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“Liv, you’re welcome here anytime.”
“Your boys?”
“They’re with their mom this week, but they’d love to meet you.”
“You’re sure about this?”
“Never more sure of anything. When?”
“I hadn’t gotten that far.”
He heard the voice in the background again and laughed. “Sounds like Paige is there.”
She laughed too. “Your first clue?”
“Today?”
“Tomorrow.”
“It’s a long drive, Liv, especially by yourself. Say the word and I’ll be there in less than hour by plane.”
“I’m not sure…”
“I wouldn’t keep you prisoner here, Liv. I’d fly you back when you wanted to leave. I promise.”
“It isn’t that.”
“Then what is it?”
Liv walked out of the barn, where Paige couldn’t hear her. “I’m scared,” she whispered.
“I’m scared too, baby.” He wasn’t about to let her change her mind though. “Four o’clock. Ask Paige if she can give you a ride to the airport.”
“When?”
“Today. And if she can’t, I’ll rent a car and come down and get you.”
“No, not today. Tomorrow.”
“Liv, I’m flying over this afternoon. If you don’t want to leave today, I’ll come and help you pack.”
After he and Liv hung up, Ben called his mom. “I need to talk to you and Dad.”
“Anytime, you know that.”
“Okay, I’ll be right there.”
The Flying R Ranch had been in the Rice family since 1853. They owned over twelve-hundred acres in the East River Valley on the south side of Mount Crested Butte. Ben and his brothers, one older and one younger, grew up on the ranch. It had been, and would remain their home for the rest of their lives.
When Ben’s oldest brother, Matt, turned twenty-five, their father gave him a fifty-acre parcel where Matt built his house. When Ben and his younger brother, Will, turned twenty-five, their father gave them each fifty acres. An aerial view of the ranch would show the boys’ houses sat at the furthest points from the center of the ranch. Which was where their parents’ house and the ranch’s outbuildings were located.
The parcels were situated in such a way that when their parents passed away, the ranch could be split into three large parcels, four hundred acres each. It was up to the three of them to decide whether they wanted to keep it one working ranch, or divide it, and work each parcel on their own. Ben and his brothers decided long ago that the ranch would never be divided, they would always run it as a single entity.
It only took Ben a few minutes to drive to his parents’ house. He pulled up, and joined them on the porch, where they were waiting for him.
“I’m gonna need the plane this afternoon,” Ben began.
“Not a problem. Where are you going?” his dad asked.
