by Marin Thomas
Travis appreciated his sister’s acceptance. “Mom wasn’t a mean person. I don’t know why she walked out on you and Matt and kept me from the rest of the family.”
His comment brought tears to his sister’s eyes. “Have you had a chance to speak privately with Dad?”
Dad. The word sounded foreign in Travis’s ear. “No.”
“He’s hiding out in his office right now.”
So that’s where the old man had holed up. Time was running out. Travis had one week left of his leave of absence from the rig and he’d yet to make child-care arrangements for Charlie. Tomorrow he intended to return to Houston to begin searching for a nanny.
“Dad can be a grouch, but give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s a good man.” She caught Travis by surprise and hugged him, then left the room.
The door to Dominick’s office stood partially open.
“Come in.”
When Travis entered the room, the first thing he noticed was the massive mahogany desk taking up half the space. The football game played on the flat screen TV mounted on the wall across from the desk and bookcases filled the back of the room. Various antique oil artifacts occupied the shelves along with family photos.
“Have a seat.” Dominick kept his eyes on the documents in front of him.
Travis closed the door, then sank onto the leather couch. “If you’re busy—”
“I’m always busy. Oil never stops flowing.” Dominick tossed his reading glasses onto the desk blotter. “Why did you take a job on an oil rig?”
“Ran out of options. I’d gotten in trouble with the law.” At his father’s raised eyebrow, Travis explained. “Disorderly conduct charge and two drunk-driving tickets. Mom said I needed to find a better way to blow off steam. She suggested—” more like threatened “—that I apply for a job with one of the oil companies.”
“Charlotte told you to work on a rig?”
“You sound surprised.”
Dominick shrugged.
“Mind if I ask what happened between you and my mother?”
“As a matter of fact, I do mind.” He stroked his mustache, then asked, “Did your mother ever remarry?”
“No. She worked as a secretary at a car dealership until Charlie came along, then she quit her job to stay home and take care of her when I worked on the rig.”
“And you supported both Charlotte and Charlie?”
“I make decent money on the rig.” Travis and his mother hadn’t lived extravagantly, but between his paycheck and his mother’s small retirement from her job at the dealership they’d managed to make ends meet.
“I could have given you both a hell of a lot more.”
When Travis reflected on his mother’s life, he acknowledged her day-to-day existence hadn’t been exciting. No secret lovers. No high-society social events. No exotic travel or beautiful vacation home. Not even a brand-new car. What had caused his mother to trade in a life of luxury for a make-ends-meet existence?
“I’d like to discuss Charlie,” Travis said.
Dominick grinned. “She’s a pistol.”
Travis wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not. He loved his daughter but the past couple of years had been tough on her. Travis and his mother had become lax in the discipline department. “She’s a little rough around the edges.”
“Like her father?”
Touché. “Now that Mom’s gone and Charlie’s mother isn’t in the picture…” He hated talking about death, but in his line of work, dying on the job was a real possibility. After the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Travis’s mother had convinced him to make out a will and he’d granted full custody of Charlie to his mother should he die. “I’m concerned that if something happens to me on the rig, there won’t be anyone to take care of Charlie. I was hoping you’d consider—”
“You’re asking me if I’d take in my granddaughter?”
“Yes.”
“In a heartbeat,” Dominick said, his voice hoarse.
Travis hadn’t meant to offend the old man, but he was relieved his daughter wouldn’t be left in the state’s care if he kicked the bucket before she reached eighteen. “As soon as we return to Houston, I’ll have a new will drawn up.”
“What will you do with Charlie when you’re working on the rig?”
“I’m hoping to hire a live-in nanny.”
“That can be expensive.”
“We’ll manage.”
“Do you like your job?” Dominick asked.
“The past few months I’ve been shadowing a motorhand and learning how to maintain the drilling rig engines, transmissions, hydraulic systems and electric generators.” Travis was good with tools and a quick study. He hoped his supervisor would follow through with his promise of a promotion to rig technician if Travis passed all the mechanical exams.
“How much money are you making?” Dominick had been in the oil business his entire life. He knew roughnecks were the low men on the totem pole. “Fifty thousand?”
“Forty-five.”
“Would you consider a position with Cartwright Oil for triple your current salary?”
A job that earned over a hundred thousand dollars a year?
“After taxes,” Dominick added.
Shit. That was a lot of money. “What kind of job?”
“Rig technician. I could use another man in the field to help maintain the equipment on my rigs in Oklahoma and Arkansas.”
“Don’t you have several employees in that job right now?”
“You can never have enough experienced men in the field. Equipment breakdowns can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a week in lost profits.”
Dominick’s confidence in him pleased Travis, but he doubted the workers on the rigs would accept him as easily. He’d have to work his butt off to prove he deserved the job. You’d have a chance to show your father what you’re made of.
“You’re a natural fit for the job,” Dominick said. “If you decide to take me up on the offer, I could use your help with something else.”
“What’s that?”
“You and Sara Sanders are both single and around the same age—”
“I’m not interested in—”
“Of course you’re not attracted to a woman like her, but I’m sure you could gain her trust and convince her to sell the Bar T to me.”
Sara Sanders’s face popped into Travis’s mind. He admired her stubborn determination and refusal to allow his father to intimidate her, but he doubted she could hold out forever against Dominick. It was only a matter of time before Cartwright Oil won. Still…“You want me to bully her into doing business with you?”
“I never said you should threaten her.” Dominick shrugged. “She’s a single woman with few prospects. Give her some of your time and attention and before you know it, she’ll be signing on the dotted line.”
Travis had never led a woman on before and didn’t care to begin now, but his father was handing him an opportunity to win his favor. Travis was eager to fit in with his new family and prove to his siblings that he had no ulterior motive where the Cartwright fortune was concerned. What could it hurt to become friends with Sara Sanders? If he convinced her to sell to Dominick, all the better.
“What kind of housing is available in the area?” Travis asked.
“You’re welcome to stay on the ranch with me. There’s plenty of room in the house for the three of us now that Samantha and Wade have moved into their new home. I’m away on business several days a week, so you and Charlie would have the place to yourselves most of the time.” Dominick snapped his fingers. “Juanita’s kids are grown. She’d be willing to stay overnight or keep Charlie with her at her place if we’re both on the road at the same time.”
“What about Matt and Samantha? Shouldn’t you discuss this with them?” He didn’t want Matt accusing him of mooching off their father.
“I’ve never asked for my children’s approval before and I won’t start now.”
Travis wasn’t all
that bothered by his siblings’ lukewarm reception. They had every right to be protective of their father. Travis would have felt the same way about his mother if Matt and Samantha had shown up unannounced on their doorstep. Travis was more concerned with Charlie and how she’d adjust. Overwhelmed by the turn of events, Travis said, “I’ll think it over.”
“What’s to think over? I’m giving you a chance of a lifetime.”
Dominick shuffled papers and straightened items on his desk—all businesslike—but Travis sensed a vulnerability in the old man he hadn’t noticed before. If he wasn’t mistaken, he swore the job offer was Dominick’s way of trying to make up for years of not being there for Travis.
Father-son relationship aside, Travis was dying to prove that he was more than a roughneck. That he was capable of handling the job at Cartwright Oil.
Don’t forget Charlie.
Relocating to the Lazy River would allow his daughter a chance to be part of a larger family, which would help her cope with the grief of losing her grandmother. Christmas was right around the corner and he and Charlie wouldn’t have to celebrate alone. Besides, working for Dominick would enable them to spend more time together.
And there was Sara. If he could sway her to negotiate a business deal with Dominick, he’d earn a few brownie points. No one had ever accused Travis of turning down a challenge. “I’ll give you an answer soon.” He got up from the couch.
“I understand learning about me after all these years is a shock, but I have a lot of questions about your relationship with my mother.” Travis opened the door, then paused. “Don’t assume those questions will go away if I decide to work for you.” He shut the door before Dominick had a chance to respond.
Chapter Four
“How come I’m gonna go to school here?” Charlie asked as Travis drove into Tulapoint Monday morning to register her for school.
The Cartwright siblings and their families had departed the Lazy River Ranch yesterday afternoon, leaving Travis plenty of time to consider Dominick’s offer to work for him. When Travis woke this morning, he’d phoned the rig manager on the Hoover Diana. After explaining the situation to his boss, Travis had been assured that if things didn’t work out in Oklahoma, he’d have a job waiting for him back in Houston.
With his boss’s blessing, Travis decided to take the position at Cartwright Oil. He eagerly awaited the opportunity to show his father that, although he was a lowly roughneck, he possessed his fair share of business acumen. He decided the best way to demonstrate his talents was to persuade Sara Sanders to sell the Bar T to Dominick.
“Your grandfather wants us to move to the Lazy River.” Travis broke the news to his daughter. “I’m going to work for his company.”
“Grandpa’s got a rig in the ocean?”
Charlie’s quick acceptance of Dominick as her grandfather amazed Travis, because he still struggled to make the connection between the word dad and Dominick. “Your grandfather’s rigs are on land in Oklahoma and Arkansas.”
“Where’s Arkansas?”
“That way.” Travis pointed east out the windshield. “I’ll be checking the wells and helping to fix problems that crop up.” He had never held a job where he told others what to do—he’d always been the one taking orders. He hadn’t a clue how his father’s employees would react to him, but he planned to earn their respect the old-fashioned way—by rolling up his sleeves and jumping in to help when needed.
“Are you excited about going to a new school?” he asked, changing the subject.
“No.” Charlie crossed her arms over her chest. “The kids are gonna be mean.”
That she was more concerned with her classmates than leaving behind a best friend in Houston proved his daughter had sacrificed a lot while her grandmother had battled cancer. When his mother had become house bound, Charlie’s friends had fallen by the wayside. Hopefully a new school would provide her with a fresh start in the friendship department.
“Figure out who the nice kids are and hang around them,” he said.
“They’re gonna make fun of my name.”
“Go by Charlotte, if you want.”
She ignored his suggestion and asked, “What’s gonna happen to all my toys and books and—”
“After you’re settled in school today, I’m heading to Houston to pack our things.”
“Who’s gonna take care of me when you go to the rigs?”
“Your grandfather or Juanita.” Charlie had met the housekeeper when the older woman had stopped at the ranch to say goodbye to Travis’s siblings and their families.
“Who’s gonna take me to school?”
“Dominick said the school bus will pick you up at the end of his driveway.”
Charlie’s mouth dropped open. “I gotta walk all that way to the bus?”
“If I’m not around, then Juanita or Grandpa will drive you in the car and wait with you until the bus arrives.”
Right now Travis wished for the old Charlie back—the one who pouted and refused to speak. He could use a break from all the questions. The truck zipped past Beulah’s pink Victorian and a mile later he noticed the sign for Tulapoint. He eased his foot off the accelerator and dropped the truck’s speed to twenty-five miles per hour.
Downtown Tulapoint consisted of a handful of weathered brick and clapboard businesses. Mama’s Café advertised a ninety-nine-cent breakfast burrito and an all-you-can-eat BBQ buffet on Mondays. An old two-story home had been converted into a business called Tina’s Trinkets & Tea House. A white travel trailer with a giant blue snow cone on the roof sat in the parking lot of Gunderson’s Drugstore. Closed for the Season had been spray-painted across the boarded up windows. Bank of Oklahoma and Kendall Hardware & Tack occupied one city block. Across from the bank a neon Michelob sign advertised Casey’s Bar & Grill. Travis slowed the truck to a crawl as he drove through a school zone.
“This place sucks.”
“I thought Grandma told you not to say that word,” Travis scolded.
“Grandma’s not here anymore.” Charlie’s lower lip wobbled and Travis cursed his insensitivity.
His mother’s death didn’t feel real. He’d hardly mourned for her before he’d discovered the diary and all hell had broken loose. Charlie was too young to wonder why they’d never had any contact with the rest of their family, but it was only a matter of time before she asked. He hoped by then he’d have the answers.
“There’s the school.”
“Where?”
“Up ahead.” The one-story brick building appeared well maintained. As he pulled into the parking lot, he noticed a handful of older homes behind the elementary school. Railroad tracks ran parallel to the houses and a rusty grain elevator sat empty at the abandoned station.
“It’s puny,” Charlie said.
His daughter’s school in Houston housed pre-K through fifth grades with four classes in each grade. This school would be lucky to have one class for each grade. “Small can be a good thing.
“The playground’s nice,” he added. A chain-link fence enclosed the school yard, which consisted of swings, climbing apparatus and plenty of asphalt for playing dodge ball, jump rope and four square.
“Dad?”
“Yeah.”
“If we live with Grandpa, does that mean you and me get to spend more time together?”
Travis sucked in a quiet breath. He’d always believed he’d been a decent parent—unlike Julie, he hadn’t run from the responsibility of raising their child. He’d kept a roof over Charlie’s head and food on the table. He’d paid for her clothing and medical care, but he’d done it from a distance. His mother’s death had opened his eyes to what he really was—an absentee father. Just like Dominick had been for Travis.
“I promise we’ll do more things together when I get back from Houston. And—” he tweaked Charlie’s nose “—now that I’m working for Grandpa, I’ll be able to come to your concerts.” His daughter sang in the school choir, but Travis had never been around to attend a
ny of the group’s performances.
“Promise?” Charlie’s mouth lifted in a half-smile.
“Cross my heart.” He traced an imaginary X over his chest.
“Okay, I guess we can stay.”
He grabbed Charlie’s backpack with her sack lunch inside and they entered the building. The smell of disinfectant and lemon-scented cleaner greeted them as he ushered his daughter into the main office.
“May I help you?” A gray-haired woman in her fifties removed her bifocals. The nameplate on the desk read Rosie Finch.
“I’d like to register my daughter for school,” Travis said.
“How nice. I hadn’t heard we had a newcomer to town.” Rosie opened a drawer and withdrew a packet of papers. “You’ll need to fill out these forms.” She smiled at Charlie. “What grade are you in, dear?”
“Second.”
Rosie found a pen and filled in several blanks. “What’s your name?”
“Charlotte Cartwright,” Travis supplied.
Rosie’s pen slid across the paper, leaving a trail of blue ink. “You’re Dominick’s son?” Evidently the news of Travis’s arrival at the Lazy River had spread through the small town.
“That’s correct. I’m Travis Cartwright.”
Charlie stood on her tiptoes and peered over the counter at the woman. “I have the same name as my grandma, but everyone calls me Charlie.”
Rosie’s cheeks lost their pink hue as she stared at Travis. “I heard about your mother’s passing. I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you.”
“I went to school with Charlotte.” Rosie left her desk and stood at the counter. “Her father owned the bank in town. It was such a tragedy when Charlotte’s parents drowned in a boating accident right before she married Dominick.”
Travis wasn’t in the mood to discuss his family history with a practical stranger. He checked his watch. “I’m in a hurry if we could—”
“Oh, certainly. Principal Edwards will wish to speak with you before Charlie’s assigned to her classroom.” Rosie entered the principal’s office, closing the door behind her.
