Free The Reluctant Wrangler by Roxann Delaney Page A

someone to guide them, not simply discipline.
    “Kirby,” she called when she saw him headed for the boys’ cabins after morning classes. “Could you come help me in the barn?”
    Even from a distance she could see Kirby’s shy smile as he turned and walked her way. “What are we gonna do?” he asked when he caught up with her.
    “Just straighten up a bit. It isn’t hard work, but it’ll go faster with two of us working.”
    He nodded and walked with her to the barn, but said nothing. Once they were inside, she pointed to a pile of saddle blankets she’d made sure were in disarray. “If you could fold and stack those on the shelf, I’ll get the supplies we’ll need in a few days when you boys will start riding.”
    His eyes grew wide with a look of wonder, and his smile, sometimes hidden, grew, too. “Really?”
    “In a few days,” she cautioned, “but we want to be ready, right?”
    His head bobbed up and down, and he eagerly tackled the saddle blankets.
    She waited only a few minutes, knowing Mac, who’d gone to help Tanner with Rocking O chores, could be back at any time. When she felt the time was right, she asked, “Kirby, why do you have a pillowcase with snacks in it in your closet?”
    He didn’t look up from his work, but she saw his body stiffen before he answered. “I do?”
    “Yes,” she said, watching and waiting.
    Still without looking at her, he shrugged his small shoulders. “I don’t know.”
    She’d expected him to deny it, but she also felt certain he understood that what he’d done was wrong. “Come sit by me.”
    He glanced at her as she settled on the bench beneath the tack, and he hesitated. Without a word he placed the folded saddle blanket he held on the shelf with the others and slowly moved to sit next to her. He didn’t look at her, just sat silently, his head down.
    “Would you like to tell me why you took the food from the kitchen in the administration building?”
    His head came up and he looked at her.
    “I saw you run out the door with the pillowcase behind you,” she told him gently.
    He looked away to stare at his shoes. “Oh.”
    “People take things for a reason,” she continued. “If you’ll tell me why, we can talk about it and see if something needs to be changed so you don’t have to do it again.”
    He let out a soft sigh and began to speak, without looking at her. “When I still lived with him—my dad—there wasn’t a lot to eat, so I found food so I wouldn’t be hungry.”
    “Where did you find food?”
    He shrugged again. “There are places.” He turned to look at her. “Did you know restaurants throw away a whole lot of good food?”
    She imagined him scrambling through a Dumpster, looking for something to eat, and had to suppress a shiver of horror. “Yes, they do.”
    He turned away. “And sometimes I stole from stores. An apple, a sandwich—not much, though. I didn’t think they’d miss anything.”
    “Have you taken anything from the kitchen here before?”
    At first he shook his head, but then he stopped. “Yeah.”
    “You don’t need to do that, Kirby. We have plenty of food, don’t we? Breakfast, lunch, supper and sometimes even a snack.”
    “I know.”
    “So you won’t do it again, right?”
    He nodded.
    “And if you promise not to, I’ll make sure that any time you need something extra, all you have to do is come tell me, and I’ll give you a snack. Is that okay?”
    Nodding again, he looked at her. There was a touch of humility in his eyes, but it was overshadowed by gratitude. “I promise I won’t do it again.”
    Nikki smiled. As long as he knew he wouldn’t have to go hungry, she was certain he wouldn’t do it again. “Okay, then, let’s finish this job and go find a snack.”
    His head tilted to the side as he looked at her. “Why?”
    “Because I need one.”
    It wasn’t long before they had everything tidied, and Kirby was on his way to his cabin to retrieve the pillowcase with the food to