3. Will
3
WILL
I've been living at the ranch for two weeks and my brothers have been here for a few days already.
Thankfully, I'd already made a good dent good in sorting through most of Gramps's hoardings and belongings before they got here. The plan now is to finish putting them all into three piles–keep, donate, trash–clearing the house out of everything that's broken, too old, or not useful to us.
I've done a lot of physical labor in my life, but after all the heavy lifting and deep cleaning for the past two weeks, I've discovered muscles I didn't know I had and then some. It'll all be worth it in the end though. That's the important thing. We've got time though. The only deadline we've got is that our ranch hand Wyatt Grayson is due to arrive at the end of the month. This means, at the very least, we need to have things for him to do by the time he gets here.
I met him through Cap–our dad–after Wyatt did a stint on his crab fishing boat as a greenhorn. Since Wy hadn't taken to life on the open sea, Cap recommended him to us for a job on the ranch, mainly because he knew we were goin' to need all the help we could get. That's not our father doubting us, it's him knowing that spending summers here fifteen or so years ago does not a rancher or a mountain man make.
In another show of fate, I also met Wy's dad, Red Grayson, and his wife Mags when I was in Anchorage late last year. They live in a town called Spring Haven and own the Bull Mountain Ranch and Stud there. I had no idea that Wyatt was Red's son until a few weeks ago when I traveled with him back to his hometown on my way here.
The other person I know around these parts is Randy Barnes. He's an old friend of the family who has offered to help us wherever possible while we're finding our feet. He owns the biggest cattle ranch in the state near Eagle Mountain which is about an hour from here.
I haven't yet, but I plan to give him a call and take a trip to visit him once my brothers and I decide what we want to do with our newly acquired land. There's still far too much to do though before we get to that point. The house probably needs another deep clean, then some work to make it comfortable at best, and livable as a bare minimum. Then we'll decide what ideas we're going to move forward with.
For now, I'm awake and still store, but the smell of freshly brewed coffee from Cayson's expensive machine has me forgetting my aches and pains and making my way toward the kitchen.
I find the brother in question standing in front of the stove, bacon and eggs in the pan in front of him. Sutton is next to him, pulling down some plates and cutlery while Jude is sitting at the dining table with a big glass of orange juice in front of him.
"Ah look, sleeping beauty awakes," Case jokes, handing me a piping hot cup of Joe while he does it. Maybe living with my brothers again won't be so bad after all…
"You're lucky I'm still wakin' up, or else I'd have you for that comment," I still grumble, taking the mug from him and sniffing the contents as every good caffeine addict should.
"You're supposed to drink it, not sniff it," Sutton adds. "Each to their own though."
I cradle my mug and claim a chair at the dining table next to where Jude is reading on his tablet. He looks up and gives me a chin life. "Mornin'."
"Yep. It is," he replies with a smirk.
I look back to Case. "That fancy machine of yours makes good coffee."
"Of course it does. You pay for quality. Besides, I remember you livin' off the stuff from the age of sixteen and tellin' all of us that it put hair on your chest. Means I have you to blame for all of this," he replies, waving at the shiny silver machine.
I snort, shaking my head. "Ain't got nothin' to do with me. My chest is hairy enough already."
That gets me a chuckle or two.
Peering over at Jude, I see him surfing the internet.
Just as expected, one of the first things Case did when he arrived was to drag Sutton along with him up the ridge to help install a satellite dish. "You can bring me to the country, but you ain't takin' the world away from me," he said, as if we hadn't already known he wouldn't be able to stay disconnected for long.
Gramps would have a conniption at having the internet on his mountain, something we all made sure to remind Case about once he dragged his tired butt back to the house, grumping about the "tall ass" mountain.
It doesn't take long for the twins to slide breakfast onto our plates, joining us at the table before we all start digging in. "I could get used to this," I say, nodding at the food. "Thanks."
Sutton laughs. "I wouldn't expect too much. Took him long enough just to work out how to turn the pilot light on for the stove."
"Hey! I'm not that bad," Case argues. "But I figure we can all take turns anyway." He looks around the three of us. "We've all be livin' alone for long enough to at least know how to cook, right?"
"We could come up with a roster," Jude suggests. "You know, like the one Ma had for us when we were growin' up."
Sutton snorts this time. "You mean a chore chart? What are we, twelve?"
I nod. "It's a good idea. I know we're just gettin' started and it's goin' to take us a while to get used to livin' together again, but it makes sense to split the cookin', cleanin', and groceries till we get into a routine and work out who likes doin' what."
"Who elected you boss?" Case smirks. "Then again, you are the workaholic out of all of us. Runnin' a business, workin' like you don't own the place and have a point to prove, putting in sixteen to eighteen-hour days. Hey, come to think of it, you are the best man for the job."
A snort escapes me, because workaholic is an understatement.
I've always been someone who has to be doing something, but in recent years, I've taken that habit to the extreme. So much so that a month before Gramps passed, I went to the ER with chest pain and was told by a doctor that I was heading straight toward clinical burnout.
He made it clear that if I didn't start taking care of myself, I was going to push myself too far and my high stress levels, indigestion, insomnia, and elevated blood pressure would lead to something I might not be able to come back from.
When we found out about Gramps's will, it was as if the universe was giving me a sign that a change was needed. Fast forward four months and here I am, living on a mountain in small-town Alaska having sold my business and my houses back in Chicago, and donated almost everything I owned before taking two weeks to drive in my truck to Anchorage and then Timber Falls.
Case breaks through my thoughts. "The job chart is a good idea though. Put me down for more cookin' than cleanin'. There's a reason why I paid someone to do everythin' for me when I was livin' by myself."
"Because you were earnin' mega bucks and could afford to pay them?" Jude shoots back.
Case rolls his eyes. "Didn't say I didn't know how to do it. I just figured my time was better spent elsewhere."
"And now you don't have anywhere other than the house, the ranch, and Cooper's Ridge to spend your time, so…"
"Yes, Sutt. I hear you," Case waves his twin off with a hand in the air and a sigh. "OK, so chore chart. What else?"
"That'll do for now. Once we've gotten on top of the maintenance and renovations around the place, then we'll know what we're ready for or can be ready for, and then we can work out what we should do with the place." I hope…
"I'm happy for Will take the lead with everythin'. We all know we're equal partners in this place but Will's the one with an eye for business and construction, and he knows where the rest of our strengths lie," Jude says, looking around the table and stopping on me. "You're already the leader out of all of us, always have been. Lord knows we're goin' to need someone at the helm if we're goin' to make a go of it."
I look over at the twins who are sharing a silent conversation the same way done since they were young. Somehow, they can just stare at one another and communicate. It used to freak us out until Case explained it to us.
They turn back to see Jude and I watching them. "What?" they say in unison.
I wave my hand back and forth. "Can we make another rule that says there can't be any of that freaky twin-telepathy stuff while we're makin' decisions?"
Sutton's lips twitch. "Says who?"
"We do," Jude and I reply before laughing and giving each other a high five.
Sutton sits back in his chair, both of the twins laughing quietly. "Fine, we'll keep the twin thing to a minimum during important discussions," he agrees, raising his mug in a mock salute.
"Much appreciated. OK, so if I'm the designated boss?—"
"Designated? More like you born boss," Sutton replies.
I wave him off. "Yeah, yeah. Anyway , since I am, I'll do the washin' up today since you two cooked, and then we can all get back to the cleanin' since I swear there's another layer of dirt and dust to get through. Then tonight, my shout at the bar."
Instead of looking pleased, my brothers turn skeptical eyes my way. "Why?"
"After dealin' with more dust and grime than we've seen in our lifetime the past few days, I think we deserve it. Besides, if we're goin' to be livin' here for the next few years at the very least, we should acclimatize ourselves and get to know the locals."
"Fair call," Sutton says with a nod. "Always good to make friends, you never know when they might come in handy."
"Yeah, I could definitely do with some acclimatizin' ," Case replies, waggling his brows.
I groan, Sutton's head drops and Jude shrugs. "Only one way to know if the people of Timber Falls are good folk and that's to have a beer with them. Might help us with the job hunt too."
I tilt my head. "I guess that's somethin' we haven't really talked about. Y'all want to work outside of the ranch?"
"I thought it was a given," Jude replies. "None of us are hurtin' after sellin' up and movin' here, and we're now all joint owners of this here land. I figure if we're here for a long time, why not share what we've learned and see if we can help the town Gramps loved so much as well."
"Never really thought about it that way." I nod at my youngest brother and turn to the twins. "Also takes the pressure off us a bit. Let's take our time and let the ranch make the choice for us."
"Hey, maybe that'll help me with my acclimatizin'," Case muses before dropping his voice to a lower octave. "Did you know I own a mountain?"
We all groan. Sutton even facepalms. "Please, for the love of all things holy, do not use that as a pickup line. Knowin' your luck, you'll say it to the wrong woman and get on the wrong side of a local."
"Oh no, please do ," Jude adds, a devious grin curving his lips. "Then we can watch as he crashes and burns."
"Even worse, they'd probably belong to a Johnson," Sutton adds.
"Think I'd pay to see that," I laugh.
"I'd forgotten about that lot. Wish I knew what the beef was between Gramps and all of them," Case replies. "He never did get around to tellin' us about it."
I get to my feet and begin gathering up the now-empty breakfast plates.
"Might as well get on with it then," I say, my brain already full of all the things we need to do. "I was thinkin'—"
"Damn, that's new for you," Case quips, earning himself a half-hearted glare from me across the table.
" Anyway ," I start, "if we can finish emptyin' the house, then we'll know what we need to buy and what we can bring here from Mom and Dad's storage unit in Anchorage. Then we can check out that furniture place on the main street of town.
Sutton nods. "It gets us out of the house too. Can't just stay on the mountain all the time. We need to go places, meet people–" Spot the therapist. Case opens his mouth but Sutton beats him to it, "And not just goin' to the bar, Case."
"You're right," Jude says. "I get that Gramps stayed here and shut himself away, but that doesn't mean we have to."
"Right. How 'bout I get to washin' up and then we'll get started."
"Better you than me," Jude says, nodding toward the mess now covering the kitchen counter, stovetop, and sink.
They've always been like that, so it's no surprise that they're still the same.
"Some things never change."