“What hasn’t come easily to you, Jason?”
“My career. I worked my ass off for that.”
“How about off field, where most people live their lives?” She nodded at his tricked-out truck, clearly visible through the front windows of the store. “Did you have to save for a down payment?”
“You resent that I make money?”
“Playing a game. A lot of us have to scramble to get by and you got paid a huge amount of money to play a game.”
“You’re pretty damned judgmental.”
“I know, but it doesn’t change facts. Some of us have to work for what we get—at a real job—and others get things because of who they are. Or were. Well, guess what? You aren’t getting my ranch.”
“Guess what? I don’t want your ranch.”
“Good.” She smiled tightly at him and when he gave no response, she pushed by him and headed for the door.
Jason let out a breath and ran a hand over the side of his head. The lady behind the counter sent him an odd look and he turned to face the bulletin board. There in front of him was the notice Allie had tacked up.
Wanted: handyman to tear down building, remove debris.
Without a second thought Jason pulled the advertisement off the board, crumpled it up and jammed it into his pocket.
ALLIE COULDN’T PUSH the feed-store face-off with Jason Hudson out of her brain, even though she gave it a mighty try. She was not normally confrontational. She left that for Dani and Jolie. She was more of the peacemaker, a retreat-into-the-background kind of person. But today she’d been part of a spectacle in the ranch store. Like it or not, Jason triggered her temper. And she had to face that sad fact that she did harbor resentment against the guy. Why? Because his family was wealthy? Because he’d gotten what she wanted? Because he’d tried to buy the ranch by nonchalantly walking up to her door with more cash at his disposal than she’d ever seen?
The phone rang as she finished washing her few dishes and she practically pounced on it when she saw Mel’s number on the display. Her second sister and her husband lived on a remote New Mexico ranch and rarely called unless they were in town, where they got decent phone reception.
“Hey,” she said without waiting for a hello. “Back in civilization?”
“Hi, Allie.”
She sat up straighter at the sound of her brother-in-law KC’s voice. “What’s wrong?”
“Mel. She’s okay, but she had a bad run-in with a mama cow. Put her over the fence and she broke an ankle, bruised her ribs when she fell on the other side.”
“Oh, my gosh.” Allie pressed a hand to her chest.
“Damned Charolais,” KC muttered. “I told my boss we needed to let a few of these meaner cows go. Maybe he’ll listen to me now.”
“When can I talk to Mel?”
“I’ll have her call you later. She’s a little loopy on the pain meds right now and worried about not doing her part during calving.”
“But she’s okay?” Allie asked, needing to hear it one more time.
“She’s fine.” But she could hear the stress in KC’s voice. “But that’s the last time she’s checking the cows alone.”
“I’ll add my voice to yours,” Allie said. Even though she was going to do exactly the same thing tonight and every other night for the next several weeks until all of the Lightning Creek calves hit the ground. Their cows were Angus, and all pretty mellow, but a cow with a calf was unpredictable.
“What about you?” he asked, keying into her thoughts. “Do you have any help?”
“I’ll call the vet if there’s any problems.” Even though it was expensive. Living alone, she couldn’t risk being hurt. “Promise,” she said when nothing but silence met her statement.
“All right then,” KC said gruffly.
She hung up the phone after a few more minutes of conversation and then rubbed her forehead. Mel was good with cattle, but things like this happened on ranches and considering her luck on the Lightning Creek...no, she wasn’t going to consider that.
Mel called a few hours later, explained to Allie how the accident had been a fluke. She’d expected the cow to charge her, had actually planned to go over the fence, but had caught her boot on the way over and fell end-over-teakettle, landing on a pile of irrigation pipe.
“I need to get less cumbersome boots,” Mel explained.
“Right.” But Allie smiled, glad that her sister sounded as if she were in good spirits.
“And KC said you promised to call the vet if any calves need to be pulled.”
“I will.”
“There’s a reason there’s a ranch fund, you know.”
And she and Kyle were the reason that the ranch fund was so low. “Speaking of which, we had a windstorm...” Allie went on about the storm, wondering why it was that when her sisters were there, the fund grew slowly but surely, and when she was there, it shrank. It was starting to give her a complex.
“Keep me posted,” Mel said, sounding as if she were glad to have something to think about other than her ankle, which was going to keep her in the house for a lot longer than she wanted. “How’s the job?”
Not what she expected. “Let’s just say teaching high school art and managing an elementary library are worlds apart,” she said dryly. She was a little surprised by the fact that she didn’t feel more satisfaction at the end of the day. She enjoyed the kids and the staff, but when she walked out the door, she felt as if she needed...more.
“Hang in there,” Mel said.
“Will do. Get some rest,” Allie said. “And let me know when you leave for the ranch.”
* * *
JASON SPENT THREE days driving around with Ray Largent, looking at properties with acreage, before finding eighty acres butted up against Forest Service land on one side and a giant ranch on the other. It was close to what he’d been looking for, only a fifteen-minute drive from his dad’s house, yet it gave him privacy. Granted, it was smaller than he wanted, and overpriced, but at least it was one option to consider. Ray encouraged him to make an offer soon, but Jason had done his homework and knew that the property had been on the market for close to a year. Odds were that he didn’t need to make a snap decision.
He headed home to what was supposed to be an empty house, since Kate had agreed to take their father to his weekly checkup, only to find an unfamiliar Lexus parked in the front yard. A moment later Jimmy got out and Jason swallowed a groan. Jimmy’s name had not come up for a couple of days and Jason was beginning to hope the matter was closed.
“Hey,
