“How often do you two talk?” Jocelyn asked.
“Not very often, these days. He spends most of his time ducking my calls and pretending he doesn’t get my texts.” Nora threw up one sun-weathered hand, which Jocelyn noticed was tipped with long, tapered, freshly manicured nails. “So I gave up on calling and decided to show up in person.”
“You live nearby?”
“No, I do not. I just made the trip from Florida.” Nora headed for the side door, still carrying the grocery bags. “Four hours in a plane and three more in a car just so I can try to talk sense into him.” She leaned closer, confiding, “You might not know this yet, but he can be extremely stubborn.”
“You don’t say.” Jocelyn unlocked the door and found herself inviting this stranger in cowboy boots into her home.
“Oh, you have dogs.” Nora leaned over to pet the canine greeting committee. “These must be the famous Allardyce Labs.”
“They’re not famous for their manners.” Jocelyn winced as Curtis licked Nora full on the face while Carmen tried to snatch the loaf of bread she’d just unpacked. “You’ve heard of Mr. Allardyce’s Labs?”
Nora straightened up, her tone cooling. “I know everything there is to know about Mr. Allardyce.”
Oh right. Since you were married to him and all. Jocelyn smote herself on the forehead. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.” If she couldn’t imagine Nora and Liam in the same family, she really couldn’t imagine Nora and Mr. Allardyce together.
“It’s fine.” Nora waved this away. “All that’s in the past, thank God.”
Jocelyn stashed the ice cream in the freezer and forced herself to ask the obvious question. “Are you here to file another lawsuit?”
“What? Good lord, no. I’m not the lawsuit type.”
Jocelyn sagged against the counter in relief. “The world needs more people like you.”
“No, I’m here to make Liam see reason. And if I can’t, I’m hoping you can.”
“You’re going to have to be more specific,” Jocelyn said. “What, exactly, would you like me to make him see reason about?”
“Hang on.” Nora pulled out her cell phone and pulled up her contact list. She pressed the phone to her ear and held up her index finger while it rang.
Then her face lit up. “Oh, hello, dear. I’m so glad you finally picked up. Guess where I am?” She winked at Jocelyn.
“No . . . no . . . you’re getting colder, dear . . . ice cold.” Nora waited another few moments, then announced, “I’m standing in your father’s old house with your new girlfriend.” Nora’s eyes widened. “No, I’m not kidding. She’s a very gracious hostess, even though she had no idea who I am.” Nora maintained the sweet, lilting tone, but there was an undernote of pure steel. “She has no idea why I’m here, does she?”
And with that, Nora ended the call and turned off her phone with evident satisfaction. “He’ll be right over.”
chapter 27
“Has he told you why he’s doing all this?” Nora handed Jocelyn a glass of freshly squeezed, freshly spiked lemonade. “Anything about his family?”
“Not really.” Jocelyn took a sip. The lemonade was refreshing, delicious, and strong enough to take the edge off what was becoming an increasingly weird day. “He’s not big on giving long, newsy speeches about his motivations.”
“That’s my fault.” Nora sounded proud. “When he was growing up, I always told him what my mother told me: Never complain, never explain.”
“He definitely took it to heart.”
“He took it too far this time, I think.” Nora sat down on the stool next to Jocelyn’s. “He’s doing this for me. He thinks . . . Well, I guess he thinks he can use his father’s house to give me my home back.”
“He’s not going to make this into a home,” Jocelyn informed her. “He’s planning on gutting it, remodeling, and selling to the highest bidder.”
“Oh, not this house. I’m talking about the ranch.”
“The ranch?” Jocelyn glanced down at the well-worn cowboy boots that were such a stark contrast to the manicure and mascara. “Yeah, he mentioned that he grew up roaming the land with the cattle.”
“Loved every minute of it.”
“And you took care of the cows?”
“I did everything.” Nora smiled. “Fixed the fence posts, dug out the water holes, branded the calves, kept the coyotes away.”
“I can’t even imagine,” Jocelyn marveled. “How did you come to work at a cattle ranch in Florida, of all places?”
“Well, that’s the thing.” Nora’s smile turned wistful. “I didn’t always work as a farmhand at that ranch. Once upon a time, I owned it.”
Jocelyn took another sip of lemonade. “What happened?”
“I married Peter Allardyce, that’s what happened.” Nora’s smile faded entirely. “He could be very convincing when he wanted to be. A silver-tongued charmer.”
Jocelyn tried to envision Mr. Allardyce as a silver-tongued charmer and failed miserably.
“I was very young,” Nora said. “Just turned nineteen, and I thought I knew everything.”
“What was he like?” Jocelyn had to know. “When he was younger?”
“Strong. Confident. Always knew what he wanted.” Nora rolled her eyes. “And he wanted me. It was a whirlwind courtship, filled with drama. My parents warned me to stay away from him, so of course I ran off with him to Reno in the middle of the night after six weeks.”
“Wow. That sounds . . .” Jocelyn tried to think of an appropriate adjective.
“Stupid? Reckless? Ten pounds of trouble in a one-pound bag? It was.” The ice in Nora’s glass clinked as she added an extra splash of vodka. “My parents always said he married me for my money, but I don’t think that was it. Don’t get me wrong—that man was tight with a dollar, but he did love me, I think. In the beginning.” She sighed. “Then I came into the bulk of my trust. That’s when things really went to hell.”
“Money changes everything.”
“It certainly changed me. I had gotten married so young . . . I went a little wild. He left me, but before he did, he convinced me to sell the ranch and give him the profits as a divorce settlement.”
Jocelyn frowned. “Why would you do that?”
Nora cleared her throat. “When you’re twenty, you have some misguided notions about love being more important than money.” She clearly wasn’t going to divulge any more details, so Jocelyn moved on.
“How old was Liam when you two separated?”
“He wasn’t born yet. I was in my second trimester, I think.”
“Mom?” Liam’s voice boomed through the foyer and down the hall. “Jocelyn?”
“We’re in here,” Nora called back. “And you’re too late—I already told her all of our deep, dark family secrets.”
Liam strode into the kitchen looking both alarmed and annoyed. He surveyed the scene, taking in the pitcher and the vodka bottle and the ice cream that had somehow made its way out of the carton and into two dessert bowls in front of Jocelyn and Nora. “What the hell?”
“Hello to you, too, honey.” Nora got up to give him a hug.
“Try knocking,” Jocelyn advised. “This isn’t your house.”
Liam narrowed his eyes. “Yet.”
“Oh my lord, would you stop with that?” Nora swatted him on the shoulder. “Leave this poor girl and her dogs alone.”
Jocelyn nodded. “Listen to your mother.”
“What are you doing here?” Liam demanded.
“What does it look like?” Nora released him from the bear hug and stood with her hands on her hips. “Drinking lemonade and waiting for you to come to your senses.” She glanced at Jocelyn. “He’s like a mule.”
Jocelyn sipped and smiled, thoroughly enjoying the show.
“This isn’t funny,” Liam told her.<
br />
“I beg to differ.” Jocelyn held up the pitcher. “Care for some lemonade? Your mother made it.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and glowered. “No.”
“It’s got booze in it.”
“Yeah, okay.” He opened the cabinet Jocelyn indicated and pulled out a glass.
“How many times have we been over this?” Nora exhorted. “This isn’t worth it. Not the house, not the money. Nothing about your father is worth all this fighting and heartache.”
“This isn’t about him,” Liam stated. “It’s about you.”
“And I am telling you to let this go,” Nora said. “I don’t need my child to fight my battles for me.”
Liam paused to pet Curtis, who had sidled up next to him. “Couldn’t you have told me this over the phone, Mom?”
“I could’ve if you would’ve returned any of my messages.” Nora spooned up a bit of ice cream. “But since you wouldn’t, I had to take time off work and come up here myself to talk sense into you.” She rubbed her temples. “Why is this place so far away from an airport?”
“How’s it going on the ranch?” Liam asked.
“Everything’s fine.” Nora shrugged. “I’m holding my own. The guy who owns the next ranch over isn’t too pleased about a woman running the whole operation herself, but he’ll have to get used to it.”
Jocelyn leaned in. “How do you know he’s not pleased?”
“Because last week when I was driving in from the main road, he stopped me at the gate and said, ‘We don’t like women ranchers.’”
“That seems pretty clear.”
“And then, a couple of nights ago, I found a hatchet in one of my fence posts.”
Liam all but spit out his lemonade. “What?”
“Relax, he’s not going to do anything.” Nora twirled a lock of her shiny, shampoo-commercial-worthy hair. “All those old grizzled guys are a bunch of bluster.” She laughed. “Besides, that’s why I keep a Smith and Wesson on the dash of my truck.”
Jocelyn was starting to see where Liam got his grit and determination.
“You’re kind of a badass,” Jocelyn told Nora.
“You can take the ‘kind of’ out of that sentence.” Nora placed one hand on Liam’s arm. “I can take care of myself. Now. We can all move past this and enjoy a home-cooked dinner as soon as you promise me you’ll stop meddling in your father’s affairs.”
“No.” Liam remained resolute.
Nora blew out an exasperated breath. “Are you really going to make me fight with you in your dead father’s kitchen? In front of your girlfriend?”
Liam took a moment, clearly contemplating the large number of problematic points in that question, and decided to blow right past it. “We can go fight somewhere else.”
“I’m not his girlfriend,” Jocelyn piped up.
“Of course, sweetie.” Nora was too busy staring down her son to glance Jocelyn’s way.
“I’m not going to give this up.” Liam set his jaw. “I’m sorry if that upsets you.”
“I don’t need to steal someone else’s property to get mine back.” Nora turned off the sweetness and light entirely. “This house isn’t mine and it isn’t yours. We’ve got no claim to it.”
“He bought it with money he took from you,” Liam said. “How much did he get out of you before he left? Ballpark figure?”
“He got what I was willing to give him,” Nora said in reply. “I didn’t do what I should have done to protect myself. People tried to tell me, but I didn’t want to hear it. It’s my own fault I lost the ranch.”
“He sold it without your permission,” Liam countered.
“Which he was only able to do because I let him talk me into putting him on the deed.” Nora shook her head at Jocelyn.
“How much did he pay in child support over the years?” Liam demanded.
“He would have paid if I’d asked him to.”
“You shouldn’t have to ask! It was his responsibility!” Liam said.
Jocelyn found herself nodding along with him. She’d had similar conversations with her own mother many times over the years.
“I’m your mother. You’re my responsibility. As I said, I can take care of myself.” Nora softened her tone. “I love the ranch. You know I do. And if there was any good way for me to get it back, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”
“There is.” Liam crossed his arms. “It’s up for sale. This is your chance.”
“The owner died six months ago,” Nora explained to Jocelyn. “His children have no intention of dealing with the cattle, so they’re ready to sell. But I’d have to make a reasonable offer, preferably in cash.”
“Which you can only do if I sell this house,” Liam said.
“Which you can only do if you boot out this young lady and these innocent dogs.” Nora sank down on her stool again, staring out the huge picture window at the ocean. “I don’t want to get my home back by displacing somebody else from theirs.”
In the silence that followed, they could hear the heavy panting of dogs anticipating dinnertime.
“Can’t you see that?” Nora asked Liam. “If you do what you’re wanting to, you’re no better than him.”
“You have more right to his money than anybody else,” Liam countered. “You have a moral right and a legal right.”
“Taking her house out from under her is not my moral right.” Nora nodded at Jocelyn.
Jocelyn was imagining how it must feel to be wildly in love with someone who would ruin you. To take the ultimate leap of faith and go crashing to the ground. To spend decades working as an employee on the ranch that was your birthright, that had been entrusted to you by the generations before for the generations to come.
“If someone else buys the ranch, you’re going to have to move,” Liam pointed out.
Nora’s gaze slid sideways. “I’ve moved before.”
“And where will you work?” he challenged. “What’s your retirement plan going to be?”
“Peter might have run off with all my money, but he could never take away my social currency.” Nora lifted her chin and for a moment, Jocelyn glimpsed the regal poise of the debutante she’d been decades ago. “I can make a few calls and get a new job next week if I want. One where I won’t have people leaving hatchets in my desk.”
“A job doing what?” Liam pressed.
Nora addressed Jocelyn. “See? Do you see how he is?”
Jocelyn nodded.
“Obstinate and ornery as the day is long. And he’s always been exactly like this.”
“It’s probably an asset in the real estate world,” Jocelyn remarked.
“Yes, but we’re not doing a real estate deal.” Nora’s bright smile returned. “That’s the whole point.”
“You can talk about me like I’m not here all night, but you can’t tell me I’m wrong on this.” Liam picked up his glass. “Even if you don’t care about keeping the ranch, I do. It belongs in our family.”
“I’m sorry,” Jocelyn told Nora. “About the house. I had no idea.”
“Well, of course you didn’t.” Nora glared at her son. “It isn’t your problem.”
“Yes, but it does seem unfair that Mr. All—Peter screwed you over when he was alive and he’s screwing you over again now that he’s dead.”
“He had his reasons for leaving me,” Nora said. “It wasn’t right of him to do what he did, but the heartbreak went both ways.”
Liam looked as though this was all news to him. “The financial hardship only went one way.”
Jocelyn thought about the evening when she and Mr. Allardyce had regarded each other across the terrace of the cocktail party. She could have sworn she’d glimpsed empathy in his eyes, if not kindness. But maybe she’d been mistaken.
“Well.” She swigged the last of her lemonade and sli
d off her stool. “It seems like you two have a lot to catch up on. I’m going to walk the dogs and give you some time to chat.” At the mere mention of the W word, the Labs went ballistic.
Nora clapped her hand to her heart, scandalized. “You’re going to leave Liam and me alone? In your house? Knowing that he’s scheming to take it away from you and not knowing anything about me at all? Darling, you’re far too trusting.”
Jocelyn waded her way through the churning pool of overexcited dogs to open the mudroom closet and pull out the leashes. “Him, I don’t trust. You seem cool.”
“I am, but you have no way to be sure of that.” Nora sighed and murmured something about kids these days.
“Hey,” Liam objected. “I’m trustworthy. I have been one hundred percent up front about wanting to take your house since the moment I met you.”
Jocelyn clipped on Curtis’s and Carmen’s leashes, casting a regretful glance at Hester, who was trapped in her whelping box amid the quartet of nursing puppies. “Sorry, girl. I promise I’ll take you on a nice slow stroll later.”
“You want company?” Liam got to his feet.
“Nope. I need some fresh air and some time by myself.” She pointed to her eyes, then to Hester’s. “Keep an eye on ’em.”
Hester panted in response.
“Good dog.” Jocelyn led the pack out the side exit, her mind reeling. Liam had a mother. Who looked and dressed like a former Miss Texas and wasn’t afraid to take matters into her own hands.
And if Nora’s version of events was true, if Mr. Allardyce had coerced a wealthy young heiress out of her family’s legacy . . . then Nora did have some claim to the house. More so than anyone else. Jocelyn had to respect Liam for trying to do right by his mother. He wasn’t just a selfish, entitled brat.
That made it a lot harder to be enraged at him.
“But somehow, I’ll manage,” Jocelyn vowed as she broke into a jog. The dogs tried to shift right into a sprint, tugging on their leashes like Santa’s reindeer.
“Easy,” Jocelyn cautioned them. “I’m not letting you off-leash today. Especially not you, Carmen.”
In Dog We Trust Page 21
