Chapter Three #2
“I discussed it with the management company before they went dark. They said it was a gray area, and the tree guy had to be paid, so yes. I did.”
“Where do you keep your ladder?”
A few minutes later, she watched him climb, glad it was him and not her.
Her aversion to heights was legendary. Had she not had such an aversion, she would have worked out some kind of fix for the roof.
Instead, she’d changed where she stacked the hay, even though it led to overcrowding on one side of the barn and wasted space on the other.
Jordan climbed onto the roof and made his way to the hole. He studied the jagged opening, then took a moment to study the view before heading back to the ladder.
Once he reached the ground, he took down the ladder, collapsed it, and laid it on its side next to the barn. “What else?”
She led the way to a standpipe. “This one has been turned off at the main because it leaks and was flooding that side of the barn.”
“How long has it been this way?”
“A while. Like I said, the management company made promises.” Actually, they’d stalled, and she had a feeling they were waiting to see what happened with the property.
“What else is a priority fix?”
“The electrical system in the barn has been on the fritz. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
We’ve quit using the lights for fear of a short, and several of the cow waterers need to be replaced.
Normal stuff, really.” The majority of which had happened during the past three months, when they’d been busy with late calving.
In addition to the water lines and electrical, a clogged culvert had come close to washing out the driveway. Fortunately, their hired hand had come late one night to help with calving and discovered the mess before it led to thousands of dollars’ worth of base and road gravel being washed away.
It’d been one hell of a spring. Had they footed the bills, it would have taken a big chunk out of their close-to-zero profit, so they’d simply learned to live with things while they waited for the heir to take the helm.
Except for the tree and the culvert, which were her problems. She’d had to hire a guy with an excavator to fix the culvert problem and had had to dip into meager savings to pay him.
“Were there many repairs made before the management company got lazy?”
“We hadn’t been here that long, and the place was in good shape when we moved in. It’s only been recently that we’ve been having troubles.” One after another.
She could see by Jordan’s expression that he wondered how they’d managed to get infrastructure repairs written into the lease in the first place. It was a perk that many such leases didn’t have. And sure enough, he began the journey toward the answer.
“How did you come to lease this place?”
How did you come to inherit this place?
“My dad went into a care center prior to passing away. The cost was high, and we had to sell the ranch to pay.” Not to mention the debt he’d already racked up.
They’d kept some of the ranch equipment and walked away with just enough liquid assets to start again on this leased property.
“Ranch where?”
“South of Dillon.”
“So how did you land here, hundreds of miles away?”
“My older sister worked for Carl Jordan. His tenant purchased another property, so the lease became available.”
He scowled at her, as if he’d misheard. “Your sister worked for Jordan Enterprises? In Chicago?”
Lil’s gaze narrowed. It sounded like an accusation, as if somehow Maya had strong-armed Carl Jordan into leasing to them.
“For three years. She no longer works there, but she did write this lease.”
“I guess that explains the generous terms.”
Lil bit the inside of her lip to keep from saying something she might regret. She didn’t appreciate the insinuation, but she also couldn’t argue against his point. The rent would soon be under market because it could only be adjusted a small percentage yearly for the duration of the lease.
So, she tilted her chin and lied. “From my experience, Mr. Jordan was a generous man.” The lease was generous anyway.
The shift in Jordan’s expression was slight, but noticeable.
Lil decided to push. The more she knew, the easier it was to stand her ground.
“You must have known him well.”
“No.”
And that was the end of the conversation. So much for knowing more. How was it that a man who claimed he didn’t know Carl Jordan had inherited this gem of a property? Had he donated a kidney or something?
“I’ll see about an electrician for the wiring, and I’ll be back to take care of the roof and the standpipe.”
“The waterers?”
“Yes. Those, too. Let me give you my cell number.”
After numbers were exchanged, she asked, “Any idea when you’ll be back?”
“Tomorrow if that works.”
“Works fine.”
She felt an odd reluctance to see him go. Maybe because if he was there she would have a better chance of knowing what he was cooking up.
No. It was more than that.
She was noticing little things about him, like the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he fought a smile, and the bump where his perfect nose had been broken.
Her awareness of the man was pulling her back into the world she’d abandoned when the traumas had come raining down upon her, leaving her little time for anything other than ducking and dodging and trying to stay on her feet.
She wanted to go back to that world. She definitely wasn’t looking for a man, but she didn’t mind looking at a man.
Letting down her freaking guard for a moment or two.
But did it have to be with this man?
Lil had no answer to that other than she dared any red-blooded woman not to be distracted by this guy.
Meg drove across the field just as Jordan’s truck went over the cattle guard. She parked the ATV and pushed her ball cap back as she watched Jordan’s truck disappear into the aspen grove. “Why was he back?”
“Repairs.”
“He’s actually going to have the roof fixed?”
Lil nodded as she watched his rig disappear around the big corner at the aspen grove. “The prettier the ranch is, the easier to sell.”
“Maya said not to worry.”
“I’m not.” Much.
“I’m hungry,” Meg said.
Lil could do with a meal herself. She hadn’t eaten all day.
Meg let out a breath as they started for the house, their boots scuffing on the gravel.
Meg pulled the elastic band out of her hair and combed her fingers through it as they walked.
She was smaller than Lil and their hair different colors, but other than that, they were close to identical in appearance thanks to their father’s strong genes.
Maya was the outlier in that regard, with a rounder face, and a softer appearance, although woe be to anyone who believed that meant a softer personality.
“I wonder who his prospective buyer is?” Meg asked.
Lil had been wondering the same thing.
When they reached the front gate, Lil stopped and turned to her sister as a thought struck her. “Jordan says that he didn’t know Carl Jordan.”
Meg made a face. “That’s weird.”
“I thought so.”
As they continued up the walk, Lil asked, “Do you think the names are a coincidence? Jordan?”
“What else could they be?”
Lil, not a fan of conspiracy theories, hesitated before voicing her own. “A baby mama making a point?”
Meg frowned.
“It ticks the boxes,” Lil pointed out. “Local cowboy inherits ranch from rich out-of-stater he doesn’t know.”
“Yes,” Meg said slowly. “I guess it does. Except for prison dad.”
Lil had been thinking about that. “A name on a birth certificate doesn’t necessarily mean paternity.”
*
Jordan leaned against the fence post he’d finished tamping in before Jess Connery, the broker who’d made the offer to buy the Willow Creek for an unknown client, called. “My lawyer checked the lease, and it’s within her rights to stay.”
“Are you sure she can’t be convinced to leave?” Connery asked for the second time, this time with obvious impatience.
Jordan had yet to get a clear read on the real estate broker.
He was smooth and professional, a given, dealing with high-end clients as he did, but Jordan wasn’t high end, so he was getting glimpses of a different man.
A guy who tried to bull people around when he didn’t get what he wanted.
Jordan had made a mistake in letting Connery know he was eager to sell early on and now he was paying the price.
Connery, or rather his client buyer, was in the power position.
“No. But it’s not the time to push.” His instincts were good in that regard.
Connery exhaled into the phone. “We may not have a deal.”
Jordan’s jaw tightened. “May not or do not?”
If Connery wasn’t going through with the deal, Jordan wanted to know right now. There had to be buyers who didn’t mind inheriting a tenant. It was simply a matter of finding them. Quick like.
“My buyer is willing to be flexible. To a point,” Connery said. “You need to make this work.” His tone was cool, yet borderline threatening, which meant shit to Jordan, who was rapidly getting tired of the broker’s attitude.
There was tough and then there was tough. He was used to smoothing the waters with guys whose equipment cost megabucks when it wasn’t operating. Those guys had something to bitch about.
Unfortunately, in this case, Jordan wanted Connery to get his way, which made them a reluctant team.
The one thing Connery offered that Jordan needed was a quick turnaround and quick cash.
An impressive amount of quick cash. Jim Reed had agreed to keep his property off the market for a two-month period, giving Jordan time to arrange the sale.
But Jim couldn’t and wouldn’t wait longer than that.
“I’ll broach the matter again in a day or two.”
“Don’t dick around,” Jess said sternly. “My buyer won’t wait forever.”