Chapter 38 #2
Brandon smiled at him, but Colt wore his stress on his face. He settled his son into a seat that was far too big for the child and looked at Finn. “Sorry I had to bring him,” Colt said. “My mother couldn’t watch him today, because my dad’s not feeling well.”
“It’s totally fine,” Finn said. “I’ve brought my boys before.”
Colt bustled around to get food and coffee. When he finally sat down, Brandon had made it through one of his bowls of soup and Finn called the meeting to order.
“This is our Q&A meeting,” he said. “Some of y’all sent your questions to Alex, and he’s put them together for us to go through one at a time.” Finn nodded to Alex, who stood up at the head of the table. “We had quite a few, didn’t we?”
“Yeah, about fifteen,” Alex said. “If we want to run through them all, that only gives us four or five minutes for each one.”
“We want everyone to participate,” Finn said. “But it’s okay if you don’t have an answer for every question.”
Brandon had forgotten about the questions, and he wondered if Lenore had sent any in.
Alex held a sheaf of papers in his hands. “This one came from JJ at Seven Sons,” he said, and he posted a slip of paper on the whiteboard, securing it with a magnet. “What do we think about the Gypsy Vanner breed of horses?”
His eyes moved to JJ, his eyebrows raised. “Anything else to add?”
“I’ve been thinking about breeding some,” JJ said. “To go with my longhorns. It’s a different kind of ranching than cattle ranching and growing crops, but I love the longhorns. I’ve been thinking about doing some Vanner breeding, and selling the colts.”
“They’re great horses,” Angel said. “And they’re really pretty.”
“They have a calm temperament,” Henry said. “I think if you have the money, they do reasonably well as breeders.”
“We had one as a therapy horse once,” Paul said. “It was everyone’s favorite because they’re so patient, and they look so good when they’re cleaned up.” He smiled at JJ. “If you can get a couple, I’d totally do it.”
“Thanks,” JJ said. “I’ll look more into it.”
Alex nodded and put another piece of paper over the first. “This one comes from Lenore out at the homestead.”
Brandon’s heart started to pound.
“She had a couple of questions about crops.” Alex scanned the table, his eyes finally landing on Brandon. “I don’t see her. Maybe Brandon can take the information back to her?”
He nodded the same time Dawson said, “Where is she today?”
Brandon threw his brother a murderous look, and silence settled over the crowd.
It seemed like everyone wanted to know where she was, and Brandon fought with himself about what to say.
He looked back at the question on the board: What would be the best crop to grow to sell throughout the whole year?
They’d talked about this several times, but of course she’d want the collective wisdom of everyone here who lived and raised crops in Three Rivers for generations. It was a good question, and Brandon was actually really happy that she submitted it.
He’d made that list of grasses for her, but he hadn’t given it to her yet. He didn’t want to overwhelm her with sketches and lists every other day, so he’d kept some things to himself.
“Brandon,” Dawson barked.
He rolled his neck, not wanting to lie. Besides, maybe these men—many of whom were married—could help him. “Fine. We kind of broke up.”
“You broke up?” Finn asked.
“How do you kind of break up?” Dawson folded his arms on the table in front of him.
All eyes zeroed in on Brandon. “We didn’t really talk about it or anything,” he said. “We just sort of…stopped being together.”
“I don’t get it,” Henry said. “You guys were really cute together.”
“Yeah, she really seemed to like you,” Angel said.
Brandon nodded, but their words didn’t help ease the pain streaming through him. “Yeah, I thought so.” He shot another look at his brother. “She has a really hard time accepting charity. The solar thing was really hard for her.”
“I hope I didn’t cause a problem,” Conrad said, his eyes wide.
“You didn’t,” Brandon said, shaking his head.
“Not between us, anyway. But the more we added to the homestead—the gardening, the mobile chicken coops, the thought of acres of crops. I have a turkey enclosure and a goat enclosure done now too. She wanted a smokehouse, and I just need to test it when I get back to the homestead. She wants to plant pumpkins and alfalfa and specific grasses to make hay. And all of that takes water. She wants beehives and she wants to grow strawberries and make jam. I just didn’t see how any of it could happen if we didn’t have a well. ”
“If she didn’t have a well,” Dawson said.
Brandon nodded miserably. “Right. If she didn’t have a well.
So…I asked Arizona and Duke to fund it for her.
She’d been talking about going into the bank to get a loan, but she doesn’t really have any way to make payments on something like that.
And this way, she can pay them back in little pieces after she starts earning from whatever she can sell. ”
“She didn’t like that idea?” Dawson asked.
“No, she did not,” Brandon said.
His heart hurt. It felt too hard to even hold up his head, so Brandon laid it in his arms. “The drill truck came last week, and we found water at one hundred feet. The well is in. She can deal with Arizona about it.”
“This is really bad,” Colt said, his voice strangely dark and surprised at the same time.
“It sure is,” Dawson agreed.
“How are you gonna get her back?” Alex asked.
Brandon raised his head. “Who says I’m going to get her back?”
“Come on,” Finn said. “It’s obvious that you’re in love with her. Look at yourself.”
“Yeah, I’ve never seen you like this,” Paul said.
Brandon looked around while several others nodded, their expressions grim.
“You look awful, brother,” Conrad said. “This is how I felt after me and Glory Rose broke up.”
“She doesn’t want me back,” Brandon said. “She thinks I’m trying to steal her homestead. That’s what she said—that it’s her land. I don’t get to make any decisions about it.”
“Does she really think that?” Libby asked.
“I don’t know,” Brandon said honestly. He didn’t want to betray Lenore’s confidence or talk about her. “She’s headstrong and stubborn, which can be great qualities, especially on a homestead.”
“But maybe not so great when she gets an idea in her head that isn’t true.” Dawson lifted his eyebrows. “Right?”
Brandon nodded and laid his head down again. “It doesn’t matter. I’m done there on the thirty-first. I didn’t submit this question, but if any of you hear about a job somewhere, let me know, because I’ll be looking again.”
Maybe today. Maybe next week. He didn’t want to look for a job at all, but he couldn’t stay at the homestead.
“I really think you should stay,” Dawson said. “And talk to her. Explain things. Work it out.”
Brandon sat up, the anger that flowed through him so much better than this lovesick heartbreak he’d been dealing with. “Why? It doesn’t matter what I say or how I feel. She doesn’t want to be with me.”
He looked at Alex, so he wouldn’t shoot daggers at his brother. “Please. Let’s just move on. If you don’t want to answer her question, that’s fine. She probably won’t even remember that this was the Q&A meeting.”
“I bet she will,” Angel muttered. “I’ve met Lenore. She knows exactly what’s going on.”
Brandon just closed his eyes, because he was done talking about this. He took a few quick notes of the things people said, including Link’s recommendations for weed control in the hay grass area. Then he turned his phone over and laid his head down again as Alex put up the next question.
His words reverberated through Brandon’s mind. How are you going to get her back?
The truth was he wasn’t, but if he let himself fantasize about what he might do, it would start with Lenore’s favorite thing in the world: A pecan pie tart.