THE WILL 12

roberto was scurrying around as they unloaded the truck load of hay. they were haveing a hard time getting it al under the shed s roof, but finally they got most of it under cover. roberto brought toby the invoice. he had a dozen counter checks and wrote one out to dewitt. and then paid the hay squeeze in cash. in the corrals the cattle were steady working on the scrapehay. tobey had left the gate open to the pasture and th cattle out there were comming in and eating the scrap hay right along with the sale barn cattle. tobey decided he would go to the north part of the pasture and check fences and maybe find more water improvements. he told roberto he would be late getting back he then mounted one of the good horses his uncle left and headed out.like the rest of the fenceing this line headd north was in excellent shape it was quite a ways farter to the north corner than it was to the south. he didnt know who ran on the country to the north . he vowed to find out. he saw no cow tracks along the fence line on either side. as he jogged along his mind kept drifting back to alexis. he knew he was going to step into the middle of a bad situation. but he rationalized it by possibly leasing their ranch. he laughed to himself as he rode along remembering the line from a song he had heard,THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT THE FIRST TIME, BUT I DID IT MYSELF THE SECOND TIME. it was just getting dark when he rode back into the corrals. he was pleased with every thing he had found. the fence was in great shape,he had found two dirt ponds holding rain run off, and he had found another bunch of cattle he hadnt seen yet. the cows had calves that wernt branded. more cow work. he liked it. he pulled the saddle from the sweated out horse and washed his back off before turninghim out. then he headed to the house. on the front door was a note with a phone number on it. he took it and went in the house. after turning on a light he could see it was written by alexis. saying to call her. he sat down next to the phone and dialed the number. on the second ring her syurupysweet voice answered. "would you like to come to supper?" she asked after he identified himself. tobey thought a moment and the temptation was great" i better pass, i just got in and i got some book work to do. how is hi this afternoon"? " he is somewhat better. he may get to come home in a couple of days. imr going to keep him here instead of letting him go to the ranch alone. it wont give me much privacey when he is here tho." she had a depressed sound in her voice. tobey gulped and was about to change his mind about supper.. deep down he knew supper meant breakfast too. but he held strong" well maybe you can come here and ill cook you supper. hows that?" he asked. " oh i think that would be great, just dont put us off to long."she almost whispered. " ill come by the hospital in the morning. if hi is up to it we need to put the partnership deal together." tobey changed the subject. " ill be there around 9 in the morning, that ok?" she asked. " thats good for me" tobey was trying to hold the line, but her voice was breaking dowen his defenses. " ill look forward to it sleep well ill see you tomorrow."tobey knew he wasnt going to sleep well. but until the partnership was finalized he needed to stay in his own bed.......alone.