eyebrows shot up.
“Well, damn, I didn’t know she was a criminal.”
Eli let out an exasperated breath. “She’s not a criminal. At least, I don’t think she’s a career criminal. Granted, she committed a crime, that’s why I arrested her, but she’s not going to make a skin suit out of anyone.”
“Bleah.” Kate stuck out her tongue.
“I’m just saying. I arrested her for being drunk and disorderly about ten years ago. It wasn’t exactly organized crime. And before that she was the kind of kid you’d see wearing too much eyeliner, smoking cigarettes and looking angry at the world. A bigger danger to healthy lungs than to society at large.”
“Well, that’s comforting,” Connor said.
“I take it you didn’t do a background check?” Eli asked.
“I did. But apparently not a thorough one. Credit check, though. Because her rental history reads like an epic novel. I needed to make sure she wasn’t dodging. But she wasn’t. She just likes to move.”
“Well, I can’t have any of this interfering with my campaign,” Eli said.
He’d thrown his hat in the ring to run for the position, with the blessing of the current sheriff, who was now retiring. And since he’d decided to do it, it had become more and more important daily. Especially after he’d won a top two spot in the primary, his lead over the other man running substantial enough that a win in November looked almost certain. But that didn’t mean he was resting on his laurels. No.
There were spreadsheets. Lots of spreadsheets. Because he couldn’t help himself. Anything worth doing was absolutely worth doing right.
“It’s not going to mess with your campaign. She’s going to run her business, and you’ll take care of your business. While I increase some of my profits.”
“So how long do you think she’ll stay here?” Eli asked, hoping the answer was “not long.” She disturbed his sense of order. All of this did, but the fact that Sadie Miller was involved only made it more disturbing. And he did not need disturbing. Not right now. Not ever, really.
“She signed for five years.”
“Five years?” he and Kate spoke together again.
“Will you stop repeating my answers back to me in question form? Yes, five years. It’s going to take time to get a business going. There’s some updating that needs to be done on the house. She’s agreed to pay for it, and orchestrate it all.”
“You’re crazy. You’re going to let someone else, a stranger, live on our property for five years without even...meeting her first?” Eli asked.
“It’s over. It’s signed. I’m not discussing it any further,” Connor said.
Eli leaned back against the counter and took a long drink of his beer.
Kate shrugged. “It might be nice to have a woman around again.”
“She’s not going to be around,” Eli said. “She’s running a bed-and-breakfast, apparently. There’s a difference between that and her being around. This is a big property.”
“I was just saying. And maybe I’ll go visit her,” Kate mused.
“Eli’s right, Katie,” Connor said. “Everything is going to be kept separate.”
“That’s fine.” Kate picked at the top of her pizza. “But I do think it would be nice to bring her something. A housewarming something. Foodstuffs. Small-town hospitality in action and all.”
“Feel free to deliver foodstuffs,” Connor told her. “I don’t give a sh—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Kate said. “You don’t. About anything. I get it. You’re a grumpy codger and you aren’t going to be sociable. Ever. Again. I won’t make you.”
“Good,” he said.
Kate turned to Eli, her brown eyes wide.
Eli put his hands up. “Don’t look at me,” he said. “I’m not joining your small-town welcoming committee.”
“Fine. I’ll be the representative for this family. And try to prove we weren’t—” she took a bite of her pizza and spoke around a mouthful of cheese “—raised by fucking wolves.”
“Well, we’ll leave that up to you,” Eli said. “I have faith in you.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“I’m going to head home,” Eli said. “I’ll leave the pizza.”
That earned him a thanks from Kate and a grunt—no surprise—from Connor.
“I’ve got the afternoon off tomorrow,” Eli added, “so that means I’ll be by to help out. Do you have anything big going?”
“Not a lot. We have to tag the calves this weekend, though. Are you free?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I’ll be around for that.”
He was in law enforcement by choice, but he was a rancher by blood. He, Connor and Kate all did some local rodeo events now and then, too, though Kate was by far the most successful and was looking to turn pro when she got the chance.
Of course, the fact that he was either working for the county or working on the ranch was a big part of why he had no social life. But he didn’t really miss it. Unless he was horny. Then he kind of missed it.
“Great,” Connor said. “See you tomorrow, then.”
“See ya.” He turned and walked out of the kitchen, through the entryway and onto the porch. He stood for a minute and looked out at the property, and at the light in the distance. The light that was coming from the Catalog House.
Sadie Miller was in there. On a five-year lease. Damn it all, it didn’t get much more disrupting to his sense of order than that. Of course, the past couple of years had been one big, giant disruption for their family.
They all felt the loss of Jessie. And they all felt the hole that her death had carved into Connor. He wasn’t the same. He never would be.
But then, that was the way this place was. Or at least, that seemed to be the way love was for their family. You got it, you lost it.
It had started with the first generation of Garretts on this land. His great-great-grandfather had ordered that house and had it built. His great-great-grandmother had lived in it for only two years before getting pneumonia and dying.
Then there were his great-grandparents. His great-grandmother had died in childbirth, leaving her husband a shell of a man, barely capable of keeping the land going, and not entirely managing to keep track of his children. His grandfather had run off with a woman from town, leaving his grandmother to raise her kids alone. And then there were his parents.
Their mother had gone when Kate was a toddler. Off to God knew where. Somewhere warmer and sunnier.
