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“For the most part, they are,” I tell her. “Though, you will be the talk of the town, so you know.”
She laughed. “I kind of figured as much from all the questions. Besides, they’ve got to be wondering who I am to have caught your attention. From what I gather, you’re Montana’s most eligible bachelor.”
I groan and roll my eyes. “Hardly. There’s just a bunch of old busybodies looking at me to take their daughters off of their hands.”
I feel the weight of her eyes on me as I back the truck up to the barn to unload the sacks of feed. I turn to look at her and she’s regarding me pensively. “What?” I ask.
“Why haven’t you?”
I shrug my shoulders and start to climb out of the truck. “I guess I haven’t found one I wanted to be tied down to yet,” I answer.
Before she can say anything else, Luke comes storming out of the barn, as pissed as I’ve ever seen him. He’s waving a piece of paper in his hand and a string of expletives is flying from his lips.
“Whoa, whoa. What the hell is going on?” I ask, though I have a sneaking suspicion I know what it is. There’s only one person who can get Luke this worked up.
“Motherfucking Ben!” Luke nearly shouts.
I open the tailgate and sigh. “Now what?” I ask.
“Look!” Luke says, shoving the paper he’s holding at me.
I look down at the letterhead in my hands and feel the color drain from my face. That son of a bitch.
“He wants to sue us for ‘his’ stake in the ranch!” Luke is nearly hopping he’s so angry.
“Yeah, I can read,” I spit back at him.
“He’s never worked this land one day is his miserable fucking life since mom and dad died. He is entitled to exactly jack shit!” Luke says.
Before I can answer him, Sydney steps up to us. “I don’t mean to eavesdrop, or pry into your business, but is there something maybe I can help you with?” she asks.
I suddenly remember that she is a lawyer and that she might be able to help us figure out exactly what to do.
“Maybe,” I say. “Let us unload the feed and we can meet you inside in about twenty minutes.”
Sydney nods and grabs the few bags from the grocery store, heading into the house to put them away. I watch her go, thankful that she is here. As much as I don’t want to waste the little time we have together mired in my family drama, if she can help us, I’ll take it.
Luke and I finish up in the barn and head toward the house where Sydney is waiting. We walk in to find a plate of sandwiches and three tall glasses of iced tea waiting for us. Damnit, she’s making this hard. I could get used to this kind of treatment.
We sit down at the table and Sydney distributes the sandwiches. “Ok so why don’t you tell me what’s up. Who is Ben and why does he want to sue you?”
“Ben is our selfish sonofabitch brother who doesn’t give two shits about this family, except for any money he can get from us,” Luke spits angrily.
“Pretty much what he said,” I add, sliding the paper toward Sydney.
She picks it up and reads the contents carefully. “Ok first of all I need to ask who owns this land? Is it the two of you or was it part of your parents’ estate?” she asks.
“A little of both,” I answer her. “When our parents died, they owned seventy acres. About eight years ago, Luke and I bought another eighty.”
Sydney grabs a pen off of the counter and begins to jot down notes. “Typically, the children would be entitled to equal parts of their parents’ estate unless otherwise stated in the will.”
“No that’s exactly what the will said,” I answer.
“Fine, whatever,”
Luke chimes in. “But he wants a third of the whole operation! He can’t do that!”
“When you bought the additional land, what money did you use? Was it an inheritance or did you use proceeds from the ranch?” she asks.
