Outlast the Night by Ariel Tachna Read Free Book Online Page B

hire on these young guys, all fresh-faced and convinced they were setting off on some grand adventure. Half of them didn’t even make it through a single season, much less come back.”
    “I’m not working under any illusions,” Sam said, “but I have a roof over my head, food to eat, and a job that uses my skills. That’s a little hard to complain about.”
    “We’ll see what you say in the middle of July, when it’s freezing cold, or in the middle of December when it’s so hot you can barely breathe,” Jeremy said.
    “That sounds like a challenge to me,” Sam said, not quite believing his own temerity. “What do I get if I make it? If I last a year?”
    “All the beer you want for a year,” Jeremy replied without batting an eyelash. “If you make it through April of next year, I’ll buy you beer for a year.”
    “Deal,” Sam said, holding out his hand to shake on it.
    Jeremy sealed the deal, and if Sam didn’t pull his hand back as quickly as he might once have done, no one seemed at all bothered by it.
    “I asked Macklin if I could take the supply run tomorrow,” Jeremy said, changing the subject completely. “Anybody need anything while I’m in town?”
    “I could use a couple of things,” Chris said. “I’ll make you a list.”
    “No, I’m good,” Jesse said.
    “Do you think I could come with you?” Sam asked. “I don’t have much of anything I’ll need for the winter up here, but boots and coats aren’t something I can ask someone else to buy for me.”
    “There’s an extra seat in the ute,” Jeremy said with a shrug. “The drive’ll go faster with someone to talk to.”
    It wasn’t as enthusiastic a response as Sam might have hoped, but it was better than a refusal. Sam reminded himself Jeremy had a history with Neil, even if Sam didn’t know the details, and that of course Jeremy would be cautious since he didn’t know if Sam would share Neil’s opinions. “Thanks. What time are you planning on leaving?”
    “As soon as we’re done with breakfast,” Jeremy replied. “It’s a four-hour drive to Boorowa.”
    “I’ll be ready.”
    Caine stood up at the front of the room and whistled for everyone’s attention before they could say anything else.
    “I want to thank everyone for their hard work this season,” he began. “None of you had to take a chance on Lang Downs when we hired you in the spring, whether this was your first season on the station or another of many. None of you had to take a chance on me. This year could have been a disaster for us. New owner, a lot of new men, but it wasn’t, and that’s due to your hard work, particularly Neil, Kyle, and Ian, who worked harder than I would have asked of anyone. We had a good summer, and you’ll all find a little something extra in your final paycheck in the morning. I wish you all the best this winter and look forward to seeing you again next spring.”
    The jackaroos all applauded at the news of a bonus.
    “He’s too generous,” Jesse muttered. “Half of them barely even earned their actual paycheck, much less a bonus.”
    “He can afford to be generous,” Sam said. “Whether they deserve it or not, the station is in the black.”
    “That’s good news,” Jeremy said. “I don’t know if this was truth or Devlin being a bastard, but I heard rumors the station had a rough year before Lang died, maybe even a rough couple of years.”
    Sam didn’t say anything since he wasn’t sure how much Caine was comfortable sharing with his employees, but it hadn’t just been rumors. The numbers hadn’t been bad enough to put the station in danger, but Sam had seen a couple of years in the red as he’d looked back through the accounts to get a sense of trends. Weather and circumstances beyond the graziers’ control had played into that, Sam knew, but Caine had turned it around. He and Macklin were a formidable team.
    Jeremy grinned. “Of course, knowing Devlin, he probably made it all up to deflect