scurlock | oom: barlow estate (5)

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oom: barlow estate (5)

After the conversation he'd had with Samuel on Sunday, Jay knew (in his heart) that he couldn't hang around the ranch much longer. There was harvest work to be done, and he spent the next few days putting in long, hard hours in the Texas sun. He was busting his ass from sunrise to sunset, and nights were spent writing things down in his notebook.

The day before he left, he did another ride around the property (this time not falling off his damn horse) and he made sure that anything he wanted to take with him (that notebook, a few peach pits wrapped in paper) was packed in his bag. He made certain that his gun was clean. He did his laundry, and grabbed himself a bath.

Saturday morning he was up with the sun, and out in the stables. Only this time, it wasn't saddling up his horse for a day's ride around the ranch. Cortez was eating his breakfast while he carefully brushed down the horse's hide.

If he was a little distracted, well, leaving a place (the girl you'll fall in love with someday) behind did that to a man.

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He had caught Jim's attention, certainly, but the older man hadn't made much of it. Not exactly being the 'chatty' sort, he figured a man was entitled to his privacy.

But after a few cups of coffee in the main house, and Jay still there, brushing down Cortez (saddlebags heavy), he finally moseyed over to the stall and leaned against the jamb.

"So this is it, then?"

That gets his attention, when he's spoken to. He shakes his head slightly to pull himself out of the fog his brain is hiding in, and then he looks up at Jim, makes eye contact.

"Yeah, it is."

He inhales sharply and spits over his shoulder, nodding his head.

His expression reads somewhere along the lines of, 'Well, y'lasted longer than I thought you would.'

"Safe travels, then," he says, and turns from the stall.

However, on one of his trips inside, he had mentioned to the boss that Jay was out saddling up early, and the boss was now coming out to see him.

He glances from the boy, to the horse, to the boy again.

And he nods, once.

"Jay."

"Appreciate that," he tells Jim.

Cortez is brushed, and he's checking the last buckles and straps on the saddle, making sure the load (there's not much at all in those saddlebags, and just a bedroll tucked against the back) is even on the animal's frame.

He notices when her father walks in.

"Mornin', sir."

"Mornin'."

There's a pause as Samuel Barlow brushes his nose absently, glancing around the stall.

"Headin' somewhere?" he asks.

"Well I was gonna head into the house after I finished saddling him up," he pats the horse's side lightly; this garners a snort in response from the still-eating Cortez. "Come in t'talk with you. Figured I'd let you git your coffee first."

He steps back, away from the horse, eyes downcast.

"I was thinkin', about what we talked about the other day."

He steps closer to his young employee. He's a good few inches taller, which means he has to tip his head downward just slightly to get a good look at his downcast eyes.

"Yeah?" he prompts quietly, thumbs in his back pockets.

At length, Jay does look up at him.

"'Bout findin' someplace to lay your head at night. I think...I think I got an idea 'bout where to start lookin'." He settles a hand on the back of his neck and swallows lightly. "I was thinkin' about headin' out after breakfast."

(Because he knows Samuel won't let him leave without eating first.)

(He's got that much right.)

Samuel nods slowly, brow creased in concentration.

"An' where is that?" he prompts gently.

"Well sir, when I was up in Galveston...they was advertisin' land sales up Colorado way. And I..." I ain't wanted in Colorado, either. "It's safe for me t'be there."

That'll explain that part of it.

"Or maybe I'll find somethin' on the way, get myself work somewhere close...I mean I know I'm young, but banks give folk loans and such all the time on less than I got."

Which isn't very much.

He drops his hand to his side. "I just...I guess I gotta start lookin', you know, sir?"

He nods again.

He understands. All of it. He gets it.

He smiles. Proud.

"I know, son. There... there isn't any time like the present."

He pauses, drops his voice low.

"You know you've got work here, and a bed, too, anytime you need it. I mean that, now. You're welcome in my home."

That makes Jay smile.

"Thank you, sir," he says honestly. "That means...means a lot more than I can say, to be honest, knowin' that."

He offers the older gentleman a hand.

He takes it without hesitation.

"Good luck to you, Jay," he says, shaking the boy's hand firmly. "All the best. Really. Think you deserve it."

He nods and shakes Samuel's hand, before the two men turn to head for the house for breakfast.

"So, when you were talkin' the other day, 'bout sendin' your girl off to school...what schools were you lookin' at? You consider Tulane at all?"

"Tulane? Up over in Louisiana?" Samuel asks.

"Yessir. It's a mighty fine school, beautiful campus...and I ain't just sayin' that cause I seen it often. Started out as a medical school, they got some fine teachers there, so I hear. Not just medicine any longer, though...they do most everything. It's a few miles outside'a downtown New Orleans proper."

A slight shrug.

"If we could have spared me, 'fore we lost the farm, I was lookin' to attend."

"Is that right?" says Samuel, sounding genuinely interested. "I'll have to look into it, then. Katie's never been outta the state; I'm sure she'd love it over there."

Even if it would break his heart, having her so far off.

Once they enter the main house, word gets passed along to the farmhands at the breakfast table that Jay is moving on. Most meet the news with a passive sort of disappointment, shaking his hand and wishing him the best of luck. Some, though -- John included -- are genuinely put out.

"Shoot, I was gonna have y'teach me somma them fancy tricks of yers!" he complains, whipping his gun from his holster and spinning it, before slipping it back into his belt.

Katherine stays relatively quiet throughout the whole meal.

After breakfast, she heads for her room to begin her studies, and Samuel leads Jay into his study.

"This should about settle this week's wages," he says, palming a healthy wad of cash into Jay's hand.

It's more than Jay earned. By quite a bit.

He glances down at the cash (and it's not hard to tell that it's more than he's earned for the week's worth of work, especially still having a tender shoulder that Samuel kept an eye on) and then looks back up at Samuel.

He looks back down at the cash.

Then back up at Samuel again.

"...sir."

(He gets the feeling that arguing might be pointless.)

Samuel replaces his pen in the inkwell on his desk, after making a note in his ledger, and looks up at Jay easily.

As if everything were normal.

"It ain't easy for a young man on his own out there. Especially if you're plannin' on goin' more than a thousand miles with nothing but that horse of yours."

Matter-of-factly.

He opens his mouth to protest again.

Then closes it, and looks down at the cash, before he nods slightly.

"I...I won't waste it, sir. Thank you, so much."

It's obvious that he's not one to accept charity, but...this isn't charity. This is different, he knows that, and it makes it easier to accept.

He nods, once.

"I trust you'll do the right thing with it," he says, coming around his desk and settling on the edge, arms crossed and eyes unflinching.

He sees the expression on Jay's face, and smiles.

"You earned it, boy. You keep yourself safe out there, y'hear?"

"I hear you, sir."

Jay gives the man another nod, and another handshake.

He pauses, once he steps back a little.

"You...you take care of yourself, Boss."

Watch out for those Crocker boys.

"I surely will," he grins.

He does hope, however, that he'll be seeing the young man again someday.

(And not just for the sake of his daughter.)

If the young man has anything to say about it, he will definitely be back.

He smiles.

"Be seein' you," he replies, nodding his head politely before taking his leave. He stops to talk with Henry, and with John, before making his way out to the stables. Most of the other hands are already out, having begun their chores for the day. Cortez is tied to a rail, pulled from the stall (thanks to Jim) and ready to go.

The two men share their 'goodbyes' (a nod and a handshake, a joke about the fact that Jim's hat will be safer, now) and after giving both those dogs a good scritch, he saddles up and heads out, alone.

Only he's not alone for long.

(After leaving his study, Samuel is disappointed -- however, not all that surprised -- to find that Katherine is not, in fact, in her room studying. He only needs one guess to figure out where she is.

Beaut, too, is gone.)

Cortez isn't going all that fast down the lane, so it isn't hard for Beaut to catch up, flying across the green as she is, on the other side of the fence.

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