Life After Wife (19 page)

“We came to beg for a job, so we came ready to stay. Figured we could haul it all back home better than we could make a five-hour trip to get it if y’all said you could use our help,” Tanner said.

“How much extra stuff?”

“Don’t know until we see the bunkhouse. We’ll keep as much as we can out there,” Hayden said.

“Use the balcony in the sale barn,” Elijah said. “It won’t be used again until next year. By then maybe we’ll have some other living arrangements in order.”

Sophie cut her eyes around at him.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’ve got lots of plans, and we can discuss them now or later,” he said.

“Right now!” she said and motioned for him to sit down.

Hayden and Tanner made a hasty retreat outside, leaving Elijah and Sophie to fight about whatever plans he had already made without talking to her first.

“OK, spit it out,” she said.

“This week’s or this month’s worth of plans?” Elijah asked.

Sophie rolled her gray eyes at him. “Start with this week and proceed from there.”

“How long you got?”

“It’s nine thirty. I reckon I’ve got about twelve or thirteen hours. That long enough? If not I could stay awake until midnight.”

He grinned.

“If it’s going to take longer than that, then talk fast.” She set into the rest of the omelet before it got really cold.

“OK, this week, tomorrow, we take their offer unless you think we should counterbid and start negotiations.”

She shrugged. “The price is fair. The ranch I tried to buy to get you off the Double Bar M was a thousand dollars an acre. It did have a house, but it also had lots more mesquite to deal with.”

Elijah raised an eyebrow. “So you tried to kick me off for a ranch of chiggers and mesquite?”

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You didn’t budge, did you? We going to argue or plan?” she asked.

Elijah glared at her.

She glared back.

He chuckled.

Her eyes twinkled.

“OK, so neither of us is budging. You got any dreams about this ranch?” he asked.

Her head slowly went from side to side. “Not one thing. Just figured I’d keep on doing what Aunt Maud did, but I reckon it’s either grow or get swallowed up, ain’t it?”

“That’s the truth in a nutshell. I’d kind of figured the same way when she wrote and said she was leaving me half the ranch,” Elijah said.

Sophie held up a palm. “Whoa, partner! She left you the ranch?”

“Well, yes. It certainly didn’t come from Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.”

“I thought Uncle Jesse wanted you to have half.”

“He did, but he left the actual doing of it up to Aunt Maud.”

You sneaky devil,
Sophie thought.
Where are you right now? You were all ready to give me advice a while ago but now you are silent? Did you think I’d never find out that you deliberately brought this man onto the Double Bar M? What in the devil were you thinking, Aunt Maud?

But Aunt Maud must have been off in a corner somewhere telling St. Peter all about cattle ranching in Texas because she didn’t have a thing to say to Sophie.

“So,” Elijah went on. “According to our bank records, we have enough to buy two more tractors this fall. Both of those places already have steel fence posts, so we just have to take care of that around our original land. I figure our original crew can put up new fencing, and Hayden and Tanner can
begin to clear off what mesquite didn’t burn and get the other two sections ready for a winter wheat crop. As we have time, you and I can begin to hit the sales and buy some new blood for the cattle line.”

Sophie looked at the figures he had written on the edge of the paper. They looked solid. He’d left a healthy account in the bank in case of disaster. A good rancher never used up everything down to the last penny or else something would come along and he’d have to start borrowing. And Aunt Maud said that was the downfall of the small-time rancher.

“Used or brand new?” she asked.

“We talkin’ cattle or tractors?”

“You know exactly what I’m talkin’ about. First rattle out of the bucket has to be tractors. If we don’t have land to graze the new stock, then we might as well not buy them.”

“Used. There’s a sale over in Abilene on Friday night. Auction on a couple of ranches that are selling out. I saw the sale bill in the Dairy Queen, and Theron mentioned it yesterday. They’ve got a couple of John Deeres that look good, and Theron thinks they’ll go for a reasonable price. They’re also offering a really good used Dodge Ram truck that’s only three years old with good mileage that I thought I’d buy, but that’s personal, not ranch money.”

“OK, now go on,” she said.

“You going with me to the sale?”

“Well, I’m not staying home,” she declared. “You might not buy the right tractors, and besides, there might be something else for sale that we’ll need, like rakes and plows.”

“It starts at eight o’clock,” he said.

“Then I suppose we’d better get up early.”

“My long-term plan is that we’ll make money on this, take out a modest paycheck like we give the guys, plow the rest of the profits back into the ranch, buy some more land that adjoins us as it comes up for sale, run more cattle, and hire more help along the way. And eventually build a couple of houses out on the new property.”

He waited for her to catch up.

“One for Hayden and one for Tanner so they’ll stay close by?” she asked.

“Man likes to have some family around,” he answered.

“You’ve been pretty busy this past month,” she said.

“I just see an opportunity here to expand, to make a good living, and to help a lot of people out at the same time. In ten years, we’ll be running an operation with a payroll of maybe a hundred people.”

“Whoa, cowboy! Are you serious?”

He nodded. “Yes, I am. Two sections this year, Sophie. Maybe one a year after that from the profits. It’s going to snowball, and pretty soon we’ll have the biggest spread in all of central Texas.”

She giggled. “Dream big if you want. But don’t ever ask me to go into debt.”

“No, ma’am. Aunt Maud and Uncle Jesse didn’t borrow against the land. We won’t either,” Elijah said.

“You got anything else to say?”

He reached across the table and took both her hands in his. “Just thank you.”

Every nerve in her body tingled at his touch. She wanted to pull her hands away before they burned into nothing but a pile of ashes right there on their future plans, but she could
not. She and Elijah had just set out their future right there at the kitchen table, but she had no idea if it was totally business or if there was room for something personal, even though it wasn’t written on the paper.

“Let’s ride my motorcycle down to Baird and have some ice cream to celebrate,” he said softly.

“I’ve never ridden a cycle and besides it’s raining,” she said.

“Then, honey, you are in for a surprise. And the rain is just passing through. It’ll be gone in an hour. It’ll take us that long to finish another cup of coffee, talk some more about how much winter wheat to plant for grazing after we plow under the ashes, and for you to get ready.”

The morning had that fresh, new quality that comes after a big decision is reached and after a lot of work has been done. Steam rose off the ground as the hot sunrays reclaimed what moisture they could before it sunk into the dirt. A fresh, clean scent in the air mixed with excitement over riding a motorcycle for the very first time. Sophie had tucked a T-shirt into a pair of jeans, put on her work cowboy boots, and pulled her red hair back into a ponytail. When she heard the powerful Harley engine grumbling around the house to the front yard, she forgot about makeup and hurried through the house and outside.

It wasn’t her first date and it couldn’t really be classified as a date. But she was giddier than she’d been that first time when she was sixteen and went to the junior prom with Mitchell O’Malley. She kept telling herself that she was not a sophomore in high school; she was thirty-one years old and this was just a ride to Baird for ice cream.

It didn’t work. When she saw the motorcycle parked in the yard with Elijah waiting in his tight jeans, black T-shirt, and boots, her heart fluttered around like a butterfly fighting against the wind.

“Ready?” he asked.

She nodded, unable to utter a single word.

He handed her a shiny black helmet. “Better put this on.”

She crammed it down on her head and fumbled with the chin strap. He reached out and fastened it for her, then flipped the clear face guard down. His touch on the soft part of her neck did nothing to calm her already racing heart.

“Crawl on behind me and put your arms around my waist.”

She threw a long leg over the cycle and settled into the seat.

He grabbed both her hands and planted them firmly around his waist, revved up the engine, and they were on their way. Before they reached the end of the lane and turned west to the highway, she was in love. Every doubt or fear that she’d had about buying the land disappeared right along with all the bitterness of the past. When he turned onto the highway and headed south toward town, he picked up speed. Sophie felt like she was a butterfly, flying away from everything that had held her back, leaving nothing but the beautiful smell of rain and wind rushing against her skin.

She wished it was a hundred miles to the Dairy Queen, but it was only a ten-minute ride. Disappointment crept into her soul when he parked the bike, took off his helmet, and helped her remove hers. After he’d hung them on the handlebars, he offered a hand to help her off the bike.

How could a big old callused hand wrapped around hers cause such a reaction? She wondered this as he laced his fingers in hers, with his thumb making lazy circles on the top of her hand. There were few people in the Dairy Queen: one table of coffee drinkers in the back corner, old men in overalls discussing politics loudly, and two young girls poring over
a catalog in a booth, giggling and pointing at items before turning the pages.

The scent of sausage and bacon from the breakfast run still permeated the air. Sophie heard the sizzle of hamburgers hitting the grill and smelled onions.

“What can I get you folks? Breakfast is already over so you’ll have to order from the lunch menu,” a middle-aged woman said from behind the counter.

“I want a banana split with whipped cream and nuts,” Elijah said.

“Make that two,” Sophie added. It was a heck of a lot of calories and fat grams, but if she was going to work three square miles of land, she’d soon shake it all off. Besides, today was celebration day. They’d had an awesome sale and hired two more hands to help and Gus had retired. The latter threatened tears, but she kept them at bay. She’d be happy for Gus, not sad. He deserved a few years to sit in his rocking chair on the porch between the honey-do things his wife had in store.

Elijah paid the lady with a bill and told her to keep the change. He led Sophie back to a booth and dropped her hand when they sat down on opposite sides. “So what do you think?”

“I’ll have to walk twenty miles to work off all the calories I’m about to eat, and that’s not even taking into account that enormous omelet and toast I had this morning,” she said.

“Not that. The motorcycle,” he said.

“I loved it Elijah. It’s…it’s…there’re no words to describe it. It’s freedom and laughter and butterfly wings all tied up together with a red bow,” she gushed.

He laughed. “I’ve never heard it called that. I guess I’ll keep it if you like it that much.”

Her eyes popped open so wide that they hurt. “You were going to sell it?”

“Thought about it, but if you like it we’ll keep it for Sunday afternoon rides so you can have your freedom and butterflies.” He chuckled again.

“Thank you, but if you ever decide to sell it, I’ll buy the rascal. Just name your price,” she said.

The waitress set two banana splits on the table. Sophie picked up the plastic spoon and dipped into the end with the chocolate topping. “Mmmm,” she said.

Elijah did the same. “Good!”

“Not as good as the ride but still wonderful,” she said between bites.

“When we finish, you want a longer ride?”

A brilliant smile lit up her face. “Where to?”

“Ever been to Fort Griffin?”

“Not since I went there as a kid on a school field trip.”

“It’s about a forty-five-minute drive up there. I heard that they were rebuilding the old jail and putting up a general store.”

“Aunt Maud said that someone was plowing a bunch of money into the old place, keeping it as historical as possible.”

“Guess we’d best go check on it and see if it meets our approval.”

She giggled. “As if the historical society cares what we think. I didn’t get a letter asking if I agreed with them rebuilding the old jail. Did you?”

“Of course I did. It had the official state seal of Texas on it and the whole nine yards. Could be that I’m a decorated war vet and they want my opinion on such things whereas you are just a ranchin’ woman,” he teased.

Sophie shook her spoon at him. “Do not underestimate the powers of a cattle woman.”