Chapter 3
KAT
There were only about ten people present at the will reading the next morning.
Kat expected more, but while her uncle was a friendly man, he wasn’t a man with reach.
He had a small circle, and everyone he had a close relationship with was there.
The more she thought about it, the more Kat realized that her own circle wasn’t much bigger in the end.
They were sitting in a private room at a law firm, which seemed to be decorated especially for the purpose of looking more successful than they likely were.
Although there was a chance they were the only law firm in town, so maybe they weren’t doing too badly.
The room was peppered with leather furniture, mahogany bookshelves, and framed certificates in place of expensive artwork.
The smell of the place reminded Kat of cigars and whisky, although she saw neither anywhere in the room.
She briefly wondered whether the law office had a scented plug-in that dispersed the perfume of cliché masculine wealth.
What would one call such a scent, she wondered, and how would it be marketed?
She was shuffling through ideas when the lawyers finally entered the room and their audience grew quiet.
Kat had never been to one of these things before.
There had never been the need. She’d certainly never been the recipient of any kind of inheritance.
Even in this case, she didn’t expect to receive a significant share.
Sure, she was fond of her uncle, and she got the impression he liked her well enough.
But her brothers had always been the pride and joy of their family, and she had no reason to believe that was going to change any time soon.
She wasn’t sore about it, but she wasn’t unrealistic either.
It is what it is, she thought. Whatever I am given, it will be more than I had before, and I’ll be grateful for it.
The first part of the will that was read detailed how the liquid assets were to be dispersed.
Her parents and brothers got about an equal share, as expected.
And, as expected, her share was significantly less.
Then, the lawyers started reading about the rest of Uncle Roy’s estate.
Kat tuned much of it out, thinking it wouldn’t have anything to do with her.
She was busy messaging influencers when she heard her name and perked up.
“To my niece, Katherine Naylor, I leave the entirety of my ranch,” the lawyer who was reading the will said before pushing his glasses up his nose.
His overly serious voice reading Uncle Roy’s last message, when Uncle Roy was anything but serious, was probably funnier than it should have been under the circumstances.
“I can see all your faces now,” the lawyer read, “but trust me. I know what I’m doing.
My niece is one of the few people who has kept up with the times.
The rest of us lagged behind because we wanted to, and good for us, I say.
But she bore the weight of modern nonsense so we didn’t have to, and now she’s the only one who can bring my ranch into the future, which it needs because it’s failing. ”
The lawyer cleared his throat and looked over his glasses at Kat, who was shrinking from the shocked expressions of her two brothers.
Then he continued reading. “To Kat: I trust you, kid. I could see in your eyes how much you loved my ranch, my animals, the land. I believe you will take good care of it. You’ll do what it takes to bring it back to its former glory.
I should have asked for your help while I was still alive, but you know me.
I’m a stubborn old man. Please, do whatever it takes to bring my legacy back.
I believe in you and your business-savvy brain.
The liquid assets I left you should hopefully be enough to help you get started.
Oh, and tell Tony I miss his jokes, which you should laugh at, even though they aren’t actually funny.
Seriously, though, he’ll help if you have any questions. ”
Kat sat in stunned silence while the lawyer read the rest of the messages Uncle Roy had left.
None of it seemed real at all. How was she going to run a ranch?
But how could she be cruel enough to sell it?
Her uncle knew her well enough to know she would never do that to him, especially not after his death.
But why did he think she was the right person to run any kind of ranch?
She was a city girl, accustomed to maneuvering through a jungle of people, taxis, and algorithms. She could build a social media platform in no time at all, but a real, flesh-and-blood ranch?
She’d never even imagined such a future for herself.
After the will hearing, her mother took Kat and her brothers out to lunch. They’d only just sat down when Judd turned to Kat and said, “Be honest. You knew this was coming, didn’t you?”
Kat shook her head vigorously. “I swear I didn’t. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with this. It’s nowhere near my lane.”
“I’ll tell you what to do,” Travis said. “Hand it off to one of us.”
“Or sell it,” Judd added.
“Or sell it,” Travis echoed in agreement.
Their mother finally chimed in. “Absolutely not. I raised all of you better than that. You honor the last wishes of those who go before you so that your last wishes will be honored when it’s your turn.
You know that.” Her look was as sharp and cold as ice, and Kat flashed back to her childhood, when their mother would chide them for lying about silly little things.
The sharp look seemed to have worked, because the second her mother spoke up, her brothers shrank into their chairs and their advice came to a complete standstill.
Kat stared down at her sandwich and clenched her napkin in a tight fist. “But what if I don’t know what I’m even doing?”
Their mother smiled. “Give it the best you’ve got.
If you fail, then Uncle Roy chose wrong, and we’ll all consider it his fault rather than yours.
This is a rare opportunity for you. You can try something outside your comfort zone, and if you fail, it’s really someone else’s failure.
You did everything you could to grant your uncle’s last wishes.
Whether you succeed or not, you gave it your best shot, and that’s all that matters in the end. ”
“I doubt Uncle Roy would see it that way,” Kat said.
“I know your uncle as well as anyone in this family, and I know he would absolutely see it that way.” Her mom was adamant, and Kat didn’t dare argue back.
Eventually, Travis offered some helpful, more serious advice than he had before. “What you’ve got to do is find the right person to manage the place. Use the money he gave you to pay them a salary, and move on with your own life.”
“Maybe Tony could do it,” Judd said with a shrug.
“Or he could train the new manager,” Travis added, helpful as ever.
The beauty of Kat’s family was that, even when she received the unexpected inheritance, even after her brothers’ jaws practically hit the floor in shock, she knew they would not be fighting over it.
Though they had their differences, they had always supported one another in times of stress.
Right now, her brothers were offering real, meaningful advice, and Kat’s heart warmed upon hearing it.
She’d seen enough dramas about family inheritance wars to know that was a possibility, and she couldn’t have been gladder that her family wasn’t anything like that.
They were neighborly, a team, and no one and nothing was going to tear them apart.
Though Kat had been feeling out of place when she first arrived back in town and again at the funeral, she was at least assured that her family was with her.
They’d stand by her, even if they didn’t understand what she was doing, just as her uncle had done.
They trusted each other. And she began to see that she might actually have a place here, if only for a little while.
Maybe she would hire someone to manage the place—someone good—and she would return from time to time to check up on the ranch and see how her family was doing.
Maybe this would bring them all a little closer together despite their physical distance from each other.
Maybe that was Uncle Roy’s intention all along.
They finished lunch talking about various people in town who might be interested in managing an old ranch. There were several possibilities, but her brothers and mother could not come to a consensus on who should be the first choice.
“Make a pros-and-cons list for all of them,” Travis suggested.
“Flip a coin,” Judd countered.
Kat laughed. “I’ll do both, but I’m not sure either one will give me any answers.”
“Eat, eat,” their mom said, putting a stop to the conversation. “While it’s hot.”
Kat tried to focus on lunch and on getting caught up with her family, but her mind wouldn’t wander the way she wanted it to.
She kept coming back to the ranch and how it was now her responsibility.
How was she supposed to save something like that?
Her uncle had surely chosen the wrong sibling for the task.
But it had been his choice in the end, not hers, and all she could do was honor his choice.
Kat’s room at the B&B was booked for one more night, and if she was completely honest with herself, she wasn’t looking forward to going back to Houston.
Things seemed unfinished here. Or was it that she was starting to appreciate her small town a bit more?
She wasn’t feeling quite as alienated as she had before.
The worker at her favorite café remembered her from the day prior and knew what she was going to order.
Most people still didn’t remember who she was, but the few who did had met her only once before they greeted her like something other than a stranger.
And for some reason, that was enough to give her some hope that she might actually manage to fit in one day, if she could only stick around long enough.
She was in the middle of brushing her teeth that night when her boss called. Of course, she didn’t answer because what would she even say? Mffwwfuuwah? No, he would not find that cute or amusing. So, she finished brushing, rinsed, and called him back.
He didn’t even start with hello. Instead, he snapped at her. “Why aren’t you answering your phone?”
She glared across the room even though no one would benefit from seeing it. “I was brushing my teeth. Am I not allowed to brush my teeth at nine o’clock at night?”
He ignored her cheeky attitude. “Have you gotten a positive response from all your contacts?” he asked.
“Not yet,” she admitted. “The designers are on board, but some of the influencers are already booked.”
“Booked?” He sighed, and she could tell he was getting irritated.
“Did you suggest what I told you to suggest, or are you being stubborn again?” He didn’t wait for her to respond before he assumed her answer.
“See, this is why you aren’t advancing in your work.
I’m telling you as a friend, Kat.” Kat rolled her eyes at that, but he wasn’t finished.
“If you insist on being stubborn and folding like a pushover in every negotiation, you’ll never get anywhere in this industry.
You’ve got to be aggressive, assertive, act like an—”
“An alpha?” she finished for him. She’d heard this speech before, and she was tired of it. “I’m trying not to alienate our affiliates. You can’t always treat people with disrespect and expect them to keep working with you. We’ll lose everyone.”
“We won’t. And that’s why you’re the employee, and I’m the manager. You have no drive, no go-get-’em attitude. How do you expect to make it in the world if you aren’t willing to stand up for yourself?”
She had to unclench her teeth to answer.
“I’m standing up for myself right now, in case you can’t tell.
I refuse to be a jerk to the people who are good enough to work with us.
That’s a terrible relationship to build with anyone.
Threatening people might work in the moment, but you’ll lose that talent long term.
If you don’t know that, then you’ll find out the hard way. ”
A vision of the ranch flashed through her mind, of her uncle teaching her the right way to feed a horse without getting her hand nibbled, of chasing chickens and running through fields at sunset.
The romance of the past squeezed its way into the present and crowded her thoughts until she couldn’t hear her boss ranting anymore.
Starting today, she had the chance to change her life.
She didn’t have to hire someone to manage the ranch if she was willing to do it herself.
The only thing standing in her way now was her job in Houston.
In an impulse she could barely control, Kat interrupted her boss with the words, “Actually, I quit.”
There was a beat of silence in which her boss seemed to be grappling with what he’d just heard. “What?” Apparently, an employee willingly walking away from this job was difficult for him to believe.
This was her chance to backpedal. She could laugh and claim it was a joke or insist he had misheard, but some deep, instinctive part of her didn’t want to.
“I said, I quit. I resign. Whatever word you want me to use. I’m done.
You make your own threats. I’m not doing it for you.
I’m sure someone in the office has the list of contacts.
I’ll be back to clear out my desk on Tuesday. ”
“You can’t just quit,” her boss said after hemming and hawing for a bit. “You have to give notice.”
“I don’t, actually,” Kat said. “Only last month, you fired an employee and gave him no notice. Notice is clearly not part of our ‘company culture,’ as you like to call it.”
“You won’t work in this industry again,” he said, which she knew was an empty threat. He didn’t have a good enough relationship with anyone else in the industry to dictate who they hired. But it didn’t matter.
“I’m changing professions,” she said. “Don’t worry about me. You don’t have time for it. You have to get this campaign moved up by the end of the weekend. Go ahead and do it your way. See how well it works.” And she hung up before he could take a breath to answer her.