Alpha of the Ranch

Mr. Hemming

“Hey Ms. Vicky? There’s a call for you. They wanted to place a fairly large order.” 

Victoria gave a hum of acknowledgement to Chris as she continued milking. After a few more tugs, she dumped the milk into the reserve at her side before placing the pail in her lap. She shook her head a little to toss her curls around and looked over her shoulder at Chris. 

“How large is large?” She asked, checking her watch. They were making good time this morning and she didn’t really want to stop for a phone call. 

“Umm. Like, harvest one of the steers large. I asked if they were sure about how much they needed, and the woman kept insisting. She even got her boss on the phone to assure me. So I said I needed to get my boss and now, well here I am.” He gave an apologetic shrug. 

Victoria frowned up at him. “A whole steer? What are they feeding, 300 people? Or are they some of those weird preppers?” She stood up from her stool while she talked, grabbing the full milk bucket.

Chris shook his head. “I don’t know, but the guy sounds pretty sane and fairly confident. He said the price was fine, and I even quoted him our enemies and rivals price. Maybe he’s just some rich guy who wants to show off to his rich friends.” 

Victoria rolled her eyes, but gave a chuckle. She didn’t start this ranch with Micah to cater to rich people who wanted to feel fancy. She wanted to ensure as many people as possible could enjoy good, healthy food. Their “enemies and rivals” price was what they quote to people they thought just wanted to buy up resources before the “little people” could get to it. 

She gave the cow on the stand a good rub on the head. “Alright. I’ll go deal with this, you give this sweet girl a scoop of oats then send her back out. Think you can take over milking until I get back?”

Chris gave a vigorous nod. “Oh yeah absolutely. You know how bad I am talking to people.” He had already shoved the phone into her hand and put a scoop in the bowl. He was even getting ready to brush her! Victoria laughed as took the phone off mute and put it up to her ear, walking towards the house.

“Borealis Ranch, How may I help you?” she said, walking in the back door and towards this kitchen.

“Mrs. Monroe.” A smooth voice said on the other end. Victoria stopped walking as the musical notes of her own name rolled over her. “Thank you so much for taking my call. As I told your assistant, the price isn’t an issue. We have a special event coming up soon and I just wanted to procure some good meat for it. I’ve heard that your business was the way to go.”

Victoria was stunned into silence. There was something about this voice. Something good about the voice and she hadn’t felt good about a voice in a long time. What was happening to her?

“Hello? Mrs. Monroe?” The voice said. It sounded agitated and annoyed. Victoria realized she was just standing there, mouth agape and hadn’t said a word. What was she, a teenage girl? She shook her head. 

“Yes. I’m sorry. I’m here.” She whispered. Then she mentally smacked herself for whispering. Seriously get a grip! She cleared her throat. “Also just call me Vicky please. Yes, I heard you needed a large amount of meat. We don’t currently have that much so we’d have to harvest one of our steer. It’s a process so it really depends on when you’d need it Mr…” She trailed off unsure of the name that accompanied that velvety voice.

“Mr. Hemming. Oliver Hemming.” He said and he seemed to be breathless. Victoria took in a deep breath again. She wasn’t sure what was happening, but she wanted to end the call quickly before she made more of a fool of herself. 

“Well Mr. Hemming. Like I said it would be a process. We have two steer that would possibly be what you are looking for, but they are still a few weeks out from being harvest ready. Especially depending on how much meat you are looking for. You may need to contact one of the larger businesses around here to help you. I’m so sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”

“No wait!” He seemed to shout. Victoria was taken aback by the sudden outburst from the stranger. He cleared his throat and she thought she heard him let out a breath. “Mrs. Monroe I-”

“Vicky.” She cut him off. She was disappointed to hear she didn’t have as much bite to her response as she planned. 

“Vicky.” He seemed to breathe the name out, like it was all he had. “Could I...I mean..W..Would..” He stopped and she heard a huff of air through the phone. She wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but she felt herself excited to hear it. Which frustrated her. 

“Would it be possible for me to come to the ranch? Just to, umm, see the steer? We don’t need the meat for another month so that should work right?” It was more of a question than a statement. 

“Sure” she heard herself saying. It was on odd request, but not out of the ordinary. “We have a busy day today, but you can come by on Monday. Things are a bit slower then.”

“Perfect. Does noon work?”

“Yes. I’ll see you then and we can walk through the process and see if we could work together.” 

“I hope we can Vicky. I look forward to it.”