Chapter 20 #2
Aiden looked over his shoulder and waved. Lucy kept eating as Ted worked his way through the restaurant. He stopped at each table to shake hands and chat with the patrons. He wore a bright smile and a pristine golf shirt in light blue.
“Your brother is a natural politician,” she said.
Aiden glanced over his shoulder again. Turning back to Lucy, he nodded.
“Statistically, he should be in jail or something. Ted never knew his dad. His mom died of an overdose when he was young. If it wasn’t for his grandmother…
” Aiden shook his head, as if the alternative was just too awful to consider. And maybe it was.
“I didn’t know that his mom died of an overdose.” Then again, why would she? Still, she felt a pull of kinship toward the mayor. They’d both lost someone to an addiction. “What happened with his mom?”
“Honestly, I don’t know the details. She died before his grandmother, Annie, came to work for us.”
“Annie must’ve been an amazing woman to keep Ted from imploding.”
Aiden sipped his coffee. “Annie was the best. She helped raise us, too. I mean, my mom is wonderful. But she had six kids and a husband who worked seventy hours a week.” He set his cup back onto the table. “Without Annie, we all would have crashed.”
Ted worked his way to the table behind Lucy. He said something to the college students that made them all laugh. Then, he slid into the bench next to Aiden. “Hey, you two,” he said, pulling a fry from Aiden’s plate. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Lucy’s been staying with me since everything that happened at the ranch,” said Aiden.
Ted bit the fry and chewed, nodding. He swallowed. “Any news from the crime lab?”
Aiden shook his head. “Callum’s still waiting on the DNA results. We should hear something any day now, though.”
“I’ll call the lab and put a little pressure on them. It might not help,” he said, grabbing another fry. “But who knows.”
“Thanks,” said Lucy before taking a bite of her sandwich.
“How are you holding up, by the way?” asked Ted.
She chewed and held up one finger.
“Of course I ask you a question when you have food in your mouth.” He laughed. “Bad timing on my part.”
She swallowed and wiped crumbs from her lips.
“It’s a struggle,” she said, being honest. Maybe there was more to Ted than just the veneer of success she’d seen before.
“With my grandfather in the hospital, I’ve had to hire workers just to bring the cattle from the summer pasture and get ready for winter.
That’s used up all the money we made from the fair—thanks for making that call, by the way.
” Her dinner sat in her stomach like a rock. “I’m not sure where to go from here.”
Ted leaned forward and lowered his voice. “The offer to buy your ranch still stands. I can see what kind of situation you’re in, and I’m willing to increase my offer by one hundred thousand.”
“One hundred thousand dollars more,” Aiden hissed. “Damn, Ted. Where’d you get that kind of money?”
“Lower your voice, okay?” Ted glanced over his shoulder.
Turning back to the table, he continued, “I told you that I made a good investment. It was a start-up that just got sold to some tech billionaire for a ton of cash. I want to do something good with the money, and, well, buying the Five Steers Ranch seems like a win for everyone.”
Lucy shook her head. And yet, she imagined setting down all her burdens. With one word, she would be lighter and freer. “I can’t,” she said. “The Harris family cemetery is on the property.” Her brother. Her grandmother. All her ancestors had been buried on the land.
“I won’t so much as move a headstone,” said Ted. “I can even add a special road so you can come to the graveyard whenever you want.”
It was a generous offer. “I need to talk to my grandfather,” she said. “But that land is our heritage. I’m not sure that he’ll agree.”
“Of course,” said Ted. “I get that.”
The phone in Lucy’s pocket began to shimmy. She pulled it out and looked at the screen.
The caller ID read Grandpa Rusty.
“Sorry,” she said, sliding off the bench. “I need to take this.”
Swiping the call open as she walked across the restaurant, she said, “Give me a second to get outside.” She backed into the door, pushing it open. “Okay, now I can talk. How are you?”
“Been better,” said Rusty.
The food in her gut started to churn. “What’s going on?”
“I just talked to my nurse. They’re sending me to rehab on Thursday. She said it’ll be six weeks, and then, I’ll be released.”
“That sounds like good news to me,” said Lucy. “I mean, there’s still six more weeks before you’ll come home. But you’ll be back at the ranch well before Thanksgiving.”
“There’s a problem, though.”
Lucy started to walk. “Oh?”
“It’s the insurance. Remember last year when we signed up for new policies? Well, now the coverage won’t pay for rehab. And it’s six weeks, Luce. Damn near ten grand a week.”
“Sixty thousand dollars?” She reached the corner and turned around. “Can we set up a payment plan or something?”
“I didn’t ask about that,” said her grandfather. “But I did ask if I could do rehab at home and it’s not an option. I have to do physical therapy and occupational therapy two times a day. It wouldn’t make sense to send someone out to the ranch for all that.”
“It would probably cost just as much for all those home visits.” She stopped at the door to The Eatery. “And you’ll get better care at a facility, too.”
“Nancy might be able to loan me some of the money,” said Rusty. “But I don’t know how I’d pay her back.”
The question Who’s Nancy was caught on the tip of Lucy’s tongue. But then, she remembered her grandfather’s video chat with his lady friend. That brought up another question. “You talked to Nancy about all this before discussing it with me?”
“I wanted to talk through my options with someone who’s, what d’you call it, objective. You are affected by any decision that I make.”
Turning, she continued to pace. As she walked past the restaurant, she glanced through the window.
Aiden and Ted still sat at the table. A large bowl filled with salad was in front of Ted.
He’d obviously ordered while she’d been outside.
Stabbing the lettuce with the tines of his fork, Ted laughed.
Aiden smirked and ate a fry. Lucy knew that Aiden had just told a joke, and her chest warmed with affection.
She wanted to begrudge her grandfather’s new relationship with Nancy. But she couldn’t—not when she was falling for Aiden.
“You still there?” asked Rusty.
“Yeah, I’m still here.” She walked to the end of the block and leaned on the crosswalk post. “Are you and Nancy that close? I mean, even half of the money for rehab is still a lot of money.”
“She’s the first woman who’s made me happy since your grandmother died,” he said.
“Gee, thanks.”
“You know what I mean.”
The thing was, Lucy did know. She pushed off from the light and strode back toward The Eatery. “Do you love her?”
“I’d like to find out how I feel about her. How she feels about me.”
“Does that mean that she’ll come back to North Dakota?” she asked.
“I was thinking more that I’d go to her in Florida.”
His words hit her like a punch to the middle. Her eyes started to water, and she couldn’t draw a breath.
“For a visit,” she said, her voice a wheeze.
“To start with,” said Rusty. And then, “I don’t want you to feel like I’m abandoning you. But this brush with death…” He blew out a long breath. “Well, I’ve got a few more years of life to live, it seems.”
How was she supposed to keep the ranch running with her grandfather in Florida? She wanted to scream. She wanted to cuss. She thought she might retch. Was it Rusty’s news? Or was Lucy having her first wave of morning sickness? She didn’t know when symptoms started.
Ahead was the restaurant. The window. Ted continued to eat his salad, and she saw her way out.
“Don’t borrow the money from Nancy,” she said with an exhale. There was really only one option left. It didn’t matter if it was the one thing she swore to never do. “I have another plan.”
“What is it?” he asked.
“Let me talk to some people,” she said. “I’ll let you know if it all works out in the morning.”
After ending the call, she shoved her phone into her pocket and walked toward the restaurant. She pulled the door open and stepped inside. The room was hot, and the scent of fried food hung in the air. She walked to the table and sat.
Aiden looked up from his plate. “Everything okay?”
Lucy swallowed and turned her gaze to Ted. “Can you get me a contract that says everything you’ve promised? The animal sanctuary. The access road to the Harris family cemetery. The extra hundred thousand dollars. All of it.”
Ted stared at her for a moment. Then, he slowly nodded his head. “I can.”
Lucy held out her hand for Ted to shake. He gripped her palm.
“Then…” Even she heard the tremor in her voice. “We have a deal.”