pages as Millie talked.
“It’s a family curse.”
Aaron’s mind went to Hailey. What might the sex of their children have been had she lived?
“My youngest is in the service.” Millie glowed with pride. “She’s a warrant officer for the army. I have a shop in Payson with Natalie’s mother, and I’m also the wedding coordinator for the ranch.”
“Is your brother still at the college?”
Because he and Hailey had eloped, Aaron didn’t meet his father-in-law until later, though she’d talked a lot about him. When Jake took over the ranch eight years ago, their father followed his lifelong dream of teaching and became an instructor at nearby Gila Community College.
“Are you kidding?” Millie said. “He loves it. Swore running a resort wasn’t his thing. Well, guess what he teaches?”
“Business?”
She harrumphed. “Hospitality and tourism management.”
Aaron wasn’t sorry his former father-in-law had to miss the meeting. Not that he’d expected the red-carpet treatment from him, either. Only after he and Hailey were married did he understand his wife’s reluctance to invite her family to the ceremony. The Tuckers weren’t thrilled with her chosen groom, especially her father and brother, and let her know it.
Aaron closed the photo album and returned it to its slot. He was enjoying talking to Millie but growing impatient with Jake’s stall tactics. “Why exactly are we here?”
“A family meeting. Jake’s authority to act on behalf of the trust has limitations. Whatever he has on the agenda must require a majority vote. If not, we wouldn’t have been summoned. Didn’t our attorney explain everything to you?”
“I wasn’t paying much attention.” Aaron had existed in a fog for months after Hailey’s death.
“Well, if you have any questions, call him. I can give you his number.”
“Jake doesn’t need me for a majority vote. He’s gotten along so far without me.”
“Ah, but he does. The trust stipulates that any members residing on the ranch are required to attend meetings. If he weren’t bound by the trust, you’d still be riding the trails with Gary.”
“Is everyone ready?” Jake snapped shut his cell phone and dropped it into his shirt pocket.
“Waiting on you,” Millie chirped.
She and Aaron wandered to the table and chose seats. Aaron selected his because it was next to Millie and directly across from Jake. They immediately locked gazes.
Aaron wasn’t the type to fold under pressure. It was a quality he’d honed, one that had enabled him to rise from a nobody at age nineteen to a national champion at age twenty-four.
Jake broke eye contact in order to distribute papers to everyone present. He explained to the group how the company they leased their fleet of ATVs from had waited until the last minute to announce a rate hike, one that far exceeded the ranch’s budget.
Options were discussed, everything from locating another leasing company to paying the higher rate. Aaron listened far more than he contributed. There wasn’t much he could add. And though he hated to admit it, Jake clearly was no dummy when it came to running the ranch. After a final round of discussion, a vote was taken.
The meeting was at an end when Aaron finally spoke up. “I have something I want to talk about.”
“You do?” One corner of Jake’s mouth curved up, either in amusement or disdain. It was hard to tell. His smile didn’t differ much from his frown. “Does it involve spending money?”
“Could.”
Jake made a show of checking his watch. “Can it wait until our regular monthly meeting on the twentieth? Alice will put it on the agenda.”
“This won’t take long.” Aaron’s insistence increased in proportion to Jake’s attempts to blow him off.
“I have a three o’clock appointment in town,” Jake said with a finality that implied his patience was at an end.
“Play nice, Jake,” Millie warned, all trace of her earlier congeniality gone. “Aaron has the right to initiate a discussion. Same as any of us.”
Aaron understood then what she’d meant about shaking things up.
If Jake was annoyed with his aunt, he covered it well. “Since when have the conditions of the trust interested you?”
“Since yesterday.” She broke into the wide, sassy smile of a person truly enjoying herself. “You’re an excellent manager of the family business, Jake. Better even than your father. But let’s be honest. You can also be a pain in the rear.”
One cousin looked away, the other one giggled.
Jake’s scowl lasted a mere two seconds. “If I am a pain in the rear, I inherited it from you.”
“One of my finer traits.” Millie laughed.
Aaron had to hand it to them. The Tuckers may not be an easy family to belong to, but their bond was strong.
Not unlike his own family.
He made a silent vow to visit home more often. The majority of his siblings and their families still lived in and around the Phoenix area and those who didn’t would make the drive—hopefully. In escaping his grief over Hailey, he’s pushed away the people who loved him the most. Maybe it wasn’t too late to change…
“Fine, Reyes. What is it you want to talk to us about?”
Jake’s abrupt question roused Aaron. “Riding helmets.”
“Really,” Jake said with practiced neutrality.
“I found three children’s helmets in the tack room this morning. There were no adult helmets.”
“Don’t recall we’ve ever had a need for them.”
“I asked Gary Forrester, and he told me a couple guests have requested them.”
“What exactly are you proposing?” Jake sat back in his chair, but there was nothing relaxed about him. Beneath the table, one knee bounced, and he held his pen in a death grip.
“That we buy three more children’s helmets and six adult helmets. I also think we should posts signs in the main lodge and at the stables, informing guests that helmets are available should they want one.”
“We?”
Aaron paused. Was the slip unconscious or had he finally begun to accept his position in the family?
“How much do helmets cost?” Carolina asked.
“For good ones, a hundred to a hundred and fifty each.”
“The yearly budget’s already been
