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She lifted her chin, her hands folded primly on her laptop. “Jodie mentioned your situation to me, but we could find no paperwork substantiating your claim.”
“Your father told me he’d taken care of it.” Vic remembered discussing this with Keith after his cancer diagnosis, knowing that they needed to get something in writing to protect their agreement. Keith had promised him he was putting his affairs in order. That he’d written something out for him and signed it.
“As I said, we didn’t find anything. But if you’re interested in purchasing the ranch, you’ll have an opportunity to counteroffer.”
Vic stared at her, doubts dogging him. Keith had given him a deal on the price and Vic knew it. He doubted Lauren would do the same for the future buyer or for him.
Fury at Keith’s failure to keep his promise surged through him.
The intercom beeped. Jane answered it, then she looked at Lauren.
“Drake will see you now,” she said, her eyes darting from Lauren to Vic and back again.
Vic pressed his lips together as Lauren slipped her laptop in her leather briefcase, picked it up and stood all in one smooth motion.
But as she took a step, her purse strap caught on the chair. She stumbled and Vic jumped up to help her, catching her by the elbow, which made her totter. Her briefcase fell. She jerked her arm away. “I’m okay. I don’t need your help.”
He didn’t say anything but bent down to pick up her briefcase. But she moved too quickly and snatched it off the floor.
She spared him a glance as she straightened. Then she strode across the carpet in her towering heels, shoulders straight, head high.
And as the door closed behind her, Vic slumped back in his chair, dragging his hand over his face, feeling stupid and scared.
He’d just about made a fool of himself in front of this woman.
Lauren had a buyer for the ranch.
And there was no paper from her father.
He had promised his younger brother, Dean, that they were getting the ranch. Guaranteed it. Now they might lose it.
If that happened, how was he supposed to help his brother?
* * *
“Lauren, how lovely to see you,” Drake Neubauer said, getting up from behind his desk.
Outwardly Lauren was smiling but her insides still shook and her hands still trembled.
Mr. Vic Moore had looked so angry when she told him about the buyer for the ranch.
You did nothing wrong, she told herself, taking a deep breath as Drake walked toward her outstretched hand. He has no claim.
You could have let him help you.
She dismissed that voice as quickly as it slid into her brain. She’d been doing fine until he’d interfered and almost made her fall.
And wouldn’t that have come across all dignified?
“So glad you could make it here,” Drake said as he shook her hand, his other hand covering it, squeezing lightly. “Goodness, girl, your hands are like ice.”
“I’m just cold-blooded,” she joked as she returned his warm handshake.
Harvey had always accused her of that. At least that was the excuse he gave her when he dumped her a few days before their wedding.
“It’s good to be back,” she said, relegating those shameful memories to where they belonged. The past.
“I’m sure you missed all this,” Drake said, waving one hand at the window behind them.
Drake’s offices were situated above the hardware store, and through the window Lauren saw the valley the Saddlebank River snaked through. Her eyes shifted to the mountains, snow frosted and craggy, cradling the basin, and her mind slowed. Though she and her sisters had resented coming here every summer, when they were back home in Knoxville she’d found herself missing these very mountains.
“It was a part of my life,” she said, her voice quiet.
“Does it feel good to be back?” Drake asked.
Lauren gave him a brief smile as she lowered herself to the chair, setting her briefcase on the floor and tucking her skirt under her legs. “Yes, it does.” Though the restless part of her wasn’t sure how she would stay busy on the ranch, the weary part longed for a reprieve from the stress and tension of the last year and a half.
And a break from the pitying stares of friends each time they met. Harvey hadn’t only taken a wedding away from her, he’d also robbed her of her money, her dignity and her self-esteem. She had been scrambling to show to the world that he hadn’t won.
“And how are you doing since your father’s passing? Ironic that it wasn’t the cancer that killed him but a truck accident.” Drake sat down, opened the file lying on his desk and flipped through it.
She wasn’t sure how to respond, so she said nothing.
Though losing her father had bothered her more than she’d thought it would, the true reality was neither Lauren nor her sisters had ever been close with Keith McCauley.
“Has the accident been cleared with the insurance company yet?” Lauren asked as Drake made a few notes on a piece of paper in the file. “Jodie had said there were some difficulties?”
“They’re still dealing with it, but last I heard, it should be finalized in the next few weeks.”
“Where is the truck?”
“At Vic Moore’s. The accident happened as your father was going down his driveway.”
“Any liability at play?”
“No. That much has been determined already. The truck was in perfect working order.”
“And Vic’s driveway?”
“Your father hit a deer, then lost control and rolled the vehicle. Neither Vic nor the Rocking M were at fault.”
“I wasn’t thinking of filing a lawsuit, if that’s what you were worried about,” Lauren said, her mind ticking back to the tall man still sitting in the waiting room. With his dark eyebrows, firm chin and square jaw, he commanded attention. When he had stridden into the office, she had been unable to look away.
But all it took was a glance at her bare ring finger and her father’s will to remind her of the hard lessons life had taught her about men. Men were selfish and undependable. Between her father, Harvey and her now-former boss, she should be crystal clear on that point.
In Christ alone...
The words of a song she had been singing lately slipped into her mind, and she latched on to them. Men might not be able to give anything up for loved ones, but Christ had.
Which only reminded her again that she needed to be self-sufficient and self-reliant.
“No. Of course not.” But Drake’s hasty answer, and the way he fluttered one hand in a defensive gesture, told her that he had, indeed, thought exactly that.
She tried not to feel overly sensitive, reminding herself that Drake knew nothing about her other than what her father had told him.
“So I’m guessing you’re here to officially check in,” Drake said, settling into his chair behind his desk.
“Or clock in,” Lauren returned. “I wasn’t sure of the protocol, and I did end up coming a couple of weeks earlier than anticipated.” Getting laid off was a stark motivator.
“No. It’s fine.” Drake gave her an apologetic smile. “I know your father had his reasons for doing this, and just for the record, I tried to talk him out of it. Tried to explain to him that it could come across as being manipulative.”
Lauren shrugged. “Let’s be honest here. Like Jodie said after the funeral, it seemed he never gave us anything without strings attached.”
Her words came out more bitter than she’d intended. Though she and her father hadn’t had the adversarial relationship he and Jodie had, they hadn’t been close, either.
“I’m sorry, but at least not all three of you had to stay here. You can decide what to do after your two months are up.”
Lauren heard the unspoken question in his voice and decided to address it directly.
“Erin said she would go along with whatever decision I make, but you may as well know that we will be selling the ranch.”
“To Vic?”
Lauren shook her head. “No. I have a buyer lined up. A client from the firm I worked...used to work for. He has various real estate holdings and has been looking for another investment opportunity. When I told him about the ranch, he was interested.”
“But Vic has rented your father’s land for the past three years. I thought they had an agreement.”
“Is that going to be a problem?” Lauren straightened, leaning forward, her heart racing at the thought that he might jeopardize the sale. She would receive one-third of the proceeds, and she would need every penny of that for her new business venture. A venture that she was in a rush to put together after losing her current job. “Does he have a legal right to the property?”
“As far as I know, your father never gave me anything in writing, if that’s what you’re concerned about. I believe it was a handshake deal. Not uncommon around here.”
“So I have no legal obligation to sell it to Mr. Moore?”
“None whatsoever. But I do have to warn you, your father was thinking of drawing up something legal for Vic. If that is the case, and this paper does show up, it will need to be dealt with.”
“Had he mentioned a price?”
Drake gave her a number.
It wasn’t close to what her potential buyer was offering. “And if such documentation isn’t found?”
“Then he has no claim.”
Relief flooded her. “That’s good to know. I don’t want anything preventing the sale.” Or forcing her to sell it to Vic at a significantly reduced price.
As far as she knew, Jodie hadn’t found any paperwork, so it seemed they were in the clear.
“A word of advice, if I may, Lauren,” Drake continued. “You might want to give him a chance to counteroffer or at least match what your buyer is willing to pay.”
“Of course. I could do that.”
“I know he was hoping to get the ranch for his younger brother, Dean.”
Lauren dredged her memory and came up with a picture of a young man who partied hard and spent the rest of the time riding rodeo. And trying to date her twin sister, Erin. “Dean is ranching now?”
“Not at the moment. He was injured in a rodeo accident a while back. Vic leased your father’s ranch with an eye to adding it to his holdings and making room for Dean.”
“Tell Vic to talk to me if he wants to make an offer. He’s waiting to see you next.”
“Why don’t you tell him yourself?”
Lauren thought back to the anger he’d revealed when she told him she had a buyer, then shook her head. “No. Better if it comes from a third party.”
“Okay. I’ll tell him to come up with some numbers.” Drake tapped his pen on the open file in front of him. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“Not right now. Like I said, I wanted to check in.”
Drake leaned back in his chair, looking as if he had a few more things he wanted to discuss, then he shook his head and stood up. “Okay. You know how to get in touch with me if you have any further questions.”
She got up and Drake came around the desk to escort her to the door. But before he opened it, his eyes caught hers, his expression serious. “Again, I’m so sorry about your father. I wish you girls had had a chance to get some closure in your relationship before he died.”
“Jodie mentioned some letters that Dad wrote to each of us before he died. Maybe that will help.”
“He was a sad and lonely man,” Drake said.
Lauren forced back her initial response and the guilt that always nipped at her. “I know we should have come to visit more often,” she agreed. And that was all she was going to say. The burden of guilt shouldn’t lie so heavy on her shoulders. Her father could have initiated some contact, as well.
She thanked Drake again and walked through the door.
Vic still sat there, but as she came out, he stood, his hat in his hand, his eyes on her. The gesture seemed so courtly, and for some reason it touched her.
“I need to talk to you” was all he said, his words clipped.
Lauren did not want to deal with this right now.
“I’m going to presume it has to do with your agreement with my father,” she said, weariness tingeing her voice, dragging at her limbs. She felt as if she’d been fighting this exhaustion for the past year. The stress of losing her job and trying to start a new business, and now needing to fulfill the terms of her father’s will, had made every decision seem momentous. Impossible.
“Can we talk now? Can I buy you a coffee at the Grill and Chill?”
“Not really. I just want to get to the ranch.”
“Meeting at the ranch would work better. We could do this right away.”
This was certainly not the homecoming she had expected, but in spite of her fatigue she sensed he wouldn’t let go. “May as well get this over and done with,” she said.
“I’ll meet you there in an hour.”
Lauren nodded, then walked to the door, disconcerted when he pulled it open for her, standing aside to let her through.
