Chapter Four
Maribelle scrutinized her brother carefully. “There’s something different about you.”
He situated his saddle at the back of the trailer.
“I hope so, since I’m going out on my own, with a place that belongs solely to me.
No more living in the bunkhouse to prove that Dad isn’t giving me preferential treatment since I’m the only son.
I saw a difference in you when you bought your ranch. ”
She eyed him even closer. “Nope, this isn’t that. You’ve met someone that has you questioning your playboy ways, haven’t you?”
“I plead the fifth, and I’m not talking about it,” he declared.
“Why?”
“Way too early to even think of it as a relationship,” he answered as he led his horse, Star, into the trailer. “Give me a hug and bring my nieces to see me when you have a few days off.”
“I will if you introduce me to the woman who is making you—”
He wrapped his sister up in his arms and hugged her tightly before she could finish the sentence. “We’ll talk about that when you come to Katy, but not today. Love you, Sissy.”
“Love you, Bubba,” she said, using the nickname she only called him these days when they were alone. “Drive safe,
and text me when you get to the ranch. What are you going to name it?”
“Right now, the brand is Lazy M. I kind of like it, and the owners sold it along with everything else, including mineral rights.”
“If you decide to change it, give me a call, and I’ll help you come up with something,” Maribelle said. “See you in a few weeks, but know that I’m not going to forgive you for taking Elijah with you to be your foreman. I wanted him to move with me, but he wouldn’t even consider it.”
“He likes me better than you.” Miles chuckled, then got into his truck and drove away.
When he reached the end of the long lane, he checked the rearview mirror before he turned south.
There was Elijah in his truck right behind him.
The weathered old guy barely came up to Miles’s shoulder, and lately he had begun to walk a little slower and sit a little longer.
But Miles knew from experience that Elijah was the smartest man in all of Texas when it came to the ranching business and would be his greatest asset on his new place.
Elijah would be the one who helped him hire ranch hands, those who would live in the bunkhouse and those who went home at night. He would also take care of handing out the day-to-day chores while Miles worked on the bigger issues.
They were a hundred miles down the road when Miles’s phone rang. He touched the accept icon on the dashboard screen. “Need a break?”
“Yep, and one of those big cups of sweet tea. I’m so dry I’m spittin’ dust,” Elijah answered. “Plus, my scrawny butt feels like the bones are about to break through the skin.”
“Exit coming up in one mile,” Miles told him.
“Thanks, Miles.”
After thinking of himself as Bubba for a few days, his real name sounded strange in his ears. “No problem. I need to stretch my legs and get a snack. We’re about a third of the way.”
“I’m not sure I would have agreed to do this if I’d known it was that far,” Elijah said. “I haven’t been more than fifty miles from the Circle C in more’n thirty years.”
“Then thank goodness you didn’t realize how long it took to drive three hundred miles.
But I guarantee when you see this land, you’ll be glad that you did.
” Miles took the exit and pulled into the nearest truck stop-slash-convenience store.
He parked out at the far end of the lot and checked on Star before he went inside.
Elijah had already filled the biggest cup in the place with sweet tea and was looking at the doughnut display when Miles arrived.
The wrinkles around his mouth and eyes deepened when he smiled.
“I thank you. My butt thanks you. And my stomach will as soon as I decide how many of these I can eat in the next two hundred miles. There is a stove in the bunkhouse, isn’t there?
It’s going to be dark when we get there, and I’ll need to whip us up some supper.
I brought a cooler full of steaks, so it won’t take long to cook a couple.
First person we had better look to hire is a good cook.
I can wrangle a steak, but my biscuits are weapons of mass destruction, and I can’t bake worth a damn.
With this sweet tooth we both got, we need us a cook. ”
“Sounds good,” Miles said, and thought about the meal Lula Ann put on the table two nights before.
Too bad she couldn’t be coerced into working for me, he thought. But a geologist wouldn’t ever consent to being stuck in a kitchen every day. Who would have ever thought such a little lady like her would be working for an oil company?
“Boy, where is your mind?” Elijah nudged him on the shoulder.
He hurriedly bought a bag of chips, one pack of beef jerky—even though it wouldn’t be as tasty as what Elijah made—and half a dozen maple doughnuts. He grabbed two bottles of water and one of sweet tea on his way to the cash register.
“So, you’re a little hungry yourself, are you?” Elijah chuckled as he put his tea and pastries on the counter.
“Yep.” He nodded and added an apple from a basket of fruit to his purchase. “Star might like a treat, too.”
“He’ll appreciate it, I’m sure, but what he wants more is to get out of that trailer and into a corral where he can stretch his legs,” Elijah told him.
Three hours later, Miles backed the truck up to the corral behind the barn.
Once his horse was in the corral, he checked the water in the trough and made sure there was plenty of food for him in the feed bin.
“Welcome home, old boy. You’re going to love it here.
Tomorrow, we will ride around the border fence and let you see the whole place. ”
Elijah folded his arms over the top rail of the corral fence and nodded. “Looks like a pretty nice ranch. Maybe later you can buy up some of the land around it and make it grow to be as big as the Circle C. Now, where exactly is the bunkhouse?”
“You can stay in the house with me. There are three bedrooms, and I only need one,” Miles told him.
Elijah shook his head. “Nope. The house is for the boss. The bunkhouse is my kingdom. I can’t keep an eye on the hired help if I’m not living with them.
Just point me in the right direction, and before that sun gets full set, I’ll have some supper ready.
But don’t drag your feet when it comes to hiring us a cook.
I ain’t intendin’ to work all day and cook supper every night. ”
“Drive around the house, and you’ll see a path that leads back to it,” Miles answered. “And I’m hungry enough to eat two of those steaks.”
“After all that stuff you bought on the way down here?”
“I didn’t eat all of it. Saved some for a midnight snack.” He followed Elijah back across the land to the house. “Seems like I should be unpacking my things in the bunkhouse, too.”
Elijah laid an arm on his shoulder. “No, son. From now on you are the boss, and it’s about time. You’ve learned all that your dad and I could teach you. It’s time for you to stand on your own two feet and make this ranch famous.”
“I won’t ever be as smart as you and Dad,” Miles said.
Elijah got into his truck. “Depends on who you ask. See you in an hour. Bring a big appetite, and if you’ve got any of those doughnuts left, we’ll have them for dessert. If not, then it’ll be a can of peaches and store-bought cookies.”
Holly picked up a book, read three pages, and tossed it aside.
She took a glass of wine out to the porch to watch the sunset, but she couldn’t sit still.
She paced back and forth and finally decided that she was going to pack her suitcase, call an Uber, lock up the house, and go back to her apartment.
“I’m acting like a teenager,” she scolded herself. “Waiting for a man to call me is not who I am. I can go back to the city and be at work tomorrow morning.”
A rush of cool air met her when she opened the door to go inside and reminded her to adjust the thermostat before she left. She rolled her suitcase out of the hall closet and into the bedroom she had been using. Before she unzipped it, her phone rang.
“I’m not in the mood to talk to you, Darlene,” she grumbled. “And you are not going to talk me out of leaving.”
The noise stopped after the sixth ring, but a few seconds later it started again. “Okay, okay, but you can talk until you are blue in the face, and I’m still not staying in this house another day.”
Seeing Bubba’s picture on the screen in the FaceTime call didn’t even soften her mood. Two days with no call had not made her heart grow fonder. “Hello,” she answered.
“Hello, beautiful. I just got back with my horse and all my stuff,” he said.
She didn’t want to smile, but she did. She didn’t want his deep drawl to affect her, but it did.
“Can I see you tomorrow evening?” he asked. “I’ll bring the wine and beer, and we can drive down to the beach and watch the sunset over the water.”
She meant to say that she was busy and would be out of town for a couple of weeks, but that was not what came out of her mouth.
“That sounds wonderful. I’ll pack a picnic and bring the quilt.
” Besides, she wanted to see him again. And there was always that little niggling voice in her head telling her to slow down and enjoy a life outside of her career for once.
“I’ve missed you these past two days,” he said.
“Then why didn’t you call or at least text?” Anger over being so agreeable set in again.
“I had a bunch of papers to sign on Wednesday morning,” he said, “then the five-hour drive to Ringgold took even longer because of construction and a traffic accident. Today I was busy getting things ready to move down here. I apologize. I could and should have called and talked to you on the trip up or back.”
“No, I’m sorry for being a bitch. I’ve been bored. This vacation thing isn’t all that it is cracked up to be.” She managed half a giggle.
“No problem,” Bubba said. “I don’t like to be still either, but a long day of back-breaking work isn’t so bad when I get to spend time with a beautiful redhead at the end of the day.”
“Good save.” She giggled as she stared into his eyes and wished he was right there with her. “What are you doing right now?”
“I’m sitting in an old rocking chair on the bunkhouse porch.
In a couple of minutes, the foreman, Elijah, is going to yell that supper is ready.
He’s making steaks in a cast-iron skillet, fried potatoes, and heating up a can of beans.
I’ve only had junk food since we left Ringgold a few hours ago, and the aroma of grilled onions in the potatoes smells so good. What are you doing?” he asked.
Holly glanced over at the suitcase, immediately abandoning her earlier plan to leave. “I’m going to finish watching the sunset while I drink the last of the wine you brought a couple of nights ago.”
“I’m watching it from this porch and wishing I was there with you,” he said.
“That’s so sweet, but I’m wondering how many times you’ve used that line,” she teased.
“Honey, I’m telling you the unadulterated truth here: I’ve never watched a sunset with any other woman,” he declared.
“What do you do with most women you date?” she asked.
Door hinges squeaked and a loud masculine voice yelled, “Supper is ready. Get off the phone and come get it!”
“Can I answer that later?” Bubba asked.
“You shouldn’t keep Elijah waiting,” Holly answered.
“Can I call you in a couple of hours? I know it’ll be late, but …”
“Of course,” Holly said. “But for now, go have your supper.”