by Jeannie Watt
“Without asking me?”
Max shrugged a shoulder. “You do the pizza ads, so we figured he could tie into that.”
“How?”
“We have this Jaromek look-alike—” Jason rolled his eyes at his former quarterback’s name “—and he’s going to throw car keys and—”
“I’m going to catch them?” As if that wasn’t a lawsuit waiting to happen. Maybe if someone else parodied the commercials, they’d get away with it, but he’d starred in the damned things. “No, Dad.”
“Look. You might have been the big man on campus for a lot of years, but you’re home now and you need to start looking out for your own.”
Again Jason stared at his father, unable to find words. Finally he said, “Let’s talk about this later.” Because if he didn’t wait until his rising temper cooled, he’d say something he regretted. “Let’s head home.”
The Dobermans understood the word home and immediately reversed course. Max didn’t say a word on the way back, and Jason didn’t try to make conversation. It was a tense half-mile walk and once they arrived, Jason went upstairs to take a shower. When he finished, his dad was watching television, the big dogs curled up on either side of his chair.
“Hey,” Max said as he walked down the hall.
“Yeah?” Jason asked, fully expecting phase two of the battle.
“Kate forgot to buy dog food. Could you pick some up while you’re out? Wildland brand.”
“Will do,” Jason said, glad to have a chance to make an escape. He still needed some time to work through this owing-the-family stuff. Jimmy was well able to take care of himself and if the business was flagging, it was because of him. People were still buying cars, but his uncle, quite frankly, was a manipulator. He scattered pennies in the parking lot so that people shopping for cars would think it was their lucky day. He wasn’t above pretending there were bogus problems with the cars people brought to trade in. In short, his uncle was shady in his business practices and he was not going to help the guy out. It was bad enough he was related to him. And honestly? He was pissed that his father expected him to do just that, in the name of family.
With his jaw muscles aching, he got into his truck and drove to the grocery store, only to discover that they didn’t carry Wildland food. He had to go to Culver Ranch and Feed. Fine. He started back to his truck, stopping abruptly to let a car pass in front of him. He recognized the driver in an instant, even raised a hand, but Allie Brody looked through him as if he didn’t exist.
And for some reason, that pissed him off even further.
He marched to his truck and took off for the feed store, wondering if he could fit in another run that day to take off some of the stress. At the light, he caught up with Allie’s car. He saw her glance up at him in her rearview mirror before fixing her gaze forward again. She turned the corner, drove another mile, then turned into Culver Ranch and Feed.
Good. He had a word or two for Allie.
The lot was almost empty, but he purposely parked right beside her. She got out of the car and walked into the store. He followed, stopping just inside the door to get his bearings.
“Can I help you?” the lady behind the counter called as he caught sight of Allie to his left, tacking something to the bulletin board.
“No thanks,” he said. Allie’s head came up at the sound of his voice, but she didn’t move away from the board. He closed the distance between them, stopping a few feet in front of her. “Have I done something to offend you?”
Allie met his gaze dead-on, her expression cool as she said, “Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know...maybe the way you practically ran over my feet at the Food Mart parking lot and the way you’re looking at me now.”
“I didn’t practically run over your feet and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the way I’m looking at you.”
“Right,” he said flatly.
She gave an impatient snort. “Maybe you need to understand that not everyone is a fan.”
“Hey,” he said, taking a step closer and feeling a touch of satisfaction when her blue eyes widened an iota—not as if she were threatened, but instead as if she were suddenly aware that he was going to continue the conversation instead of accepting the brush-off. “I don’t deserve that. I never asked you to be a fan. I asked if I’d offended you.”
She folded her arms and seemed to consider his question for a moment. “Let me put it this way. You’re the second rich guy who’s tried to buy my ranch. I resent people traipsing to my front door, offering cash and assuming we’re going to fall all over ourselves to sell our family heritage.”
“Who was the other guy?”
Allie’s gaze shifted and then she said, “None of your business.”
“Is this because of Ray Largent? Because for the record, I had no idea that Ray was your ex-father-in-law. I came because I heard the ranch had once been for sale. End of story.”
“It wasn’t entirely your connection to Ray that put me off.”
“Then what?”
She sucked in a breath, her expression bordering on stubborn as she obviously fought to find a reason for her animosity. “Maybe it’s because things are easy for you. So easy that you can simply point to what you want and pull out your wallet.”
“What?”
She was starting to get warmed up. She pointed a finger at him. “Even in high school, whatever you wanted, you pretty much got.”
He looked at her incredulously. “This isn’t about that freaking scholarship, is it?”
“No,” she muttered. “Although I could have used that money. You had money.”
“Sounds like it’s about the scholarship.”
She rolled her eyes as if he were dense. “No. It’s about privilege and general principles. About paying dues.” She unfolded her arms and took a few steps closer so that they were now only inches apart, so close that he could smell her light floral perfume. “What hasn’t come easily to you, Jason?”
“My career. I worked my ass off for that.”
“How about off field, where most people live their lives?” She nodded at his tricked-out truck, clearly visible through the front windows of the store. “Did you have to save for a down payment?”
“You resent that I make money?”
“Playing a game. A lot of us have to scramble to get by and you got paid a huge amount of money to play a game.”
“You’re pretty damned judgmental.”
“I know, but it doesn’t change facts. Some of us have to work for what we get—at a real job—and others get things because of who they are. Or were. Well, guess what? You aren’t getting my ranch.”
“Guess what? I don’t want your ranch.”
“Good.” She smiled tightly at him and when he gave no response, she pushed by him and headed for the door.
Jason let out a breath and ran a hand over the side of his head. The lady behind the counter sent him an odd look and he turned to face the bulletin board. There in front of him was the notice Allie had tacked up.
Wanted: handyman to tear down building, remove debris.
Without a second thought Jason pulled the advertisement off the board, crumpled it up and jammed it into his pocket.
CHAPTER THREE
ALLIE COULDN’T PUSH the feed-store face-off with Jason Hudson out of her brain, even though she gave it a mighty try. She was not normally confrontational. She left that for Dani and Jolie. She was more of the peacemaker, a retreat-into-the-background kind of person. But today she’d been part of a spectacle in the ranch store. Like it or not, Jason triggered her temper. And she had to face that sad fact that she did harbor resentment against the guy. Why? Because his family was wealthy? Because he’d gotten what she wanted? Because he’d tried to buy the ranch by nonchalantly walking up t
o her door with more cash at his disposal than she’d ever seen?
The phone rang as she finished washing her few dishes and she practically pounced on it when she saw Mel’s number on the display. Her second sister and her husband lived on a remote New Mexico ranch and rarely called unless they were in town, where they got decent phone reception.
“Hey,” she said without waiting for a hello. “Back in civilization?”
“Hi, Allie.”
She sat up straighter at the sound of her brother-in-law KC’s voice. “What’s wrong?”
“Mel. She’s okay, but she had a bad run-in with a mama cow. Put her over the fence and she broke an ankle, bruised her ribs when she fell on the other side.”
“Oh, my gosh.” Allie pressed a hand to her chest.
“Damned Charolais,” KC muttered. “I told my boss we needed to let a few of these meaner cows go. Maybe he’ll listen to me now.”
“When can I talk to Mel?”
“I’ll have her call you later. She’s a little loopy on the pain meds right now and worried about not doing her part during calving.”
“But she’s okay?” Allie asked, needing to hear it one more time.
“She’s fine.” But she could hear the stress in KC’s voice. “But that’s the last time she’s checking the cows alone.”
“I’ll add my voice to yours,” Allie said. Even though she was going to do exactly the same thing tonight and every other night for the next several weeks until all of the Lightning Creek calves hit the ground. Their cows were Angus, and all pretty mellow, but a cow with a calf was unpredictable.
“What about you?” he asked, keying into her thoughts. “Do you have any help?”
“I’ll call the vet if there’s any problems.” Even though it was expensive. Living alone, she couldn’t risk being hurt. “Promise,” she said when nothing but silence met her statement.
“All right then,” KC said gruffly.
She hung up the phone after a few more minutes of conversation and then rubbed her forehead. Mel was good with cattle, but things like this happened on ranches and considering her luck on the Lightning Creek...no, she wasn’t going to consider that.
Mel called a few hours later, explained to Allie how the accident had been a fluke. She’d expected the cow to charge her, had actually planned to go over the fence, but had caught her boot on the way over and fell end-over-teakettle, landing on a pile of irrigation pipe.
“I need to get less cumbersome boots,” Mel explained.
“Right.” But Allie smiled, glad that her sister sounded as if she were in good spirits.
“And KC said you promised to call the vet if any calves need to be pulled.”
“I will.”
“There’s a reason there’s a ranch fund, you know.”
And she and Kyle were the reason that the ranch fund was so low. “Speaking of which, we had a windstorm...” Allie went on about the storm, wondering why it was that when her sisters were there, the fund grew slowly but surely, and when she was there, it shrank. It was starting to give her a complex.
“Keep me posted,” Mel said, sounding as if she were glad to have something to think about other than her ankle, which was going to keep her in the house for a lot longer than she wanted. “How’s the job?”
Not what she expected. “Let’s just say teaching high school art and managing an elementary library are worlds apart,” she said dryly. She was a little surprised by the fact that she didn’t feel more satisfaction at the end of the day. She enjoyed the kids and the staff, but when she walked out the door, she felt as if she needed...more.
“Hang in there,” Mel said.
“Will do. Get some rest,” Allie said. “And let me know when you leave for the ranch.”
* * *
JASON SPENT THREE days driving around with Ray Largent, looking at properties with acreage, before finding eighty acres butted up against Forest Service land on one side and a giant ranch on the other. It was close to what he’d been looking for, only a fifteen-minute drive from his dad’s house, yet it gave him privacy. Granted, it was smaller than he wanted, and overpriced, but at least it was one option to consider. Ray encouraged him to make an offer soon, but Jason had done his homework and knew that the property had been on the market for close to a year. Odds were that he didn’t need to make a snap decision.
He headed home to what was supposed to be an empty house, since Kate had agreed to take their father to his weekly checkup, only to find an unfamiliar Lexus parked in the front yard. A moment later Jimmy got out and Jason swallowed a groan. Jimmy’s name had not come up for a couple of days and Jason was beginning to hope the matter was closed.
“Hey, JD!” His uncle clapped him on the shoulder.
“Jim.” Jason clapped him back, then put up his hands in a defensive stance when his uncle threw a couple of fake jabs at him. “It’s been a while,” he said when his uncle finally quit punching.
“Sure has. Wish we could have seen you here at home more often, but I know how it is.”
“Want to come in for a beer?” Jason asked. He’d always liked his uncle, but he also saw him exactly for what he was. An opportunist. Jimmy had made a lot of money being an opportunist, on top of what he’d inherited, but according to Kate he had invested poorly and lately had seen diminishing returns. But he hadn’t yet stopped living the high life.
“A beer sounds great.”
Jason led the way into the house through the garage door, waved Jimmy to a seat in the great room and got a couple of beers out of the fridge and opened them.
“So how did Jaromek take your retirement?” Jimmy asked as he took his beer. “You guys were a team for a long time.”
“He understood and Littleton was ready to step in and take my place, so I think it’ll all work out. Plus they have O’Donnell.”
“He’s over that foot injury?”
“Should be a hundred percent by minicamp.”
They continued to talk football, segueing from the pros to the local team and Jason started to relax, wondering if this whole work-for-Jimmy plan was something his father had cooked up for reasons of his own...reasons Jason couldn’t begin to guess at. They debated the merits of veteran coaches entrenched in their ways versus new coaches with little experience but lots of ideas, then Jason offered his uncle another beer. Jimmy waved it off.
“Actually, I came by to talk to you about going to work at the dealership.”
Jason’s stomach lurched. “I—”
Jimmy held up a hand, stopping him. “I heard you had reservations because you have no experience in sales.”
“I have reservations because sales aren’t my thing.”
“Your thing.” His uncle blinked at him. “Is money your thing? Because looking at statistics, a lot of retired pro players are broke after a couple of years.”
Jason’s expression went stony. “I don’t plan on being one of those guys.”
“So what are you going to do?” There was a touch of belligerence in his uncle’s voice. “I can give you a damned good job and you wouldn’t have to work that hard.”
“Why is it so important that I work for you?” Jason asked, thinking he may as well hear the reason spoken out loud.
“Because we can help one another,” Jimmy said earnestly. “A symbiotic relationship. Your name, my expertise in sales.”
“I can’t.”
“Can’t?”
“Won’t,” Jason said coldly.
“I need your help. How can you turn down family?”
“I can loan you money.”
Jimmy’s lip curled. “I don’t want a frigging loan.”
“That’s all I can offer.”
“You won’t help me?”
Jason gave his head a slow shake. “Not i
n the way you want.”
“Look. Kid. Your career was already on the skids when you quit. If you think you’re going to get any major endorsements or anything, you’re wrong.”
“I don’t.”
“So, what? You’re going to live here with your father?” He sneered a little as he spoke.
“Until he feels better.” Jason got up out of his chair, towering over his uncle. “And I don’t want him to get upset.” He gestured toward the door with his head. “Finding the two of us here, going at it, won’t be good for his heart.”
“Neither will your being a selfish prick.”
The sound of the garage door going up caught both their attentions. Jimmy sent Jason a look he couldn’t read, then a moment later, Max came into the house.
“So did you talk?” his father asked.
And that was when Jason knew he’d been set up. “We talked. The answer is no.”
“It’s no, no, a thousand times no,” Jimmy said sarcastically. “He can crawl to me and I wouldn’t hire him now.”
Max looked from his son to his brother and back at his son again. “Maybe if the three of us sit down—”
“That’s it,” Jason said. “Is Kate here?”
“Feeding the dogs.”
“Cool. Dad, I’ll see you later. Jim...” His mouth tightened and then he walked through the garage door to where his sister was feeding the Dobermans. She took one look at him and shook her head grimly.
“Get out of here for a while,” she said. “I’ll call if anything happens.”
He started to say no, then thought better of it. “Thanks.”
* * *
THREE DAYS HAD passed since posting her advertisements in all the usual places, and Allie hadn’t received one phone call. If she had to hire a salvage company instead of a local guy, it was going to cost more than she was ready to pay, but short of tearing down the barn herself, she didn’t know what her other options might be. She’d give it another week, then call Dani and Jolie and explain that they were going to have to dip into the ranch fund to get rid of the thing.