Yeah. I bet you will. And I bet you’ll be wearing that fake smile if you happen to announce you’re letting us all go. If the worst happened, he could get another job, but Walt needed this position and Ryan hated to think about what would happen if he had to move off the place—especially after his wild talk that morning.
“What else—”
Ellison sucked in a sudden breath, cutting him off, and jumped to her feet. It was obvious what had startled her. Birds. Lots of them.
The jays had managed to work open a flap of the box and now five of them were happily pecking at what looked like a pumpkin pie. Ryan rose to his feet and walked over to the window.
It was a pumpkin pie, and he instantly recognized what was left of the pastry leaf design on top.
“You put Jessie’s pie out for the birds?” he asked as he turned toward Ellison, whose cheeks were flushed a deep pink.
“No.” The word came out too fast.
“Then why is it out there?”
“I wanted it to cool so I could put it in the fridge.”
“Last I heard fridges did a real good job of cooling.”
Ellison pushed a few stray strands of hair back into place. “The boy who brought it—Lonnie—said I shouldn’t put it in the fridge, so I put it outside.”
“As opposed to leaving it on the counter in here?” Ellison went totally red. Good. Ryan cocked his head. “How much time have you spent in the country?”
“Some.” She met his eyes with a touch of defiance.
Skiing, perhaps? “Don’t put food outside. It brings in the animals. You’re lucky that mob of birds isn’t a bear.”
Her lips started to form the word bear then tightened. “I didn’t know,” she said stiffly, giving Ryan the distinct impression that she did not like to be wrong.
“I really have to get to work,” he said. Not that this hasn’t been fun and all. But he needed to get out of there and regroup before he said anything that jeopardized his job, or Walt’s. As it was, he was too damned close to pointing out that she wasn’t qualified to evaluate a ranch or anything in a rural setting.
“I understand.” Ellie walked to the window, close to where he stood—close enough that he caught the subtle scent of probably expensive perfume—to get a better look at the bird-infested pie. The biggest jay was now standing smack in the middle of it, orange pumpkin staining his underbelly. Ellison pursed her lips thoughtfully before looking up at him, her expression once again distant. Professional.
“Could we keep this between us?” she asked.
Afraid of owning up to your mistakes? The words teetered on Ryan’s tongue, but instead he said, “The pie?”
“Yes.”
“I’d hate to hurt Jessie’s feelings, so yeah. I’ll keep quiet.”
For now. He’d make his final decision after he got a feel for how all of this was going to play out.
CHAPTER FOUR
THIS COULD GET UGLY. Ryan made a supreme effort to relax his tight jaw muscles as he headed out of the house and across the lawn. He failed.
I view employees as resources.
Ryan agreed that employees were resources, but the way she’d said it had made it sound as if employees were interchangeable cogs. Things rather than people.
Maybe he was misjudging her intent, but he was certain that Ellison Hunter didn’t know jack about ranch employees and she was in no position to judge them. She didn’t understand the blood, sweat and tears that went into making a ranch run and prosper. The sacrifices made. The simple joys that compensated for giving up so much. She wouldn’t understand that the characteristics that might appear undesirable on an employee evaluation—stubbornness, overt independence, speaking one’s mind without regard to tact—were characteristics that helped a person to succeed in this business.
And how was she going to take his rodeo absences? Somehow he didn’t think Ms. Hunter was going to be all that amenable to him disappearing for several days every week during the months of July and August. Tough. She wasn’t there to take over management—at least not yet—so until he was told differently, he was going to continue as he had been doing, hiring Lonnie to cover for him and juggling his schedule. Francisco could watch Walt.
Instead of going into his house, Ryan shifted course and went to his truck. Lonnie had fed the livestock that wasn’t on pasture that morning, and the rest of the day’s work could wait.
Less than five minutes later Jessie had him seated at the kitchen table with a piece of warm coffee cake, while Jeff ran his cars back and forth over the opposite end of the long handmade table. Jessie was nervous. It showed in her jerky movements, the set of her lips.
“So Francisco has to make a résumé?” she asked. Ranch jobs were not easy to come by and even a hint that they would have to start looking was enough to chase the color from her face. Francisco would probably have no trouble getting a job as a mechanic, but getting another place to live with room for their livestock on a single salary would be rough.
“No. She wants a list of what I do and I’m sure she’ll want the same from Francisco. And Walt.”
Jessie gave her head a shake, her expression grim. “I don’t like this.”
“Neither do I,” he muttered.
“More coffee?” She automatically reached for the pot, but Ryan stood before she got hold of it.
“No. I’m heading over to Walt’s and I’ll probably have more there.” The way the day was going, he’d be lucky if he got to work by noon.
“I’ll have Francisco stop by your place after he gets home.”
“Sounds good.”
Jessie bit the edge of her lip. “It was just so much better when Walt owned the place outright.”
“The bank owned it, Jessie. And they were ready to take it.”
“Maybe that would have been better,” she muttered, bending to tie Bella’s shoe. “Then the trauma would be over and we’d have other jobs.”
“Maybe.”
“By-eee,” Bella called to Ryan, waving her chubby fist at him.
“Bye,” he said with a half smile, taking the hint. He was supposed to leave.
* * *
WALT’S PLACE WAS dark. Ryan hesitated before he knocked. If the old man was sleeping off his rough night, he hated to disturb him, but if Ellison was going to talk to him today, he had to do some prep work. Walt had met with the owners before, but in those cases he’d gone on his bender after the talk, not before.
“Coming,” Walt grumbled from the other side of the door at Ryan’s second knock. The door swung open and the old man blinked at the sun behind Ryan’s back. “Yeah?”
“Can I come in?” Ryan asked.
“I guess.” Walt stood back, allowing Ryan to walk past him before he shut the door, blocking the sun.
“Got something against light?” Ryan asked.
“Only when it burns a hole in my head.”
Ryan looked his mentor over. He’d changed his clothes, so the bar smell wasn’t clinging to him. Good.
“The lady wants to meet with you today.”
“What are you? The go-between?” Walt asked, looking insulted.
“I’m the one who lives close. She came to see