t locked and could be found just about anywhere on the place at any given time. If she wasn’t so well behaved, her failure to recognize boundaries could have been a problem.
    “Baby, what are you doing in here? You know the rules about being inside.” Lexi rubbed the dog’s head, earning a slobbery lick to her hand. “I can’t believe you like our new mechanic. Other than Swede and Dad, you just tolerate everyone else. What is up with that, Baby?”
    The dog barked once then gave Lexi a look she was sure was a canine smile. Lexi gave her a good scratch along her back then ushered the dog outside. After locking up the house, she went to the office where she sorted through the mess her dad made of the ranch books during the year he was ill. Instead of focusing on the entries in the ranch journal, her mind wandered to a tall broad-shouldered mechanic who listened to rock music from the eighties.
     
     

Lesson Three
    Learn the Native Tongue
     
    “If yer gonna buckaroo at this here spread,
    ya got to learn the lingo.”
     
    “I’m not kidding, sis,” Ty said as his sister laughed.
    “You’ve got to be teasing, Ty, because nothing that ridiculous can be true.” Without success, Beth tried to contain her laughter. She was thrilled Ty called on his day off so they could have a nice chat. Nate was trying to reconfigure their sparse furnishings to find room for a crib since the baby was due to arrive in just three weeks.
    “I’m dead-honest serious, Beth.” There had been many moments in the past week when Ty questioned if he’d fallen down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Except this one was full of foul smells, dirty animals, and a language he was trying very hard to understand. “I called Jimmy ‘dude’ the other day and he threatened to punch me. I didn’t know dude was a term they use to refer to people like me who grew up in civilization and prefer not to walk around with animal waste covering their clothes. You wouldn’t believe all the odd ways they have of talking. I feel like I need one of those Idiot’s Guidebooks to figure out what they are saying.”
    “It can’t be that bad,” Beth said, curtailing her amusement. She knew Ty was struggling to adjust to his new environment. “You’re smart, you can figure this out.”
    “I could if there was any reason or rhyme to what they say. The other day I was at the gas station and someone said ‘nice outfit,’ so I looked down at my jeans and sweatshirt and said, ‘thanks.’ The guy gave me a disgusted look and pointed to my pickup and said, ‘no, your outfit.’ Swede said they call pickups outfits. Apparently mine falls in the nice category.”
    Ty sighed when Beth launched into another round of giggles. “You wouldn’t believe the way they blend words together either. Instead of ‘you,’ it’s ‘ya,’ and ‘you are’ is ‘yer.’ Anything that ends in ‘ing’ automatically gets shortened by a letter like ‘running’ is ‘runnin’.’ You’ll love this…” Ty inflected a nasally twang into his voice. “I’m fixin’ to learn ya up in how to speak our lingo, pard.”
    Beth laughed so hard Ty could hear her gasping for air.
    “Ty, you’ve got to stop. I can’t keep laughing like this. Stop, stop, stop,” she begged before he could further educate her on the language of his new home.
    When she regained the ability to speak, she released a long breath. “Other than the language barrier, how is everything else going?” Beth easily read between the lines. She could discern Ty was homesick, but also enjoying his work.
    “Good. I’ve learned a lot this week about big equipment repairs. The crew at the John Deere dealership has been really helpful when I’ve called with questions,” Ty said, thinking about all he