Free Second Chance Ranch: a Hope Springs novel (Entangled Bliss) by Cindi Madsen Page B

cheeseburger or five, will you? Consider it part of the job.” With that, he turned and left the barn, muttering to himself.
    Sadie set the brush down and stared after him, her breaths coming out shakier than they had earlier, when she’d been doing manual labor.

Chapter Six
    Sadie was getting used to her new life one day at a time, until two weeks of working at the ranch had passed. Her job included a lot of physical labor, but she loved working with the animals, and whenever she could, she’d ride a horse to the river so she could soak in the beauty of the rushing water and pine trees. Being there made her homesick almost, which was strange because she was home. Somehow she’d forgotten how many great things there were about Hope Springs, and lately she was seeing the place in a new light. Yes, it was small and there wasn’t a mall for miles, but there were also long stretches of untamed land and a peace she’d never felt in the city.
    Royce didn’t talk to her much, only to give instructions here and there, and more often than not he sent Cory to tell her what needed to be done next. So she focused on the work, how nice it was to do something different every day and not be confined to an office, and the fact that she was employed and blessedly tired by the time she made it back home—at least then her lack of a social life didn’t seem so depressing.
    “Hey,” Eli said as she brought Bud back inside the barn. “I was looking for you. Wanted to show you something.”
    As for the youth camp side of things, Addison still disliked her and didn’t bother hiding it, but the rest of the kids were easy to get along with, and she was always glad on the days when she got to work with Eli.
    He took the sketch pad out from under his arm and extended it to her. Sadie flipped through images of trees, horses, the river, and several of the other teens. There was one of Addison sitting on a tree stump, frowning at the moss-covered hook on the end of her fishing pole.
    “Did that one yesterday, while everyone was fishing. She was so mad she didn’t catch anything but moss,” he said with a laugh.
    Sadie had rolled her eyes at the girl’s pouting, but Eli’s drawing showed the humor in the situation, and guessing from the detail, he was still a bit intrigued with Addison’s beauty. “They’re amazing, Eli. You’re a great artist.”
    He shot her a shy, crooked grin. “Thanks.” He set his pad off to the side, took Bud from her, and started to undo the saddle. “I used to spend hours in my room with just my music, sketch pad, and pencils. Then my parents decided I wasn’t ‘engaged enough.’”
    Eli slid the saddle off Bud and Sadie took off the bridle. Once in a while he’d make a comment about home, but they were usually around too many other people for him to divulge much about it. “We had fights over stupid stuff, too. Just normal crap like cleaning my room, and when I did want to go out, they wouldn’t let me because my friends were”—Eli made air quotes—“‘bad influences.’”
    The kids’ counseling sessions were private, but Caroline had given Sadie the basic rundown of the teens, so she’d know how to better handle situations as they arose. So she knew Eli’s parents were concerned that he had anger issues and possibly a drug problem because of his mood swings. Caroline thought it was typical teenage stuff, surges of hormones and frustrations over no one understanding him.
    “So they told me I had to go out for sports.” Eli turned to face her and leaned back against one of the posts. “I’d played baseball in junior high and they wanted me to try out for the team. I did to get them off my back, suffered through practices I hated, and figured at least I could draw on the bus to away games. While the JV team was playing one night, I found a teammate picking on a guy from my art class. So I punched him.”
    Part of her wanted to give Eli a high five for standing up for his friend—she