5. Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Sutton
I ’ve kept my conversation with Terrence under wraps since yesterday. Dad is going to have plenty of questions and I’d rather have as many answers as I can before going to him. This is the perfect opportunity for me to prove he’s making the right decision in choosing me to carry on his legacy.
This morning, I check in with Jason, Kelly, and Cody, making sure they can handle the usual, then head back into my office to work. With assessments out of the way, the focus will be on property clean up and prepping for all the cows that will be delivering in the coming weeks.
Dad and I remodeled the area of the house Sammi and I shared after she headed off to Baylor. She was pretty clear, come Hell or high water, that she wasn’t coming back to the ranch. At least not to stay. Our Jack and Jill suite and adjacent hallway became their own entity, accessible only through a new exterior door on the back of the house.
Sammi’s old room transitioned into an office. It’s not a place I spend much time in, but it comes in handy when I need to work things out without baying cows, hollering ranch hands, or my dad’s critical thinking skills. It's the same reason my dad has an office in the house versus using the one in the stable.
Seated at the desk my grandfather built, with maps of the property and surrounding areas spread before me, I have a bird’s eye view of what adding Terrence’s ten-thousand acres would look like. A few years ago, we completed an extremely detailed survey that identifies every important aspect of the property, including water access, permanent blinds, pasture lines and numbers, buildings and names, and several other key pieces of information.
Terrence’s property line runs along our west. I imagine he has something similar completed for his, much more extensive, land. At twenty-five hundred acres, we’ve always been small fries compared to them.
For this to work in our favor, not only do I need to attempt to get this land at a steal, while also posing that as a win for Terrence, but I need to have a rock-solid plan in place for monetizing the land. From past discussions, I know Terrence leads guided hunts, which is something I had planned to begin on a much smaller scale for Strickland Ranch.
I think about his offer to discuss and wonder how forthcoming he would be about what’s worked and what hasn’t through the years. All of the information is set on a very large variable, which is that they raise quarter horses and we raise cattle.
I spend the next couple of hours finding comparable properties, looking at the current average cost of land, and taking into account what’s already established next door as well as what I hope to gain. Once I have the best computations I can, without having an appraisal yet or talking numbers, it’s time to bring it to my dad.
Mama is hanging up the house phone when I walk in the front door of The Big House. Her face is damp and she sniffles as I reach the kitchen.
“What the hell’s going on?” My eyes pinball around the room, searching for the cause of her distress. Dad’s heavy footsteps head our way from his office.
“Ms. Ruthie passed away, honey.” She struggles to get the words out and additional tears threaten to escape her bright eyes. I wasn’t extremely close to Ruthie, but she’s been a staple in the community since before I was born. She and Mama hosted gatherings through the years and she was comforting to Mama when Sammi was sick.
“I’m sorry, Mama.” I open my arms for her and she falls into my chest as I wrap her up. I’ve been taller than her since I was eleven, but her sweet annoyance over that dissipated the first time I swooped her up in comfort, the same way she always had me.
She doesn’t stay long, pulling back and bouncing around the kitchen again. “I’m stopping by there shortly. I’m sure Randi is just devastated.”
“Was she sick?”
Dad moves past me into the kitchen and kisses Mama on the head. She doesn’t linger long.
“I don’t think so, but I’m not sure,” she admits, pulling an insulated bag from a basket in the pantry. I take the bag from her and load an array of food she’s put together already. “I’m sure I’ll find out more when I get over there, but she wasn’t a young woman.” She pauses briefly. “Us old ladies aren’t what we used to be.”
I drop my chin in disapproval at the same time my dad counters with, “Now, Andi.” We exchange an exasperated look and turn our eyes on her. She grins sheepishly.
Mama and Dad had me young, so they’re hardly getting up in age in their mid-fifties. Ranch life is hard on bodies, though. Long hours, hard labor in the elements, and more often than not, a lot of stress. I’m glad Mama’s been able to take a step back in recent years, but that doesn’t mean she’s over the hill. There’s at least a twenty year difference between her and Ruthie.
“You’re not going anywhere anytime soon,” I tell her, kissing her cheek. “Except to Ruthie’s to deliver this food. Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll take you over there. ”
“I can drive myself. I know you’re busy,” she says with a pointed look. I hold her gaze until her features soften and she beams at me. “Fine.”