RED HOT RANCH

by Swale, Lizzie

  Breathing hard, her heart pounding in her chest Sadie quickly walked away refusing to look back at his office, her stomach in knots.

  Despite her misgivings about everything, the shiver that went up her spine when he promised her he wasn’t done chasing after her left her secretly thrilled. She knew it wasn’t something she should allow to happen, but her feelings for him left her making stupid, risky, irrational decisions.

  Chapter 7

  A few weeks later, Sadie had gotten the list approved and was slowly starting to bring each woman back into her own personal office that Cedric had finally assigned to her. She had already fired five of the eleven girls she was going to let go. Keeping three for PR type jobs, the rest had to go.

  “You stupid bitch, you have no right to fire me.” Valerie glared at her, looking like she wanted to reach out and slap Sadie in the face.

  “I’m sorry, but this is your official letter of dismissal, with Cedric’s signature. You will get three months pay, and a continuation of medical coverage for up to six months to give you time to get a new job and benefits.” Sadie told her, ignoring the name calling. So far, almost all of them had insulted her, raged, cried, or called her names. They didn’t take kindly to being fired after their cushy job disappeared from underneath their feet.

  “I hope you get sick and die.” The girl said, snatching the letter from her hand and left the office in a rush. The rest of the women knew what was coming, and they had no idea who would stay and who would get fired. They’d already told one of the three women they were keeping their job was changing, but they still had one. They were trying to keep it on the down low, but the women talked and there wasn’t much Sadie could do about it.

  Sadie got up and intended to call the next girl in when she felt sick to her stomach, she opened her mouth and realized she was going to hurl. She rushed to the bathroom and reached the toilet just in time to puke.

  After a few minutes of dry heaving, she felt better and got up and splashed her face with some water and took some deep breaths.

  She went back out and called in the next person. It took all day but she’d managed to get through all of the women they were firing, and then explained to the other two why they were getting to keep their job.

  Sadie went to tell Cedric the job was finished, and that she’d start going through resumes and setting up job interviews.

  She walked into his office and smelled his take out that he had on his desk for lunch and felt the urge to throw up again. She ran over and dropped to her knees by his waste basket and started dry heaving again.

  “Sadie, are you okay?” Cedric said, seeming concerned for her health.

  He’d been dropping hints, asking her out, and flirting with her since their conversation a few weeks ago. Sadie kept saying no, but he wasn’t giving up. Sadie was flattered, but she was trying to stick to her guns and keep their relationship professional.

  “I’m fine, I think. The smell of your lunch made me feel a little sick to my stomach.” She told him and then handed him the tablet with all the updated information and resumes she’d picked up to show him.

  “What is this?” Cedric asked.

  “These are the resumes I’ve selected from what looks best to worst for the initial interviews for the positions we need to fill. I also will do a review and go interview the employees of the company we are taking over to see who’s worth keeping and who we should let go when we complete the merger, and the real estate agent we hired has found a bigger building in a central location for a good price for you to go look at later today.” Sadie informed him.

  “Sadie, you’ve become absolutely invaluable to me after such a short time, I don’t know what I would do without you.” Cedric told her honestly. He stared at her with an expression on his face that made Sadie almost feel guilty.

  Sadie smiled at him and nodded. “Let me know when you’re done reviewing that and I’ll start making the phone calls to setup all the interviews.” She told him.

  “Sounds good to me.” He said starting to read and go through the files on the tablet. “I’ll email you my thoughts on each applicant before I go, just text me where the real estate person plans on meeting me.”

  “Sure.” Sadie said and then high tailed it out of his office before she dry heaved again from the smell of his lunch. Realizing that once she got some water into her and ate a couple of dry crackers something was wrong with her.

  Thinking back to when her last period was, she realized she hadn’t had one in a few weeks.

  Crap.

  No, this wasn’t possible. Sadie sat in her office stunned. She knew in her gut that she was but knowing she needed to be sure, she texted Cedric and told him she was taking her lunch break and would be back in an hour. Driving to the nearest pharmacy, she bought a pregnancy test and used their bathroom.

  Peeing on the stick she didn’t even want to look at it. She set it on the edge of the sink and stared at her phone for three minutes, forcing herself not look at it.

  When the three minutes were up, she picked up the digital test and when the word “Pregnant” was bright and clear she dropped it on the floor and panicked for a minute.

  This was the last thing she needed. Cedric was going to kill her. She blamed herself. She’d been drinking, he’d been drinking and they hadn’t been careful.

  Oh, God, she was such an idiot. She was a responsible adult; she should have known better. She wasn’t normally sexually active, so she hadn’t been on birth control pills. Cedric must have assumed she had been, because he hadn’t been careful either.

  Picking up the test and shoving it into her purse, she drove with dread back to the office. She sat in her car and stared up at the office window for a few minutes before getting the nerve to go up there and tell him.

  He had a right to know.

  Walking with a knot in her throat, she went upstairs and knocked on Cedric’s office door.

  “Come in.” He said and Sadie saw he was writing on his laptop while scrolling through the tablet he’d set on his desk next to it.

  “Cedric?” She asked him, the urge to run away overwhelmed her for a moment but she took a deep breath and forced herself to walk into the room.

  “Are you okay Sadie?” Cedric looked up and noticed how pale she looked and saw her hands shaking.

  “There’s something I need to tell you,” She started to say.

  Cedric jumped to his feet, “You better not be telling me you quit.”

  “No, I don’t plan on quitting, but I have something you need to know.” She told him and reached into her purse and pulled out the test. She tossed it to him and waited for the reaction.

  Cedric stared down at it and then did the thing she least expected. He started to laugh.

  “Are you okay?” She asked him, shocked by his reaction.

  Looking up, he grinned at her. “Absolutely. I’d been trying to figure out how I was going to force you to give me another chance. I’m assuming since you told me, you didn’t plan on aborting, which means you’re stuck with me. Go out with me tonight?”

  Sadie stared at him in shock. No, abortion had never crossed her mind, but then again, she hadn’t had time to process anything either yet.

  “Go out with you tonight?”

  “Yes, no stress, you don’t have to come home with me, let’s have a nice relaxed meal and we can talk about our future.” Cedric walked over to her and put his hand to her cheek, the other hand still holding the test. “The reason I made changes to this office is because of you Sadie, if you haven’t noticed I haven’t gone home with any other women since that night we spent together, nor have I had any sexual relations with any other woman. You deserve better, and I’m willing to try and be the man you need if you’ll meet me half way. We deserve to be happy.”

  “Do you love me?” Sadie asked him bluntly, knowing if he said yes her heart would become involved and she didn’t want it broken by him.

  “I could, if you gave me a chance.” Cedric to
ld her honestly. “I promise not to lie to you, even if you don’t like what I have to say. I’m fine with the baby. I always figured I’d have kids someday, with my prolific ways, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened before now, but I’m glad it’s with you.”

  Sadie looked at him and then back at the test in his hand.

  “Okay. We can have dinner tonight and talk. I’m willing to give us a chance.” Sadie said, her heart pounding and when he pressed his lips to hers, she realized that no matter how much she might fight her feelings for him, she couldn’t force them to go away.

  She had noticed the changes in him over the last few weeks, and realized that maybe this new Cedric was worth the risk of a little pain and heartache.

  He had a glint of satisfaction in his eyes when he broke the kiss and pulled back.

  “I’m not going to let you go Sadie. I’ll be here for you, and I promise that my philandering days are over. I need more than quantity to make me happy, life is about quality, and you are the quality I was missing in my life.” He told her and cupped her cheek with one hand.

  Sadie still had reservations, but she nodded at him, wanting to believe him.

  When she walked back to her office to finish her day’s worth of work, she realized that maybe this would be okay. By the end of the day, she’d worked through the emotions about giving him a chance, though she’d have a long way to go with dealing with the pregnancy.

  Going home and getting ready for dinner that night, she went there to meet him with a light heart and the hope for a good future.

  She believed him, and for now, that was enough.

  THE RANCHER

  Prologue

  The small country church was full, even the space in the back was packed with people standing shoulder-to-shoulder. Andrew Asher had been a third generation rancher with a small but profitable property. When his father had died he took his entire savings, and the entire value of the property, and used all the money to buy up land and expand his herd. It had left the family nearly bankrupt at the time and there were some hard winters but at the end of his life he was one of the wealthiest men in the county.

  He had been blessed with a lovely wife and three beautiful daughters. The older two girls had married ranchers and moved away, starting large ranch families of their own but the youngest had married a young man from town who bought the general store and the two of them lived in the guest house on the family ranch with their only son, Gavin.

  No one in the church was here to see the old man buried except some of the family. Everyone else had come because of the rumors that had been buzzing around town, rumors Gavin knew would fall to him to lay to rest, and that he would have to do it soon.

  Gavin had spent his life on that ranch, helping his grandfather with the animals and the chores. He had seven cousins, six of whom were older than he was, and there were only three ranches to inherit between all either of them so he knew everyone in the family had been eyeing the Asher Ranch. Which had made the reading of the will interesting to say the least.

  I’m still not sure if any of them will speak to me ever again. And I’m not sure that will be a problem.

  After the internment the entire town and all the ranch families from the surrounding properties retired to the Asher Ranch for lunch. Gavin’s mother had done most of the work, not that you could tell from the way his aunts flitted about accepting condolences and compliments. Once everyone seemed settled in the backyard Gavin stood up and tapped his beer bottle with his fork until everyone was staring at him. His aunts were giving him dangerous looks but technically, and legally, this was his home and he didn’t care if they were his elders. This was his place to speak up, not theirs.

  “Thank you, all of you, for being with my family at this trying time. I invite all of you, if the mood takes you, to share some of your memories of Andrew, with each other or with all of us. He was a strong man, and I know I will miss him. As some of you may be aware, the family got together for the reading of the will two days ago. The Asher Ranch will be remaining in the family.” The whispering started but all of his cousins were giving him the same dark look as his aunts. “Grandpa left the ranch to me.”

  Chapter 1

  “Lillian, the orders are backing up here, get a move on!”

  Lillian knew there was no point explaining that she had been refilling coffee cups and water glasses in answer to the constant stream of hands waving her down as she tried to get back to the counter. Buddy, the cook at and owner of Buddy’s Diner, was never satisfied with anyone who worked there. Keesha, the woman working behind the counter that day, gave Lillian a sympathetic smile as she handed over the next two plates.

  It was hour ten of her third sixteen hour shift this week and Lillian’s feet were killing her but she wouldn’t get a break until this rush passed, no matter how long that took.

  By the time her shift finished she was ready to fall asleep on the diner counter and she still had a four block walk ahead of her. “At least you get tomorrow off,” Keesha said as Lillian shrugged on her sweater. It was the middle of June but it had been raining the last few evenings making it cool as the day wore on.

  “As long as I don’t get called in last minute,” Lillian said.

  “Your little girl needs you,” Keesha insisted. “Don’t answer the phone tomorrow, okay? Just grab Wendy and go somewhere so Buddy can’t reach you for a few hours.”

  “Sure. I’ve got to go. I’ll see you Sunday.”

  It wasn’t the best neighbourhood but the buses didn’t run this late so Lillian had to walk. She had never been attacked but she considered herself very lucky for it.

  “Just a few months,” she said to the empty street. “Just a few months and I’ll be finished that administrative assistant degree and I can get out of this place.” Just saying those words, ‘administrative assistant’ made her feel good. It sounded a lot better than ‘diner girl’ and a hell of a lot better ‘single unemployed mother’, which is what she would be if she took Keesha’s advice and dodged Buddy’s inevitable phone call in the morning.

  She let herself into the apartment, got her mail and her neighbour’s mail, and went up. Her neighbour, an elderly woman with wispy white hair and twinkling blue eyes was sitting on the couch in Lillian’s apartment watching some late night talk show. Mrs. Jameson had been watching Wendy after school for four years now and the offer to do so had come as an unexpected kindness.

  “How was she?” Lillian asked.

  “Perfect, as always. That girl is sharp. I see big things in her future.”

  “I hope you’re right.” She handed the elderly woman her mail. “Are you home tomorrow?”

  “Did you pick up another shift?”

  “No, but you know Buddy, he’ll probably call in the morning.”

  “Don’t answer.”

  “I know, but …”

  “Money isn’t everything, Lillian. Your daughter needs you. She never sees you. You work three sixteen hour shifts and three eight hour shifts every week!”

  “It’s only for a little while longer and then I’ll be able to get a nine-to-five job in an office, something that pays more than this crap job at the diner.”

  “I admire you for wanting to better yourself, Lillian, but don’t do it at the expense of your relationship with your daughter.” She ripped open an envelope and started reading while Lillian set up the kettle for tea.

  “I’m just grateful you’ll watch Wendy as much as you do. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “If you really want to thank me you’ll take next weekend off completely,” Mrs. Jameson said.

  Lillian laughed. “You really think Buddy is going to give me a Saturday and a Sunday off in the same weekend?”

  “Look, you remember my friend Julie from done in Dodge?” Mrs. Jameson seemed so intense and it made Lillian nervous she so turned away and fussed with the mugs and the tea bags.

  “It’s not called Dodge, she’s from a ranching town. Wasn’t it called Whea
ton?”

  Mrs. Jameson waved her off. “Makes no difference, you remember her?”

  “Only from what you’ve told me about her. Is she finally coming for a visit?”

  “No. But you’re going to go visit her.”

  Lillian laughed nervously. “Me? Why would I co visit your friend?”

  Mrs. Jameson waved the letter at Lillian. “Julie says there’s this old rancher from around town and he just died, tragic but expected at his age.”

  Lillian rolled his eyes. “What am I supposed to do? Go down there and claim to be his long lost daughter?”

  Mrs. Jameson laughed. “Now wouldn’t that have been something. No, you’re going down there to meet the grandson, Gavin. He’s apparently looking for a live-in housekeeper.”

  “Wheaton’s pretty far away,” Lillian said, hesitantly.

  “You’ll be working from home. You can fold his laundry while you help your daughter with her homework. You can cook for her because you’ll be paid to cook for him. You can cook, right?”

  “I can read a recipe,” I replied. I poured the water into the mugs and brought them to the table to steep. “He’s not going to hire me,” I said. “Look at me.”

  “I see a lovely young woman who is strong, physically and mentally, who is capable and independent. Why wouldn’t he hire you?”

  “Because these rich conservative ranching towns don’t like people like me?”

  “Because you have a daughter and no husband? Because you work in a diner? Because you only have a high school education? Do you think the people who eat at Buddy’s respect you as much as they respect that great fat troll who scrambles their eggs?”

  “Some of them do,” I said. I fetched the milk for her and the sugar for me.

  She sat at the table. “It will be the same thing there. Some of them will give you an honest chance and will respect you simply because you’re a person, and some of them will require a little proving. Of course some of them may never come around but you can just ignore those ones.”