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“We usually get caught at least once a year but this is the worst I’ve seen in a while.” We pulled saddles off and made sure the horses were cooled down before we put them into their stalls with oats and water. “I don’t really want to go back out in that,” I declared, opening the door and looking out. Nora wrapped her arm around me and inched closer. She was cold and needed to get into dry clothes. Holding out my hand, she took it and we made a run for it. Running up the stairs and into the house, we stared at each other before we started laughing uncontrollably.
“Well, you two mind explaining what you were doing out there?” Griff asked as we turned and stared into the faces of my four business partners.
“If none of you mind, I will leave Kipp to explain it. I’m going to change.” Nora let go of my hand and walked behind me, dragging her hand along my wet back. Our weekend was over, and everything would be back to normal now.
I explained everything to them and we all knew it was time to up the surveillance on the ranch. Linc had added trail cameras but we had too much land to cover to possibly watch everything. It was like they knew where the cameras were and stayed away from them. “So what’s the next step?” I asked.
“This was so much easier when we could look at it objectively when it was our clients. Now, it’s personal and I feel like the rules are different,” Nash said as he slouched in his chair. “Have too many cattle to keep them close to the yard all the time. And it doesn’t seem like they’re after the cattle, they are just trying to make it inconvenient for us. It’s like they want us kept away from something.”
“They’re forcing you to move cattle further from winter pastures.” Nora’s voice came from the doorway. She had changed, her hair was up in a messy bun, and her cheeks were red. “Look where you had them.” She walked to the big land map on the wall behind the table, and pointed to where the cattle had been. “What did Kipp and I have to do to get them off the road?”
“Move them west,” Ryder answered.
“Right.” She turned again and studied the grid, and pointed to where we’d left them. “Where do you usually keep them this time of year?” she prodded, taking a chair at the end of the table, staring at me.
“We try to keep them heading east, so they are close to where we winter them. Just saves days of moving,” I responded, leaning forward on my chair.
“Right, so what's at the winter cabin? Something you might have forgotten about, or think is insignificant?” She folded her hands on the table and waited.
We looked at each other and as if we’d all been hit on the head with a hammer at the same time, we all said, “The mine.”
“There, now you know what they’re after, whoever they are.” She shrugged and got up from the table and opened the fridge. She was right, we’d all been looking at this wrong. It wasn’t the same issues we’d had before. With Old Man Yull gone his sons were unregulated and had the potential to be dangerous.
“Cameras on the cabin, and they will have to go around the mine too. I think we sealed off the entrance enough but we need to check that as well. It’s going to take all of us, so we’ll have to plan for that. I don’t think we should underestimate anything the Yull boys will do. They’ve never been happy we bought their place from the bank, I think they’ll stop at nothing to try to get it back,” Linc mused.
“More eyes on Julie’s place wouldn’t be bad as well. They know she’s there alone, and she’s too stubborn to leave it until we get this sorted out,” Nash said as he looked at me. “I do wish she was a bit closer.”
“Yeah, me too,” I muttered, thinking about my mom out there all alone. My father wouldn’t want her in danger but when he’d built their house out there all they could think of was semi-retirement and the view. Now I had to worry about her being so far from me if something went wrong. Nora could sense the tension in the room and put beers down in front of each of us.
“Listen, nobody is going out in this storm. If the Yull’s or whoever you said want to risk it, let them, but the rain cascading down the mountains will wash everything away if this keeps up, including horse and rider. Make your game plan and make it so you can execute it without thinking.” We all regarded one another and nodded. The five of us had been a team for years, but the sensible one appeared to be Nora, and that’s what our business had been missing. We could all go off half cocked and make a mess of a situation, but someone was always there as backup, but now we had to think. This wasn’t just going to affect the five of us anymore, it would affect mom, Nora, and Cooper, along with the other’s who worked for the Flying Diamond 5.
Standing from the table, I went to my room. It was time to get all these wet clothes off. The thunder rolled across the sky, and the rain hammered against the window. This was just the start of the summer storms. Storms meant long days inside, spending time with Nora and Cooper. I’d never liked storms before but I understood now why my mother said a storm was her favorite part of the summer.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
KIPP
Life had returned to normal. Everyone that lived in this house was home, and we’d fallen into a strange but functional family. A knock on the door made us all stop mid bite. Nash stood and left the room. “Nash, where’s Kipp?”
“We’re in the middle of supper, Bella. I think you should come back some other time.”
“Don’t you close the door on me, you asshole.” Her voice was loud, it always was but even louder when she was angry or picking a fight. I looked over at Cooper whose eyes were wide.
“No money from that one, pal. I don’t want you talking to her. Understand?” I said as I got up from my chair. He just nodded and went back to his meal.
Her bright red hair, that had never been that color when we were younger, almost glowed in the light of the hallway. She’d lived a hard few years and she was a shell of her former self. She’d been vivacious and outgoing, now she just looked tired. “Bella, what are you doing here?” I asked, staring at her. She was like the nightmare that wouldn’t go away. Just when I’d let my guard down, she popped back up and made me remember why I avoided relationships.
“We need to talk.”
“Yeah, no I don’t think we do.” I shook my head and was about to walk away when I saw a boy with her, who looked a few years younger than Cooper.
“Nathan, say hello to your dad.” An evil grin spread across her face. I looked from the boy she called Nathan, to Bella, and then back to Nash. I watched his face go from irritated to disbelief. I could only imagine mine was the same.
“Bella, go to my office now.” The flatness of my voice made it unrecognizable to me. I moved out of the way as she flounced by and down the hall.
“I’ll call Phil, you go find out what she wants. He’s not yours, Kipp. The math don’t work.” Nash shook his head. As much as I appreciated his confidence, mine was at an all-time low.
“How do you know that?” I rolled my eyes and started pacing the floor.
