“I did miss ranching life sometimes when I was in Dallas. I lived in the city because of my job. I didn’t miss ranch work so much as I missed the space, going outside and seeing nothing for miles but sky, land, horses, cattle. It’s like you’re far from the rat race.”
Abby put the roast on the table and motioned for Bobby to sit. “Are you going to expand where you are now? Danny said you bought a ranch house and land.”
Bobby smiled. “Yeah, I keep forgetting there are no secrets in this county. But no, I’m not to that point yet. I’m still renovating the house.”
“I’ve got a good contractor if you need one. You just can’t steal him from me just yet.”
“I like doing it myself. It’s therapeutic.”
“My talents are not in the home improvement area.” Abby put the vegetables on the table. “Okay that’s everything, let’s eat.”
Bobby carved some slices off the roast and put one on Abby’s plate. “I admire you, Abby.”
Abby laughed and speared a piece of carrot. “I can’t imagine why.”
“You left a good job in the city—as the song goes, and came here to take care of your dad, and this ranch. Not a small thing.”
“My dad was more important than any job. I had to come.”
“Exactly, you are that kind of person, always were.”
“I don’t recall you being quite so gallant and complimentary when you were 18.”
“Well, there is a reason for that—I was 18.”
“There is that, I guess you get a pass. Have you seen much of our old friends since you’ve been back?”
“I haven’t been looking to tell the truth. I had to hit the ground running when I took over the sheriff’s office. I am just now to the point where I can work 10-hour days instead of 12-hour days, and actually get to be off work on a Sunday.”
“And here I am making you get out and drive over here on your day off.”
“Coming here was not a burden, Abby.”
Abby could feel herself flush and tried to hide it by looking down at her plate. “Hope you still like strawberry shortcake, that’s your dessert.”
“It’s still my favorite. I haven’t changed much, Abby, have you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Losing your husband so young—that must have been—well, it’s something hard to get over, I’d think.”
“The first year was tough. I kept asking, why him, why me, and then I realized there was no answer. It was an accident. We are not promised anything in this life. I had my work and sort of got lost in that for a long time. Now, after three years, it’s becoming part of my past and not my present if you know what I mean?”
Bobby took a long drink of water before he responded. “Abby, I’m sure you know about my situation. I was weeks away from getting married and found out Maryann was thinking more about her ex than about me. Thinking was not all she was doing as it turned out.”
“That’s awful, Bobby. Everyone wants to tell you it will be okay, time heals, and all that, but it doesn’t help to hear that even if it is true. So, I won’t throw words at you.”
Bobby smiled and looked her in the eye. “You know, Abby, you really haven’t changed, and that’s a darn good thing.”
Suddenly, Abby felt different. Feelings, real feelings floated to the surface that she thought were gone since the death of Ken. This was the first time she had felt a real attraction to someone in three years. She didn’t know exactly what to do, so she smiled and talked about strawberry shortcake. “Hope the strawberry shortcake is as good as you remember it. Not much ever is.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that. Didn’t I just say you hadn’t changed?”
“But, I have, Bobby. It has been a long time—for us, I mean. We were kids.”
“I could always talk to you about anything. I’ve missed that.”
“You couldn’t talk to the woman you wanted to marry?”
“I guess I didn’t think about that too much at the time, but no. She talked about herself a lot, and shouldn’t that have been my first clue?”
“We all make mistakes, Bobby. You never know someone as well as you think you do.”
Bobby fixed his gaze on her again. “You were happy though, right?”
“Sure, for the most part. Ken didn’t like me traveling so much and he kept trying to get me to go back to substitute teaching and being a housewife. I’m not sure he ever understood what an insurance investigator did.”
“Abby, the investigator. I’ll bet everyone always underestimated you, didn’t they? Petite lady, lovely, looking so vulnerable, but underneath, all business, heart of stone, mind of steel.”
Abby laughed. “Yeah, well, I don’t know about all that, but sometimes they did underestimate me, but it worked for me when they did. As a woman I’m used to that, unfortunately.”
“I’m sure you had them straightened out in no time.”
“Yeah, most of the time, and I enjoyed the job mostly. But I can’t say I was unhappy to give up living out of suitcases, hotels, and airplanes. In the end my job was all about finding out about the worst in people.”
Bobby put down his fork and looked at her. “Kind of like my job sometimes. You’re happier now then?”
“To be honest I haven’t thought much about whether I am or not. I came back for dad, it’s true, but I think I stayed for me.”
“That’s good. I wrestled with that as well. Was I back here to lick my wounds? Or did I want to be back, and could I be happy here?”
“What did you decide?”
“Having you back here is pushing that needle, Abby.”
Abby grinned. “Oh yeah, which way?”
“To the happy side, of course.” Bobby sat back in his chair. “That was really good, Abby. And the company wasn’t bad either.”
“Glad you liked it. Want to go into the family room and look over the plans? We can have dessert and coffee after we walk off that meal.”
“Sounds good.”
They sat on the sofa in the family room, where they had sat so many times before. Abby passed the folder to Bobby. “It will make more sense once we are outside, but I wanted you to see the artist rendition first.”
Bobby sat so close to her that their legs were touching. Abby found it hard to concentrate.
“This is going to look great, Abby, good job.”
“I can’t take much credit. I just told people what I wanted, and the talent did the rest. Let’s go for that walk now before that food goes to my hips.”
Abby could feel Bobby’s eyes on her as he followed her back through the house and out the kitchen door. “See over there where the barn is? We’ve added new stables in the back, and down that path is the red house we call it. Dad had it built for ranch hands as you might remember, and he had upgraded it once already so the plumbing and electrical was good. Danny and Leon live in it now. They’ve added on another entire wing for more staff as you can see. We’ll have to hire help every summer,” Abby said.
“Where is the guest house?”
“Let’s walk on down and I’ll show you.” They followed the path past the red house as it curved and went into a grove of trees. “In there, you can see it from here, but we can walk on down if you like.”
“Yeah, I’d like to see the progress,” Bobby said.
“I’m crossing my fingers there are no delays. Building in the spring can sometimes be iffy due to the weather, but we’ve been lucky so far.”
They stopped to look at the new structure. “Looks like they’re almost done with the roof, so that is good. That’s going to be a big building,” Bobby said.
“Yes, it makes me a bit nervous to know all this is back here costing a lot of money and I have none coming in. It is all going out these days.”
“But it will come, Abby. There’s no reason for this not to work. You said you liked the PR plan, right?”
“I hope. I think Evan plans to talk me up to a few of his rich friends and real estate pals so I�
��m counting on some business to come from that.”
“You and Evan still close then?”
“Yes, coming back here it was like no time had passed for us. We picked up right where we left off. He’s the brother I never had,” Abby said.
They walked along the path and circled around the new structure. Bobby stopped a few times to inspect different things, and seemed satisfied, she thought.
“Speaking of fun, Abby, what are you doing Friday night?”
“You have something in mind?”
“I thought you might need a break from the ranch. Why don’t I take you to dinner in San Antonio?”
“That does sound nice. I really could use a change of scenery.”
“Great, I’ll pick you up at six-thirty and we’ll make a night of it.”
Abby wasn’t sure what his idea of a night of it was, but she’d take her chances. She found herself slowing down as they circled back to the house because she knew he would leave. “You want to come in for that dessert and some coffee?”
“That may be a good idea. I have to go in and do a bit of night duty.”
“Oh, you have to go to work now?”
“Sort of. It’s paperwork, but if I don’t do it on Sunday evenings, I’ve found that Monday comes around with other demands and before I know it, I’m two weeks behind with it all. I hate paperwork.”
Abby laughed. “Yes, I recall. Getting you to write your papers senior year was torture.”
“Torture for you, but more so for me. You had to listen to me whine, and then beg for your help, but I had to try to write them. I really missed our teamwork when I went to Duke.”
“I’m sure you had some willing girl lined up to fill my shoes in no time. I don’t recall you calling me for assistance.”
“First of all, no one could fill your shoes, Abby. I stopped writing because I hate writing, I was a stupid 18-year-old boy, and I did call a few times, but you were never home. It sounded like you were going out a lot and having fun without me. Like I said, I was stupid.”
“You called?”
“Yes, your dad was nice and polite, but he let me know you weren’t sitting around waiting on me.”
“He—he never told me you called, Bobby.”
“Wow, I guess he liked me less than I thought.”
“He was a bit over-protective. You left early because of your football scholarship, but I was stuck here all summer with little to do but wait until August to make my escape to Emory for my freshman year. Cami and I just went a bit crazy trying to pack in everything in a few weeks. I was gone a lot, that’s true.”
Bobby stopped and turned to her. “I was sure you had found someone else. You were too good for me, even my parents told me that.”
“What are you talking about? In what way was I too good for you?”
“I was a struggling B student jock, and you had brains and looks, and I knew you would go places, and likely with someone more suitable.”
“That’s crazy. I never thought like that at all. My dad did like you, but he just wanted me to go to college away from you so that I didn’t get distracted. I can’t imagine your folks telling you that you weren’t good enough for me though.”
“They didn’t actually say it so much as hinted at it,” Bobby said.
“I’m sure they were just like my dad, and they didn’t want us getting serious too young.”
“Maybe. And here we are all these years later.”
“Yes, nearly fifteen years later, ugh. And what have we learned?” Abby started walking again because she couldn’t put a name on what she was feeling, and it made her nervous.
“I’ve learned I was right about you all along, Abby. There is no one like you.”
She wasn’t sure exactly how it happened, but she found herself in Bobby’s arms, his lips on her lips and it was like no time had passed at all.
Bobby let her go and stood back. “Was that okay?”
Abby laughed. “You want me to critique your kiss?”
“No—I meant—okay, I see you want to torture me a bit. I meant was it okay that I kissed you?”
“You would have known if it wasn’t, Bobby. Have we met?”
Bobby laughed and grabbed her hand. “Well, we are back at the old ranch house. Let’s have that coffee.”
Later that night as Abby got ready for bed, she realized she was happy, a feeling she had not had in a long time. Bobby made her think that she was still attractive and desired, something she had begun to doubt. That night she dreamed of wild horses, a rushing river, and Bobby.
Monday came with its routine and a driving, relentless, rain storm. The building crews rushed to cover materials, and secure equipment. Leon and Danny couldn’t finish their projects outside, so they spent the day inside the red house putting in a new kitchen floor and setting up appointments to see horses and cattle for the following week.
Teresa Moore braved the weather to keep her appointment, Abby was surprised to see, and was even more surprised to see that Teresa was wearing boots, Texas boots. Abby ushered her in out of the rain, and they sat for an hour going over the final plan for the PR rollout. “Teresa, wow, you got it all. I’m impressed that you remembered everything I asked for, and somehow kept it at budget.”
“Abby, I’m not number one around here because I slack off, honey. I do what I say, and I get what I want.”
“Well, I’m even more glad you are working with me.”
“If you’re happy, sign here and here.” Teresa slid two more sheets of paper her way. “This completes things on this first step. I’ll send you a bill for one-third of the contract amount, but you won’t get another bill until I send out the fliers, place the ads, and so on. The final bill won’t come until you have your pre-opening gala. If there is anything along the way we need to fix, we’ll fix.”
“Sounds good to me. I appreciate you keeping me updated on every step. I am nervous about this as you might guess, and it makes me feel better when I know what’s going on.”
Teresa stood and packed up her briefcase and pulled out her umbrella. “That’s want I do. We don’t want any surprises on either side. Communication is the thing. Now, I’ll take off before my car washes away out there. If for any reason you think you might be delayed let me know right away. A few days no problem, but more than a week will mess with my rollout. Got it?”
“Not a problem. Be careful out there.” Abby walked her to the door and watched her get into the car with one easy move. Geez, the woman was even graceful in boots in the pouring rain. She could see now what Evan meant by Teresa being her worse nightmare. The woman had it all, looks, brains, talent.
Abby fixed herself a light lunch as she looked out the window, grateful the rain had stopped. She could not afford many delays, and weather was the one thing she was afraid of because she had no control over that at all. Her phone pinged as she ate her sandwich, and she looked to see a text from Cami saying she was catching up on her sleep, not to worry, and that she’d call when she knew her next step. Not one word about this horrible Sam guy who had crashed into her world.
Tuesday dawned bright and sunny and before long everyone was back to work, and the sound of hammers, saws, and men’s voices could be heard from every room in the house. Abby thought about Cami’s earplug advice and wished she had taken it.
Evan came out for dinner and to see the progress. He brought her a new camera as an early birthday gift so that she could document the project. “Oh Evan, why didn’t I think of this?’
“You had a lot on your mind.”
“What would I do without you, Evan?”
“I hope we don’t have to find out. Do you have a date set for the pre-opening thing yet?”
“No, not yet. I want to make sure everything stays on schedule and it is so far. Teresa, your blonde goddess was out yesterday. She is as efficient as she is beautiful.”
“Count on me to send you the best.”
“So, Evan, what’s the deal? I mean you’re not aft
er her because—she’s what, married, engaged, plays for the other side?”
“Because she’s a man-eater, Abby.”
“What?”
“She will eat you up and spit you out. She has gone through a few guys and they don’t know what hit them. Teresa seems to have a short attention span.”
“Oh my, well then, best you left her alone.”
“I wasn’t born yesterday, cousin. I have good female radar. Besides, I’m too young to marry or even get serious.”
“You forget that I know how old you are? You can’t lie to me, Evan.”
“Oh yeah, right. Well almost 38 is the new almost 28.”
Abby laughed and slapped him on the back. “You wish, old man.”
“I dated a woman for an entire year once. A year is my record. That was—three years ago, and wow, maybe I do need to get serious.”
“Oh, come on, I’m just giving you a hard time, Evan. If you got a serious girlfriend or got married, you would have no more time for me. So, I’m being selfish when I say, you’re young yet, no hurry.”
“And you miss cowgirl rancher, what’s the story with you and Bobby?”
“No story really. I had him out for dinner Sunday, and we’re going out again Friday night.”
“Well, well, you do move fast. And here you are making me feel sorry for you about having no one around.”
“No one can replace you, Evan, you know that.”
“That’s true, now give me a cup of coffee and feed me.”
“Sit yourself down. I made tacos; your favorite.”
“Oh, before I forget and start stuffing my face, I may have some good news, if you agree to it. I have booked your first guests. I say may have good news because it messes with your opening date a bit.”
“What? You saved that bit of news until now?” Abby stopped with the plate of tacos in her hand.
“My friend, Ernie, he’s an investment banker to the rich and famous now, and he has all kinds of wealthy and connected clients. I mean super rich, like with private jets and many homes. Anyway, this one client, who has a house in Dallas, among other places, mentioned he’d like to take his family to a dude ranch this summer. His sister is getting married and he wanted to treat them to the trip as an engagement gift. Seems his brother-in-law to be is a cowboy wanna be. Anyway, Ernie told them about your place opening up in June, and he wants to come out earlier than that, ahead of the crowd. He knows you won’t be entirely open, but he is okay with that. He said that he and his family, four couples in all, needed some down time and time together.”
Murder at the Dude Ranch Page 3
