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“Are you going to explain what just happened in the bank?”
Coop loudly slurped his shake through a straw, drawing more than one eye in their direction, but the stress and weight of the past twenty-four hours meant Jackson barely raised an internal smile at his sophisticated-looking brother making such a sound. Ellie would’ve laughed and made a snide comment. He suspected Lexi would smile over it, too. Regret twisted anew. He hadn’t seen her this morning, and he still owed her an apology. Which he’d offer as soon as he returned.
“Jackson, I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? For what? Saving our bacon? Or for going behind my back?”
“Dude.” Coop had clearly been in California too long. “You’re gonna have to get over it.”
He managed a tight smile for Marlene as she set their food in front of them then departed.
“I’m sorry you don’t like this, and I’m sorry you’ve carried the burden of running the ranch for far too long. It wasn’t your fault,” Cooper said. “You weren’t to blame for our father leaving and Mom not coping. And we were all content to leave you to run the ranch. And we shouldn’t have, so yeah, I’m sorry.”
Jackson stared at him, his food growing cold. “But I wanted to do this. I told you all that. You all agreed. I love the ranch.”
“Yeah, you love the ranch, but it doesn’t mean you got all the managerial skills that you need.”
Wow. He picked up his burger and took a big bite, half hoping a bit of sauce would fly off and catch Coop in the eye. Mustard, maybe. Or hot chili sauce.
“Look, nobody likes being told they’re not great at something. I get that,” Coop said, as if his words didn’t further twist the knife of Jackson’s inadequacies.
“Just gonna point out that you’re not so hot at saying encouraging things either.” Jackson picked up three fries, shoved them in ketchup then straight into his mouth. “Are you seriously telling me I can’t manage the ranch? What do you think we have Denny for?”
His brother eyed him calmly. “Denny is the foreman, not the ranch manager. And you need someone with a business head to help you.” His brother bit into his burger, his eyes nearly rolling to the back of his head. “Oh man, I forgot how good these are.”
Good thing he was enjoying it, because Jackson had lost his taste for food. “I see. So the someone with that business head is you?”
“Maybe?” Coop shrugged and took another bite of his burger. Nope. No splash back on the white business shirt to be seen. Pity. “But I’m not about to quit my career and live out here.”
“Then what are you saying?” Jackson asked, pushing his plate away. He had no wish to be further indebted to his brother, especially now, when Cooper’s every word made each bite taste like dust. “And where did all that money come from?”
Another shrug. “Like I said, I’m not about to quit my career. It pays well, which makes me wonder.” Coop looked at Jackson. “When was the last time you paid yourself?”
“Paid myself?”
“I thought so,” Cooper sighed. “Does Ellie know you don’t have an income? That you haven’t had an income all these years?”
“No.” Jackson picked up a fry, tossed it back again. It bounced off the plate and landed halfway across the table. “Call me stupid, but I thought that was how things went.”
“I’m not gonna call you stupid, because I’m pretty sure you were just following in Granddad’s and Mom’s footsteps. And while Granddad had some great plans and did good things, we both know Mom struggled. How could she not, when she was raising five kids single-handed?”
Compassion for his mother curled through Jackson’s stomach again.
“I think it’s time that you spent more time with business-minded folks,” Cooper said.
Like Liam Darcy. The thought rose to contact him again. Jackson took a sip of his shake instead.
“Speaking of, did I hear something about you talking to Liam Darcy about a solar farm?”
Was Coop a mind reader now? “I’ve emailed. He’s been away. He hasn’t got back to me.”
“Try again.” Coop picked up his burger again. “We should have them over, now Mom is doing better. I think it’d be good for Ellie to spend some time with Georgia.”
“We?” Jackson arched a brow.
Coop raised one of his own. “You written that email yet?”
“Fine.” Jackson got out his phone and typed while Coop finished his burger and gave a loud gulp.
