it is, which is why you got it cheap.”
“Right. Personally, I’ve stayed in worse places, and at least the plumbing and electrical work, but I have to get it up to ‘little girl’ standards since I’ll have to be approved by the court to get custody of Brittany. And everything has to be done in a month.”
“I see what you mean. Well, I can recommend Nate Branson, Jimmy Mack’s brother. He just moved back to town due to all the construction in the area. Gina Mae Summers, the Realtor, told me he does good work.”
“I’m having trouble keeping up with all these folks. Jimmy Mack is…?”
“Jimmy Mack Branson. The hardware store owner. We met him when you bought the supplies for the tack room.”
“Oh, right.” Hank had taken him around the town and introduced him to a dozen people, but the ones he remembered most clearly were Kate Wooten and her son, hovered over by her brother Travis Whitaker. “Should I call Jimmy Mack to get in touch with his brother?”
“Why don’t you call Gina? Her office number is listed, and you won’t be bothering her if you call late either, because she’s single.”
“Single? Are you matchmaking? Because I’ve got to tell you, the last thing on my mind right now is women.” Well, any woman except Kate, who kept creeping into his thoughts despite her obvious caution—maybe even dislike—of him and his friends. “I’m not about to mess up my relationship with my daughter by dating any woman.”
“Okay, I’m just trying to help.”
“I’m going to book a flight to Florida so I can meet Brittany and get those tests done. Can I get you to check my place? I hired Carlos to help out, but some of the animals need medicine daily.”
“Sure, leave me a list and I’ll take care of things.”
“Thanks, Hank. It’s good to have a friend here.”
“You’d have lots of friends if you’d let the folks around here get to know you.”
If he was open and honest, people would soon realize his father was a multimillionaire who’d died and left most of his money to his legitimate family, but quite a healthy bequest to his bastard son, whom he’d never acknowledged in life. And once that fact was public, the persistent biographer, who was doing a tell-all book about Ronald Lucas Simon, would be in Ranger Springs faster than Luke could say “hell, no.”
No, the best thing was to keep to himself. “Yeah, well, if they’re ‘friendly’ like my neighbor Travis Whitaker, I wouldn’t depend on them to ‘help’ me out at all.”
“Travis just got the wrong idea about you when you first got into town,” Hank said.
“Why? I’m not after his property or his wife.”
“No, but she and his sister expressed some…curiosity when you pulled up to the café on your Harley.”
“Oh, that.” He’d enjoyed the road trip from California to Texas, taking his time to see the deserts and small towns along the way, thinking about how his life was about to change. Little did he know that he’d be getting more than a variety of aging animals and 640 acres of land. “I still don’t understand what I’ve done to make him testy.”
“He’s just protective. His sister Kate went through a messy divorce, and she’s having a hard time making ends meet, from what I’ve heard.”
“You’re kidding! She looks like she’s always had money, always will.”
“Travis and Kate’s mother was an actress and their father was wealthy—oil money out in West Texas. They didn’t do without much as kids, except maybe some stability at home, if you know what I mean.”
Luke thought back to how he and his mother had struggled to pay the bills each month. They didn’t have much, but he knew he could always depend on her, so in a way, he’d had stability. What he didn’t have was a father—not that he’d really needed one. His mother, however, had loved Ronald Lucas Simon even though the SOB had never paid a dime of child support or expressed any interest in his illegitimate son. At least, not until recently. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”
“Well, I’ll let you go and make those phone calls. Give me a buzz when you’ve made your plans.”
Luke ended the call and sat back in his desk chair. So, Kate wasn’t currently wealthy and her divorce had been messy. And she was curious about him. At least, according to Hank. Kate sure didn’t show it. Every time he’d seen her, she’d seemed perturbed by him, as if she’d like to turn up her nose and stalk away, but her manners were good to make such a scene.
Big deal. Luke didn’t need friendly neighbors, and he certainly didn’t want to get tied up with a woman right now. Soon he’d have his daughter. They’d be just fine together, just as he and his mother had been just fine.
But first, he needed to do two things: get in touch with Brittany’s uncle about the travel plans and make arrangements to fix up this house. He didn’t want to give the authorities any reason to keep him from being a father, especially when he wasn’t sure what court approval would involve.
He’d never abandon his child as Ronald Simon had deserted him.
With new resolve, he dialed Andy Jacobs in Florida, half hoping that Brittany would answer the phone so he could hear her voice for the first time, half dreading talking to her when he didn’t know what to say.
The phone was answered on the third ring and Luke sighed in relief. “Hello, Mr. Jacobs. This is Luke Simon.” He took another deep breath. “I’m coming to Florida to see Brittany.”
Chapter Three
Kate had a substitute teaching assignment at the Ranger Springs Elementary School two days later. She was glad for the experience and the money substituting provided, but the assignments threw her off balance because they usually called her around six o’clock in the morning. She always had to make sure her schedule coincided with Eddie’s, just in case she was teaching at the middle school or high school.
Today, her feet hurt from chasing twenty second-graders around the classroom and playground and all she wanted to do was soak in the big bathtub for about an hour. Instead, she knew she’d have her hands full with Eddie because his class had taken a field trip to Cheryl Jacks’s petting zoo. He’d chatted nonstop since they’d gotten in the car to drive home. He loved animals so much. He wanted a dog, a cat, a hamster…or a zebra.
“Bring your lunch bag and come on inside,” she told him as she parked the car.
“I want to go outside to play.”
“I know, and you can, but let me get settled in first. Since I taught today, I need to change clothes. And I bet you’d like some string cheese and apple slices.”
“Ooookay,” he replied, reluctant resignation temporarily replacing his childish excitement. He dragged his already scuffed sneakers across the carpet as Kate headed for the kitchen.
She fixed his snack and he asked if he could eat it outside, because maybe Aunt
