“Bummer,” Barney said, hooking his thumbs in his back pockets at the end of Flynn’s tour.
“It could’ve been worse. Whoever did it skipped the front tires and didn’t mess up the paint job. My canopy took the brunt.” Flynn lifted several strips of shredded vinyl.
“Probably teens out joy-riding and making mischief. Funny your dog didn’t howl.”
Flynn went to inspect Jenna’s vehicle. It was okay. “It probably happened while we were at the hospital.” He straightened and told Barney about Andee’s accident.
“That’s awful. Poor little tyke.”
“Yes. On a normal night I would’ve noticed since I parked Jenna’s Cherokee behind my pickup. I was focused on getting Andee into a dark house. There was barely a moon out last night.”
Jenna and Andee emerged from the house. “Here you men beat me out and about. I feel guilty for sleeping late.” Jenna took her daughter’s hand coming down the steps.
Beezer bounded up to the girl and licked her face. She giggled and shook loose from her mom. “Mr. Fisk, did Flynn tell you I broke my arm?”
“He just did. That’s some fine-looking cast you have there, kiddo.”
“And see my new boots. Auntie Melody sent them. Oh, Mommy, can we show him my bicycle? It’s pink like my boots.”
In the middle of sipping her morning coffee, Jenna was slower to make her way to where the men stood. “Andee, honey, he can see it later. I want Barney to fill in the potholes along the path before you ride your—” She got her first look at Flynn’s pickup. “What in the world happened?”
“Vandals,” he said. “I intended to help Barney fill potholes, but I either need to call a tow truck or borrow your SUV to run into town and pick up a couple of new tires. I have one spare, but that won’t get me on the road.”
“What’ll you do about the slashed cover? It’s a mess,” Jenna said.
“Let my auto insurance replace it. They should pay some on the tires, too.”
“We need to take photos,” Jenna advised. “And call the sheriff. He said to call if we had more trouble. Did Oscar Martin have to put up with this? Is that why he sold the ranch?”
Shrugging, Flynn took out his cell phone and began snapping pictures. “Ask Sheriff Denton.”
Andee, who’d tossed Beezer’s ball, ran back. “You got holes in your tire,” she announced. “How will your truck go, Flynn?”
He tweaked her nose. “It won’t go. Not until I buy new tires.”
The sound of a vehicle approaching garnered everyone’s attention. A silver pickup kicked up plumes of dust that rolled toward them in waves.
Jenna scooped back tendrils of hair blowing in her eyes. “Is that the sheriff? Did you already call him?”
He shook his head, stepping forward so the driver would see him and stop.
The driver braked. The dust began to settle. Jenna gasped when Don Winkleman climbed out of the cab.
Flynn stabbed a finger at the man. “Well, well. Have you come to gloat over your most recent sabotage?”
Stopping short, Winkleman resettled his ball cap. “What are you talking about? This is the second time you’ve accused me of something. I don’t know what your problem is. I’ve come to do business with Ms. Wood.”
“I suppose you have no idea how my pickup got slashed?”
This time the man removed his cap and scratched a spot on his head. “Is that Barney Fisk?” Winkleman sidestepped Flynn. “Barney, you’ve been in town longer than these folks. Have you ever heard of me doing anyone dirt?”
“Can’t say that I have.”
Flynn bristled. “You tell Jenna she’ll be sorry for firing you and, funny thing, things inexplicably start to go wrong around here.”
Jenna moved closer to Flynn. “Maybe we should let Mr. Winkleman say why he’s showed up on this unfortunate day.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the newcomer said. “Two weeks ago I learned I’d inherited some land in Arizona. It belonged to an uncle who raised a few sheep and goats.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” she replied.
“Thank you... Well, I went to see if I should keep the farm or sell it. The place is perfect for starting my own ostrich flock.”
She and Flynn shared a look.
“The cattle pens are empty, and I hoped you’d sell me a hundred chicks now and another hundred in two or three months.”
You could have knocked her over with a feather. He wanted to buy from her?
“I can’t afford to install incubators. And I know Oscar’s birds are top of the line.”
He twisted his cap between gnarled hands.
“I probably should’ve started by apologizing for mouthing off to you like I did. I’m real sorry. This was the first job I ever had where I fit. I—I got to know the birds.”
Jenna was surprised to discover she had to blink back tears. She’d fired a man who had taken the time and effort to get to know the birds.
And here she was fumbling away at caring for the ostriches without really having a clue.
“I was mad at Oscar for selling out to an Easterner who wasn’t a rancher,” he continued, “and I honestly thought my work deserved more money.”
“So you really didn’t open my gates and set the ostriches free?”
“I’d never do that. I love those birds. They could’ve been hurt.”
She had to look away at that. He loved them.
He turned to Flynn. “Is that what you were talking about that morning you met me in town? I told you I hadn’t been out here.”
“I didn’t believe you.”
Jenna glanced from man to man. “I believe him, Flynn.”
He nodded. “Which leaves me no suspect for today’s dirty work.”
“Kids, I tell you,” Barney chimed in. “Teens on alcohol with too much time on their hands. Our camp got ransacked twice.”
Jenna studied him thoughtfully. “Barney, would you move to a room in a house if the city provided a safe place you could stay?”
He bent and patted Beezer. The dog and Andee stood between him and Jenna. “I’d consider it if the rent wasn’t outlandish.”
“Can we get back to my offer to buy the chicks?” Winkleman put in. “I brought travel crates. I’d like to load them and head back to Arizona pronto,” he said and named a price he’d pay per chick. “That’s two bucks more for each than Oscar charged. I figure I owe you extra for the way I acted, Ms. Wood.”
Andee tugged on Jenna’s shirt. “I don’t want the bad man to take our baby chicks.”
“Shh, honey. He’s not bad. He apologized. And we’ll get more babies. This way, we can use the money to build pens and buy alpacas.”
The girl kept eyeing Winkleman from under her long, dark eyelashes.
“I’ll sell you chicks,” Jenna said with finality. “Barney, will you help him load up? My rough estimate of hatchlings is a hundred and twenty. Give him one hundred and put twenty chicks out for our birds to care for. We’ll start replenishing the incubators right away. Andee, please go inside and get my car keys off the kitchen counter so Flynn can take his tires to town in the Cherokee. I’ll go feed the birds and fill water troughs.”
Barney headed to a shed and Don Winkleman returned to his pickup. He backed it behind the pens to where they could load the birds into his crates.
“Can we go with Flynn?”
Flynn jumped in to say, “I was planning to ask if you’d keep Beezer here, Andee. The tire store isn’t really the best place for kids or dogs.”
The girl pouted. “I thought we could get ice-cream cones.”
Jenna turned her daughter toward the house. “This afternoon is your first story hour at the library. I’ll take you for ice cream after it’s over.”
“And Beezer? He likes hearing stories. I
bet he loves ice cream. But not chocolate.”
Flynn grinned at Jenna, who was plainly fighting a losing battle. “You can almost see the wheels turning in her head. She’s always thinking one step ahead.”
He hooked a playful arm around Jenna’s neck and buried a laugh in her windblown hair.
“The car keys, Andee,” Jenna said, pointing to the house. As she darted away, Jenna reared back to look at Flynn. “How can you be so cheerful when your pickup has been decimated?”
He pressed his lips against her mouth, saying, “You make me happy. You and Andee. And I didn’t have a chance to tell you, but I took my blood pressure this morning. It was normal.”
Jenna’s voice deserted her.
Rallying, she managed to say, “Ah, that explains why you kissed me after saying you’d never do that again.”
“Hmm. Dare I say that was a mistake on my part? What I said before was an error,” he added, releasing her as Andee and Beezer popped back out of the house.
“Thanks,” he said, taking the keys from Andee. “You take good care of Beezer and your mom while I’m gone. How does your arm feel this morning?”
“Better, but Mommy had to help me dress and pull on my new boots.” Her lips turned down.
Jenna ruffled the child’s bangs. “I don’t mind. I’ll go help you with breakfast, too. We should let Flynn go to get tires.”
She started to turn away, then stopped. Hesitantly she said, “By the way, I slept on your suggestion about my rental. If the city council is interested in buying it as is to house vets, I’ll discuss selling. I think I’d be better off to concentrate on raising ostriches and alpacas.”
“I’ll mention it to Curtis. Someone can contact you if they’re interested.”
Jenna returned to the house with Andee and Beezer.
Flynn bent to the task of jacking up the pickup and removing the back tires. He saw Barney and Don go to the house, so he loaded the tires and left.
In town, the first thing he did was buy new tires. While they were being mounted on his rims, he phoned his insurance agent. “I’m covered 100 percent for vandalism? That’s good. No, it didn’t happen at the airpark, but in the yard where I’m renting.” The men talked a while longer. Flynn asked his agent to fax the authorization to purchase a new pickup canopy to his office.
Since he was in town, he decided to make another stop.
Giving his name to the mayor’s secretary, Flynn was ushered into Mayor Parker’s private office. He was surprised to see commercial Realtor Dayton Hines and residential Realtor Bud Rhodes in the room. They shook hands all around.
“Sorry for butting in on your meeting, Mayor. Your secretary didn’t say you were occupied.”
“No problem,” Curtis Parker said. “In fact Dayton said he told you that our hope is to move the homeless guys out of the park before Pancho Villa Days, and he said you may know of a house.”
“That’s why I’m here.” Flynn silenced his phone so they wouldn’t be disturbed. “Bud knows I rented a home from Oscar Martin, who later sold to Jenna Wood. The air conditioner fell apart at my rental. She doesn’t have funds to replace it, so I’m renting the upstairs at her ranch.”
The other men shared pointed looks.
Flynn hesitated before continuing, “Her rental has three bedrooms, two baths and a den that could be a fourth bedroom. She’d sell, but as is. Bud, you handled Oscar’s sale. You’ll know what the house is worth.”
Dayton turned to Rhodes. “Bud, this sounds ideal. I can get an AC wholesale.” He glanced at the mayor. “The city can write off the price and may even recoup some of the cost from one of the area’s veteran groups.”
The other three talked over and around Flynn. He got to his feet. “I’m just the messenger. You’ll need to contact Jenna.”
He opened the door.
Rhodes glanced at his watch. “What do you say we all go to the café for an early lunch? I can write up our offer. Since you’re staying at the ranch, Sutton, you can take it to her and then the ball will be in her court. Curtis, does it take a council vote?”
“They voted to buy a suitable property and put a dollar figure not to exceed. If this home falls within the guidelines, we’re good.” He stood and rang his secretary. “We’re going to lunch, Rachel. Take messages, please.”
Outside, Rhodes fell in beside the mayor. They chatted about the house, leaving Flynn behind with Dayton Hines. Flynn debated whether or not to mention Travis, then thought, Why not?
“Dayton, I hesitate to bring this up, but I’ve spoken to Travis more than once about flying low over Jenna’s ostrich pens. He came really low today. It sends the birds into a frenzy. So far none of them has been injured, but if they are Jenna will file a complaint with the county.”
“With the county, holy cow!”
“Maybe he’ll listen to you. If he keeps ignoring me, I’ll have to ask him to move his plane to another facility.”
Hines pinched his lower lip. “My wife and I hoped flying would teach Travis discipline and respect. He’s a moody kid, but he loves flying. I’m sorry to hear he’s not listening to you. I’ll speak to him.”
“That’s a load off my mind,” Flynn said.
“Could you give me until after the air show? We have guests at home and I’m snowed under with business.”
“I can, but Jenna Wood is her own woman. She may report him if he strafes her flock again. If I see him I’ll tell him that.”
Hines clapped Flynn on the back. “Meanwhile I’ll try to keep him busy helping with the historic planes. Travis wants us to pay for him to train in the P-51. I’ll set some conditions.”
The men walked into the café, where talk turned to ordering. After that Bud Rhodes wrote up an offer on the house for Flynn to give Jenna, and he gave Bud a key so the Realtor could evaluate it.
Once lunch ended, they parted and Flynn drove back to the ranch.
Jenna paced in front of the house and Andee sat on a step. The minute Flynn parked, Jenna ran up. “Where have you been? I tried phoning you. I have to take Andee to her first library story hour. You need to unload those tires ASAP.”
“Sorry. I stopped to see the mayor and... Never mind, it can wait.” Flynn got out and quickly removed the tires while Jenna settled Andee in her child seat. He’d no more than closed the back door than Jenna took off.
Barney hiked over from the direction of the sheds. “Hey, Flynn. I’m done filling potholes. I’ll give you a hand replacing your new tires.”
“Thanks. Squatting is hard on my bum knee. I appreciate the help. Where’s Beezer?”
“Jenna left him in the house. That was a bone of contention between her and Andee. She insisted your dog likes hearing stories, too.”
“What a kid. I’ll take the mutt with me to the airpark and leave Jenna a note. You did a great job filling holes. Andee should be able to ride her bike without falling now.”
“Yeah. I wet the new sand and smoothed it out. It’s a shame she got hurt. But she’s not letting a broken arm slow her down. The ball she threw around for Beezer lodged on the roof of one of the sheds. Jenna caught Andee stacking egg crates to climb up there. Man, I wish I had half her energy.”
Flynn laughed. “Do I need to go get it?”
“Nah, I brought out a ladder and retrieved the ball.”
“Jenna needs to get her a pony. When I was a kid we all had horses. That would burn a lot of energy.”
Once they finished with the tires, Barney helped remove the shredded vinyl canopy. It was a hot job. “I appreciate your help. Can I offer you a cold drink before we take off, Barney? Jenna keeps a pitcher of water in the fridge and usually has lemonade.”
Flynn washed his hands under the hose by the pens. Beezer must have been napping earlier; now he was barking up a storm.
�
��Thanks, but at three o’clock I’m filling in at the Legion bar. I’ll go in early and buy a cold brew before regulars drop by. Haven’t seen you there in a while.”
Flynn realized he preferred coming straight here once he left work.
“I’m pretty busy at the airpark,” he said. “I’ll be even busier if I can keep my blood pressure down and pass my flight physical so I can offer lessons.”
The older man dried his hands on his shirttail. “I’ve got buddies who suffer white-coat syndrome. Is that your problem?”
Flynn cocked his head to one side. “Anxiety leading to raised BP at the sight of a doctor, huh? Well, it’s been suggested.”
“A buddy started taking some fruit powder. He swears his BP dropped. Now he flies equipment out to the oil rigs off the coast of Texas. I bet you could look on the computer and find out what it is.”
“Worth checking. You sure he wasn’t pulling your leg?”
“Nope. He’s dead serious about flying.”
“If this pans out, I’ll owe you big time, Barney.”
“Gotta stick together. Still, you young guys get a lot more help than we Nam vets ever did. Listen, I need to take off.”
“Sure. Thanks again.”
Barney walked his motorcycle down the lane before firing it up. Like Winkleman, he cared about the ostriches. Flynn would tell Jenna, knowing she’d be pleased.
He went inside and fended off sloppy dog kisses. “You are such a people animal,” Flynn told Beezer as he took a few minutes to pet him. “Okay, okay, we’ll go in a minute. Quit licking me so I can leave Jenna a note.”
He set the house offer on the table and laid his note on top of it. He hadn’t read the offer, because it felt wrong, like an invasion of Jenna’s privacy. He assumed it’d be fair. But if she wanted his opinion, he’d look it over.
Flynn locked the house, but stood a few minutes gazing around at the place that felt like home after such a short time. He hadn’t been attached to the rental, even though, as Jenna pointed out, it had flowers and a yard. Maybe this place reminded him of the farm of his youth.
Or maybe he’d gotten attached to the people who lived here.
An Unlikely Rancher Page 15
