Off the Beaten Path Read Online Free PDF Page B

moving around downstairs and the smell of fresh coffee. She was not in a hurry to get up and she took her time in the shower. She pulled her hair back into a pony tail, put on a pair of blue jeans out of her suitcase and threw on an old sweatshirt she found in the closet. As she stepped out of the guest bedroom and walked toward the top of the stairs she could smell breakfast cooking, it smelled like bacon with all the trimmings.
    “Morning,” was all she said as she reached the bottom of the stairs and started across living room and into the kitchen.
    Morning yourself, said Jack. I hope you’re not a vegetarian. Then he added when he noticed that she was wearing one of his old sweatshirts.
    “Nice sweatshirt, it looks better on you than it does on me.”
    “Where is Sam,” she asked, climbing onto one of the high back stools at the breakfast island.
    “Out chasing rabbit’s, it’s her morning ritual.” Jack Said.
    “Care to join me on the porch for a cup of coffee?” he asked.
    “Absolutely, sounds perfect.”
    When they stepped out onto the front porch Kristin took a long look around at what she couldn’t see last night in the darkness. There were two horses in a small pasture next to the barn, a buckskin quarter horse and a mare that looked like it had descended from finer breeding. Just to the north of where the horses were looking over the fence there was a much larger pasture with a small stream that ran through the middle of it. There were a couple hundred head of buffalo grazing in the ankle deep green grass.
    She pointed to the heard of buffalo and asked, “Who owns those?”
    He said simply, “Well I own them but Sam thinks they are for her personal amusement.”
    “Is that what you do for a living, raise buffalo?”
    “That’s one of the things I do,” he said with a sly smile on his face.
    She could tell he was enjoying watching her becoming immersed in his world. They pulled up a couple chairs and drank their coffee as they took in the morning.
    Sam came bounding around the house fresh from her latest attempt at catching one of the local rabbits. She barked at Jack and he reached into a metal box next to his chair and threw her a dog biscuit.
    How come you haven’t asked me about what I do for a living?” asked Kristin.
    I figure you will tell me what you want to tell me when you’re ready, he replied
    What else have you figured out, Doctor Evans?
    “Where do you want me to start?”
    “Your choice,” she responded.
    Okay, let’s start with something simple.
    Like what?
    “How about that place on your finger where a wedding ring used to be?” Jack said
    Kristin didn’t say a word; Jack could tell that he had gone too far. After a minute or two of silence Kristin forced a smile and asked, “What time does this place serve breakfast?”
    “I will get right on that,” Jack Said as he stood up and went inside without saying another word.
     

Chapter Eleven

     
    Kristin sat on the porch gently rocking back in her chair watching the two horses playing in the pasture and listening to her host banging around in the kitchen. She faintly heard what she thought sounded like Jack dropping a frying pan followed by a muffled “Damn it.” She laughed.
    Kristin was totally lost in her thoughts when Jack came out the front door carrying two plates of food complete with cloth napkins and fine silverware. Kristin set the coffee cup down on the table beside her and took the plate of food like she hadn’t eaten in days. She was not bashful about eating, and there was something about her present surroundings made the food taste that much better. She took a break between bites to compliment the cook, “You missed your calling Jack.”
    Kristin drew her legs up under her in the chair with her plate in her lap and asked, “Why Buffalo?”
    Jack took a deep breath gave her the crash course in Buffalo ranching 101.
    “To start with It takes twenty head of cattle to make the same profit as only one