Have a good day in the saddle.
Lift your face to the sun from time to time,
and know that warmth is what I feel for you.
Always.
Hannah
She pressed her lips together as memories washed over her. She’d loved composing her notes to Ben and then using a leather needle to weave a ribbon through so she could tie it to a tree branch.
A girlish action maybe…but she’d had so many feelings inside her. A note had been a tangible—and romantic—way to share them with him.
She looked across the clearing. A shiver came over her then, as if her sister was wrapping her in a gentle embrace.
She shook her head. Her sister had told Will her wishes about Ben and Hannah getting back together, saying they still loved each other.
“Sarah, you’re a little rascal,” she called out with a short laugh.
Clearly, her sister was still on the case.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Their lumber was missing.
Ben swung down from Flame and faced Will. His brother winced after he’d delivered that terrific piece of news as Ben rode back in from the north pasture. He’d been having a pretty great morning too, thinking about Hannah finding his presents. Now he knew it was going to be a bitch of a day.
“What do you mean the lumberyard can’t find it?” he bit out.
His brother took his cowboy hat off and ran his hand through his hair. “Well, that’s not exactly accurate. For a while, we didn’t know where it was. The shipment was sent to Braden Springs and unloaded downriver. Which flooded and ruined the lumber.”
He’d hated to forgo using their local lumbermill, but Will’s order was too big for the small operation. They’d agreed that using Engelmann spruce and lodgepole pine for the walls and Douglas fir and western larch for the trusses and support beams was the best course. All soft wood—that water wrecked unless it was treated right.“All of it?”
“Yeah. I’m trying to be grateful I didn’t order the western red and Port Orford cedar for accents now. I thought I’d waituntil we progressed to the interiors. Of course, Gramps suggested we find some dead standing, dry seasoned logs from the northwest side of Wild Mountain with a moisture content of nineteen percent or less and then hand peel them with a drawknife.”
“Which keeps the protective insulating layer just under the bark, maintaining the natural color, taper, and character of each log,” Ben finished, appreciating the old-school gesture. Gramps would do it like they used to on Wild Mountain. “But how in the hell did our lumber get delivered to the wrong place?”
“The manager at the lumberyard pulled the invoice.” His entire face tightened. “He couldn’t read my name, but the address is correct except for the town.”
Ben leaned back against the saddle in shock. “You’re telling me the invoice has the town being Braden Springs, but the address is right?” His gut was starting to twitch. “What about the delivery phone number?”
“Couldn’t read it,” Will replied, shoving his cowboy hat back onto his head. “I told the manager they could have looked us up. He didn’t take too well to that suggestion. He says there are no phone books anymore, and they don’t have a computer at the yard. Right now, the manager is saying they aren’t going to send out another shipment.”
Ben bit off a curse in case Cooper was around and led Flame into the barn, handing him to their stablemaster. Usually, he would take care of his horse himself and not hand him off to Barney, but he had a man to call. “I’ll give them a holler now.”
“Dad already did.” Will’s mouth was one tight line. “No go.”
Not good news. Their father was a tough negotiator. If he hadn’t been able to make them see sense…
“This asshole is expecting us to eat the costs of a whole shipment of lumber?” He stopped short in the yard, watchingas Cooper came running down from Will’s cabin with Tank in tow. “When they delivered it to the wrong address?”
“They’re saying I must have written Braden Springs accidentally.” Will looked sick. “I didn’t, Ben.”
He slapped his brother on the back. “Of course you didn’t. Will, this stinks to high heaven.”
“That’s what we all think too, but finding out what happened is going to take time, and you know our time frame.”
They were planning a fast build since Will had everything in place. Given that they wanted Hannah to stay, they needed progress. “I can dip into our emergency fund.”
