The Long, Hot Texas Summer

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  “No.” Justin rose and went to the file cabinet. He brought out several more thick stacks of files and handed them to her. “These are the first two hundred candidates. Somehow, I have to figure out who is the most deserving and pick eight.”

  Amanda’s heart sank as she flipped through the top dozen or so.

  “Yeah.” His eyes darkened. “I guess I didn’t think about this part of running the ranch, either.”

  Her throat tightened. She looked through more photos. “All these kids need placement?”

  Justin raked his hands through his hair and left them clasped on the back of his neck. “The hell of it is, I don’t know where to begin, or even what criteria to use.” He sat back down in his chair. “Should I take only kids from Laramie County when I know that some of the kids who are living in the inner city need safe haven, too? Should I select the kids who’ve been bounced in and out of different foster homes more times than they can count? Or someone who’s never done anything to get in this situation—except have the misfortune to be orphaned? Or someone who has been in the system for practically their entire life and is desperate for a place to call home?”

  Put that way, it did sound insurmountable. Amanda resisted the urge to comfort him physically. Instead, she sat primly in her chair, legs crossed at the knee, hands clasped on top of them. She was just a bystander here. “Mitzy can’t help you?”

  Justin shook his head. “She said it’s really up to me, and/or the new director. What ‘we’ think on a gut level after reading the files. Because, from the social services department’s perspective, they are all deserving candidates.”

  Amanda ruminated on that.

  “On top of that,” Justin continued in a low, husky voice, “I’m looking at the cost projections your grandfather sent me of what it would take to start up a bare-bones training program in carpentry, versus what it’s going to take to get another bunkhouse or two built so we can bring in another eight to sixteen kids.”

  For the first time, she felt the weight he carried on his shoulders, understood the enormity of what he was trying to do. And respected his courage for having taken it on.

  She rose, ready to offer much-needed solace. “You want to know what I think?”

  He grinned at the hint of mischief in her eyes and stood, too. “Somehow I think you’re going to tell me,” he drawled.

  She handed the stack of files back to him. “If you’re going to dream, dream big—and go after it all. Use the vocational program to show what you’re planning to do for these kids, and that in turn to convince people to donate and give the ranch the big monetary grants.”

  They locked eyes for a heart-stealing moment. “That was the plan.”

  Amanda put up her palm for a high five. “Time’s a-wastin’, then.” After they slapped palms she stepped back. “Let’s get started writing up those skill lists and course descriptions.” Once again, inexplicably, undeniably, they were a team.

  * * *

  AMANDA SPENT THE next few days working hard on the carpentry with Lamar at her side. Her evenings were spent with Justin, putting together a proposal for the board of directors. Included in their pitch was an innovative way to pay for the required equipment, insurance and instructor.

  “Let’s just hope the board goes for it.” Justin monitored the pages coming out of the printer as they burned the midnight oil the evening before the presentation.

  Amanda laid the folders side by side. “If the interest they all showed when they were touring the bunkhouse the other night is any indication, they will,” she assured him with a smile.

  Justin walked the first set over to her. Their fingers brushed as the proposal changed hands. “Thanks for agreeing to be the instructor.”

  She still wasn’t quite sure how she’d gotten talked into it; she just knew she couldn’t turn away from those kids in need. Not yet, anyway. Ignoring the sensation the brief contact generated, Amanda shrugged. “Part-time. For the first year or so,” she reminded him. After that, they would have to see.

  The second copy came out of the printer. “No one is going to be able to fill your shoes.”

  Amanda accepted it and continued assembling the material, one folder at a time. “Funny. That’s what I expected my granddad to be saying right now about leaving his business.” She caught her index finger on a sharp edge of paper. Amanda lifted her hand to her mouth. No blood, but it still stung.

  “You know why he’s not?” Justin continued. “He saw what everyone else did—how great you are with kids.”

  And you, Amanda thought. But not wanting to clue Justin in to her grandfather’s matchmaking, she merely smiled and put her still-stinging fingertip to her mouth. “What time is the presentation to the board?”

  “Seven tomorrow evening. Want to go together?”

  As long as it wasn’t a date. And it apparently wasn’t. “Sure.” Amanda paused. “What should I wear?”

  He brought over the third and fourth sets of documents. “Whatever you’re comfortable in.”

  She checked her throbbing fingertip. Actually, it was bleeding, just a little. “What are you going to wear?”

  He set down the papers, left the office and came back with a first-aid kit. “Shirt and tie.”

  He opened the kit and took out a tube of ointment. Amanda’s heart leaped as he came toward her. “Jacket?”

  He took her finger, inspected it and dabbed some of the salve on her fingertip. To her relief, her finger stopped stinging right away.

  “Probably not, given how hot it is.”

  She was thrumming with something akin to desire as he tended to her wound. She forced a laugh. “No kidding. Will July ever end?”

  “I hope not.” He put on a Band-Aid, followed by a kiss that seemed to say oh-what-I-could-do-to-you-if-I-had-a-chance. A thrill swept through her.

  Aware just how little it would take to persuade her to make love with him on the office floor, Amanda recoiled breathlessly. “What was that for?”

  “All the work you’ve put in.” He bent his head and kissed her again, more deeply and erotically. “Because I couldn’t have done this without you.”

  Amanda wanted to believe that. Just as she wanted to believe they could make love one day, be friends the next and even work together for the next year without any repercussions.

  But the womanly part of her, the part that had been devastated by her last breakup, knew otherwise. There was no doubt in her mind that a romantic liaison between them would be fraught with emotional peril.

  Finger taken care of, she forced herself to go back to the task at hand. “Yes,” she said over her shoulder, pretending his kisses hadn’t affected her at all, when she was nothing but a puddle of need inside. Hot, melting, lusting need. Her back still to him, she drew in a bracing breath. “You would have done fine. Nothing gets in the way of a McCabe and his goal.”

  Lazily, Justin strolled back to the printer, which had stopped spitting out pages while he kissed her. “You see me as that determined?” His expression was inscrutable.

  His easy calm was as maddening as her own welling desire. Amanda smiled. “And then some.”

  And not just when it came to the boys ranch, but to her, as well.

  The question was, could she—would she—keep him a heart’s length away?

  * * *

  THE NEXT EVENING Justin and Amanda drove into town together and went to the Lowell Foundation building. In a conference room next to Libby’s office, the six board members listened intently while Justin and Amanda made their presentation.

  When they had finished, they opened up the floor to questions. Mitzy went first. “So the cabinets and bookshelves you and the students make in the shop will be sold for profit?”

  Justin expanded on that idea. “The money from that will pay for the necessary materials,
insurance and Amanda’s time as instructor.”

  “Sounds great,” Miss Mim said.

  “I’m curious, though.” Libby turned to Amanda. “You have no background in either teaching or philanthropy. So how did you become interested in tackling something like this?”

  Amanda found the spotlight on her. “To be honest, I never even thought about it until I met Lamar Atkins. Looking at him was like looking at myself at that age. It really took me back.”

  “How so?” Wade McCabe probed.

  Amanda gave Justin’s father’s question the consideration it deserved. “I know what it’s like to grow up failing in every aspect of your life. If it hadn’t been for my grandfather, if he hadn’t helped me see that I could succeed at something, I don’t know what would have happened to me. But the skills I learned from him gave me a way to feel good about myself as well as a way to support myself and provide a valuable service to others.”

  She paused to look all six board members in the eye. “I want to be able to do that for others. I want to help get the program up and running and make sure that you find someone able to step in when I leave to go back to my family’s business, full-time, one year from now.”

  Mitzy jumped in, “Would you be amenable to staying on if we offered you a more substantial role in the boys ranch from the get-go?”

  Amanda shot a look at Justin. He seemed just as caught off guard as she was. “What do you mean?”

  Libby smiled. “We’ve all been talking since the dinner last Saturday. We all concur. We think you’re the director we’ve been looking for.”

  * * *

  “ICE CREAM,” AMANDA repeated to Justin, still in shock. “You want to take me for ice cream after what just happened in there?”

  He grinned as if he hadn’t just sustained a major disappointment. “My mom used to say troubles go down better with ice cream.” He put a light hand on her spine and guided her toward the Dairy Barn down the street. “Might have been more of a woman thing, but we all liked to eat so we were on board, and darned if she wasn’t right.”

  At the window, Amanda ordered strawberry ice cream with whipped cream and a sprinkling of nuts. Justin ordered the chocolate-toffee-vanilla crunch with extra candy on top.

  Because all the tables were full of other couples, they took their sundaes down the street a bit to a bench along a deserted part of Main Street. Amanda had no idea where to start so she began with the basics. “Thanks for the ice cream.”

  He settled beside her. “Thanks for helping on the proposal and going with me tonight.”

  There were several inches between them, but she could still feel the warmth emanating from his thigh. She watched the people playing on the mini-putt course across the street. “I still can’t believe they offered me your job.”

  His mouth crooked. “It wasn’t my job.”

  She turned slightly to face him, her knee bumping his slightly in the process. “It’s the one you wanted.”

  He dipped his head in acknowledgment. “Which is different from actually getting it.”

  This wasn’t fair. Amanda faced forward once again. “I’m going to turn it down.”

  He caught her hand. “Please don’t do that.”

  She looked him in the eye.

  “I admit, when Libby first brought it up, I was a little ticked off.”

  “As well you should be!” Amanda burst out. His eyes darkened. “But the truth of the matter is, they were probably never going to give it to me anyway. I don’t have what it takes to relate to kids in trouble the way someone like you—who’s actually been there—does.”

  Amanda had never met anyone so selfless. “Lamar thinks the world of you now.”

  Justin sighed. “But he probably wouldn’t, had you not been there to build a bridge between us.” He released his hold on her and went back to eating his ice cream. “I admit, until now, I didn’t understand what all the board members were talking about.” He frowned. “I didn’t see why intuitiveness and instinct were such an essential part of the director’s job.”

  Justin turned back to her in all sincerity. “But having seen the miracle you worked with Lamar in just a few short weeks, I now realize we have to have someone at the top who the kids feel completely comfortable going to with their problems. Someone who is cheerful and energetic and charismatic. Someone who just ‘gets it,’ and has had the experience of turning her own life around.” He entwined his fingers with hers. “That person, Amanda, is you.”

  Amanda was deeply touched by his faith in her, but she still had her doubts. “That part of the job I could probably handle. It’s the rest of it, Justin. The thought of all the paperwork and the grant applications and meetings with big-time donors that overwhelms me.”

  He nodded in understanding. “First of all, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll still be the chief financial officer, as well as the assistant ranch director. I’ll handle as much of that as you want me to handle. All you’ll have to do is delegate and then give the final signature. And you’ll have time to teach the kids carpentry, too, on weekends or evenings when they’re not in school.”

  It was still a big decision. “I’m going to have to think about it.”

  Again, he understood. “I figured as much. So why don’t you take a couple days off, maybe go to San Angelo and see your granddad and talk to him. And then go from there.”

  * * *

  AMANDA THOUGHT ABOUT calling Granddad and letting him know she was coming, but if she did that, he’d want to know why she was showing up in the middle of a work week and she didn’t want to hash it all out over the phone. She wanted to see the look in his eyes when she laid it all out for him. She wanted to see his gut reaction. So she went back to the ranch, said goodbye to Justin and hit the road. Traffic was light that late in the evening, and she made it to her grandfather’s home in San Angelo in a little over an hour.

  As she expected, he was still up, watching a late-night comedy show. What she hadn’t expected were the stacks of what appeared to be legal papers spread all over the dining room table.

  Business evaluations. Several different purchase offers. A proposal for breaking down the business, and dissolving it. “Granddad, what’s going on?”

  “I’m thinking of selling the business.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if I were to sell it now, along with the existing contracts for the local homebuilders and home-improvement stores, I could make enough to pay my expenses the rest of my life—and leave you a little something in the bargain.”

  Amanda sat down in shock. “I thought you wanted me to take over the business.”

  “Originally, I thought it would be the best way. Then, as time went on, I saw how uninterested you were in the financial side of the business. I realized it wouldn’t be so much of a gift as a burden were I to turn it over to you.”

  No wonder he had been so enthusiastic about her taking a job at the boys ranch. “When were you going to tell me all this?”

  “The next time you came home, or when the job you’re working on now is done. Which brings me to my next question.” Granddad paused. “Why are you home?”

  Briefly, Amanda explained.

  Granddad shook his head. “Fate works in mysterious ways, doesn’t it?”

  It certainly did.

  Amanda studied him. “You really want me to take this job?”

  “I want you to do what will make you happy,” Granddad replied.

  And strange as it was, when Amanda thought about happiness, Justin McCabe was the first thing that sprang to mind.

  Chapter Eight

  “Your granddad’s selling the business?” Justin asked in disbelief when Amanda returned two days later.

  Trying not to think how much she had missed him, Amanda said, “He’s been fielding offers for
a while now. He just didn’t know how to tell me.”

  “How do you feel about that?”

  “Honestly? Relieved.” And strangely adrift, too. As if the future she had seen for herself—even if she hadn’t really wanted it—was gone. But there was a lot that was positive in the situation. She had to remember that.

  Aware that Justin was watching her closely, Amanda forced herself to continue bringing him up to speed. “With the deal Granddad decided to accept, he’ll be all set, in terms of his retirement. His employees will be taken care of, too. The only things that will change will be the name of the company and they’ll bring in a day-to-day manager. Plus, the new owner has agreed to place orders with the boys ranch carpentry shop once we get that up and running. So, in the end, it’s all good.”

  Justin poured her a cup of coffee and watched as she stirred in generous amounts of cream and sugar. “I take it that ‘we’ means you’ve decided to accept the job?”

  Amanda returned his smile. It would be so easy to get lost in his easygoing charm. In him. “With trepidation—” and the fear I’ll end up letting everyone down “—yes, I have.”

  “As I said before, I’ll help you handle the paperwork end of things. I know initially it can be overwhelming.”

  Amanda widened her eyes. “Even for you?”

  He sat down beside her. “When I came up with the idea to start the ranch, I thought it would be simple. I’d buy the land, and build a lodge, and start taking kids in. It turned out to be a lot more complicated than that.”

  She took a sip of the hot, delicious coffee. “How so?”

  Ruefully, Justin admitted, “Well, even with the money I threw into the project, I was far short of what was needed.” He went on to explain about fire codes, zoning regulations, building permits and other bits of red tape he’d had to cut along the way.

  Amanda blinked. “Wow. I had no idea.”

  “Not to worry.” He patted the back of her hand. “Most of this has already been done. I’ll walk you through anything that’s left, like the final series of inspections.”