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“I got a call from Six-pack. Something about a lease agreement.”
“Yeah, about that.” I told him everything I could about what had gone down since I arrived in DC. He knew enough about the work I did that he didn’t ask too many questions.
“The money will help. That’s for damn sure.”
“I’m relieved to hear you think so.”
“Why?”
“It all happened kind of fast. I wish I’d had time to run it by you.”
“It’s your decision, Buck.”
“No, it isn’t. We’re in this thing together, Port.”
“What can I do to help?”
“I’d like to make use of the three cabins that sit along the river.”
“That’s easy enough.”
“It means that the dude ranch idea may have to stay on hold for the time being.”
“I saw the numbers. What your company is paying us is more than we could make in a fully operational season.”
“It’ll buy us time anyway.”
“How do you see this playing out, Buck?”
“What do you mean?”
“At the end of the year.”
“The clock hasn’t been runnin’ two days yet. Let’s hold off on figuring out the endgame.”
“Whatever you say, boss.”
“See ya soon, Port.”
“When will you be back?”
“Before the clock strikes the forty-eighth hour. Don’t you worry.”
I breathed a sigh of relief that my brother sounded more lighthearted when we ended the call than he had when I left the ranch earlier today.
I still didn’t know how bad off we were financially, but it was obvious that Ashford did. While Port seemed pleased by the amount the Invincibles would be paying us, Deck had warned that it might not be enough to get us in the black.
That wasn’t all I had on my mind. The idea that my siblings knew what our father had done with his will made me uneasy. Why the hell hadn’t a single one forewarned me?
9
Stella
There wasn’t anything I needed to take care of; I just needed to get away from Buck. Since he arrived, he’d been so affectionate, hugging me or putting his arm around me. What was that all about? Did he think I needed to be coddled because of Barb’s death? If anything, I’d prefer to be left alone.
I lay down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. Who was I kidding? I loved having his hands on me. I’d been fantasizing about it long enough. Now that it was happening, why did I run from it?
That was an easy question to answer: Cope. Not because I still had a thing for him. I’d let go of that long before his and Ali’s wedding. The humiliation I felt at his rejection, though, was something I’d never forget.
