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Authors: CATHY GILLEN THACKER
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that?”
“I’ve got another twenty-seven-and-a-half days of leave left. So, yeah, I can and will do what is needed to get both properties on the market before I leave Texas.”
And when that happened, when the crisis was over, her job finished, Garrett off to a job in either Seattle or DC, they’d likely never see each other again.
Nor would she have a reason to come back to the Circle H Ranch or Laramie County.
She had to remember that.
Stop fantasizing about what would never be.
She turned back to find Garrett studying her. “Problem?” he asked softly.
Not if I keep the proper perspective. Hope shook her head. “I’m just anxious to get back to the ranch. See how your mother and Adelaide are faring.”
Chapter Five
Garrett walked into the Circle H bunkhouse, a wide-awake and slightly cranky Max snuggled in his big, strong arms. He took a moment to survey the scene. “Mom, you look like hell. You, too, Adelaide.”
“Garrett!” Hope reprimanded him. She’d heard he was blunt, but wow! Although, she admitted reluctantly to herself, he was right.
In the three hours since she and Garrett had been gone, the long plank table had exploded with disorganized stacks of paperwork and multicolored file folders. Both women looked pale and completely overwhelmed. With his mother in her late sixties, and Adelaide’s pregnancy, he was right to be concerned.
“When’s the last time you-all ate?” he asked, reluctantly handing Max over to Hope.
The baby immediately began to fuss.
“I don’t know.” Adelaide and Lucille exchanged baffled looks. “Brunch, I guess, on the drive here.”
“It’s early, but you’ve got to have some dinner,” Garrett decreed. “So we can either get back in the car and drive to town...”
All three women groaned at the thought of a twenty minute ride to Laramie and back. Never mind the time it might take to get seated, order and be served their meal. It would easily eat up a couple of hours.
Garrett headed for the kitchen. “Then I’m cooking.”
If he cooked as well as he put together a sandwich, they were in luck. Eager to help, Hope said, “I need to feed Max and put him down. Then I’ll give you a hand.”
Garrett opened the fridge. “Take your time,” he said over his shoulder. “I got this.”
And he did, she found out some forty minutes later, when she emerged from the guest room where her son was fast asleep.
One end of the table had been cleared to allow for seats for four. Adelaide and Lucille had stopped working and were carrying table settings and the rest of the meal to the table.
Garrett was coming in through the mud-room door, a platter of burgers and roasted corn in hand. “I didn’t know there was a grill out back,” she said.
“A patio, glider and some outdoor rocking chairs, too,” Lucille informed her. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice that when you got here.”
She might have, had it not been so late and she so enamored of her host’s handsome son. If she hadn’t taken time out to kiss him...
Guilt flooding through her, Hope shrugged.
Garrett’s eyes crinkled at the corners, as if he, too, were recalling their steamy embrace and coveting another.
Wary of revealing herself, Hope quickly glanced away. Garrett gestured for everyone to have a seat. As they ate, he brought his mother up to date on their meeting with Bess Monroe.
“Sadly, her story matches the records I have,” Lucille admitted unhappily.
“And those of many others,” Adelaide concurred with a worried frown. “Although we’ve yet to go through everything.”
“What have you learned for sure?” Hope asked, wondering if there were any concrete facts she could work with to build a compelling narrative.
Hesitating, Adelaide looked over at Lucille, who nodded at her to continue. “A year ago, the foundation had fifty million in assets. Today, the foundation has only twenty-five million.”
“Which is as it should be,” Lucille said, “since we decided
“I’ve got another twenty-seven-and-a-half days of leave left. So, yeah, I can and will do what is needed to get both properties on the market before I leave Texas.”
And when that happened, when the crisis was over, her job finished, Garrett off to a job in either Seattle or DC, they’d likely never see each other again.
Nor would she have a reason to come back to the Circle H Ranch or Laramie County.
She had to remember that.
Stop fantasizing about what would never be.
She turned back to find Garrett studying her. “Problem?” he asked softly.
Not if I keep the proper perspective. Hope shook her head. “I’m just anxious to get back to the ranch. See how your mother and Adelaide are faring.”
Chapter Five
Garrett walked into the Circle H bunkhouse, a wide-awake and slightly cranky Max snuggled in his big, strong arms. He took a moment to survey the scene. “Mom, you look like hell. You, too, Adelaide.”
“Garrett!” Hope reprimanded him. She’d heard he was blunt, but wow! Although, she admitted reluctantly to herself, he was right.
In the three hours since she and Garrett had been gone, the long plank table had exploded with disorganized stacks of paperwork and multicolored file folders. Both women looked pale and completely overwhelmed. With his mother in her late sixties, and Adelaide’s pregnancy, he was right to be concerned.
“When’s the last time you-all ate?” he asked, reluctantly handing Max over to Hope.
The baby immediately began to fuss.
“I don’t know.” Adelaide and Lucille exchanged baffled looks. “Brunch, I guess, on the drive here.”
“It’s early, but you’ve got to have some dinner,” Garrett decreed. “So we can either get back in the car and drive to town...”
All three women groaned at the thought of a twenty minute ride to Laramie and back. Never mind the time it might take to get seated, order and be served their meal. It would easily eat up a couple of hours.
Garrett headed for the kitchen. “Then I’m cooking.”
If he cooked as well as he put together a sandwich, they were in luck. Eager to help, Hope said, “I need to feed Max and put him down. Then I’ll give you a hand.”
Garrett opened the fridge. “Take your time,” he said over his shoulder. “I got this.”
And he did, she found out some forty minutes later, when she emerged from the guest room where her son was fast asleep.
One end of the table had been cleared to allow for seats for four. Adelaide and Lucille had stopped working and were carrying table settings and the rest of the meal to the table.
Garrett was coming in through the mud-room door, a platter of burgers and roasted corn in hand. “I didn’t know there was a grill out back,” she said.
“A patio, glider and some outdoor rocking chairs, too,” Lucille informed her. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice that when you got here.”
She might have, had it not been so late and she so enamored of her host’s handsome son. If she hadn’t taken time out to kiss him...
Guilt flooding through her, Hope shrugged.
Garrett’s eyes crinkled at the corners, as if he, too, were recalling their steamy embrace and coveting another.
Wary of revealing herself, Hope quickly glanced away. Garrett gestured for everyone to have a seat. As they ate, he brought his mother up to date on their meeting with Bess Monroe.
“Sadly, her story matches the records I have,” Lucille admitted unhappily.
“And those of many others,” Adelaide concurred with a worried frown. “Although we’ve yet to go through everything.”
“What have you learned for sure?” Hope asked, wondering if there were any concrete facts she could work with to build a compelling narrative.
Hesitating, Adelaide looked over at Lucille, who nodded at her to continue. “A year ago, the foundation had fifty million in assets. Today, the foundation has only twenty-five million.”
“Which is as it should be,” Lucille said, “since we decided
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