“Mom says sometimes people who really like each other pretend they don’t, ’cause they’re afraid of their feelings,” Cricket continued, sounding wise beyond her years. He could hear the echo of Letty’s opinions in her daughter’s words.
Leave it to a female to come up with a completely nonsensical notion like that.
“Do you like Miss Fuller the way Mom said?” Cricket asked again.
Lonny shrugged. That was as much of a comment as he cared to make. He was well aware of his sister’s opinions. Letty hoped to marry him off. He was thirty-five now, and the pool of eligible women in Red Springs was quickly evaporating. His romantic sister had set her sights on him and Joy, but as far as he was concerned, hell would freeze over first.
Lonny figured he’d had his share of women on the rodeo circuit and he had no desire for that kind of complication again. Most of those girlfriends had been what you’d call short-term—some of them very short-term. They’d treated him like a hero, which was gratifying, but he’d grown tired of their demands, and even their adulation had become tiresome after a while. Since he’d retired six years earlier, he’d lived alone and frankly, that was how he liked it.
Just recently he’d hired Tom, a young man who’d drifted onto his ranch. That seemed to be working out all right. Tom had a room in the barn and kept mostly to himself. Lonny didn’t want to pry into his business, but he had checked the boy’s identification. To his relief, Tom was of age; still, he seemed young to be completely on his own. Lonny had talked to the local sheriff and learned that Tom wasn’t wanted for any crimes. Lonny hoped that, given time, the boy would trust him enough to share what had prompted him to leave his family. For now, he was safer living and working with Lonny than making his own way in the world.
Despite his sister’s claims, Lonny was convinced that bringing a woman into his life would cause nothing but trouble. First thing a wife would want to do was update his kitchen and the appliances. That stove had been around as long as he could remember—his mother had cooked on it—and he didn’t see any need to buy another. Same with the refrigerator. Then, as soon as a wife had sweet-talked him into redoing the kitchen, sure as hell she’d insist on all new furniture. It wouldn’t end there, either. He’d be forking out for paint and wallpaper and who knows what. After a few months he wouldn’t even recognize his own house—or his bank account. No, sir, he couldn’t afford a wife, not with the financial risk he and Chase were taking by raising their cattle without growth hormones.
A heifer took five years to reach twelve hundred pounds on the open range, eating a natural diet of grass. By contrast, commercial steers, who were routinely fed hormones, reached that weight in eighteen to twenty months. That meant they were feeding and caring for a single head of beef nearly three years longer than the average cattleman. Penned cattle were corn-fed and given a diet that featured protein supplements. Lonny had seen some of those so-called supplements, and they included chicken feathers and rot like that. Furthermore, penned steers were on a regimen of antibiotics to protect them from the various diseases that ran rampant in such close quarters.
Yup, they were taking a risk, he and Chase, raising natural beef, and the truth was that Lonny was on a tight budget. But he could manage, living on his own, even with Tom’s wages and the room and board he provided. Lonny was proud of their cattle-ranching venture; not only were they producing a higher quality beef, for which the market was growing, but their methods were far more humane.
Cricket sang softly to herself during the rest of the ride. Lonny pulled into the long dirt drive that led to Chase and Letty’s place, leaving a plume of dust in his wake.
When he neared the house, he was mildly surprised to find Chase’s truck parked outside the barn. His sister had phoned him a couple of days earlier and asked him to collect Cricket after school. Letty had an appointment with the heart specialist in Rock Springs, sixty miles west of Red Springs. Chase had insisted on driving her. Of course Lonny had agreed to pick up his niece.
Letty had undergone heart surgery a little less than a year ago. While the procedure had been a success, she required regular physicals. Lonny was happy to help in any way he could. He knew Letty was fine health-wise, and in just about every other way, too. In fact, he’d never seen his sister happier. Still, it didn’t do any harm to have that confirmed by a physician.
As soon as he eased the truck to a stop, Cricket bounded out of the cab and raced off to look for her mother. Lonny climbed out more slowly and glanced around. He walked into the barn, where Chase was busy with his afternoon chores.
“Cricket’s with you?” Chase asked, looking up from the stall he was mucking out.
Lonny nodded. “Letty asked me to pick her up today.”
Straightening, Chase leaned against the pitchfork and slid back the brim of his hat. “Why’d she do that?” he asked, frowning slightly. “The school bus would’ve dropped her off at your place. No need for you to go all the way into town.”
“I had other business there,” Lonny said, but he didn’t explain that his real reason had to do with Joy Fuller and the money she owed him.
“Hey, Lonny,” Letty called. Bright sunlight spilled into the barn as Letty swept open the door. Cricket stayed close to her mother’s side. “I wondered if I’d find you here.”
“I thought you might want your daughter back,” he joked. “How’d the appointment go?”
“Just great.” She raised her eyebrows. “Cricket tells me you got into another argument with Joy.”
He frowned at his niece. He should’ve guessed she’d run tattling to her mother. “The woman’s being completely unreasonable. Personally, I don’t know how you can get along with her.”
“Really?” Letty exchanged a knowing look with her husband.
“Just a minute here!” Lonny waved his finger at them. “None of that.”
“None of what?” His sister was the picture of innocence.
“You know very well what I mean. You’ve got this sliver up your fingernail about me being attracted to your friend, and how she’d be the perfect wife.”
“You’re protesting too much.” Letty seemed hard put to keep from rubbing her hands together in satisfaction. His sister was in love and it only made sense, he supposed, for her to see Cupid at work between him and Joy. Only it wasn’t happening. He didn’t even like the woman.
Not that there was any point in further protest. Arguing with his sister was like asking an angry bronc not to throw you. No matter what Lonny said or did, it wouldn’t change Letty’s mind. Despite their brief and ill-fated romance, something—he couldn’t imagine what—had convinced his softhearted little sister that he was head-over-heels crazy about Joy.
“What did you say to her this time?” Letty demanded.
“Me?”
“Yes, you!” She propped her hands on her hips, and judging by her stern look, there was no escaping the wrath of Letty. The fact that Joy had managed to turn his own sister against him was testament to the evil power Joy Fuller possessed.
“If you must know, I took her the estimate for the damage she did to my truck.”
“You’re kidding!” Letty cried. “You actually got an estimate?”
“Damn straight I did.” Okay, so maybe he was carrying this a bit far, but someone needed to teach this woman a lesson, and that someone might as well be him.
“But your truck…”
Lonny already knew what she was going to say. It was the same argument Joy had given him. “Yes, there are plenty of other dents on the bumper. All I’m asking is that she make restitution for the one she caused. I don’t understand why everyone wants to argue about this. She caused the dent.