by Leah Braemel
I told U to answer the acctnts questions not to take her on a damned tour
Followed by:
They charge by the hr—we can’t afford to pay her for U to get your rocks off
“Ben sent them less than five minutes after you left Paige and me down by the lake last week. Did you text him before you stopped to hassle me or the moment you left?”
Gabe broke eye contact to stare at the same bison who had examined Jake. If it wasn’t for the way his lips firmed, Jake might have thought Gabe felt guilty. “While you were out chasing tail, the herd over on the north pasture got out and one of them got hit by a car.”
“And how was that my responsibility? I wasn’t supposed to be out that way remember? And Paige isn’t tail. I was showing her the ranch because she had questions about crop yields.”
“Sure didn’t look like you two were discussing crop yields from the way you were playing tonsil hockey. And you’re sleeping with her—I’ve seen her motorcycle parked in front of your place all night the last three nights.”
Fuck. This needed to end and needed to end now. Jake stomped over until they were toe-to-toe. “So I was kissing her down by the lake.” Okay, technically she kissed him, but Gabe didn’t need to know that. As for the times since, it was none of Gabe’s damned business. “It’s not interfering with her job—we’re making sure of that. And by the way, we’re still waiting for you to get your thumb out of your fucking ass and approve the auditors so we can get this deal done.”
Not that he minded the delay. Somehow he figured the longer it took, the more time it gave Paige a reason to hang around. But he wasn’t about to say that out loud.
Gabe blinked. “If I’d approve... What are you talkin’ about?”
“Your lawyer said you wanted a say in what firm we hired, and wouldn’t approve anyone we suggested. We’re waiting on her to give us her list of approved auditors.”
“Shit.” Gabe blew out a breath and backed down. “Fuckin’ lawyers messing stuff up. All right, I’ll give Victoria a call and make sure she gets on it.”
“Look, I get it. She’s probably playing one of these games with Randy about who’s more of a hardass. But we need to get this audit straightened out so we can come up with a plan to keep our creditors happy. Give her a call and tell her to get off her fucking ass.”
“Says he who kept his trap shut for eight fucking months.” His jaw taut again, Gabe bumped him again as he walked past. “Now can we get this damned wire strung already?”
Son of a fucking bitch, this was getting old damned fast. “Get off your fucking high horse and off my fucking back why don’t you?”
His hands clenching, Gabe spun. “You know what? Fuck you. You can string the damned wire yourself.”
Gabe unhitched his horse and swung himself up in the saddle. A cluck of his tongue, a kick of his heels to Paint’s sides and he was gone.
Well, shit.
That went well. Not.
Five hours later, and uncountable numbers of repetitions of moving the ladder, going up, hauling the wire, fastening it, inching down again, lather rinse repeat, not to mention a knock-down-drag-out with a pissed off bison—one he’d lost—Jake hobbled into the barn.
Wouldn’t you know it, Ben stepped out of the barn just as Jake parked the quad. Thank God he’d put his shirt back on so the bruises blossoming on his ribs, ass and thighs were covered.
“What the fuck happened to you?” Ben caught Jake’s jaw in his hand, twisting his head as he examined the damage. “This better not have been from a fight with one of the hands. We can’t afford a lawsuit on top of everything else.”
“When’s the last time I got in a fight with a hand, huh?” He pushed his brother’s hands away.
“Aw, fuck, it wasn’t Gabe, was it?” Ben trailed him. “The two of you need to work this out without fighting in front of the hands. What the hell does that say to them, huh? You’re not kids anymore. Man up and apologize to him.”
“It wasn’t Gabe. I dropped my phone in the bison pasture. The biggest mofo went after me when I tried to retrieve it. Oh, and he smashed my radio, so we’ll need to replace it.”
He limped to the middle of the yard. Damn it, he needed to unpack the trailer. His ass cheek protested when he turned and paced back to the quad—the cheek that probably still had pieces of the radio jammed into it.
“Did you get the water tank cleaned down at the west pasture?”
Shit. He’d completely forgotten about it. “Sorry. I’ll get it in the morning.”
“What the fuck is going on with you lately? I ask you to do one simple thing and you don’t do it?”
“One fucking thing? The other day you asked me to sit with Paige and help her do her accounting stuff. And at the same time I’m doing that you send Gabe out after me to haul ass out to round up cattle, then you ream me out for doing what you told me to do. Today I end up putting up the barb on the secondary bison field all by myself and damned near got gored by one of Gabe’s precious bison. Thanks for asking if I’m okay, by the way. So yeah, I forgot about cleaning the tank. I’m sorry.” He was starting to hate that word. “Now get off my fucking case.”
“Why were you fixin’ the bisons’ fence by yourself?”
“Because Denny got hurt and had to go into town. I figured I was there, and it needed doin’.”
“Shit. Why didn’t you call on the radio and see if anyone else was free?”
“I saw the worksheet this mornin’. There was no one free, was there?” Fuck it, now Ben was giving him grief for being proactive? Jake’s breath caught at the sharp pain in his ribs.
“The fence could have waited.” Ben’s tone softened. “Or you could have called me. I would have helped. As for being short-handed, I’ve put the word out we need more hands. Now we’ve got Gabe on board and a new accountant looking after the finances, things should settle down with all the rumors.” He frowned when Jake winced. “D’you need to get checked out? I can run you in to the clinic if you want.”
“Nah. I’m okay.” Aw hell, looked like getting horizontal with Paige any time soon was going to take some careful maneuvering.
His answer earned him another frown. “If you say so.”
“I’ve had broken ribs before, remember? I know what they feel like.” Thanks to being thrown off a horse his grandfather had forbidden him from riding. Which naturally meant he’d climbed on the beast’s back and found himself airborne seconds later.
Ben snorted. “I forgot about you and Teddy.”
“Teddy. Whoever chose that name needed to have his head examined.” Jake hadn’t forgotten that Ben had named the ornery beast.
“Hey, he was cute when he was born. Why don’t you take the rest of the day off—you’ve earned it.” He snapped his fingers. “Almost forgot. You know that tax bill Paige said Bonnie said she’d paid but hadn’t? We’ve been hit with a failure to pay penalty as well as interest. It goes back three years.”
“Won’t that be covered by the insurance?”
“I don’t know. I have to phone them but I doubt it’s covered. I mean, she may have stolen the money we planned to use for the taxes, but I can’t see them paying the penalties and interest. If it isn’t we’re going to have to dig into the savings to pay it ourselves. She’s got us into a shit ton of debt just on our property taxes alone.”
“If the insurance doesn’t cover it, aren’t there any other alternatives than digging into the savings?” They both knew the savings might be needed to buy extra feed if the drought kept up. “How about raising the rates for the land we’ve leased out or leasing out more? How about reopening the hunting lodge?” There was only so much they could do—not a lot of the land was good for anything other than pasture.
“Yeah, I’m looking into all of that, but everyone’s hurting these days, you know?”<
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Shit. All his life his grandfather hammered into them both how Bull’s Hollow was their family’s legacy and that they were to protect it for their grandchildren, and now they’d be forced to sell some of it off? Talk about making him feel like a loser.
“Listen, why are we still watering the cotton field? It’s a waste of water that we could be using on the oats.”
“Because if we stop watering, the insurance company won’t pay out on a lost crop.”
“Of all the freaking stupid...”
“I know, but there’s too much invested to just walk away at this point.”
“We’re not going to plant it again next year are we?”
“Depends on if this drought continues. Cotton’s getting a good price right now—the few bales we’ll get might be enough to offset the cost of the hydro to run the pumps.”
Wow, a normal conversation with Ben. “Have you decided what we’re going to do about setting up a fall breeding system? Spacing things out?”
“Yeah, I don’t think so. It’s working well the way it is, why fix what isn’t broken?”
He set his jaw, knowing he had to ask, “What’s Gabe say about it?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t discussed it.”
“I think we need to. He’s an equal partner now.” Though the paperwork hadn’t officially been signed, they’d brought Gabe in on the decisions. Though whether Gabe would get much say in the decision making process was yet to be seen. Jake sure as hell didn’t get much considering he was a half-owner. “He should have a say.”
Wouldn’t that be fun? A year ago, he’d have been dancing a jig, knowing Gabe often thought the same way as him, but now? Now Gabe might side with Ben just to be a pain in the ass.
Surprise filled Ben’s face. “Never figured you’d say that.”
“You too? I am not against bringing him in as a partner. I never have been.” Why couldn’t they see it? Shit. “You might as well hear it from me. He came out to help me with the fence and we got into it.” He held up a hand. “No, the nose really is from the damned bison, not Gabe.”
Ben pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m guessing I don’t need to ask what you were fighting about?”
“He says we’re making him feel like we’re doing him a favor by cutting him in. I swear I don’t have any sort of tone, but short of handing him my half of the ranch, I don’t know what else I can do.” There was no damned way he would give up an inch of the land that was such a part of his soul.
* * *
Why had she answered the phone when it rang? And why had Dan phoned her at the office when he knew she wasn’t supposed to be there? Well, the first question was easy to answer—she’d hoped it was Jake calling her back as he’d promised. Paige clutched the phone tighter as her father’s voice blustered so loudly she was certain everyone in the office could overhear their conversation.
“I’m not asking you to hide a body,” her father said flatly. “Janice already knows about Cindy, but I don’t think she needs to know about Fran or Phyllis.”
Cindy had been wife number one who had fought Paige’s presence until she’d declared Dan had to choose between her and Paige, not realizing Dan already had his eye on Fran, wife number two and used Paige as an excuse to end his marriage. Paige and Fran had gotten along for the four years before Dan moved on. Like Cindy, wife number three, Phyllis, had taken every opportunity she could find to foist Paige off on Reba until Paige had escaped to college. Janice was the first woman of Dan’s new potential stepmother choices in a long time that she liked.
“I’m not comfortable with lying to her. Besides, even if I don’t say anything, one of your friends is going to mention it. Joshua Falls is just too small a town to keep a secret. You know that.” She was living proof. “You need to be honest with her right from the start about the number of times you’ve been married if you’re thinking of proposing.”
“The way you were honest to me about working and living with the Gradys?”
“Dad, that’s work, not personal, and you know I’m not allowed to discuss my clients with anyone outside of the office.”
“After all I’ve done for you, you can’t do this one simple thing for me?”
Here it comes. Her muscles tightened at the coming long speech. Dan exceled at them. She could picture him standing in the middle of the room, arms folded across his chest. He loved giving lectures.
“I could have left you in that foster home, you know. Or handed you back to them when Cindy begged me to. That marriage might not have failed if not for you.”
Would he ever stop playing that old card? Paige ground her thumbs into her temple, and bit back the urge to remind him she’d been seven and lost in her new life, lonely, scared, and suffering nightmares that the cops were going to invade her house in the middle of the night again. “I’m sorry, Dan. I won’t go out of my way to tell Janice about your other wives, but if the subject comes up, I’m not going to lie about them either.”
“I expected better of you. You’re not living up to your name, Harmony.” He cut the connection.
“I’m fine, Dad,” she spoke with an exaggerated happy tone. “So nice of you to ask. What was that? You’re proud of me? Wow, thanks!”
Once—just once, she would have loved her father to phone just to ask how her day was. Ask about her life, her job, her boyfriend.
“I’ll say this for my brother, for a man who is reasonably smart, he can be damned stupid sometimes.” Reba pulled a spare chair into Paige’s cubicle and sat with a sigh. “Did I tell you he phoned me the other day, demanding not only that I pull you off the Grady account, but give up the account entirely?” She waved a hand to dismiss Paige’s alarm. “Oh don’t worry. I told him to butt out. That he had no right to tell me what to do about my business, he had his own to worry about.”
Paige straightened her shoulders and swiveled her chair to face her aunt. “About the Grady contract...” She glanced around, noticing the top of Bryce’s head on the other side of the divider. “Let’s talk in your office, okay?”
Reba nodded and led the way, talking over her shoulder, “I meant to tell you, Cissy Grady phoned me the other day. She absolutely adores you, her words. So I take it things are going well.”
They reached her office and Paige settled into the wooden visitor’s chair. “Things are going well, and yes I like Cissy too. She’s more down to earth than I thought she would be. And she’s catching on to the software quickly, too, so I doubt we’ll need to assign a full time bookkeeper. Maybe just someone to go out there once a quarter.” Which could be both good—if things between her and Jake didn’t work out—or... No, it was all good. If things worked out with Jake, it wouldn’t matter, would it? Because she’d be there anyway.
“I hear you’re getting along well with the other Gradys too. Maybe one Grady in particular better than the rest?” Her aunt’s lips curled up and merriment lit her eyes. “A certain younger son? Could he be a reason why you’re still out there?”
“It’s complicated. The books I mean.”
Reba circled her hand in a keep-going motion.
She wrapped her arms about her waist. Why couldn’t this have been simpler? Why couldn’t Jake have been a ranch hand instead of a Grady?
“Jake said that Grampa Reynolds forged a deed of sale to the Munro place before he took the bulldozers in. Is that true?”
“Ah.” Her aunt’s gaze dropped to her hands. “It was Munro’s son who actually forged the document, but I discovered that it was with Dan’s help.”
“Why didn’t you say anything all those times Dad was raging about how evil the Gradys were and how they bankrupted Grampa’s firm?” Even if it was just to take Paige aside and set the record straight?
“Honey, there is no way on God’s green earth that your father would ever admit that he
is the reason Double R failed. Nothing I said would ever have changed his position.” Reba turned her chair to stare out the window.
Suspicion caught in her chest, Paige tilted her head and observed her aunt. “Jake said someone from within Double R phoned George Grady and told him about the forged deed. Was it you?”
Reba nodded. “I had to do something. Dan was too smug about it. Oh, not in front of Daddy, but in front of me? He was crowing about how he’d put one over on Grady and Munro and was going to make Double R all this money when they sold the houses and the timeshares. It pissed me off. I knew Mr. Munro—he was crotchety but once you got past the gruff exterior, I liked him. So I phoned Mr. Grady. Told them about how the land sale deed had been forged.”
She whirled back to meet Paige’s gaze, her expression hard. “Make no mistake, George Grady wasn’t completely innocent either. I phoned him before the work started on the land. But he waited until the stables and main building were almost finished before he revealed that before Fletch died, he’d legally sold over the land to him and proved that the original sale was fraudulent. It cost Daddy millions—that’s why he had to declare bankruptcy and how George ended up with a free hunting lodge out of it.”
She tilted her head and considered Paige. “That’s not what really concerns you, is it?” Comprehension lit her eyes. “You’re falling in love with him, aren’t you?”
Her insides twisting into knots, Paige nodded. “Love might be a little strong yet, but I really like him. But he’s so big on family. My mother’s in prison, my father has a history of trying to defraud an innocent man. There’s no way he’ll want to get involved in any long-term relationship.” Not that she’d ever had one before. But something about Jake made her want to make a commitment. Get one from him.
“Honey, if Jake damns you because of either of your parents’ history, he’s not the man you deserve. As much as I know it might hurt, you’d be better off without him because you deserve every happiness that comes your way.” She patted Paige’s hand. “So why make it an issue? It’s in the past. Just let it drop.”