Sweet Home Montana

by Lisa Mondello

  # # #

  Chapter Five

  “He’s not suing you,” Kas said, leaning against the horse stall at the Lone Creek Ranch. “His soon-to-be ex-wife is suing you.”

  Katie stared at Kasper, waiting for pearls of wisdom. Tabby had taken Tenterhook out for some exercise in the corral. Kas immediately met Katie in the barn when he’d seen her car come up the ranch driveway. It was good thing Trip had been walking out of the barn and told her that Kasper was still here. She probably would have broken down in tears otherwise.

  “Can she do that? The transaction was legal,” Katie said. “All the paperwork was in order. My lawyer verified it. The property was in his name, not his wife’s.”

  Kasper sighed and stuffed the letter back in the envelope. “It’s dirty play.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means you’re caught in a divorce battle. It happens when people get divorced and the lawyer’s trying to get the most they can out of each player. She’s probably contesting lots of his property transactions, most likely saying that it is community property and he had no right to sell it without her consent. California’s a community property state. If you purchase this property while they were married, it doesn’t really matter if only his name is on the deed.”

  Katie began to pace, throwing her hands up in the air in disgust. “Should my lawyer have seen this?”

  “He might’ve thought there could be a problem. But it would’ve only been a guess. If all the paperwork was in order when you signed, then the transaction is legal. What’s not even part of this equation, which for sure is none of your concern, is if all the money from the transaction is divvied up between the two of them. I’m guessing her lawyer is fighting the transaction because she thinks that he should of gotten more money for this property, which to be honest I’m inclined to agree with. I mean, you really got this for song, Katie. If you hadn’t bought it, I would’ve snatched it up myself.”

  “In way you did since you’re the one that lent me the money.”

  He chuckled. “Only so that I could get in on a little of the profits you make when this is complete. If it’s completed.”

  “Course it will be completed. I’m not going to give up. I know I thought that when Caleb got hurt. But I’m going to finish this.”

  “You have a cease and desist order, sis. You can’t just rip it up and throw it away like a parking ticket you don’t want to pay. They’re trying to get you to stop working on it so they can fight it out on their end.”

  “But you said that has nothing to do with me.”

  “It doesn’t. But until the cease and desist order is resolved, you can’t do anything on the property. Whether it’s legal or not is for the courts to decide.”

  Katie frowned. “I don’t get it.”

  “He’s trying to run you out of money. It’s a common tactic. If he stops construction and you have to spend all your money on legal fees to fight this, then you won’t have any money to finish the project. Then he can waltz in while you’re bleeding money and offer to buy it back from you for more than you bought it for. It looks like a win-win situation. But my guess is he had no clue what he was selling in the first place. He probably didn’t want his soon-to-be-ex to get wind of it.”

  “And now that he does, he wants a piece of it.”

  “His soon-to-be-ex sure does. Once they have it back, she can insist it be part of the divorce and have it sold for a much higher price so she gets more in the divorce settlement.”

  “They can’t do this.”

  “Well, actually they can. And they did. As I said, the legality of it is for the courts to decide. If you fight this, you’ll win. But you’ll also be out of money. Companies do this all the time. Sometimes they do it just to make another company go under. Just because they can.”

  Katie’s shoulders sagged. “I should’ve seen this coming.”

  Kas gave her a dirty look that was all too familiar. “Knock it off, will you? There’s no way you could’ve seen this coming. Sometimes it doesn’t happen. It’s a gamble. What you do next is up to you.”

  “What do you think I should do?”

  “Get an injunction against the cease and desist order. Make sure that you can continue construction while the legalities are being worked out. If that doesn’t work, you can offer to sell it back to them at a much higher price so that you not only recover your costs, but you can also profit from the deal.”

  “What would you do?”

  Her brother gave her a crooked grin. “I’d fight the bastard.”

  She chuckled, finally feeling a little bit of release.

  “Then I guess the fight is on.”

  * * *

  “I didn’t expect to see you here today,” Caleb said as he eased himself off the side of the hospital bed.

  “No? Were you expecting someone else to pick you up?”

  Katie had a dull ache in the pit of her stomach thinking about who that might be. She and Caleb had talked about many things in the short time they’d been together at the chapel. But she realized for the first time that a lot of it was very superficial. Boundary lines. Building materials. Old memories from when they were kids. What did she know about Caleb Samuel in the here and now other than she was responsible for the fact that he was sitting in a hospital bed? For all she knew, Caleb was dating someone and had just never mentioned it to her.

  She quickly replayed all the conversations the women had at the bank about Caleb. Eligible bachelor. Hot guy ready for someone to scoop up. People talked. If Caleb had been seeing someone, wouldn’t there have been talk about that, too?

  “I was going to call one of the guys from the station to come pick me up.”

  “I had the day off,” she lied. She’d taken the day off. And her boss was none too happy about it.

  “So now you don’t have to call anyone.”

  “My condo is empty for the next two weeks. I thought I’d head up there for a little R&R until my body feels strong enough. They have a great hot tub by the pool. I figure it will help me pull out all these kinks in my muscles.”

  Katie nodded, squashing down the feeling of disappointment. Of course, he owned a beautiful condo up by the ski lodge. Why would he stick around here in his rented house just brooding while he was trying to heal when he could be somewhere luxurious, get room service, and have all the amenities that would make him comfortable?

  “I can drive you there. I’m pretty sure the doctor isn’t going to give you the okay to drive up there yourself. Not with a concussion.”

  “I’ll be without a car. Someone will have to get me. I can drive.”

  She propped her fists on her hips. “Caleb Samuel, you were actually going to drive yourself up to the mountain alone?”

  “I suppose I could hire a car.”

  “Or you could just let me take you there. It’s no trouble.”

  She grabbed the clear bag that the hospital had put all of his belongings in just as the nurse appeared at the door with a wheelchair.

  “Are you ready to get out of here?” the nurse asked.

  “I was ready two days ago.”

  The nurse chuckled. “You’re not hurting my feelings if you tell me it’s the food. You will hurt my feelings if you tell me it was my personality.”

  Caleb laughed. “You’ve been entertaining. I’ll give you that. You clearly picked the right profession.”

  The nurse seemed pleased with his approval. “Okay, cowboy, let’s get you saddled up and in this wheelchair and I’ll wheel you out to the curb.” The nurse looked at Katie. “I assume you’re the one that is driving him to wherever it is that he’s been talking about for the last two days?”

  “I am.”

  She nodded. “Good because his discharge papers have been signed and he’s been jabbering all morning about getting on the road.”

  Twenty minutes later, they were settled into her sedan and headed over to Caleb’s place to pick up more clothes to keep him over the next fe
w weeks. But once they got there, he suddenly seemed wiped out and reclined on the sofa in his living room.

  “Are you sure it’s a good idea for you to go to the mountain alone?”

  “Maybe I should stay here a few days before I go. At least the police station is close enough for someone to stop by if I need something.”

  She forced a smile. “Good idea.”

  Disappointment crept through her veins, but she wasn’t exactly sure why.

  “Are you hungry? I can run over to the diner and get you a burger or something,” she said.

  “I’m fine. I have a pizza in the freezer if I get hungry later. How has construction been over the chapel?” Caleb asked after a time. “Have you gotten a lot of quotes from contractors?”

  “It’s…” Katie questioned whether she should say something. Caleb was supposed to be resting, not dealing with a high-strung woman who was about to burst with frustration over the project.

  But Caleb had been there from the beginning and it didn’t feel right to keep what had happened from him.

  Before she could say anymore, his face registered alarm and he asked, “What’s wrong? Was there another accident?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing like that.”

  “Are the bids too high? If the contractor names I gave you don’t pan out, I have a few more people you can call.”

  “I’m still getting estimates. Thank you for that. It was a big help.”

  “Oh, good.” He rested his arm behind his head and winced when he touched a tender spot.

  “Want me to get you a pillow?” she asked.

  “You’re mother henning. I’m fine. The doctor said it’s going to be sore for a little while. Tell me what’s going on.”

  “We got a cease and desist order.”

  He frowned and Katie found it hard to believe that even with his tight brow and confused expression he could still be so handsome. This was the Caleb she remembered from her youth.

  “What for? As soon as you get the beam fixed and the roof repaired, there shouldn’t be any more danger. But you can’t get it fixed if the building inspector doesn’t allow workers on the site.”

  “It wasn’t from the building inspector.”

  “No? Who was it then?”

  Kas had taken it so well, but the bravado of fighting against this phony lawsuit had waned since she’d been sitting with Caleb.

  “Henry Callahan’s soon-to-be ex-wife. Seems they’re getting a divorce and fighting over property.”

  “Yeah? Too bad for them.”

  “Actually, too bad for me. His soon-to-be ex-wife is contesting the sale of the chapel and the acreage.”

  “How come this wasn’t found out by the lawyer Sally hooked you up with when you bought the property?”

  Sally Trainer was the real estate agent in town. Even though the property wasn’t for sale, Sally had given Katie the name of a lawyer to work with to settle the deal with Henry Callahan quickly. Kas would have had one of his lawyers write up the paperwork, but he’d wanted someone local.

  “The property was only in his name. The ex-wife says it’s community property and he had no right to sell it. Kas thinks she just wants to sell it for a higher price.”

  “I don’t get it. Why should that affect you at this point? That’s logistics on their end for an accountant and divorce lawyer to deal with.”

  “I talked to Kas about it. He seems to feel that this is a snowball.”

  “Snowball? Can you elaborate on that?”

  “It’s just noise so that I end up spending all of the money I have to fight them and then realize it’s a losing cause. Kas seems to think in another week or so, maybe more, I’ll get an offer to buy back the property. They’ll offer a good deal so that I won’t feel like I’m losing everything. But it’s only because they know that if they develop this property they could make a killing off of it.”

  Dawning showed in his expression. “So they sat on the property for ten years and did nothing, and now that they can see you have the potential to make money, they want to get in on the action.”

  “Exactly. Kas said he sees this all the time. You run up the money in legal fees trying to fight it and the person with a smaller bank account caves first.”

  “That would be you.”

  “Yeah. Unfortunately. But Kas said he has an idea to push back.”

  Caleb chuckled, confusing her.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “You must’ve taken that real well from Kas.”

  She chuckled then. “Actually, I was terrified to tell him about it. But I was also glad that he knew enough about it to calm my panic.”

  “Why didn’t you come to me before this? You must have known about this for days. I may not know much about real estate like Kas does, but you could have told me about it.”

  She shrugged as if it was nothing, but she could tell he was a little hurt.

  “Haven’t I done enough to you, Caleb?”

  “Katie, knock it off. I told you already you are not the one that landed me in the hospital. A stupid pile of snow and a broken beam did it. If not for my hard head and strong back, it could’ve been much worse. It could’ve killed you.”

  “Still.”

  “Still nothing,” he said, his voice filled with aggravation that he seemed to be working hard to contain. “I thought you wanted me to help you with this. I feel bad enough that I need to spend the next couple weeks healing instead of being out there with you so we can finish what we started.”

  “You never had to do any of that. Don’t get me wrong. I’m so thankful you were there with me. But this was supposed to be my project, my responsibility. I didn’t think I should burden you with all this hassle.”

  He turned his head away and looked out the front window. After a few seconds, he looked back at her. “Next time burden me, okay? If I didn’t want to be burdened. I would’ve never walked into the situation with you.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. She wasn’t exactly sure why she was sorry. She was more confused by his reaction.

  “I envy you,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “You have something to share with someone else. Your brother. I don’t have that. Not anymore.”

  * * *

  Katie had gone back to Caleb’s the next two nights after work to cook dinner for him and run some errands. She built a fire in the fireplace and they’d talk or watch a movie. She used the excuse that Kas was at the house with Tabby and she felt funny being the third wheel in her own house. But Caleb didn’t care what her reason was for coming over. He looked forward to hearing her jabber on about whatever was happening down at the bank or lack of progress with her lawyer. He enjoyed being with Katie and looked forward to the time they spent together. In many ways, she was a breath of fresh air to a stale life that he hadn’t realized was being choked to death by living in the past.

  The restlessness of sitting alone all day with only the occasional visitor was getting to him.

  “I wish I hadn’t scheduled to take all these vacation days off from work next week so that I could work on the chapel,” Katie said. “It seems like such a waste. Looks like I’ll be twiddling my thumbs by myself rather than getting anything done while this cease and desist order stays in force. Maybe I can get into the chapel and clean up a bit. I won’t be doing any demo or construction. Just sweeping and getting things ready for when all this nonsense is over. I can still do that even with a cease and desist, right?”

  “I don’t know,” Caleb said. “But if your lawyer okays it, I can help. I obviously have some time on my hands until I get cleared to go back to work.”

  Katie stood in the kitchen by the oven and peered into the living room where Caleb was sitting on the sofa. She looked at him with narrow eyes. “You’re supposed to be recovering. That’s the whole point of you not going to work.”

  “I have a bump on the head. I’m not an invalid. I’m more than capable of getting out and doing something.”r />
  “You sound like you’re getting a little stir crazy.”

  “I am. I’ve been staring at these walls for days and watching reruns of twenty-year-old sitcoms. I’m bored. I hate just sitting around.”

  “What did you have in mind?” she asked, coming into the room and sitting down on the end of the sofa.

  He shrugged. He hadn’t gotten further than thinking about wanting to get out of the house.

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  “We could go see a movie.”

  “Nah. I can watch a movie at home. What do you want to do? Go dancing?”

  “I don’t dance.”

  He frowned. “At all? You never went out to a honky-tonk on a Saturday night?”

  “Bruce was always either in school or working. I was always working or home alone. There was never time. Besides, if you go dancing with me you might end up breaking both your legs and both arms and be out of commission for the next six months.”

  He laughed. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

  She shrugged. “It’s easy to do when your life is pretty boring.”

  “You are not boring, Katie.”

  The buzzer on the stove sounded. Katie got up from the sofa and went into the kitchen. He watched as she grabbed a potholder and opened the oven door.

  “Is that what you thought?” he asked.

  “What?”

  “Did you really think that working on the chapel was going to give some spice to your life?”

  He heard the faucet running and the sound of cups being moved around the sink. When she returned to living room, she stood by the doorjamb and leaned against it, crossing her arms across her chest.

  “I don’t know what I thought,” she said. “All I know is I didn’t want this.”

  “What? Being here with me?” His tried to hide his surprise and sudden feeling of dejection. “You don’t have to babysit me, Katie. I’m fine.”