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“You made your point,” she conceded.
In the dining room, each took their customary places at the table; Chase sat at the head of the table with Trey on his right and Sloan next to him while Cat occupied the chair at the foot of the table. The two chairs on Chase’s left were empty but only momentarily as Jessy and Laredo made their tardy appearance in the room.
Chase offered the blessing after they were seated. Upon its conclusion, he raised his head and cast a sideways glance at the tawny-haired woman on his left. “Glad to see I wasn’t the last to arrive. Cat informed me that if the soup was cold, it was going to be my fault.” He removed the lid from the small, individual soup crock on his plate and inhaled the steam before sending a twinkling glance to Cat at the opposite end of the table. “The soup is not only hot, but it smells delicious.”
“Heaping compliments on me will not get you on my good side.” Her response had a definite cool edge to it.
Amusement was in the half chuckling breath he released. “You’re getting more like your mother every day. Never could sweet talk my way around her either.”
“I should hope not.” Cat dipped a spoon into her soup.
Choosing not to bait her further, Chase directed his attention to the late arrivals. “So what kept you two? No problems, I hope.”
“None. I was on the phone with Quint going over a few things at the Cee Bar.” Jessy paused a beat. “That drought in Texas will drastically reduce the number of cattle he hoped to winter over. The graze just isn’t enough and the pencil can’t make the high cost of hay work.”
“Quint knows that if he takes care of the land, the land will take care of him. It just might take a year or two,” Chase stated, unconcerned by the news.
“He learned that from you,” Jessy said in agreement then glanced at Cat. “By the way, he wanted me to tell you ‘hi’ for him, and to remind you that it isn’t too late for you to fly down and spend Thanksgiving with them.”
“I’ve thought about it,” Cat admitted. “But it would be foolish to go there for just one day.”
“Who said it had to be for one day?” Chase challenged.
“I’m sure you would like me to stay there longer so I wouldn’t be here nagging you, wouldn’t you?” The sweetness in her voice was all saccharine.
Chase raised one eyebrow, but chose not to reply. Before the silence could become awkward, Sloan filled the void. “Is there some reason you can’t stay with Quint for a few days?”
“Not really. It’s just that I know how busy he is right now. Quint has had very little free time since you bought the Slash R ranch from the Rutledge estate last year. As you well know, that more than tripled the size of your Texas holdings,” Cat reminded her. “Quint has enough on his plate right now. And even though the Slash R adjoins the Cee Bar, access to it is difficult.”
“I guess you can thank Tara for that—or blame her for it, depending on your viewpoint,” Trey inserted, referring to his father’s first wife. “Buying the Slash R was a good business move, but I doubt we would have bought it if Tara hadn’t left the bulk of her estate to Laura and me.”
“Even in death that woman managed to somehow involve herself in Calder affairs,” Chase observed with a wry shake of his head.
“She did have a knack for that,” Cat agreed, then idly recalled, “I can’t say that I was surprised when I learned she had named you and Laura as the major beneficiaries. Almost from the day you were born, she looked at you two as the children she and Ty might have had if she hadn’t walked out on him.”
A harrumphing sound came from Chase’s end of the table. “That marriage was on the rocks well before that,” he declared.
During all this discussion about Tara, Jessy had taken no part in the conversation. Her silence on the subject was one Laredo was quick to note. He skimmed her profile with a sideways glance, trying to get a read on her. But Jessy had long ago schooled her features not to reveal her inner feelings, and now she excelled at it, a trait that any poker player would envy.
There had never been any doubt in Laredo’s mind that Jessy
had never liked Tara. But the other woman had always had an uncanny knack for insinuating herself into the lives of the Calder family. Wisely Tara had focused her attention on her ex-husband’s children, fully aware that the rest of the family merely tolerated her presence. Laredo had long ago decided that Tara found some perverse form of pleasure in that.
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that Chase was right; Tara was doing it again; this time from the grave.
And that might be the very thing that was sticking in Jessy’s throat at the moment.
Deciding a slight change of subject would be welcomed; Laredo provided the opening to Jessy. “This might be a good time to mention that suggestion Dallas made.”
“What suggestion is that?” Trey wondered.
“Selling off the main ranch house at the Slash R along with the necessary acreage to encompass the helipad and access to the highway,” Jessy replied. “I thought it was a very practical idea, considering that we’ve already decided we want to maintain our headquarters at the Cee Bar. The Slash R ranch house is much too lavish to be used as a foreman’s quarters.”
“Would you be comfortable with that decision?” Chase directed his question to Sloan; aware—as they all were—that Max Rutledge had been her childhood guardian.
“Absolutely,” she replied without hesitation. “I have few good memories left of the place.”
Trey exchanged a glance with his mother. “Looks like we can add one more thing to Quint’s list of things to do.”
