The Trip Into Town
On Sunday afternoon, Maria came into the living room and walked right into a family blowup.
“I won’t do it,” Annabelle was proclaiming to her parents and grandmother. “I won’t go into town with him. You’ll have to get somebody else.”
“I know you’re unhappy,” Aunt Steph said, “but you live on this ranch, and Tim’s the foreman. You’ll have to get along with him, even if he’s not romantically interested in you.”
“Augh!” Annabelle threw up her hands. “I won’t do it! I don’t care! He may work on this ranch, and I may work on this ranch, but that’s no reason we both have to go into town. Why don’t you go?”
“I have a lot of things to do,” Aunt Steph said, “including making dinner. I don’t have time to go into town, and it’s important the family is represented to these guests.
They’re movie people from California. I want them to have the best possible experience here so they can tell their friends about it.
That includes VIP treatment. That’s why I wanted you and Tim to pick them up. ”
“On Sunday afternoon?” Annabelle exclaimed. “It’s my one day off! I bet other people get two days off per week and don’t work nearly as hard as I do.”
“And they don’t make nearly as good a salary as you do,” Grandma Austin said acidly. “Well, somebody’s got to pick those people up, Sunday or not. Steph, why don’t you go? Somebody else can make dinner.”
Maria had been standing in the doorway, not sure if she wanted to get in the middle of this, but now she stepped into the room. “I could make dinner.”
Aunt Steph turned, surprised. “Thank you, Maria.” Her forehead furrowed. “I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t you go into town with Tim?”
Oof, Maria didn’t want to go into town with him, especially right after the whole business with Annabelle.
“Aunt Steph, wouldn’t you be a better representation of the ranch?” she asked. “I don’t know anything about the Rocker A to tell these guests. I can make a good dinner here, I promise!”
Aunt Steph crossed her arms. “Thanks, but I’ve already got dinner planned out. It’s a secret family recipe from my French grandmother. You’d better go with Tim. He doesn’t bite.”
§
Ten minutes later, Maria was hurrying out the front door to meet Tim, waiting in his truck. She didn’t look forward to the ride to the airport. What on earth would she talk about with this guy? He was disdainful of her and scorned Annabelle. Not a great way to begin a working relationship.
“Hey,” Tim called from the truck as Maria came into sight. “Have you seen Annabelle?”
“I think she’s in the house,” Maria said.
“She was supposed to drive to the airport with me.”
“I know. Aunt Steph sent me instead.”
“Oh.” Tim seemed taken aback. “Well, then, hop in.”
Maria swung herself into the truck. It was one of those trucks with two rows of seats.
“Why are we picking up important movie people in a truck?” Maria asked. “Wouldn’t Uncle Russell’s convertible be more their speed?”
Tim raised a blond eyebrow. “People who are coming to stay on a ranch want the whole Western package. That’s why I’m showing up in this instead of a suit.”
It was then that Maria noticed his embroidered Western shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots. His hat sat on the truck’s dashboard.
“I didn’t know we had to dress up Western,” Maria said. Why hadn’t Aunt Steph told her that? Well, Aunt Steph seemed to care about appearances, but she also had her head in the clouds. She probably never looked at Maria’s clothes at all.
Tim looked at her appraisingly, his brow furrowed. Maria was wearing jeans and a T-shirt with sneakers.
“Why don’t you borrow my hat,” he said. “That’ll give you a little cowgirl touch.”
Maria looked at the hat.
“I can hear what you’re thinking,” Tim said. “Yes, the hat’s clean. It’s my good hat. It won’t hurt you to wear it.”
“That wasn’t what I was thinking,” Maria protested. “I was just wondering if it’ll fit.”
“Oh, it’ll be a little big,” Tim said. “If a windstorm comes up, just hang onto it.”
He started down the ranch road at a speed that alarmed Maria, who was used to traversing it slowly in an ATV. But when they got to the lower buildings, he slowed the truck. “People all over the place,” he said. “You go rocketing through here and you’re liable to run somebody over.”
Various cowboys were here and there. It was surprising that so many of them stayed on the ranch on a Sunday, when they had to rustle up their own food.
The cooks had the day off and just put out some cold grab-and-go items. Maybe there wasn’t much to do in town unless you were Annabelle or Elijah, with plenty of spending money.
Maria guessed the twins’ money wasn’t entirely from their ranch salaries.
Uncle Russell and Aunt Steph seemed to pay for a lot of things for them too.
“So Annabelle didn’t want to come?” Tim asked. He wasn’t looking in Maria’s direction. His hands and forearms, as they rested on the steering wheel, were muscular. Just from his looks, Maria could see why Annabelle had been crazy about him. No wonder she wanted to avoid him now.
“No,” Maria said.
“Guess I offended her,” Tim said. “I was afraid of that. So how did you get roped in?”
At least he seemed to have some compunction for having hurt Annabelle’s feelings. That was something.
“Grandma was trying to send Aunt Steph,” Maria said, “and Aunt Steph said she had to make dinner. So I offered to make dinner, and Aunt Steph sent me into town instead.”
“So you’re stuck riding into town with me.” Tim grinned. “Why Russell and Steph think we ought to roll out red carpets for these Hollywood muckety-mucks, I don’t know. Pat hates it. But it does bring in a bunch of money. Myself, I think it’s the wrong way to go.”
“What way do you think they should go?”
“We’ve got a bunch of land that would work for cattle if we cleared the access to it. We could raise more cattle that way and actually make money as a working ranch. I didn’t sign on as foreman to play babysitter to a bunch of rich people.”
His voice was bitter. Clearly, in the debate between Uncle Russell and Grandma Austin, Tim sided with Grandma Austin. Maria didn’t know enough about ranching to have much opinion on that.
“So who are these people we’re going to meet?” Maria asked.
Tim shrugged. “They’re from Hollywood. I’ve got their names written down, but I’ve forgotten them already. We’d better check before we go to pick them up.”
“How are you going to know who to look for?” Maria asked.
“I’ve got a sign.” Tim motioned with his head. A poster board sat in the back seat. “Rocker A Ranch. We stand in baggage claim with the sign, and they find us.”
No texting or anything. That must be the old-fashioned way of doing things.
“Sounds like a plan,” Maria said.
They were off the ranch now and going up the winding road through the valley. The Yellowstone River sparkled in the distance. Maria took a deep breath. She was getting used to living on the ranch, but she could never tire of the panoramic beauty of western Montana.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” Tim said. “I wouldn’t trade living out here for anything.”
Well, Maria would trade it for one thing—Dad and Grandma.
While they lived in Michigan, she would never move to another state.
Being here for the summer was bad enough.
She’d been intentional about calling and video chatting with them, but it wasn’t the same.
Being out here, she felt closer to Mom, but she felt disconnected from the other half of her life.
Was there no way to have the two halves of her life at the same time?
“So where do you live normally?” Tim asked Maria. “I heard you’re here for the summer.”
“Michigan,” Maria said. “Southwest.”
“Really,” Tim said. “My dad is from Michigan. He grew up in a little town called Fraser’s Mill, right around the 45th parallel. North of you. My grandma and grandpa still live there.”
“How did you end up here?” Maria asked.
“My mom grew up on a ranch,” Tim said. “Not too far from here. When my dad married my mom, he worked on the ranch too. I grew up working it. But four years ago some big landowner bought up all the ranches in our area, and my mom’s family decided to sell.”
“Oh,” Maria said. “You mean like that guy who was trying to buy the Rocker A to build a resort?”
“Yeah,” Tim said. “These billionaires are buying up huge areas in the West. It’s a new kind of investment.
And most of the ranchers don’t have a lot of cash on hand, so the offers are mighty tempting.
My mom’s family couldn’t pass on the opportunity.
” His hand was tight on the steering wheel, and his jaw was set.
He must have really cared about that ranch.
“I see,” Maria said. “That must have been rough, having to leave the ranch where you grew up.”
Maria never really planned on branching out too far from the house she grew up in either. Now, here she was, driving down the road with a strange guy, going to meet some probably-billionaires from Hollywood. Things like that only happened in the movies, didn’t they?
“They’re not even running cattle on it,” Tim said. “The people who own it don’t live there year-round. They hire a few people to keep the place up. I think they’re planning on re-selling it to somebody with even more money.”
Maria shook her head. “How could anybody have a place in a beautiful area like this and not appreciate it?”
“These guys only appreciate a place if they can get money out of it,” Tim said. “The West is gonna die if somebody doesn’t do something. We don’t need a second Hollywood or Beverly Hills or San Francisco. I don’t know California—I’m just throwing names around.”
He looked over at Maria and grinned. “A real downer, aren’t I? Let’s talk about something else. How did you decide to come all the way out here to do summer work? Visiting your family?”
“Well,” Maria said, “not exactly.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I’ve noticed you don’t seem particularly chummy with the Austins.”
“The thing is,” Maria said, “I’ve never actually met them before this summer.”