Chapter Eight #2
Phil let out a breath. “Sorry I don’t have more. You never know,” he said before getting into the SUV. “Sometimes people do come forward with information. If you notice anything else, give us a call immediately.”
“Like, say, bullet holes,” Lil muttered as the vehicle headed for the cattle guard. She turned to Jordan. “Are you coming in for coffee?”
It was more of a statement than a question, and Jordan nodded, figuring coffee meant they would start putting together a plan.
He needed a plan. Needed to know that they were in agreement on what steps they might take in the future, even if it was just having him live there until it felt like things were safe again.
*
“As I see it,” Lil said once the coffee was poured and they’d taken their seats at the oak table, “our options are to stay, and risk losing more animals and property damage, or leave.”
“I’m not leaving,” Meg said.
“Neither am I.” They’d made their position clear before the cow was shot, and it hadn’t changed. “Not yet anyway.”
None of them had touched their coffee, but now Lil reached for cup, creating a domino effect of caffeine intake.
“I’d like to know more before Maya gets here.”
Jordan lifted his eyebrows in a silent question and Lil explained.
“Our sister is stopping by next week on her way to Seattle.”
“The sister who wrote the property lease?”
She noted that he didn’t say, worked for my father.
“She’s our only other sister.” She wondered how Jordan felt at the prospect of meeting someone who knew the father he hadn’t.
If he felt anything now, he gave no clue, but she was feeling something. Concern. Maya had something Jordan would never have—firsthand knowledge of his father. That had to sting, and she realized she didn’t want Jordan to hurt.
“Does she know what’s been going on?” Jordan asked.
Meg gave a snort. “Her bedroom’s not ready, so no.”
“She’d be here on the next flight,” Lil affirmed.
Jordan set down his cup. “The only person I know of who has any interest in getting you guys to leave is Connery and his client.” His mouth tightened. “I think I took care of that this morning.”
“Do you think we’re in the clear?” Lil asked doubtfully.
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
“How long are you going to stay here?” Meg asked, fiddling with the handle of her cup.
“Let’s play that by ear,” he said. “I won’t get in your way.”
“What about Dakota?” Lil hated that their ranch hand might lose his much-needed income due to things out of her control.
Jordan considered for a moment. “He’s taking my place on the Tree Fork, so I’ll take his place here. I’ll see to it that he keeps working on the Tree Fork.”
“I’ve always wanted to boss my landlord,” Meg murmured.
Jordan flashed his easy smile, the one that warmed Lil from the inside even when she didn’t want to be warmed, and she wondered what it would have been like to have met him under different, less confounding, circumstances.
“What do we do about Aubrey coming out?” Meg asked suddenly.
“Let’s meet her in town.” Lil turned her attention to Jordan. “She was planning to visit tomorrow. Check the garden that we’re ignoring.”
“I’m watering it today,” Meg mumbled.
Indeed, the garden was the least of their worries.
“A town meet-up sounds like a better alternative,” Jordan agreed.
“We can cancel.”
He shook his head. “I can keep an eye on things while you’re gone and maybe look at the electrical in the barn.”
“I thought you were getting an electrician for that.”
“I thought I was, before I called around.”
“Booked solid?”
“We’d be lucky to get someone before Thanksgiving.”
*
The calls to the horse owners were as awful and awkward as Lil had anticipated.
She left the house feeling defeated despite the fact that she’d, for the most part, been successful in explaining the mishap on the property and getting permission to temporarily move her operation, and thus their horses, to the Tree Fork Ranch.
She was okay for now, but what did the future hold?
“I think I’ve just killed my side gig,” she told Jordan, who was chasing down wires in the barn, testing for the short.
“Or you look like a responsible person who cares about the welfare of the animals in her care.” He focused on the screws he was removing as he spoke.
She took a few slow paces past Jordan while he removed a steel outlet plate. “I hate that our current plan is wait and see. That’s what I had to do when my dad was sick, and when the family ranch was sinking in debt.”
And she’d felt so powerless waiting, waiting, waiting.
“It’s hard when you have no control.”
“And it’s hard when you don’t know what you’re up against, if anything.” She nudged the straw at her feet. “I want something tangible to fight against,” she grumbled.
“Me too.”
The weary agreement in his voice made her smile.
“When is your sister coming?”
“Early next week.”
“When are you going to tell her about the cow?”
“Probably just before she boards. Who knows? We might have other things to tell her by then.”
“How do you think she’ll take it?”
“She’ll come armed for battle.” He frowned at her and she said, “That’s the way Maya is.
She’s soft and feminine and was never one for the outdoor stuff, so people tend to underestimate her.
That’s a mistake and she uses it to her advantage.
She put more than one high school bully in their place.
Law was a perfect choice for her. I’m just surprised she didn’t become a trial lawyer.
” Lil cleared her throat. “I’ll just throw this out there for you to think about …
she might have some insights into your inheritance.
” When he didn’t answer, she added, “I don’t know how well she knew him, or if she knew him at all. ”
“I’ll think about it,” he said after a long pause.
He separated the wires he’d pulled out through a hole in the rough-sawn wall planks.
“I’m hauling three of the four horses to your place, if that’s okay.”
“What about the fourth?”
“The owner decided that he’s had enough training.”
“Dudley?”
“Oh, no. That owner wants the miles put on him. The thoroughbred’s owner is coming to get him.”
“Let me know when you’re ready to haul and I’ll go with you.”
“I was going to ask you about that.” She had not looked forward to going alone, but she was not used to asking for company, either.
“I wouldn’t throw you to the wolves.”
“Right. Your family seems really wolf like.”
“You should see them at a steak dinner, ripping and tearing, snarling at one another.” He waggled his eyebrows at his bad joke before going back to his wiring.
Lil shook her head, but she felt a touch lighter inside.
“I’m going to catch horses.”
“Let me know when you’re ready to load. I’ll give you a hand.”
Yet another thing Lil wasn’t used to. She and Meg shared chores, worked together, but rarely did they lend each other a hand in simple things like loading horses. That said, Lil appreciated the offer.
And the man.
What had started as a gentle tug of attraction was beginning to feel more like a tractor beam. Good thing? Bad thing?
She went with complicated thing.