“I’m just out of ideas,” she said at last.
“Something will come to you,” Jeb said. “It always does. In the meantime, I’m going to put some of the hands on land clearing. The acres down at the edge of our property haven’t been touched for a while and we should get them in shape for whatever you decide to do.”
“Thanks, Jeb.”
He nodded.
“Also, Dad left the ranch to both me and Jason McCoy. So he might be around over the next few months as we are figuring out what to do,” she said. No use pretending the decision was just hers, even if it did feel that way. She’d called Rupert’s office earlier and he’d made it clear that the will stipulated she and Jason had to make any decisions for selling or changing the purpose of the ranch land together.
“He’s a little rusty, but I think he might make a decent hand eventually,” one of them said.
Guffaws of laughter spread around the table.
“He might. He lived here as a teenager,” Molly said, once the laughter died down. “We used to run a last-chance program for troubled boys. They came from Houston mainly, but we got some from Dallas. Dad and Jeb were in charge.”
“Given how much hell Mick and I raised together, we figured we’d be good examples for straightening those boys out,” Jeb said.
“You were,” Rina added. “All of them have gone on to do good things.”
“Is that a possibility?” Jeb asked after the hands had finished eating and left to do their evening chores. “Do you want to take boys in again?”
“No. I’m not like Dad. I don’t have the strength to do that,” she said, getting to her feet and helping Rina clear the dishes.
“Fair enough. Just let me know what you want me to do,” Jeb said.
“I will. Thanks.”
“Girl, you know you’re like a daughter to me. You don’t have to thank me for doing what family does for each other,” Jeb said, giving her a quick hug on his way out the door.
Family.
The word had always been unspoken in the house. Aside from her and her dad, there wasn’t a blood bond between any of the other residents of the Bar T Ranch, but they’d always felt like a family. Even Jason, when he had lived there.
“What’s up?” Rina asked.
“Nothing.”
“Liar,” Rina said. “I’ve got a bottle of pinot noir that my sister sent for my birthday. Meet me on the deck.”
“Rina—”
“I’m not taking no for an answer. If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine. But you’ve been alone enough today and you still haven’t found the answers you’re searching for.”
“You’re right.”
“I know,” Rina said with a wink.
Molly just shook her head and walked out onto the deck that she and her dad had weatherproofed at the beginning of last summer. It was slightly raised, looking down over the large kidney-shaped pool. She walked to the sturdy pine railing and stood there looking out over the land.
The Tanners had been given these 760 acres in a land grant from the Spanish King back in the 1800s. For as far as she could see, the land was hers. They’d run cattle from the beginning and had found oil in the ’60s. They’d had several wells that had produced a nice income during her grandparents’ lifetime, but by the time Molly was born they weren’t producing as much. Her kingdom wasn’t what it used to be. Well, hers and Jason’s. She liked the view. She liked that she could see the pastures where the cattle were kept and the barn where the horses were stabled. She liked that beyond the pastures and buildings was land that hadn’t been developed or used for anything other than ranching and drilling.
Her heart ached at the thought of all she was facing. She needed her dad back, just for a few minutes so she could ask him what the hell he’d been thinking when he’d left half of the ranch to Jason. Why? She knew he had to have some kind of motive, but for the life of her it kept eluding her. The value of the land was so far beyond the debt they owed Jason.
The sun started to sink a little lower toward the horizon and the automatic outdoor lights kicked on as Rina walked out with the wine, a couple of glasses and a cheese tray. Hidden bug zappers under the deck kept the mosquitos at bay. She walked over to the seating area where two lounge chairs sat next to a low side table.
“Thanks for suggesting this,” Molly said as she took her first sip.
“I needed it, too.”
She was just now realizing she hadn’t been the best friend to Rina recently. She’d been too caught up in trying to keep moving so she didn’t break down. She reached across the expanse and squeezed her friend’s arm. “I’m sorry I haven’t been chatty lately.”
“It’s all right. You needed time to get used to things. So did I, but I was just feeling a little lonely. We haven’t had a girls’ night in a while and I figured if I was feeling it you definitely had to be, too.”
“I am. There are too many men here,” Molly said. “You know what I mean?”
“I don’t think that’s the problem. I think you’re more bothered by the one man who wasn’t at dinner.”
“I am,” she said, taking another sip of her wine.
“What happened between you two last night?”
“Nothing. Just a kiss.”
“A kiss. Want to talk about it?”
“No,” she said, fidgeting with the glass. “Maybe. It was nothing. But then it felt like something more. I sound like an idiot.”
“Men do that,” she said.
“Really? I’ve never known a man to do this to me.”
“Some men affect us like that,” Rina said. “The ones who change us.”
“Who affected you that way?” Molly asked, not wanting to believe that Jason could change her. She liked who she was.
“Never you mind,” Rina said. “I met him before I came out here to live with you. And his life kept him in Houston.”
“You could go to Houston, you know?”
“We’re both of us too stubborn to change,” Rina said.
Molly hoped she wasn’t like that, but she had a feeling she was.
They didn’t talk about men anymore that night. Just sipped their wine and watched the sunset. But Jason was on her mind and she suspected that Rina was thinking of the man in Houston. She realized that relationships were never easy and the thought brought her no comfort at all.
* * *
MOLLY STOPPED BY Jammin’ Java for a mocha latte the next morning. It was busy...well, as busy as a coffeehouse in a small town could be. She saw all the usual customers and they nodded and called out hellos to her.
Maybe it was the fact that Jason had awakened something in her when he’d kissed her—forgotten memories of a life she might have had—or perhaps it was because her father had died, but she had a sense that her life was never going to be more than this. That whenever she came into town for the next fifty years, it would play out just the same.
That thought used to bring her ease. Reminded her that she knew who she was and where she belonged.