by Jeannie Watt
Allie took a couple more paces around the room. Inconvenience.
Now she’d have to rob the ranch fund to survive, which always made her feel anxious. She and Kyle had tapped the ranch fund so many times in the name of survival that there’d been nothing left for a major emergency. She’d paid back as much as she could afford to after divorcing Kyle, but it’d be a long time until she’d be able to pay back what she truly owed and now she had to use the fund again, when it was already taking a hit from barn demolition.
Her head was throbbing by the time she went to bed. There was no way around using the fund, but she truly hated being in financial straits. Again.
* * *
JASON WAS PRETTY sure that Allie was avoiding him. She didn’t check the progress on the barn for two days and he’d found his weekly paycheck on the seat of his truck, where Allie had left it when she’d briefly stopped on her way to work that morning. Before she was due to write him another check a week from today, the barn would be gone and he’d have nowhere to spend his days. Of course, he’d also no longer have to put up with a sullen teen.
So what was he going to do after the last bit of scrap had been loaded on the truck he’d borrowed from his father’s construction business?
Brandt hadn’t called and while he told himself that no news was good news, a small voice in his head countered with the fact that no news meant they were not done interviewing candidates.
All he wanted to do was to make the first cut—and then get the job. That was it. First cut. Second cut. Job.
Future. Nailed down.
He was looking forward to that, especially after the past few challenging evenings with his dad, who’d come to the conclusion that the doctors were being overly cautious. Translation—he was starting to feel well enough to be bulletproof again, as he’d been before the heart attack, when his doctor had told him his lifestyle had to change, or else.
The “or else” had happened.
“Hey, Jason.”
Zach rarely called him by name, so this had to be a moment of import.
“Yeah?”
“A cow’s gone down. I’m going to check her.” Zach was always watching the herd, and Jason had found himself doing the same, but he hadn’t noticed the cow that had wandered off on her own.
“I’ll come, too.” It’d been a while since he’d been grossed out by a birth and if things went south, Zach might need help—help that he was fairly certain the kid wouldn’t ask for.
Zach gave him a quick frown, then shrugged. “Sure.” His surliness quotient had dropped maybe half a point over the past day or two, and Jason considered that to be significant progress. By the time the barn was demolished, they might even have a conversation that consisted of more than three or four words each.
“Do we need to have anything at the ready?” Jason asked.
“I don’t think so.” In his preoccupation with the cow, Zach had forgotten to snap out his reply and Jason felt a twinge of satisfaction. Yes. Progress.
The cow went on alert and struggled to her feet as the gate banged shut, but Zach ignored her as he walked purposefully to the small holding pen behind the barn. Jason closed the gate and followed.
“We won’t bother her as much here.”
Sure enough, a few minutes later, she went back down to her knees, then flopped over onto her side.
“And now we wait.”
Jason leaned his forearms on the pleasantly warm metal rails and settled his chin on his hands, keeping his gaze trained on the black cow, who was not number 53, the cow that Allie had expected to birth next. Number 53 ambled past them to the water tank, still hugely pregnant.
“Here we go,” Zach said softly as the cow started straining.
Once it started, the birth progressed rapidly. In less than ten minutes, the new calf was on the ground and the mother was enthusiastically licking her new baby.
Jason shot Zach a sidelong look and caught the satisfied expression on the kid’s face before it once again went stony. Then he turned to meet Jason’s gaze.
“You really don’t like this life?” Jason asked.
“It’s not an easy life,” Zach said in a way that made Jason think that he was echoing words he’d heard.
“Where is it written that easy is good?”
Zach frowned at him, looking as if he wanted to argue, but couldn’t come up with anything. “Easy is...easier.”
“Profound,” Jason said, pushing off from the fence and starting back toward the demolition. From behind him he heard a faint snort that sounded like the beginning of a laugh, but he didn’t look back.
“You know, there’s more to this life than calving.” Zach caught up with him as he spoke.
“Yeah? What?”
“Well, there’s pasture management. Herd management. Maintenance. Mechanics. Vet emergencies. Weather problems. Snow. A lot of snow. Rain. Muck. Crap.”
“And you don’t like that stuff.”
“All I’m saying is that ranching looks kinda, I don’t know...different to people who aren’t part of it. But when you’re doing it every day, it can be hard.”
“The same can be said for football.”
“Except you won’t get rich ranching.”
“Touché.” Jason started loading his tools in the truck. “But there’s something about being outside, working with your hands... I like it.” It reminded him of being on the field in some ways. You practiced and played regardless of weather. You had a goal and you worked toward it. Shit happened and you dealt with it.
Zach cocked an eyebrow at him in a way that made him feel like a rookie who’d just demonstrated how much he didn’t know. Well, in a way he was.
Jason had originally wanted to buy a ranch in order to isolate himself with land. That was before he’d gone to work on the Lightning Creek and discovered that there was a great deal of satisfaction to be found in working outdoors every day, demolishing a barn, overseeing the small cattle herd. Not to mention the satisfaction found in pulling weeds in an overgrown garden and kissing the boss.
He’d give Ray a call tonight, see if that parcel they’d looked at earlier was still on the market. He’d like to have cows, chickens. Pasture and hay fields. He’d also want a manager, of course—someone to run the place right, but that could wait until he nailed down his new profession. The ranch didn’t need to be a working property right off the bat.
The important thing was to buy the right piece of land. Something he could use as both a retreat and an investment. A place close to his dad’s, but not so close that they’d kill one another.
* * *
THE BELLA RIDGE RANCH was a beautiful property, edged up against Forest Service ground, which allowed for a healthy measure of privacy. It was a smaller property than Jason wanted, but as Ray pointed out, large enough to graze cattle—as long as his herd was small—and the federal land would isolate him from close neighbors. The house was two-story log, with large windows and a deck overlooking the Eagle Valley, larger than one person needed, which suited him fine. Jason liked to spread out. The kitchen was modern, the rooms had been professionally decorated and all in all, it would make an excellent getaway.
“You can bring in a manufactured home if you decide to have a caretaker on site when you’re not here,” Ray said. “If you set it up over there—” he pointed to an area opposite the barn “—you’d have all the privacy you need while in residence.”
“Let me talk to my finance guy and get back to you.”
Ray said, “You’d better hurry...” but the words trailed off as Jason met his eyes. They both knew he didn’t need to hurry. It was probably the ridiculously high price tag, which Jason fully intended to negotiate, but the Bella Ridge was not a hot property.
“Give me a couple of days and I’ll get back to you. In the me
antime, if anything else suitable comes onto the market, let me know.”
“Sure thing.” Ray clapped Jason on the upper arm, as if he were an old buddy.
“Is it all right if I stay here for a bit and just get the feel of the place?”
Alone?
“Sure. Sure.” Ray smiled in an understanding way before heading to the shiny black Chevy truck with the Largent Realty sign on the side. Jason leaned back against the side of his truck, crossing his arms over his chest as he studied the property. Ray let his engine idle, and Jason ignored him, wishing the guy would drive away already. The house was empty. There was nothing on the property and the gate had no lock, so Jason saw no reason why he shouldn’t be able to get the feel of the place without having a real estate agent breathing down his neck—or rather, wanting to breathe down his neck, but taking pains not to look pushy.
Ray wanted to make this sale badly and he finally came to the realization that Jason wanted to be alone. He put his truck in gear and backed into an arc, waving at Jason before driving by. Jason waved back and then let out a breath. Once the sound of the engine had died down, he took in a deep breath. Yeah. It was quiet here. Picturesque. Secluded. And there was a lot of pasture. He could have his own herd of cattle, his own new calves this time next year. He had friends who’d get a kick out of visiting a ranch and Kate would love this place.
But again, that ridiculous price tag. He was willing to pay a lot for a spectacular view—just not as much as the owner wanted.
One thing that struck him was that the Bella Ridge lacked the character of the Lightning Creek—the sense of having survived bad times and rejoiced in good times. This place was too new to have that kind of a feel, but he could live here. Jason took one last look around, and nodded to himself. Yes. He could make something of this place. He pushed off from the front of the truck just as his phone rang, and he dug it out of his pocket.
Brandt.
He hadn’t expected to hear back so soon, but he was glad he was alone when the call had come. He sucked in a breath and said hello. Surely a call meant that he was still in the running...
“Mr. Hudson, this is Amanda Morehouse from Brandt University. How are you today?”
“Doing okay.” He hoped.
“I’m sorry to say that I’m not calling with good news.”
Jason’s stomach dropped. “I didn’t make the cut?”
“Not at this time.” There was a note of apology in her voice.
“I see.” Which was a lie.
“The top three candidates progress to the next interview tier.”
“And I’m number...”
“Five.”
“Of how many?”
“Ten.”
Middling. When in his life had he ever been middling?
“While we applaud your accomplishments,” Amanda continued, “your lack of administrative and management experience deeply concern members of the committee. We’ve made exceptions before and it has never worked out.”
Well, great.
“I’m a quick study,” he said before he could stop himself. “Highly motivated. I have a deep understanding of athletics of all sorts. I’m more than willing to do whatever is necessary to bring myself up to speed. At this point in my life, my only commitment is to my career.”
“Good to know.” There was a brief pause, and then Amanda said, “If any of the candidates decline the interview, you will move up in the rankings.”
But he was still number five. Close didn’t count. The final score counted.
“What can I do to improve my chances, should another position open up?”
“If another position opens up at this level, you need administrative experience to be a viable candidate—even to be an assistant. You should consider starting classes, working toward an MBA.” Amanda cleared her throat. “There might be lower-level positions opening up in a few weeks, once the budget it settled. Internships. Would you be interested in applying?”
Jason pushed a hand through his hair. “I wouldn’t say no to anything until I knew more about it.” Honest enough.
“Then I suggest you keep an eye on our website. Look for future announcements and stay in contact with Coach Whitmore.”
“I’ll do that,” Jason said as the hollow feeling continued to grow inside of him.
“Thank you so much for your time and considering Brandt,” she said gently. “Goodbye, Mr. Hudson.”
“Goodbye.”
Not one excellent during the entire conversation. How things had changed.
Jason hung up the phone and leaned back against his truck, staring out across the fields. Middle of the pack. Not even close to the goal.
How was that for a reality check?
Allie was right. He’d worked hard during his athletic career, but he hadn’t lived in the real world.
* * *
ALLIE CARTED HER flats of cold-hardy plants out of the house and started down the path to her garden. It was early days yet, but she could put in kale and cabbages. Her sisters would be so proud. Allie pressed her lips together as she undid the garden gate latch.
It wasn’t about making her sisters proud. It was about regaining her footing. Not throwing out every aspect of life she enjoyed because it reminded her of anxious and painful times.
It was about getting a grip.
She was trying. Damn it, she was. But she couldn’t help but feel she had a better shot somewhere else; that she should put off making her new life until she left the site of her old one. It always came down to finances and her lack of them if she didn’t work in her degree field. So what if she didn’t love her job? She enjoyed the kids themselves.
Allie had just set down the flat when she heard the sound of an engine and turned to see Jason’s truck pull into the driveway. Her heart did a double beat, a reaction she chose to ignore.
It was Sunday and it was early. Jason never worked on Sunday. He watched baseball games with his father, so why was he here? Another blowup with his father?
Jason parked near the remains of the small barn, got out of the truck and headed through the pasture gate to the site without so much as glancing toward the house. He carried no tools, so he wasn’t there to work. Allie pulled off her gloves and jammed them into her back pocket before leaving the garden and heading down the driveway. She couldn’t help herself. She was curious as to why he was there, and a touch concerned.
Jason hadn’t seemed to notice her approach, so she purposely kicked gravel, making noise, and his head snapped up. The intensity of his blue-green gaze stopped her in her tracks. His expression shifted almost immediately, and he worked up a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
Oh, yeah. Something was going on.
“How’s your dad?” she asked.
“He’s pissy, but good.”
Okay, the problem was not his dad and it didn’t appear that Jason was going to hand out answers. Not until Allie came through the gate to join him anyway.
“You’re probably wondering why I’m here,” he said.
“A little,” she admitted.
“I thought I’d take a load of these better boards to the house and see if I can get my dad interested in some kind of project.”
“Instead of watching the games with him?”
He must have seen the speculative look on her face because he gave his head a weary shake. “Not totally true, although I’d love to get Dad interested in something. I’m here because I didn’t know where else to go. I thought maybe I’d just...work.”
“If you do too much, Zach will be out of a job soon.”
“Yeah about that.” He shifted his weight. “I think we should take out the foundation, too. It’s kind of a hazard, and if you ever put in another building here, you’ll need it gone.” Allie opened her mouth, b
ut before she could respond, he said, “You don’t have to keep paying me.”
“Keep paying you? You haven’t cashed one check.”
“Zach needs the work,” he said as if she hadn’t mentioned the checks. “You can use what you would have paid me to pay him.”
“First of all, you’re screwing up my accounting, and second, I don’t feel right having you do it for nothing.”
“Allie...let me worry about that.”
How many times had Kyle said the exact same thing to her? “Next you’ll be explaining things to me.”
Jason had no problem following her train of thought. “I’m not going all manly on you. I want to help you out. Help Zach out. And I hope we’ve moved beyond thinking this means you owe me.”
“I do owe you. You refuse to cash your checks.”
“And I owe you. You gave me the gift of sanity by allowing me to take out my frustrations on the barn.”
So they were even. She could accept that—for the most part. She put her foot on the foundation, keeping a distance between herself and Jason, mainly because she didn’t want to. Being near Jason made her want to reach out and touch him. Feel his solidity. Gain strength from him. And it wasn’t right to gain strength from someone else, because the strength, the comfort, could be yanked away at any time. “Why are you really here?”
He dug the toe of his steel-toed boot into the soft soil. The breath he drew in expanded his broad chest and again Allie felt that urge to reach out and touch him. “Because this place makes me feel, I don’t know...at peace, maybe?”
Allie frowned at him, at the sincerity in his voice. “It does?”
“I can’t explain it, but I like being here. Like being outside, working. I like being in my head.”
“You can probably do that in a lot of places.” Because she didn’t want to hear from yet another person that the Lightning Creek was special. Her sisters all thought so—even Mel—and now there was another convert?
“Maybe, but I like it here.” He sat down on the old stone foundation and stretched out his long legs, giving Allie the height advantage. Although she would bet that Jason was never at a true point of disadvantage. He might have trouble with his dad, but really, his life was charmed. He’d had money even before he became famous, because his family was wealthy. He made more money after he became famous. He was athletic, intelligent, he’d even gotten her scholarship...not that it would have mattered, because she’d quit school to marry Kyle.