Chapter 20
“Where did you sleep last night?”Erin asked Clark when he entered the kitchen of the main ranch around six the next morning. He had just left Naomi at the barn over at Broken and decided to take the bull by the horns and tell Erin what he had done the night before.
“Not that it’s any of your business,” he said with no heat behind it, and grabbed a cup to fill it from the pot on the counter. “But Naomi asked me if I would hold her while she fell asleep. I did, and fell asleep with her.” He sipped his coffee and looked at her over the mug. “We have to talk.”
“About?”
“Several things. First, I’m going to start dating Naomi and she’s on board with that idea. Second, as much as I love both you and Reid, I’m not saying this to hurt you, but I’ll be moving into the bare cabin over on Broken.”
“What bare cabin?” Erin scowled at him as she settled in her seat. He smiled when Reid rose from the table and took care of their breakfast dishes. “I thought they were all furnished.”
“They are, but I’m talking about the one without the coffee pot, or toaster.”
“Ah, okay. But why not stay here?”
“Because this isn’t my home anymore, this house belongs to you and Reid.”
“I’m still not the man of the house,” Reid spoke from the sink. “You’re the second in command, with Erin being the first.”
“I agree. And I’m moving because I want to be closer to Naomi.” He settled at the table and declined Reid’s offer to fix him something to eat, saying he’d already eaten. “I also did something you might kick my ass about.”
“What’s that?” Erin scowled at him as she cradled her cup in her hands, and he smiled when she raised her legs and put her heels on the chair. He remembered her sitting like that when she was younger.
“I invited a family to stay over at Broken this coming weekend.” He watched her expression, and it impressed him when she only quirked a brow at her. “There are several reasons why I did.”
“Okay, I can’t give you a reaction until you tell me who, and why.”
“Jared and Tessie Hillard along with their two children. JJ is nine, and Molly is seven.”
“Okay, why are they coming?”
“Jared is a judge, just like you said, and I told him about what’s been going on around here with the Firths, what they’ve done, and I asked him to look into why they keep getting bail.”
“Ah, is he going to look into the matter?”
“Yes, and after Naomi’s appointment yesterday, Tessie’s going to want to talk to you.”
“Me, why me? I have nothing to do with Naomi’s doctor appointments.”
“After yesterday’s visit, Naomi’s going to need intensive physical therapy. Because of being so far away, we want to talk to you to see if you’ve kept up with your license.”
“No,” Erin was quick to answer. “After being fired, then rejected from getting a job because of my challenge, I basically said fuck it to everyone in the medical community and concentrated on the ranch. I let my license lapse.”
“Okay, well, when they are here this weekend, we’ll be discussing the Firths and Naomi’s treatment. I just want you to think of something before then.”
“What’s that?”
“What do you think about hiring a physical therapist to come live here or over at Broken for the duration of Naomi’s treatments? Dr. Rob and Tessie are thinking three or four times a week. I’m not a doctor, but I think if we could somehow have a therapist living on the ranch, then it will eventually pay for itself.”
“Ah, I can see where something like that would come in handy. So, they think there’s hope for her?”
“Yes, if she follows the regime Dr. Rob has written out, he believes she should be on crutches or using a walker by Easter.”
“Shit, that’s four months away.”
“Yeah, but it’s going to be intense. We don’t want to travel over an hour each way. I feel that would be too exhausting for her. I’m telling you right here, right now, that I will be with her every step of her journey for recovery. We also don’t want to get someplace to stay in Colorado Springs while she’s going through this. I thought that you could do it, but my second thought was what if we hired a therapist to live on the ranch.”
“Well,” Erin said as she lowered her feet to the floor. “I have several applications in the office. Since Naomi says it’s time to get started on getting some clients, while she works on that, I am going to work on getting the medical help on staff. One of the people I was going to hire was a physical therapist.”
“Who else were you going to hire?”
“A psychologist. They won’t be here on a permanent basis, especially the psychologist, but to be on call if we have a difficult client.”
“Okay, can I go through the applications with you?”
“Sure, but if someone is a male and very qualified, I’m not going to not hire him because you don’t want another man touching Naomi, though she would be fully clothed.”
“That thought never crossed my mind,” Clark said he scowled at his sister. He watched as she started reeling off instructions to Reid, and liked how they worked together. With a full cup of coffee he headed to the office, leaving them alone for a few minutes.
Five minutes later Erin walked into the office and went behind her desk to settle in. She pointed to the two chairs in front of it. After Clark settled, she leaned forward and studied him intently for a few seconds.
“Have you read everything in the file cabinets?”
“I have. The only things I haven’t read is what is on or in your desk. The same with Broken. Whatever is on or in Naomi’s desk I haven’t read.”
“Good. Then you’re caught up to date. Please, bear with me while I try to explain some things. Once I tell you, you’ll be able to understand better, or at least I hope you will.”
“Okay, hit me with whatever you’ve got.”
“I’m not being mean, but you’re going to have some decisions to make in your very near future.”
“How do you figure that?”
She answered his question with one of her own. “When was the last time you actually worked on Erin’s Way?” She cocked her head to the side to study him. “I mean really worked.”
“Oh, God, I’d have to say back before I joined the Navy.”
“Okay, and since you left for the service, I started not one, but two other businesses that are completely separate from one another, but are all on this ranch. I think the first decision you need to make is which business will you be working at?” She shook her head and held up her stump to ward off any questions he had for her. “I would like you to at least work solely for one of the businesses for one month each until you can decide what you want to do.”
“I can do that. Christmas is two weeks away, and I can flip between the three now, and come the first of the year, I can buckle down and do that.”
“Okay, that’s one option. Now I have to tell you that I’ve done a few things that I’m not proud of.”
“Rin, as long as you don’t tell me you’ve killed someone and buried the body in the horseshit pile, there’s nothing you can say that won’t shock me.” He grinned at her laugh, and they both settled into comfortable positions.
“Okay, sorry if I’m flitting around here, but I need to say what pops up in my head. If it’s out of order, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, just say what you have to.”
“Okay, when you came home after Mom and Dad died, then left here and transferred to California, whenever I could, I told you everything I wanted to do, did, and planned to do with Broken.”
“Correct, and I encouraged you to do it. Never in my wildest dreams would I have pictured what you’ve created.”
“Thank you. My biggest regret all these years is that I’ve actually neglected Broken quite a bit.”
“How can you say that?”
“Because after the first cabin was built, I hired Naomi. She was able to move into the cabin, and I only had the blueprints for the barn drawn up. Once we agreed on what we wanted, I hired the rest of the women, then turned the construction of the barn over to Naomi. I set about getting the rest of the cabins built while she worked on the barn. The other ladies didn’t start showing up until all the smaller cabins were complete.”
Clark sat there and stared at his sister in confusion. “I don’t know if I understand what you’re saying.”
“What I’m saying is that Broken’s operation is all Naomi. I provided her with my vison, my wishes, my goals. We…” Erin waved her stump between her and Clark to indicate the both of them. “Provided her the funds to carry out my initial vision.”
“Wow, you’re telling me that Broken was your brainchild, but Naomi’s taken it from bare ground to what it is today?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Erin nodded at the pride she saw in her brother’s face, but she didn’t know whether it was for her or for Naomi. “But, Broken’s not done.”
“What do you mean it’s not done?”
Erin rose from behind the desk and walked over to the other side of the office, and reached into the corner where she pulled out a round tube that was about four inches around, and almost five feet tall.
“Let’s take this out to the dining room.” Erin looked at him and smiled when he grabbed both of their coffee cups and went back to the formal dining room. She had noted that she’d left the leaves in the table, and figured that would be better when everyone was there for their get togethers. The room wasn’t used otherwise. He set the cups on the sideboard and quickly helped her with the tube. When everything was laid out, Erin looked at him with a grin.
“These are the original plans for Broken. These are the ones that I had the cabins built from, and the ones Naomi instructed the builders to complete on the barn.”
Clark leaned over and studied the top four pages, nodding the entire time. When he thought of something, he looked at her with a frown.
“Do all the cabins sit on an acre of land in case they want to add onto them?”
“Actually, they all sit on two acres, and yes, now that the ladies are hooked up with the loves of their lives, there is room to expand if and when the babies start coming. This isn’t in any of the files, because this information is in the wall safe, but none of the ladies pay rent. The cabins are in the Riceman name, but they are responsible for their own utility bills.” She looked at him for his reaction, and when there wasn’t one, she nodded. “There is room to build more cabins, but we can discuss that later.”
“And they get a paycheck from us?”
“They do.” She looked at the plans and flipped them to a certain page. She pointed and made sure he was looking. “Pru wants chickens. I’ll get into it more later, but I have to go to town today, and you need to go with me. I thought we’d stop by and see what the feed store has to offer in pre-built models.”
“Okay, I can see where that would work. It would be faster than purchasing the materials and building our own.”
“Correct.” Erin flipped to the next page, stepped back, and let Clark take his fill. This was the first page to the next step in her vision. She watched him and silently cheered when he flipped through the next three pages. It was almost a half hour later when he looked at her with utter confusion on his face.
“What’s this?”
“The second part of Broken. See, I wanted to get the ladies hired, settled, and established before I started the next phase. This will be confusing, and I still don’t have the time to oversee it come to fruition. Neither does Naomi or anyone else.” She didn’t say anything to see what his reaction would be.
“Talk me through this.” Clark turned back to the first new page and picked up his own cup to sip. He looked down as she started talking. An hour later he looked at her, dumbfounded.
“Do you have time to show me?”
“I do.” While she rolled up the plans, he took their cups out to the kitchen, rinsed them, left them in the sink, then followed her outside to her truck. They took hers so he could look at the plans and the surrounding area as she explained. The first stop was at the rise that looked over the barn at Broken.
“As you can see, there’s Broken, but to the left are the cabins. You can see them now because it’s winter, but once the trees and brush are grown in, you won’t be able to see them in the summer.”
“Okay, I can see that.” She slowly drove to the barn, and instead of parking, she took a small track that was rougher than hell to travel.
“Obviously we’ll have to grit get a grater in for this path.” She laughed when he swore after hitting his head on the side window. When she reached another small rise, she stopped and put the truck in park. She took the plans from him, laid them out so they could see them, then pointed to the left.
“Over there is where I want to put what I’ve been referring to as the ‘bunktel.’” She laughed at his confused expression. “Picture a bunk house, but instead of everyone sleeping in one room, it will have something that a hotel would have, think a suite of rooms.”
Clark cocked his head to the side, closed his eyes, pictured all the hotel rooms he’d ever been in, then nodded. He opened his eyes to study his sister. “Who will be staying there?”
“Families of the clients. I can’t expect someone say from Chicago to come here and stay at a hotel. I will figure the cost of living here on the ranch into their rehabilitation fee.”
“Ah, I understand. And each suite will be what?”
“I’m unsure of the actual size, and I’ll have to talk to the insurance company, but at this point, I’m thinking maybe two bedrooms with two queen beds in each room. A fully handicap bathroom with a walk-in shower, large enough to accommodate a wheelchair, or someone using a walker or crutches. There will be enough room for them to get around the beds. In each suite I would like to have a kitchenette. Something with a microwave, small refrigerator, and maybe a toaster oven. Then in the main portion, I’d like to have a community kitchen that would hold everything.”
“By everything you mean a regular refrigerator, a normal stove, and all the small appliances?”
“Correct. I’d like to have four suites per unit, but I want four units.”
“Allowing for sixteen people to stay at once.”
“Sixteen families. If there are single people, like say, if someone like Reid had arrived for the services Broken offered as a client and not an employee, then they can double up. I’m not saying they’d have to share the same bedroom.”
“But you could put two single clients in one suite.”
“Correct.”
Clark looked out over the empty area, then down at the blueprints. He flipped two pages, then looked at her. “What are these?”
Instead of answering, Erin put the truck in gear and drove further into the property. She stopped and parked again. This time, she pointed directly ahead. “Those prints are for the facility I want the physical therapist, and psychologist to occupy. They would have offices here, and though they’d be on Riceman property, they wouldn’t be exclusive to our clients.”
“They could have their own practices, with the condition they worked with our clients.”
“Exactly.” Erin looked at her brother with pride. “I knew you would understand. There’s a reason why I’m doing this in stages. I did the cabins and barn first, closer to Erin’s Way, because technically, that’s where the employees live and work. Though I consider them family.”
“I understand, they will be kept separate from the clients, and then the clients will be kept away from the general public, but close to Broken.”
“Yes, now comes the hard part.” She looked at him with a grin as she put the truck in gear again. “Hold on.” She laughed as she barely went more than two miles an hour. At one point Clark looked over and saw that her foot wasn’t even on the gas, but they were still going forward. When the bulk of the rough terrain had been driven over, she sped up just a little, and he held onto the holy shit handle above his head as she drove over an even rougher track, then came out onto the road.
“This is where I want to put the road for the entrance to Broken from.” She had parked along the side and pointed out the front windshield. “The entrance to Erin’s Way is fifteen miles that way.”
“Ah, now I understand why you haven’t put a track in. You want to keep Broken away from the public as much as possible. Hence the professional offices at the beginning of coming onto the property.”
“Exactly. I’m glad you understand. Now, that I’ve shown you all that, I’m confident to tell you this next part.”
“What’s that?”
“I can’t do it.”
“What do you mean, you can’t do it? It’s a perfect idea, Rin.”
“I know that, but you didn’t hear what I said. I said that I can’t do it.” She thumped her chest with her stump as she looked at him. At his scowl, she sighed heavily. “I’m stretched thin with Erin’s Way, Riceman Stallions, and what little I do with Broken. I personally don’t have the time to get this,” she reached out and slapped her stump over the blueprints. “To there.” She used her stump to point out his window. “I told you earlier that you had decisions to make. I already told you that you can decide whatever you want to do here. Work at Erin’s Way, Riceman Stallions, or even working on Broken. Another option I’m tossing into the decision bowl is that you take on the task of getting the blueprints from the paper to reality.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah. That’s why I’ll give you until the first of the year to let me know your decision.”
“And if I don’t do this?” He rattled the prints in his hands.
“Then it’ll stay on the back burner until I can find the time to have it done. Clark, I’m not saying that you have to do all the physical labor. I have people for that. I’m asking that you oversee the building of everything. Deal with the contractors, the inspectors, the paperwork to get the permits. I have all the information you need, but I don’t have the time to oversee everything.”
“Would you be micromanaging me?”
“Only if I see something I don’t like and you didn’t give me a valid explanation as to why the plans were changed.”
“Okay, I can understand that. Let me think it over.”
“That’s all I ask, Clark.” She looked at him with a grin. “Now, do you want to go to town with me?” As she asked, she pulled her phone from the cup holder and did a lot of typing. With a grin, she turned her phone and he scowled.
“What am I looking at?”
“The bottom line of your bank account I set up for you from your half of Mom and Dad’s life insurance. I don’t know if you have a bank account here, but I have some checks to deposit, so I thought we could go together and you could get everything situated.”
Clark just sat there staring at her phone, and she put the truck in gear and headed toward town, leaving him to his own thoughts.