Chapter 19
Joel
“How’s Ol’ Girl doin’?” I ask Randy, entering the stall.
It’s been a week since she gave birth. So far, she’s doing well, and the new foal has been feeding as needed.
“Good,” he answers, brushing her mane. “Have you decided what you’re going to do with her once she’s done feeding?”
“Not yet,” I admit. “Don’t even have a name for her.” Not sure it’s all that important to have a name for the new foal since I might decide to sell her once she’s weaned from Ol’ Girl.
“I’ll figure it out.” I slap my cowboy hat against my thigh and run my hand through my hair. “I need to drop a few things off at my office and then I’m leaving for the day. Call if you need anything.”
A while later I enter my trailer office at the same time my cell starts to ring.
“Micah,” I answer.
“Hey, Joel,” my oldest son greets. “Are you at the ranch?”
“Yeah, but I’m leaving now.”
“So early?”
A glance at the clock on the wall. It’s three o’clock. Though it’s Saturday I usually don’t leave the ranch until about six, sometimes later.
But tonight is a special occasion.
I need to get home to shower and prepare dinner for Ellyn to come over. We’re decorating my house tonight. Since my kids had to disperse after Thanksgiving, I was going to put off decorating, but when Ellyn agreed to help me, something shifted.
The fervor I once felt to decorate came roaring back.
“Got plans tonight,” I say without thinking.
There’s a pause on the other end. I know when the wheels are churning in the mind of my former Texas Ranger turned private investigator son.
“What?” I bark out.
“It’s nice to hear you have plans,” he says, and I can hear the smile in his voice. “Will we ever get to meet these plans?”
“Don’t go questioning me, boy. Like you’re my father instead of the other way around. Do you know how many shitty diapers of yours I changed?”
A deep chuckle passes through the phone.
“Jodi!” is all I hear next.
I groan. “What’re you goin’ and callin’ her for?” I grumble.
“You were right. Someone’s taking up his time,” Micah says, ignoring me.
“I knew it!” she exclaims like she just won a damn prize. “It’s his pretty next-door neighbor, isn’t it?”
“Let me ask. Joel?”
“Don’t you two go talking about my love life like it’s neighborhood fodder. Am I a damn joke to you?”
“So it is your neighbor? What’s her name?”
“Ellyn,” I say, again not thinking.
“Ellyn, that’s right. Is she the one you got into an argument with a couple of months ago? Jodi,” he calls, not waiting for me to answer his question, “wasn’t he griping for a week after she told him she wasn’t going to participate in the neighborhood decorating competition?”
“He sure did,” Jodi’s muffled voice responds.
“Is there a reason you called me?” I bark out. “I’m busy.”
“I bet. You have to get home to get ready for your date.”
I almost yell out that it’s not a date, but the words stick to my tongue. Because they would be a lie. This damn sure is a date. And I want as many dates with Ellyn as possible … as many as she’ll allow me to take her on.
Even if this one is just to my home to help decorate.
“I’m hanging up on you—”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” he says, not sounding the least bit sorry.
This is the trouble I get for raising these boys. Teased to within an inch of my life.
“Actually, I was hoping to catch you. Unfortunately, this case we’re working on is a doozy. It’s taking a lot of our manpower, and our client would like us to get it done before the holiday.”
My stomach plummets. I have a feeling of where this is going and it ain’t nowhere fun.
Micah is one of the top private investigators in the state of Texas.
Which means his company is one of the best and often sought out by all types for the toughest of cases.
Jodi got her PI license a few years after they got married and has worked with him in the more than a decade that they’ve been together.
“What’re you sayin’?” I ask.
“Well, since Jodi’s parents decided to come into town next week and we’ll be burning the midnight oil on this case for at least another two weeks, we’re probably going to have to miss the Montana trip.”
I muffle the curse that tries to fly out of my mouth.
Our family trip to Montana takes place every year a week or two before Christmas. There, we all lodge at the massive residence co-owned by our family and that of another rancher I worked with over the years who lives in Bozeman.
It’s meant as a time for all of us to get away, and as Gabe once put it, have a real Christmas with cold and snow, unlike the usual warm temperatures in central Texas on December 25th.
The sincere regret is right there in Micah’s voice. He doesn’t mean to disappoint me.
Even knowing that, though, I still have to ask, “Are you sure? You know it’s a family tradition, and Gabe and Lena have already had to cancel.”
I’m not above guilting my boys every now and then.
Micah sighs heavily. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure. Unless things change with this case, which after the amount of dead ends we’ve run into, doesn’t look like that’s happening any time soon.”
I clear my throat, attempting to dislodge the lump that’s formed in it. I should be happy that all of my boys have grown up to be as successful as they are. Not just in work but in their private lives.
All of them met the loves of their lives and have beautiful families of their own to show for it.
I’m grateful, mostly to Gina for raising and showing me how to raise them with love.
But dammit it hurts knowing they have their own lives and families, that while I am a part of, I’m not central to.
“Suppose it can’t be helped,” I say.
“Lena, me, and the team are doing our best to try to finish this thing before the trip, but …” He trails off.
“Don’t rush your work on account of me. I’ll figure it out. Maybe I’ll have Gerry cancel our reservations. I’m certain there’s someone who’ll want to rent it out for that weekend.”
“Cancel? Wait, why?”
“Since you all won’t be able to make it. Neither can Gabe and Lena, or Ace and Savannah. What’s the point? The space is just too big for me, anyway. Listen, I’ll figure it out,” I tell him.
“That’s a shame,” he sounds sincere. “Shit, I’ve gotta go. This case …”
A minute later, I hang up the phone with my oldest boy, my heart feeling heavier than when I first answered his call.