He looked confused. “What committee?”
Adrian Saroyan was a commercial real estate agent in Metlin, but he did a lot of work out in Oakville too. He was trusted by most of the community because his grandparents had pistachio acreage on the west side of town and were founding members of the Armenian church. He was a good guy who dealt fairly with farmers and ranchers, which made him well-respected in Melissa’s neck of the woods.
He frowned. “You know, I got a voice mail from someone, but I wasn’t sure what they were talking about and I thought they maybe had a wrong number.”
“I’m sorry. Seriously, I meant to call and explain things, but I forgot. How are you doing? How’s business?”
“I’m doing good.” Adrian was frowning as he scanned the flyer. “When did this start?”
“The Allen Ranch thing?” Melissa said. “A few weeks ago. Maybe the initial proposal was at the end of the summer. I’m not sure. They’ve been cagey about it. I wanted to call you because the town council is refusing to do an environmental impact study, and I’m not sure if that’s legal or not.”
Adrian’s mind seemed to be elsewhere. He turned to Tayla. “Do you know if Gus knows about this?”
“Jeremy’s grandpa?” Tayla shook her head. “I don’t think so. I haven’t heard him mention it.” She took a flyer too. “Wait, is this Gus’s old ranch?” Her eyes went wide.
Adrian muttered, “Sure is.”
Cary walked over. “Am I missing something?”
Melissa nodded at Adrian. “Adrian hadn’t heard about the Allen Ranch project.”
“Yeah, I mentioned it to Jeremy, but he didn’t think Gus could do much, so he was debating whether to tell him or not.”
“I’ll call Gus,” Adrian said. “Give me a couple of days.”
Cary crossed his arms. “You heard of JPR Holdings?”
Adrian glanced at Melissa. “Yeah. I know who that is.”
“Don’t worry,” Melissa said. “I know it’s them.”
Daisy looked around. “I am so lost right now.”
“The holding company trying to develop the land next to my ranch—the land that used to belong to Jeremy’s grandpa—is partly owned by my late husband’s parents. They’re trying to put two thousand condos and a golf course on it for rich retirees.”
Tayla gasped. “Jeremy and I had our first date there. They can’t turn it into a golf course!”
“They’re trying,” Cary said. “The council is supposed to vote on it next week.”
Daisy asked, “Oakville people are usually pretty private. Why would they want this?”
“Because of the budget shortfall,” Melissa said. “No one wants to lose the middle school and high school.”
“Oh, that’s rough.” Daisy shook her head. “But surely there has to be another way.”
Adrian lifted a flyer. “Melissa, you mind if I take a couple of these?”
“Take as many as you like,” she said. “Call me or my mom if you have any questions.”
Cary asked, “You know Les Arthur?”
Adrian nodded. “I know Les.”
“He’s on the council. Might be worth talking to him.”
Tayla turned her eyes back to Melissa and Cary. “Just because you’ve distracted us with a big bad real estate developer, don’t think you’ve escaped giving us more details about your love life.”
Cary put his arm around Melissa. “Okay, Lizard. Sure thing. We’ll get back to you on that.”
“Lissa!” Ox’s booming voice cut through the crowd, and Melissa turned to see her baby brother—all six foot and two inches of him—walking through the crowd.
“Ox!” She walked out from behind the table, grateful that most of the crowd had drifted down Main Street to where the band had started playing. “You weren’t in the shop earlier.”
“Nope.” His grin was half a mile wide. “Come here.”
He motioned her to a quiet bench across the street from her booth. “Check it out.” He pulled something from his pocket.
Melissa stared. “Ox, that’s a ring box.”
“Yep.” He opened it. “It’s Emmie’s grandmother’s ring.”
Melissa’s eyes went wide. “Are you—?”
“Yep.”
She threw her arms around him. “I’m so happy for you! I know she’s going to say yes! I know it. But how did you get the ring? Did Emmie already have it? Have you already talked about getting married?”
“Well, yeah.” His face was a little red. “In general. Not in detail. We both want to, we just haven’t made it official yet. But she doesn’t know about the ring. See, when I went to talk to Spider—”
“Oh Ox. You didn’t ask for his permission, did you? Emmie is a grown woman. She doesn’t need permission to get married from—”
“Chill.” He held up a hand. “I went to get his blessing. He’s the closest thing to family that she has.”
“Okay, that’s cool.”
“And a few days later he calls me, says he and Daisy have Betsy’s old wedding set. She’d given it to Spider because Spider didn’t have any money when he asked Daisy to marry him. Well, Daisy only wears her wedding ring because she works at a bakery all day. So she and Spider both agreed that they wanted Emmie to have it back.”
Melissa put a hand over her heart. “Oh Ox.” She had tears in her eyes. “It’s perfect. The ring is perfect. Spider and Daisy are the best. And Emmie is perfect for you.” She threw her arms around him. “I’m so happy for you.”
“And I’m happy for you.” He smiled. “I heard about you and Cary.”
“How? How does everyone in this town know about my business?”
“You two were making out on the street, Lissa.”
“We were not making out!”
He shrugged. “Whatever. I really don’t want details. Really.” He shook his head. “Please, no details.”
“You think I want to share them with you?”
“Please don’t.”
“Good.” She nodded. “So that’s settled. Cary and I are… whatever we are. Abby doesn’t know anything yet, so don’t mention it. And you and Emmie are getting engaged.” Melissa grinned. “This is so great.”
“I know.”
“Tell me when it’s official.” She felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She got it out and read the message on the screen. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”
Ox frowned. “What is it?”
She sighed. “Probably nothing, but Abby is throwing up. No fever, but Mom needs me to come home and pick up some Popsicles on the way.”
“Oh rotten. Poor kid.”
Melissa glanced at her table. Everyone was drifting away, and Cary was starting to pack up. “I better get going.”
“Cool. I’ll help.”
“No need.” She was going to have to explain to Cary that she couldn’t come over. Dammit. “Cary and I rode together, so he’ll help me.”
“Okay. Tell the goat queen I hope she feels better soon.”
“Thanks, bud.”
Ox gave Melissa one more hug before he headed back to his shop, and Melissa made her way through the falling darkness to Cary, who was loading crates and jugs in the back of his truck.
“Hey,” he said. “Good news from Ox?”
She smiled. “Not official good news yet, but soon. Unfortunately, it’s bad news from Mom.” She held up her phone. “Abby’s puking.”
His face fell. “Seriously?”
“’Fraid so. I have to head home, and can we pick up some Popsicles?” She spread her hands. “I’m sorry, Cary.”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. Kids get sick. That’s life.”
“Tomorrow?” she asked. “I’m dropping Abby off in Kettleman after school. Well, as long as she’s over whatever this is. I could come over after that.”
He smiled. “Yeah. That sounds perfect.”
“Okay.”
Cary took the last crate off his table. “Ox and Emmie are good together.”
; “They really are.”
“Almost as good as we are.”
Melissa’s heart nearly stopped, but Cary didn’t say anything more. He just kept loading the truck. “Help me with the table?”
“Sure.” She flipped the table to the side, and they folded it and loaded it in the truck. Then they gathered the bits and pieces of their booths, tossed the trash in the dumpster, and walked back to the truck.
Cary paused before he opened the door.
“What is it?”
He gave her a small smile and held out his hand. “Can you spare five more minutes?”
She cocked her head but walked around the truck. “She’ll live five minutes without me.”
Cary linked their hands together, and they walked around the corner, cutting through an alley to get to the plaza near the old Fox Theater where a band was playing a slow song. A crowd had gathered, but Cary and Melissa stood on the edge, both in their work clothes, and he spun her around.
Melissa looked around. “Are we dancing?”
He nodded and pulled her closer. Cary pressed her against his chest and wrapped one arm around her waist while he took the other in his and kissed her knuckles as they turned with the music.
His quiet sweetness made her weak.
Cary smiled down at her. “Hey.”
“Hi.”
“One song?”
She nodded. “One song.”
“Good.”
Melissa tilted her head up. “Kiss me.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Right here on the sidewalk in Metlin? I’m shy.”
“We have to; it’s tradition.”
He smiled slowly. “That’s right, it is.”
Cary took her lips with quiet, devastating thoroughness, leaving no doubt in her mind that whatever he had planned for the following night would destroy any and all defenses she had remaining.
Melissa had been slipping for a while, but in that moment, on a busy street in downtown Metlin, she fell. Her heart landed at Cary Nakamura’s feet, and she prayed to everything merciful in the universe that he wouldn’t break it.
She broke off their kiss and slid her fingers into his hair, resting her head over his heart as they swayed back and forth.
Chapter Twenty
Friday was madness. The crew was finishing up the final renovations to the bunkhouse, Teresa was coming to the orange grove to finalize the schedule for her mandarin harvest, and Stu called her because the water pump for the lower pastures was acting up. If she couldn’t fix it, they’d have to move the entire herd up to the north pasture that afternoon, which would completely screw up her day.
Melissa was running around so much she couldn’t remember if she’d eaten anything. Maybe? Something around breakfast? Possibly?
She pulled off her gloves and shouted, “Okay, try now!”
Thankfully, this time when Stu flipped the switch, she heard the welcome gurgle of water coming up the pipes. So did the herd. They mooed and started moving toward the water troughs fed by the pipes that came from the storage tank on the hill. It would take some time for the water to make it down to them, but they were thirsty.
“I cannot wait for the rain to come.” She sighed and tossed her gloves to Stu. Then she mounted Moxie and put her hat back on. “You good here?”
“Yep.” He turned to the side and lit a cigarette. “Cooper’s is due for a break, so they’ll be good wandering round here till next week. We culling soon?”
“How many?”
He squinted. “I think around a dozen.”
Melissa nodded. “Sounds about right. Check with me next week on timing. I’ll try to take a look over the weekend and see if my numbers are the same as yours.”
“Sounds good.” He drew on his cigarette. “Got a friend in Utah that’s due to have a litter of dogs in the next month. Been thinking about getting a female, training her up to work, and maybe breeding her to Dex. Maybe even doing a litter a year if it works out. Nothing big. Just raising good, strong working dogs. I can train ’em to work with the horses and the cattle. Sell ’em when they’re old enough. Would you be okay with that?”
“With you breeding dogs on the ranch? Little tiny, cute border collie puppies? You’re already on track to be Abby’s favorite person, Stu. You don’t have to work so hard.”
His face creased into a grin. “So you’re saying you wouldn’t mind a few balls of yappy fluff running around the place?”
Melissa threw up her hands. “We got cows, horses, barn cats, chickens, goats. Hell, my mom was talking about getting ducks last week. Dogs are hardly the craziest thing going on around here. I’m only surprised no one has brought a llama home yet.”
“Give it time. They’re great with sheep, you know.” Stu nodded and tipped his hat before he nudged his horse Magnum down the hill.
“No sheep, Stu!”
“Sure thing, Miz Rhodes.”
“I’m serious. No sheep!”
Melissa followed him down the trail, wondering if she had time to eat anything before she headed over to pick Abby up from school.
She glanced at her watch. Two forty-five.
Nope.
Here’s hoping Cary hadn’t eaten all the granola bars in her purse.
She dropped Abby off with not a single word to her father-in-law, made it back to Oakville, and dropped by the bunkhouse just as Brian and his crew were finishing up.
Brian waved a set of keys as she brought her truck to a stop. Melissa opened the truck door.
“Perfect timing.” He tossed her the keys. “We just finished cleaning up.”
When she’d left, the outside of the bunkhouse was patchy, newly primed stucco over the old adobe bricks. Now it was a tidy cream-colored building with green trim around the red-tiled roof and windows. The porch had been shored up and painted the same green.
“Brian, it looks fantastic.”
“I’m really pleased with it.” He grinned. “It’s not often you get to work on old buildings like this, so it was pretty cool. I’m glad you called me for it. I was thinking I wouldn’t have time, but Cary…”
“Cary what?”
Brian smiled. “Anyway, my guys have had fun.”
Hmmmm. Interesting. “And the structure is all looking solid?”
He nodded. “These old adobes last forever as long as they don’t get water damage, and the roof on this one only had like… one leak, maybe? We replaced the tile—that was really old—and the subroofing. You’ve already seen the bathroom. The trim is all cleaned up and the floors are refinished. Stay off them for a couple of days and you’re golden.”
She shook his hand. “I’m excited about this.”
“It’s a sweet spot. You gonna rent it out?”
She nodded. “Gonna set it up as a vacation rental. Grab some park traffic.”
“Cool.” He crossed his arms and looked around. “You know, I was just fixing up an old barn the other day to be a wedding venue. The setup out here is pretty close, only you’ve got the whole citrus grove too. If you built some kind of bigger deck under the trees there with a pavilion or something along those lines, I bet you could do something similar out here. You get a lot of wildflowers spring and early summer?”
She cocked her head. “Tons. All along the creek. I hadn’t thought about it.”
“I’d start thinking about it if I were you. I wouldn’t have time to start right away—we’re busy through the rest of the fall. But I could give you an estimate on what I’m seeing for a deck and pavilion.”
“That works out because I don’t have the money to pay you for more right now.”
Brian laughed. “I know how that is.”
“But send me the estimate,” Melissa said. “I’ll take a look and talk to my mom.”
“Will do.”
She shook his hand again, walked over to the bunkhouse, and peeked in the windows, careful not to step on the newly refinished floors. She could already imagine the rustic bed she’d put in the corner. They had some old furnitur
e stored in the barn that would be perfect. A rag rug on the floor. Maybe she could get some of Cary’s pictures for the walls.
She heard her mom honk the horn to grab her attention. Joan was coming up the road in her ancient Subaru. Melissa walked back to the house and waited for Joan to park.
“Groceries?” she asked.
“In the back.”
Melissa popped the trunk. “You remember I’m meeting Cary for dinner tonight, right?”
“Lissa.” Her mom got out of the driver’s seat, a pile of mail in her arms. “I went by the post office.” She held out a large envelope marked Next Day Express.
Melissa looked at the return address.
Bristol, Brooks, and McDonald
Santa Maria, CA.
She opened the envelope with a sense of inevitability and pulled out the cover letter. She read it, nodded, and put it back in the envelope. “They’re doing it.”
Joan shook her head. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“Somebody must have told them I was handing out flyers at the market. They’re calling in the note.” Melissa tucked the envelope under her arm and reached for the first grocery bag. “I have ninety days to come up with seventy-five thousand dollars.”
“Ow!” She pulled her foot back. “You stepped on my foot.”
Cary lifted an eyebrow. “I called your name four times and you didn’t even turn your head. I was beginning to worry.”
They were sitting on the patio at Flora’s by the River, enjoying fresh Mexican food and a pretty view. So far, their date had gathered a few looks but no comments. Melissa had been staring at the water when Cary stepped on her foot.
“I’m sorry I’m distracted.”
“Are you getting weird about the two of us again?” Cary crossed his arms over his chest. “Just give me a heads-up if you’re going to freak out, and I’ll plan my response accordingly.”
“I’m not thinking about that.”
“Then what is it?”
She sighed and turned her attention back to him. “I got an envelope from the Rhodes family law firm in Santa Maria today. Next-day express.”
He shook his head. “Unbelievable.”
She put a hand over her face and felt the anger and guilt wash over her. “I thought I was juggling all the balls in the air, but I dropped this one. I’ve got ninety days.”
Grit: A Love Story on 7th and Main Page 19