3 #2
“The job may include some support for the learning center,” Luke said. “Not teaching. Brenda handles that, and she knows what she’s doing. But scheduling, supplies, sign-in sheets, parent communication if needed, after-school coordination. Things like that.”
“I can do that.”
Edye studied her with a gaze that felt softer than Luke’s and somehow more dangerous. “This is a family-centered ranch, Ms. Roberts. That means the lines between business and personal can be different than they would be in an office. We need someone who respects both.”
“I understand.”
“Do you?” Luke asked.
Talia met his eyes. “I believe so.”
“That wasn’t a challenge for the sake of it,” he said.
“People come around here sometimes thinking the ranch is a story, a spectacle, or a curiosity. They see land, money, cowboys, multi-cultural marriages, children, problems that made the news, and they think that gives them a right to look closer.”
Talia’s stomach tightened.
Edye’s face remained kind, but her voice changed. Not colder. Clearer.
“We’ve had people try to use us before,” she said. “Reporters. Opportunists. People who wanted access to our family, our pain, our children, our private matters. Some wanted headlines. Some wanted money. Some just wanted the satisfaction of knowing things they had no right to know.”
The words moved through the room and found every hidden place inside Talia.
She kept her hands folded neatly in her lap.
Do not react.
Do not look guilty.
Do not blink too fast.
Luke watched her.
Edye watched her.
The house seemed to go quiet around them.
“Discretion is non-negotiable,” Edye said. “Not preferred. Not appreciated. Required.”
Talia nodded once. “I understand.”
But she did not just understand.
She felt the warning like a hand pressing against her chest.
Every reason she had used to justify applying for the job thinned under Edye’s gaze. The almost real name. The real skills. The real ability to do the work. All of it was true, and none of it erased why she had come.
She thought of Martin’s office. Gordon’s photo on the screen. The promotion waiting like a prize behind a locked door.
Then she thought of the child’s shoes in the entryway.
The family photos.
The learning center.
The way Edye said people had tried to use us.
Talia should have stood up.
She should have thanked them for their time, walked out of the room, driven back through the gate, and told Martin Cade to find someone else with a stronger stomach for the job.
Instead, she lifted her chin.
“I take confidentiality seriously,” she said. “If I’m hired here, what belongs to the ranch stays with the ranch.”
The sentence sounded clean.
It felt dirty.
Luke held her gaze for several long seconds.
Then he looked at Edye.
There was a private conversation happening between them without words. Their connection was undeniable. Talia wanted that kind of connection with someone.
Luke closed the folder.
“We have a few more people to interview, but we’ll be making a decision in a day or so. There was a knock at the doorway. They all turned. Talia took in the tall form of a man with red hair poking out from his cowboy hat. “Come in Eli and meet, Talia.”
The man smiled and walked over, extending his hand. “Pleasure ma’am.”
Edye said, “Eli is our foreman. If you get the job, he is one of the few you may have to support around here. We asked him to come in and show you around the ranch to give you an idea of what the job entails.”
“We’ll, I guess we’ll be taking my truck. You aren’t dressed for going horseback.”
Talia looked down at her clothes. She smiled and told him, “I don’t ride horses, so the truck works for me.”
Edye smiled. “I was the same way. Not to mention that I was scared of them, but now…”
Luke finished for her. “She can ride like she was born to it. In fact, her horse won’t let anyone else on his back.”
“Well, I’m not afraid of any animal, but I don’t like snakes, mice and spiders. Those bring out the girl in me. I’ll freeze, run or faint if one of those comes my way.”
Luke smiled, Edye and Eli chuckled as she rose from her chair. “Thank you again for taking time to meet with me,” she told them before walking out the side door with Eli.
Eli opened Luke’s office door and stepped out first, holding it wide with a grin that looked far too easy for a man who worked on a ranch that appeared to be expanding in every direction at once.
Talia followed him outside, careful to keep her expression pleasant and professional. Behind her, Luke and Edye remained in the office.
Stanley Ranch was not merely a ranch. It was a community with horses, helicopters, children, cottages, medical facilities, and far too many attractive people who seemed to know exactly where they belonged.
Eli turned toward her. “All right, Miss Roberts. You survived Luke and Edye in the same room. That’s usually phase one of employment.”
Talia laughed before she could stop herself. “Is there a phase two?”
“Tour.”
“And phase three?”
“Trying Elise’s food and realizing every other job you’ve ever considered was beneath you.”
“That good?”
Eli put one hand over his heart. “I would not joke about Elise’s cooking. I enjoy being alive.”
Talia smiled.
She liked him already, which was inconvenient.
Eli had the kind of charm that did not feel sharpened for manipulation. It was warm, loose, unforced. He smiled with his whole face and talked like he had never met an awkward silence he could not rope, saddle, and ride straight out of the room.
That kind of personality could be useful.
It could also be dangerous.
People who made others comfortable often learned things without seeming to ask.
Talia reminded herself to be careful.
The pool shimmered beyond the patio, blue water catching sunlight. Past it, three separate buildings butted up against the main house. Beyond that, the ranch seemed to unfold in layers, each one busier than the last.
Eli pointed toward the suites. “If you get the job, odds are you’ll stay in one of those at first.”
Talia looked them over. “Those are guest suites?”
“Yep. Comfortable, quiet, close enough to the main house for convenience, far enough away that you can pretend you have privacy.”
“Pretend?”
“This is a ranch, Miss Roberts. Somebody always knows something. Usually Elise.”
looked toward him. “Should that worry me?”
“Only if you plan on skipping meals, tracking mud where you shouldn’t, or lying about being fine.”
Her smile tugged wider despite herself. “That specific?”
“Elise has categories.” He nodded toward the suites. “Perks include housekeeping, cooking, and occasional unsolicited life advice. Edye keeps things running clean and organized. Elise keeps everyone fed and mildly terrified.”
“Sounds efficient.”
“It is. Between the two of them, chaos doesn’t stand a chance. Eventually, if you stay on and things work out, you’d likely move into your own cottage. Luke’s been adding more housing as the ranch grows.”
Talia followed his gaze.
Cottages.
Plural.
Not bunk rooms, not temporary cabins. Real cottages, spaced along a lane that curved away from the main house.
A few looked finished, with porches and planters.
Others were still framed in fresh lumber, crews moving around them with tool belts, saws, and the easy rhythm of people who had done this kind of work all their lives.
The sound of hammers carried across the yard.
“You weren’t kidding about growth,” she said.
Eli chuckled. “Nobody around here knows how to do anything small. Luke especially. He’ll call something a little expansion, then three months later there’s a new building, a department head, and Edye has a binder for it.”
“A binder?”
“Color-coded. Labeled. Probably laminated.”
“That sounds useful.”
“It is useful. Terrifying, but useful.”
They crossed past the pool and headed toward a ranch vehicle parked near the drive. As they walked, Eli lifted a hand and hollered toward a man carrying a stack of lumber near one of the unfinished cottages.
“Ray! You still pretending you know what you’re doing?”
The man looked over and grinned. “Been working so far!”
“Don’t tell Edye that. She’ll make you prove it.”
Ray laughed and kept walking.
Eli opened the passenger door for Talia. “Your chariot, ma’am.”
Talia glanced at the utility vehicle. “This is a chariot?”
“It has wheels and a questionable suspension. Around here, that counts.”
She climbed in. “You’re very proud of yourself, aren’t you?”
“Not as proud as I should be.”
That made her laugh again.
Eli shut her door, rounded the front, and got behind the wheel. He started the vehicle and eased them down the drive, moving slowly enough for her to take everything in.
And there was a lot to take in.
More ranch hands were unloading boxes near one of the cottages.
Two women carried bedding toward another building.
A truck backed carefully toward a storage structure while a man in a hat guided it with one hand in the air.
Farther off, several horses moved in a pasture, sleek and restless beneath the sun.
“New hires?” Talia asked.
“Some. Some are family moving into different spaces. Some seasonal hands staying longer than expected. That happens a lot here.”
“People come and don’t leave?”
Eli cut her a sideways grin. “I came for a job. My wife and I are committed to another venture, but I’m still here.”
“That says something.”
“It does. Either about the ranch or my inability to make other plans.”
“Which is it?”
“Depends who you ask.”
They drove past a building still under construction, larger than the cottages and set back from the main lane. Workers moved across the roofline while others installed windows.
“What’s that going to be?”
“Another kitchen and a bigger dining area. Luke says the kitchen and dining room in the main house is getting cramped. Edye says we needed that five expansions ago.”
“And who is right?”
“Edye. Usually best to assume Edye is right. Saves time.”
Talia tucked that away.
Edye was clearly not just Luke Stanley’s wife. She was infrastructure in boots.