down the hall at her. “Abernathy?”
“Yes. Be nice. He’s got an offer to lease some land. It might be the cash influx we need to bail ourselves out of this mess.”
“What about Ace?” Rina said, wiping her hands on her apron as she walked toward Molly.
“What about him?” Molly asked. “He’s not here and Wil is. I’m going to take the fastest shower in history and be right back down.”
Rina patted her shoulder as Molly sort of limped by her. “Okay, sunshine. I’ll keep him entertained until you come back down.”
“Thanks,” Molly said, walking past Rina up the stairs. She felt that urge to cry again. Not because of the pain or the situation but because her dad wasn’t here. She wanted to know what had happened between him and Wil’s father. Was she betraying him by even agreeing to listen to Wil’s proposal?
But he wasn’t there. She showered off the day and felt better for it. She pulled on a denim skirt and a sleeveless top then put on her flip-flops, inspecting the bruise on the top of her left foot. Pulling her hair into a ponytail, she went out to the porch where Wil waited for her.
He had a slice of lemon icebox pie and a half-empty glass of iced tea next to him on the table.
“Okay, Abernathy, tell me about this idea of yours,” she said as she sat down.
He leaned back in the rocking chair. “My sister wants to raise Scottish Highland cattle. It’s a small herd and I’d like to keep them separate from our stock and the bulls. Leasing the grazing rights to your land—the section that borders our ranch—would allow me to do that.”
He told her more about his plan and what he would pay. She took his proposal, which he’d thoughtfully typed up for her, and told him she’d get back to him with an answer in a few days. The deposit he offered wouldn’t be enough to clear their debt, but it would put a nice dent in it.
It was an option she should definitely consider. Actually, it was probably the best option she had right now.
She couldn’t help but think that she might have liked Wil if there wasn’t a family feud between them. He was a nice guy. Solid. The kind of man who knew what ranch life demanded and was happy to live it.
Not like Jason. Ace, she reminded herself.
Molly put the file in her office. She kept looking out the window, hoping to see Jason come walking up, but he wasn’t going to. He’d made a point of putting distance between them after the intimacy of last night. She knew she had to give up the idea that he was going to ride to the rescue. She was on her own.
* * *
DINNER HAD BEEN a loud affair with the hands all giving their opinions on what she should do with the ranch. It was going to affect all of them and she thought they should know that the ranch was in financial trouble. Even though she wanted to ensure their jobs, there would have to be changes. Jeb was the quietest man she knew and he’d just sat there listening to all the ideas. Most of the men weren’t too keen on a dude ranch and if Molly was being totally honest, she wasn’t, either. She didn’t want to have to cater to people on vacation.
“I’m just out of ideas,” she said at last.
“Something will come to you,” Jeb said. “It always does. In the meantime, I’m going to put some of the hands on land clearing. The acres down at the edge of our property haven’t been touched for a while and we should get them in shape for whatever you decide to do.”
“Thanks, Jeb.”
He nodded.
“Also, Dad left the ranch to both me and Jason McCoy. So he might be around over the next few months as we are figuring out what to do,” she said. No use pretending the decision was just hers, even if it did feel that way. She’d called Rupert’s office earlier and he’d made it clear that the will stipulated she and Jason had to make any decisions for selling or changing the purpose of the ranch land together.
“He’s a little rusty, but I think he might make a decent hand eventually,” one of them said.
Guffaws of laughter spread around the table.
“He might. He lived here as a teenager,” Molly said, once the laughter died down. “We used to run a last-chance program for troubled boys. They came from Houston mainly, but we got some from Dallas. Dad and Jeb were in charge.”
“Given how much hell Mick and I raised together, we figured we’d be good examples for straightening those boys out,” Jeb said.
“You were,” Rina added. “All of them have gone on to do good things.”
“Is that a possibility?” Jeb asked after the hands had finished eating and left to do their evening chores. “Do you want to take boys in again?”
“No. I’m not like Dad. I don’t have the strength to do that,” she said, getting to her feet and helping Rina clear the dishes.
“Fair enough. Just let me know what you want me to do,” Jeb said.
“I will. Thanks.”
“Girl, you know you’re like a daughter to me. You don’t have to thank me for doing what family does for each other,” Jeb said, giving her a quick hug on his way out the door.
Family.
The word had always been unspoken in the house. Aside from her and her dad, there wasn’t a blood bond between any of the other residents of the Bar T Ranch, but they’d always felt like a family. Even Jason, when he had lived there.
“What’s up?” Rina asked.
“Nothing.”
“Liar,” Rina said. “I’ve got a bottle of pinot noir that my sister sent for my birthday. Meet me on the deck.”
“Rina—”
“I’m not taking no for an answer. If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine. But you’ve been alone enough today and you still haven’t found the answers you’re searching for.”
“You’re right.”
“I know,” Rina said with a wink.
Molly just shook her head and walked out onto the deck that she and her dad had weatherproofed at the beginning of last summer. It was slightly raised, looking down over the large kidney-shaped pool. She walked to the sturdy pine railing and stood there looking out over the land.
The Tanners had been given these 760 acres in a land grant from the Spanish King back in the 1800s. For as far as she could see, the land was hers. They’d run cattle from the beginning and had found oil in the ’60s. They’d had several wells that had produced a nice income during her grandparents’ lifetime, but by the time Molly was born they weren’t producing as much. Her kingdom wasn’t what it used to be. Well, hers and Jason’s. She liked the view. She liked that she could see the pastures where the cattle were kept and the barn where the horses were stabled. She liked that beyond the pastures and buildings was land that hadn’t been developed or used for anything other than ranching and drilling.
Her
