"Weston."
"Laney, I'm trying to help."
"You are genuinely terrible at helping." I turn and look at the ranch house. "I'll call Hartley directly."
"I'd let it sit a day or two. Give him time to—"
"I'll call him today." I hang up.
I stand in the ranch yard for exactly thirty seconds letting the particular irritation of Weston Blackthorn work its way through my system. He didn't lie to Hartley. That's the most infuriating part.
He told a version of the truth that was technically accurate, functionally destructive, and completely deliberate.
Beckett appears from the direction of the equipment shed with his work gloves on and reads my expression with the accuracy he's developed over the past several weeks. He stops.
"What happened?"
I tell him without editorializing because the facts are irritating enough without editorializing. He listens with his arms crossed and his jaw doing that set thing.
His eyes have the focused, processing look I recognize from the early spreadsheet mornings.
He's quiet for a moment when I finish.
"Hartley's been our buyer for three years?" he asks.
"Three years. Good relationship. Fair prices, reliable schedule, no issues."
"Do you have his number?"
"I was about to call him."
Beckett holds out his hand. "Call him now. Put it on speaker. I want him to hear from both of us."
I look at him. "You don't have to—"
"Laney."
His voice is patient, certain.
"This is our ranch. Our buyer. Our relationship to fix."
He holds my gaze steady.
"Together."
That word lands somewhere quiet in my chest.
Together.
I pull out my phone and dial Doug Hartley's number, and Beckett stands beside me in the ranch yard with his arms uncrossed now, relaxed, completely prepared to back whatever I say with the full weight of Silver Mesa Ranch behind it.
Hartley picks up on the third ring.
Doug Hartley is a practical man.
I've worked with him for three years and I know his rhythms. He's not a gossip, not particularly prone to drama, not the kind of buyer who makes decisions based on rumor.
But he is cautious, the way people who move significant money tend to be cautious, and caution plus uncertainty is a combination that needs addressing directly and fast.
