When you’re finished, we’ll head back up to the main house and I’ll let you go for the day.” Leon, the ranch manager, scratched his forehead as he lifted his Stetson in the steamy, late afternoon heat. “Yes, sir.” Sam stood back from the hay bale and wiped the sweat dripping from his forehead. It was unusually hot for May. On a day like this, he’d guzzle two gallon-size jugs of water, and he’d need more by the time he was done. He’d lost his shirt hours ago, and the brazen heat sizzled into the now-golden skin of his chiseled torso.When Sam finished spreading the hay through the pasture for the horses for the day, he met Leon in front of the stables.“I want to run something by you, Leon. Do you mind?”“Go ahead, son.” Leon’s expression teetered between tense and exhausted. He was down a few workers, which was why the ranch had hired Sam on as a temp without asking a whole lot of questions.“How’s the new scheduling procedure working out?”“Savin’ my ass.
