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Always riding on, always lonesome, never finding peace.
That was the life Jess had been living. A life full of dust, strangers, and anything but peace.
Restless nights under cloudy skies with nothing but his thoughts and the chirping of crickets to keep him company.
Warm, blustery days where the nearest town was still thirty miles away, and the only way to pass the time was to count the tumbleweeds that passed by.
Winters were the worst. Everything covered in a dreary shade of brown or a soggy gray. Dead trees and raging blizzards. Jess could never find peace in the snow. Only faint memories of once happy Christmases that were long gone and would never return.
Spring would bring a small sense of hope. Hummingbirds flitting from flower to flower, beautiful shades of green replacing the dull, lifeless colors of winter. But the hope never lasted and the loneliness always took its place.
But one year, the hope remained.
He stumbled across the Sherman Ranch by accident, but it was safe to say that it was one of the best things that had ever happened to him.
And as he stood out on the porch one summer night, he smiled softly to himself as he thought about the three people inside he had come to care about so, so much. He would never be able to put it into words, but Jonesy, Andy, and Slim had done more for him than they would ever know. And he was so grateful.
“You’ve been out here for a while. You doing okay?”
Jess was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of Slim’s voice. He slowly made his way over to Jess’s side, gently resting a hand on his shoulder as he gazed at the night sky.
Jess laughed softly as he nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
Jess had finally found his peace.