“Medium.” She opened a lawn chair and sat down.
When he turned she had a computer open on her lap. “What are you doing, checking status updates?”
She frowned and didn’t look up. “I don’t do social networks. I’m looking up who has bought land around here.”
“Why do you think it’s someone who bought land?”
“I don’t know, it’s just a hunch. Someone wants us both gone. It can’t be about a subdivision. Your old farm isn’t a subdivision.”
“True.” He sat down next to her.
“Maybe someone else wanted to build on that land. Maybe someone is thinking there is more oil to be had.”
“That would be held up in the mineral-rights clause of a deed, wouldn’t it?”
“Depends.” She sighed and closed the computer. “That LLC is all I’m finding. I’ll have to do more digging to find out who is involved with it.”
He stood to check the steaks. “Did I see asparagus in your freezer?”
“Yeah.” She leaned to talk to Lucy in soft baby talk. “Do you ever go to his grave?”
He hadn’t expected that. But it was the link they shared. His little brother, losing him. “Once in a while, when I’m driving through.”
“I can’t.” She sighed and looked up, shrugging slim shoulders.
“My parents haven’t gone. I think they should. It’s been a long time.”
“I know. I think we all just had a hard time accepting that he was…” She brushed at her eyes. “I’m thirty-five. I’ve dated. I haven’t really missed him in a long time and sometimes I feel guilty about that.”
“It’s okay that you went on with life, Soph. That’s what people do. They hurt, they get angry, they mourn, they heal.” He put the lid down on the grill and took a chair next to the one she’d sat in. “Sometimes they feel guilty.”
Sophie reached for his hand. “You pulled the bull rope because he asked you to.”
“I know.” He brushed a hand through his hair and tried to find the right words. “I miss having a brother.”
She nodded and didn’t say anything. He knew that kind of silence, the kind that meant a person was working hard to hold it together, to not cry. He squeezed her hand and she squeezed back.
When she spoke her voice held a lingering softness. “I have a good life, Keeton. Sometimes I think about what might have been, but usually I’m okay. I have work and family, my church. Sometimes I really do go out on dates.”
Yeah, he didn’t really want to think about her dating. He let go of her hand and stood up, the pretense of checking the steaks making it a lot easier.
“I know.”
The conversation was probably long overdue. His family had moved within six months of losing Kade. He’d gone to college in Tulsa. She’d gone to Oklahoma City. Still, it wasn’t an easy conversation to have. The how-are-you-doing questions should have happened years ago.
When he turned from the grill she had a faraway look on her face, staring out at the field, smiling a little. He thought about holding her, about complicating things a whole lot for both of them. But now wasn’t the time. He was a man and he wasn’t totally clueless.
“I wonder how things would have been different if your parents had stayed.”
“My dad wouldn’t be an alcoholic.”
“You want the land to bring him back here, don’t you?”
He flipped the steaks again. “Yeah.”
Silence. For a long time it was the two of them, cicadas in the trees, Lucy talking soft baby talk and cows in the field. After a few minutes Sophie stood and moved to his side. “You can buy the land, the hundred acres that I bought. I don’t need it.”
“It isn’t that important. I have the twenty. My cash flow is going to be tight until my next payment from Jeremy.”
“I’ll hold it for you.”
“Sophie, the land isn’t that important. It won’t fix everything. It won’t force my mom to let go of her anger with Dad, with bull riding, with Dawson. She’s moved on, I guess. Unless you bring up Dad and Dawson.”
“Just the same, when you’re ready, you can buy it.”
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and his fingers remained but slid to her neck, felt her pulse flutter. She inhaled a soft breath and stepped back. “Sophie…”
She shook her head. “I’ll get the fries and that asparagus.”
And she hurried away, up the back steps and into the house, the screen door banging softly behind her.
They could try to fool themselves into thinking they were stuck in the past. He had news for her. This was very much about the present. And the future.
Tonight, though, it had to be nothing more than steaks on the grill and old friends spending time together.
Chapter Eight
Friday, the last day of May, the weather turned hot. Really hot. Sophie drove up to the barn at her parents’ place late in the afternoon with the sun beating down. Of course Keeton’s truck was parked in the driveway, next to Jackson’s and Lucky’s. She’d been thinking all day that this might be a hijacking—them inviting her here. They wanted something.
She had been given the role of purse holder for the Cooper brothers. Sometimes they ganged up on her to get what they wanted.
She happened to be very good at saying no. To show them she meant business, she’d put on a dress suit for this occasion. Her hair was back in a clip. She’d worn glasses instead of contacts. She smiled at the outfit, because she wore it when she needed to show that she had backbone and couldn’t be sweet-talked.
As she walked through the double doors of the barn she could hear their voices, laughing and shouting over music that blared from the office. Lucky’s wife, Anna, walked out of a stall carrying a brush. She clicked the door in place behind her and a dark gray head appeared. Anna petted the horse and smiled at Sophie.
“You ready to face three of them?” Anna rubbed the horse’s head one last time and walked next to Sophie.
“I’m always ready for a fight.” Sophie stopped walking, so did Anna. “I take it you know what they’re after?”
“Oh, yeah, I know.”
“So it’s big?”
Anna peeked around the corner, in the direction of the doors that led to the arena. “Yeah, big.”
“What is it?”
“They want Cooper Ranch to sponsor a bull ride. I can’t remember which venue, but big.”
“Why?”
Anna stopped talking and her smile faded. “I’ll let them tell you. Hey, Soph, don’t let them get to you.”
“I won’t.” She gave her sister-in-law a quick hug, and then walked through the barn into the arena, stopping at the metal gate. The guys were standing at the chutes. No sign of Lucy. She had a feeling her mom was probably babysitting. Angie Cooper loved babies. Actually, she loved kids of all shapes and sizes. At the moment she even had two foster children.
Lucky ran a bull into a chute and Keeton prepared himself for a practice ride. Of course he wanted to stay in shape. He had events coming up that he would want to make, and win. Bull riding wasn’t all about just showing up. These guys stayed in shape, they rode practice bulls and went to smaller events.
He settled on the back of the bull.
She wanted to turn away, to not watch. But she stood her ground. Years had passed since Kade. She could barely remember his laugh, his voice. She no longer felt that sick tug at her heart when she remembered. Sometimes she just felt alone. That had nothing to do with missing Kade, a boy she had thought she loved. She had loved him.
A long time ago. Bittersweet memories edged in and she even smiled, remembering. But today Keeton sat on the bull and Jackson stood next to him. Keeton, a man, not a boy. Life had changed t
hem all. They’d grown up.
She smiled at the good memories—trail rides, pickup trucks, bonfires and rodeos. As she sifted the memories, Keeton somehow managed to be in every picture that clicked through her mind.
Jackson pulled the bull rope straight up, tight. Keeton took it from him and wrapped it around his riding hand. The bull jumped, front legs coming up. Lucky pulled Keeton out of danger, holding him up until the bull settled again.
Time ticked away. Sophie concentrated on breathing, on staying strong. Keeton lowered himself onto the bull again and rewrapped his hand. He nodded. Travis, standing in the arena, opened the chute.
The bull spun from the small enclosure. Keeton moved with the jumps, the spins. His head tucked, his free arm helping to keep his balance. The bull lost the battle and Keeton made it to the buzzer. Eight seconds. The longest eight seconds in history.
She swallowed and fear slid down her throat, lodging on the lump that had built up as she’d watched. Keeton jumped from the bull. Travis kept the animal’s attention as Keeton ran to the gate with a limp. He turned, saw her, nodded. He didn’t smile. He knew better.
They wanted her permission to sponsor a bull ride.
Why should she care? What did she care about bull riding, about Keeton on the back of a bull? It didn’t, shouldn’t matter. Jackson yelled for her to join them. He smiled and waved. She saw the caution in his expression. Jackson always knew.
He’d been the person she confided in after Kade’s death. After his funeral. Jackson knew everything. Her heart paused and she reconsidered. Jackson knew almost everything.
Sophie walked around the outside edge of the arena and joined her brothers behind the chutes. And Keeton. He tipped his hat and he didn’t smile. She lowered her gaze to his knee and the brace he wore to ride. She watched as he made easy moves, protecting his injured leg, and she wanted to call him names.
“So, Jackson, what brings me to the arena today?”
Jackson pointed to the risers that had been installed for the occasional competition that included spectators. Sophie led the way, the four men following. When she turned they all stopped, nearly running into one another. She hid her smile and took the last few steps to sit down.
“Tell me.”
Jackson cleared his throat and took off his hat. She did laugh this time. They were ridiculous, four grown men in dusty boots and cowboy hats, faded jeans and button-up shirts, standing in front of her, scared silly.
Score one for the power suit. She smiled at them.
“We want to sponsor an event.” Jackson sat down next to her.
She had the power. And yet she didn’t. They knew how to work her. She smiled at the thought. They’d always known, her brothers. As kids if they’d wanted cookies, they’d managed to convince her it was somehow in her best interest to bake cookies. When they’d gotten in trouble as teenagers she’d gone to their father. She was the family diplomat.
And then she’d become the person who held them accountable with ranch funds. Because with this many men in a family, someone had to hold them accountable. Not that they weren’t all quite capable. They each had their own interests, their own businesses, their own incomes. It was only with family funding for the bull operation that she kept track. Sometimes she wished she could rethink the master’s in business and minor in accounting that had put her in this position.
“What kind of event?”
Lucky stepped forward and sat down next to her. “Let’s stop playing games. Obviously Anna caught you before you came in here.”
She shrugged. “Okay. And?”
“We want to sponsor an event that will raise funds for injured riders and their families.”
Her heart trembled. “Oh.”
Of course she couldn’t say no. “When?”
“October. In Tulsa.”
She nodded once. “Okay. Let me know what you need.”
Keeton stepped forward, his mouth open to say something. She didn’t want to look at him, not in those orange chaps and dusty cowboy hat. Her heart couldn’t take looking at him. But then his phone rang and he had everyone’s attention.
“Mom?”
The conversation continued in nods and sighs and softly spoken words. He walked away. Jackson looked from Keeton to Sophie. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“No, it doesn’t.” She watched Keeton stand by himself. She thought he’d done that too often. He’d taken care of his parents. Whom had he turned to while his family fell apart? His grandparents had both been gone by then. Maybe he’d still had his mom’s family in Tulsa. Sophie didn’t know.
He put the phone back in his shirt pocket and took off his hat to rake a hand through short, dark hair. As he walked back he unbuckled the chaps and when he got to them he reached down to pull off his spurs.
“Dad’s in the hospital in Tulsa.” He piled chaps and spurs with his bull rope on the bleachers.
“I’m sorry. What happened?” Sophie asked, making room for him to sit next to her. He shook his head and continued to stand.
“Drinking and driving. Fortunately he was alone and no other cars were involved. I need to get Lucy and head that way.”
“I’ll go with you.” Sophie stood and then she rethought her offer. But it was already out there and he looked relieved. Maybe because he’d handled too much alone in his life. She’d always had her family, her very strong family with strong faith.
“You don’t have to.”
“I’m going with you. We can take Lucy. Or maybe leave her with Mom if you feel comfortable with that.”
He nodded and reached for the equipment he’d piled on the bleachers. Jackson picked it up first. “Go, I’ll take care of this.”
Keeton nodded and thanked him.
An hour later they were heading fast toward Tulsa, and Sophie hadn’t really had a chance to think about what she’d done. Other than to know she had never been this person, the impulsive one who didn’t take time to think things through.
She’d made enough impulsive decisions in the last two weeks to last a lifetime.
* * *
Keeton glanced at the woman sitting in the passenger side of his truck. Angie Cooper had kept Lucy, so it was just Keeton and Sophie. She hadn’t said much since they left Dawson. He figured she had a strong case of doubt and had been lecturing herself real good for hopping in this truck with him.
“Thanks for going with me.”
She turned to smile at him. “You needed a friend.”
“Yeah, I did. But I could have done this alone. He’s going to be fine. It could have been worse.”
“Keeton, your dad was in an accident. That is never easy to hear.”
She had a point. They drove on and soon were easing through early evening traffic coming into Tulsa. Rush hour. Great. He checked his rearview mirror and got in the lane to take a right turn.
“I don’t miss this traffic.” He didn’t miss living in the city. “You went to college in Oklahoma City, right?”
“Yes. What about you?”
“Here.” He had a teaching degree he’d never used, but he’d always thought he’d be an agriculture instructor someday. He’d minored in marketing. That side of his degree came in handy when he’d gone into business with Jeremy Hightree.
They were quiet until he parked at the hospital and they were riding up to the third floor on the elevator. Sophie broke the silence. “When was the last time you saw him?”
“Six months.”
The expression on her face told him that she’d never gone six months without seeing her parents. But she’d lived a different life, with different parents. Her parents had met their hard times head-on and survived. His family had fallen apart, walked away from their lives, their faith, one another.
Sometimes he wondered why. What made people of faith react in totally different ways? Was it the strength of their foundation? He’d seen it in houses after a tornado. Two houses, side-by-side. One would still be standing, the other would be flattened. The strength of the foundation, the way it had been framed, all of it made a difference.
He needed to remember that, to keep his faith strong. Storms had a way of coming back around again.
“Is your mom here?” Sophie asked the question as they stepped off the elevator. A natural question, he guessed. Neither of his parents had remarried but they didn’t seem too interested in rekindling their own broken relationship. He doubted if they saw each other very often.
He was pretty surprised that his mom had known about the accident before he had.
“I doubt if she’s here.” He reached for Sophie’s hand, kind of hoping the questions would end. But maybe questions were easier than dealing with the hospital.
They walked down the hall to the room number his mother had given. He peeked in. His dad looked up from the bed and raised a hand in greeting.
“Is this what it takes to get you to visit?” James West waved them into the room as if nothing had happened. Keeton sighed and Sophie’s hand tightened on his.
“I’d rather see you at home.” Keeton pulled two chairs close to the bed for himself and Sophie. “What happened?”
His dad looked away. The curtains were open and the view of Tulsa as the sun set couldn’t be beat, not even from a hospital room. Oklahoma had some of the prettiest sunsets. Keeton knew because he’d seen the sunset from coast to coast. There was something about this flat land that made the sun glow as it sunk over the western horizon.
“Look at those colors,” James whispered, still avoiding honest discussion. Yeah, they’d been doing that for a long time. If there was one thing his family had become experts at, it was avoidance.
“Yeah, I’m glad you lived to see it.”
Sophie’s mouth opened and she gave him a narrow-eyed look. She didn’t say anything. Keeton rubbed a hand over his face and let out a sigh. Start over, be nice.
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