Dark clouds shifted over an almost full moon. Thunder rattled off in the distance, and a streak of lightning zigzagged through the sky. For some reason it seemed fitting that the day would end with a storm. It had, after all, started with one.
“If you and Mia left, Sonny would go crazy. Y’all being here and Jesse coming home has helped him more than any new trial things or his medicine possibly could,” Pearl said. “Do you think that you and Jesse will ever get together?”
Addy wasn’t sure she was ready to even think about such a thing, much less answer the question. “Would we blow an amazing friendship if we did?”
“Did I ever tell you that Sonny and I were best friends when we were growing up? That was back in the days when no one believed a girl and boy could be friends without getting involved.” Pearl picked up a farmer’s magazine from the table and fanned with it. “The air seems so close when there’s a storm brewing, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, it does,” Addy agreed. “Evidently, y’all became more than friends.”
“Oh, yes, we did.” Pearl smiled. “We had declared that we would never even kiss each other because that could lead to a relationship, and we couldn’t imagine ever losing each other for a friend. But one night, on a hayride, I almost fell off the wagon and he saved me. We had that first kiss and threw caution right out in the pasture. We were married a year later, right here on this ranch. It was called the Ryan Ranch in those days.”
Addy was suddenly wide awake and intrigued. “When did it change?”
“They weren’t using the bunkhouse in the winter, so we took up housekeeping out there. Sonny’s mama took sick in the spring and passed away the first of summer, and his dad, God love his soul”—she stopped and took a drink of her root beer—“couldn’t boil water, clean a house, or even do laundry. He offered us the ranch, free and clear, if we’d move into the house with him and help him until he died.” Pearl drew her knees up and wrapped the tail of her gown around her ankles. “Sonny’s dad was killed in a tractor accident a year after we moved in, and Sonny inherited the whole place. I had a bouquet of wild sunflowers that Sonny picked for me the day we got married. I saved the seeds from those flowers, and we planted them out there by the gate posts where you turn into the lane. Those reseed the land every year and produce more, reminding us that we are still best friends as well as an old married couple these days.”
“That’s a beautiful story. Is that where you got Sunflower Ranch then?” Addy asked.
Pearl smiled and nodded. “Sunflowers because I love them, and the new brand became the SR ranch for Simon, or Sonny as he’s been known his whole life, Ryan. It all fit together so well that it seemed like it was divine. Now, this old lady has rattled on enough about the past. We should both get some sleep. Good night, Addy, and please don’t ever leave us.”
“Okay, but only if you promise to tell me if all this turmoil starts to upset Sonny,” she agreed.
Addy hurried inside when the first drops of rain blew in from the southwest. She went straight for Mia’s bedroom to be sure her daughter was all right. Even as a child, she had hated storms. Last summer, she had still come into Addy’s bedroom, dragging her favorite blanket behind her, to sleep on her mother’s bed when it stormed.
Staring at her from the doorway, Addy was reminded of just how much she did look like Jesse with all that dark hair and heavy lashes laying on her high cheekbones. She tiptoed across the room just as a flash of lightning lit up Mia’s face. Memories flooded Addy’s mind like a video of her daughter’s life.
The first picture was one of Addy holding Mia on her shoulder while she worked on her college classes. She had taken two weeks off after the baby was born but had kept up with all her assignments—then for the rest of the semester, she had worked with Mia in her arms.
Then there was one of Mia when she had cut her first teeth. Addy and her grandmother had walked the floor with the baby night after night, trying to ease her pain and get her to sleep. Other images followed one after another. Mia when she took her first wobbly steps in the living room, and when she said her first words. With her first sheep and her first blue ribbon, and then sitting on the porch of the house where they’d first lived here in Honey Grove those few months before moving to the ranch.
“Your father missed all that because I didn’t tell him about you,” she whispered as she tucked the sheet up around Mia’s shoulders.
She tiptoed out of the room and eased the door shut, then went to her own bedroom. A flash of lightning jumped out of the sky and seemed to land right below her window when she pulled the curtains back. A glimmer of yellow showed in the bunkhouse window through the rain. Was Jesse having trouble sleeping, too?
Addy sighed as she dropped the curtain and touched her lips again. It was still there—the same sensation she’d felt before. “If I’m honest, I’ve always loved him for more than a friend. That’s probably why I can’t seem to last in a relationship with anyone else. I can’t give them my heart when he’s got it in his pocket.”
Chapter Fifteen
Jesse sipped on a cup of coffee as he set the table for breakfast and then got the jams and jellies out of the refrigerator. “Quite a storm last night wasn’t it, Dad?” he asked.
Sonny looked up. “I didn’t hear a thing, but I did see that we had gotten a little rain when I got my paper off the porch.”
Pearl refilled his coffee mug. “Darlin’, we had lightning and thunder, and it rained cats and dogs and baby elephants.”
“I slept right through it, but you should tell Henry to make a drive around the fences and count the cattle this morning,” Sonny said.
“Want me to do that rather than bring the alpacas over?” Jesse asked.
“No, Henry can take care of it. Those animals will be better off over here so we can take good care of them,” Sonny answered.
“Will do.” Jesse nodded.
“Will do what?” Addy asked as she entered the kitchen. “I should have been up thirty minutes ago to help with breakfast.”
“Don’t worry about it. Jesse already had coffee made when Sonny and I got in here this morning,” Pearl said. “We were talking about that storm last night and bringing the alpacas over here today.”
“What storm?” Mia yawned. “I could have slept until noon.”
Addy gave her a brief hug. “You must’ve been tired to sleep through that one. You’ve always been terrified of storms.”
Jesse noticed that Mia wiggled free of Addy’s embrace and then headed for the coffeepot. She poured herself a cup and carried it to the table without even asking if her mother wanted some. Jesse quickly made Addy a mug full and handed it to her.
“Sorry, Mama.” Mia shrugged. “I figured you’d been up long enough to get your own.”
“Thank you, Jesse.” Addy smiled up at him.
“So are we still walking the alpacas over this morning, or do you want me to do some other stupid jobs?” Mia asked.
“Thin ice,” Addy said in a low voice.
“All right,” Mia huffed, “other meaningless jobs.”
“Getting thinner,” Addy said.
“Sorry, Jesse,” Mia said. “I’ll try not to offend anyone else this morning.”
“That’s better,” Addy said.
“Yes, we are moving the alpacas,” Jesse answered, “and Mia, there are no stupid or meaningless jobs on a ranch. You should know that by now. Everything that needs to be done is important and deserves our best efforts.”
“Whatever.” She raised one shoulder in half a shrug, as if he didn’t deserve a full one. “Nana, after we get the alpacas over here, I thought I’d help you bake cookies this afternoon.”
“You’ll have to take that up with Jesse,” Pearl said. “Say grace, Sonny, before the gravy gets cold.”
Everyone bowed their heads, and Sonny gave the shortest prayer Jesse had ever heard. When he raised his head, he smiled at Mia. “Honey, your mama can help my precious Pearl make cookies. You are needed on the
ranch, but Jesse is the boss.”
“Even over Henry?” Mia split a biscuit open and covered it with sausage gravy.
“That’s right.” Sonny took out a portion of scrambled eggs and passed the bowl on to Pearl. “Even over Henry. Jesse will even be my boss at the end of the summer. He will be running the whole ranch by then.”
“What if Cody and Lucas come home?” Mia set the bowl of eggs on the table when they reached her.
“They are all equal owners of Sunflower and will share in the profits, but Jesse will be the boss and get a salary since he’ll be working on the place,” Sonny explained.
“Who’s going to take care of the bookwork?” Mia pressured for more.
“Addy took over when you left us,” Pearl answered. “She’s going to show Jesse the program in the next few days.”
“I messed up pretty bad, didn’t I?” Mia added two spoons full of sugar to her coffee.
“Yes, you did, but maybe someday, you’ll prove yourself again,” Sonny told her.
Mia’s gaze across the table at Jesse made him uncomfortable, and he seriously thought about giving her the whole afternoon off to bake cookies. “So what’s the verdict…boss?” Her tone was so cold that he changed his mind.
“When we get the alpacas over here, we will be driving into town for a load of feed, and then we need to clean as many watering troughs as we can this afternoon. I noticed green algae growing on a couple of them. We also need to put a little oil in the windmill bearings. It was squeaking last time Dad and I made a drive around the fence line. I’m thinking that, tomorrow, we’ll help Henry and the hired hands put up new fencing around the property across the road, and Friday, you and I will clean out the shearing shed real good,” he answered. “I can’t spare a good hand like you to make cookies.”
“Yes, sir!” she smarted off.
“I’ll try to make sure we’re all done by noon on Saturday so you can go to the bake sale with Mama and Addy, though.” He smiled brightly.
“We always knock off at noon on Saturday, and pay the hired hands for their week’s work,” she reminded him.
“You’ll be paid for three and a half days of work,” Jesse said. “Please pass the eggs. If no one else wants any more, I’ll finish them off. We’ve got a long day ahead of us. Mama, would you fix up some sandwiches for us? I’ve already got a cooler with bottles of water and tea in the truck. We probably won’t have time to come in for dinner.”
Mia groaned and filled another biscuit with strawberry jam.
Jesse made a second plate of biscuits and gravy. “This can be a good day or a bad one. I choose for my part to make it a good one because you and I get to work together. It’s up to you whatever kind of day you have.”
Mia shot him a dirty look. Jesse wondered if she’d be so surly with him if he had been in her life the whole time. She had had a big disappointment because of bad choices. Getting over that and accepting that the blame was as much hers as Ricky’s would take time, and hopefully, in the end, she would be ready to accept him as a friend if not a father.
Addy nudged her with a shoulder. “Remember that you put yourself in this position. You can bring yourself up out of it with hard work and determination, but it won’t be an overnight or even end-of-summer thing. The choice is yours.”
“I don’t make good choices anymore,” she muttered. “Jesse, you’re the only one who isn’t totally biased toward me at this table, so you have to choose for me from now on.”
“I’m up for it,” Jesse said without a moment’s hesitation. “Does that include everything, like what you are wearing to church on Sunday, or just boys and job schedule?”
“I can pick out my own clothing and my own food, but if I am going to date another boy, which I’m not for a long time, then you have to check him out first,” she said.
“I can do that,” Jesse agreed. “But first, tell me in detail why I get the job.”
“Poppa, Nana, and Mama have always trusted me to make my own decisions. You are practically a stranger, so you don’t know me. I’m good at getting my way, but you are former military so I’m trusting you to see through me like you did this morning. I know my faults, and I loved Ricky for not giving in to me all the time. He did teach me a few things,” she answered. “Does that make sense?”
“What on earth did that kid teach you?” Sonny asked.
“Not to trust someone until they earn that trust. That compromise is the basis of a friendship and a relationship. I gave in too quick on every issue and let him have his way because he told me I was pretty. I didn’t really want this tattoo, and I’ve taken my belly ring out to let the holes close up. He wanted me to change to suit him, and I loved him just the way he was until he broke my heart,” she said.
The first hard pains of fatherhood hit Jesse right in the heart. He wanted to hug her and protect her from any further hurts. For now, he would have to be content to have her opening up and talking to him without those go-to-hell looks.
“Do I get to stay in and make cookies now?” She almost grinned.
“No, we’ve got alpacas to move and a fence to build,” Jesse answered. “Meet you at the barn in ten minutes.”
“Oh, well,” she sighed. “Can’t blame a girl for trying.”
“I can smell saccharine a mile away.” Jesse pushed his chair back and carried his plate to the kitchen.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Mia followed him.
“Think about it. All that BS you were just putting out wasn’t real sweetness, it was fake. Good try. I’ll give you that much.” Jesse settled his straw hat on his head.
Mia pushed her own chair back, jumped up and took her plate to the sink, then dashed off down the hall.
Jesse leaned around the corner of the utility room and winked at Addy. “See y’all later. Addy, would you please bring Dad out to the corral to see the alpacas when we get them all over here?”
“Just call either me or Sonny when you are ready,” Addy agreed.
Jesse whistled all the way to the barn, where he made a final inspection of the fencing and the stalls. Mia had done a good job in getting them cleaned out and fresh straw put down. He’d checked the books, and according to Dr. Stevie, two of the hembras would be ready to give birth within the next month.
“Things will be ready for them or for any other emergency with them,” he muttered. “I think they’re an unnecessary expense, but if Dad likes them, then the money doesn’t matter.”
“Who are you talking to?” Mia asked as she came up to the stall.
“Myself,” Jesse answered.
“I hope you’re getting good answers.” She picked up two ropes and a couple of halters. “You ever handled alpacas before?”
“Once or twice, and I work through some of my problems by talking to myself,” he said. “You should try it sometime.”
“No, thank you,” she said. “Which vehicle are we taking?”
“We’ll walk over there,” Jesse answered. “I see you’ve got rope and bridles. I figure we can each bring a hembra and baby the first trip, then we’ll have two more trips to get the rest of the ladies over here, and we can bring the macho last.”
“What’d you do? Read up on the alpaca lingo?” Mia headed out of the barn.
“Something like that.” He followed her outside.
Her stride was long, and she walked like she had somewhere to go. There was no lollygagging around with this girl. “Anyone can know what to call them. It takes experience to know how to handle them, and for your information, Tex could help us herd them over here all at once. He’s helped me muster up the sheep before.”
“I prefer to move them slower.” Jesse put a hand on the fence post and hopped over the barbed wire in one easy jump, only to find out that the ditch between him and the road was filled with water from the rain.
“Be careful,” he called out as she made the same jump.
She just gave him one of her famous looks and rolled her eyes. Jesse hopped over th
e ditch, crossed the road, and jumped over the other fence, then started out on the last quarter mile to the alpaca shed. If the old Hall Ranch had been separated from Sunflower with a dirt road, going from one place to another would have been a lot easier.
“This should have been my ranch,” Mia said. “I am the oldest grandchild, so it should have been passed down to me, not sold off.”
“Your grandparents probably needed the money to buy out your aunts and uncles’ interest in your Granny’s ranch out near Cactus,” he suggested. “Are you angry because of that?”
“Yes. No. Maybe a little,” she said.
“Would you have sold the place if Ricky asked you to?” Jesse asked.
“That’s downright mean and harsh.” She almost gritted her teeth. “Honestly, I don’t know, but we’ll never know, will we?”
“How many cousins do you have?” They weren’t far away from their destination now because Jesse could hear the alpacas’ strange humming noises as they communicated with each other.
“Uncle Nate has twins who are about eight years old. Uncle Quinn has a daughter who is ten now,” she said.
“I remember Nate and Quinn. They were about five years older than us, so they were already gone from home when we were in high school,” Jesse said.
“And yet, their kids are younger than me,” Mia sighed. “You were always her best friend, right?”
“That’s right,” Jesse answered about the time they reached the corral. He climbed over the side, looped an arm around one of the mama hembras, and talked softly to her. “We’re going to a better place for you. We’ve got it all cleaned up and ready, and you’re going to love it.” Mia handed him a bridle, and he gently eased it into place then attached the lead rope.
“Not bad,” she said as she did the same with the other mama.
“Thank you. I did a little research on them last night,” Jesse said.
Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch Page 14
