Her Favorite Cowboy Page 14

  “I’ve been doin’ a lot of thinkin’ since your grandma passed. Got a lot more time on my hands now that I’m alone in that big ol’ house.”

  “I’ll come and visit more, Gramps. And I’ll get the rest of the family to do the same,” Gage said, looking up from The Vanishing American, one of Zane Grey’s more controversial books.

  “I’m not tellin’ you this so’s you can fill my house up with guests. You need to be still for a minute, son, and hear me out.”

  “Sure, Gramps. Whatever you want.”

  “I got plenty of friends who stop by to check on me, and the people who work for me give me peace of mind that my animals are in good hands. But running the ranch is a lot of work for one person. I have to admit, when it came to numbers, your grandma knew her stuff. She handled all the money and paperwork that went with it. All I ever did was the physical part, which I’m seein’ ain’t enough. I gotta face the truth.”

  “Getting a good accountant to take over the finances isn’t a problem, Gramps. I can introduce you to my guy. He’s the best,” Gage offered thinking he would be more than happy to step in and help out his gramps with whatever he needed.

  “Thanks, son, but I don’t need your dang accountant. I already got me one of my own. You’re not listening to me, son, and you’re not letting me get to my point.” He took in a deep ragged breath, then quickly let it out. “Here’s the point I’ve been trying to get to. I’ve made up my mind. I’m selling the ranch.”

  “Don’t kid, Gramps. You would never sell your ranch,” Gage said, knowing that his gramps had to be trying to get a rise out of him, testing to see if he would bite. Apparently, his grandfather still wanted to be ornery and cause an argument. Well, Gage refused to participate. He would not let his grandfather rile him up.

  He settled lower in the chair, and re-crossed his feet on the bed.

  “Already got it on the market. Did it right before I left for this here conference.”

  Gage sat up instantly, planting his feet firmly on the carpet. If this were true, he couldn’t understand why Buck hadn’t mentioned it before. “If it’s money you need, Gramps, you know I’ll give you whatever it takes.”

  “Not everything can be solved with money, son. It’s time to let it go. I’m not the man I used to be when your grandmother was alive. ’Sides, she liked that there ranch more than I ever did, and she’s gone now. It’s time I made peace with that fact and moved on.”

  “To what, Gramps? You don’t know anything else but ranching.”

  Gage knew all about his grandfather’s past, how he scrimped and saved to buy his first piece of land, the first few horses, some steer.

  “I got me a brand-new fishing pole, thanks to you, and I intend to take up the sport full-time. If Zane could spend all his free time fishing, then by golly, so can I.”

  “That was a hobby of his, not his life’s work. Ranching is in your blood.”

  “It might be, but I’ve spilt enough of it over the years trying to keep that place going. I’m done now. Time for someone else to run it. I want to enjoy the time I got left doin’ things that make me happy, with people who make me happy.”

  Gage looked to Cori. “Can you believe this? He’s going to let some stranger take over the Circle R ranch.”

  “It’s his property. He can do whatever he wants with it.”

  Gage knew she meant well, but he sure didn’t like how it sounded. “You’re not helping.”

  “Was I supposed to?”

  “Yes. You should be on my side.”

  “I would be if I knew what side you were on.”

  “The side that convinces him to keep his land. That it belongs in our family. That it’s part of my heritage.”

  “It may be part of your heritage, but you sure got a funny way of showin’ that you care one lick about that land,” Gramps argued. “You ain’t been on it since you were a teenager.” He stuck a slip of paper in the book to mark his page, closed the book and placed it on the bed next to him.

  Gage looked to Cori for backup, but instead she said, “He has a point.”

  “Can I help it if school got in the way?” Gage said. “If college and getting straight A’s kept me in New York, or getting married and making a good living got in the way of taking a vacation?”

  “Is that what you thought those summers were? A vacation?” Gramps sounded incensed, but was somehow managing to control his anger.

  Cori slipped out of bed and grabbed her purse. Gage turned to her. “You don’t have to leave.”

  “This is between you and your grandfather. I shouldn’t be here.”

  “Stay,” Buck said. “You’ll keep my grandson here from making a complete ass out of himself.”

  “If that’s what it takes to make you change your mind, then yes, I’ll be more than happy to make an ass out of myself. You don’t know what that land means to me. I...” Gage began, but then thought better of it and stopped mid-sentence. He knew how stubborn his grandfather was, and trying to convince him not to sell now that he had obviously made up his mind was about as useful as trying to train a hound dog not to howl.

  Gage didn’t know why that saying popped into his head, but at the moment, it seemed completely relevant.

  “Son, that land is mine to do with as I please, just like the good doctor said. I’m too old and tired to run it on my own anymore, and I ain’t waitin’ around for you to come to your senses. ’Sides, I got an eye on a sweet little bungalow in town. Got some land around it so’s I can plant some vegetables in the summer.”

  “And that’s enough for you? Fishing and some vegetables? After everything you promised me, you’re going to sell the ranch and move into a bungalow in town.”

  “You made it plain and clear you don’t want no part of cowboying, just like your dad. He never did take to ranchin’. There ain’t nobody left for me to give it to, so I put it on the market, and I hope to have me a couple offers by the time I get back. I hear summer’s a good time to sell a ranch of this caliber, some two hundred acres of prime grazing and farming land. The Snake River runs right through it. Ranchers like water runnin’ through their land. Should make it easier to sell. Circle R is one of the finest ranches in all of Idaho—it should bring in some mighty good cash. You, of all people, should appreciate that.”

  “Money’s one thing, Gramps, but your ranch is something else.” Gage felt as if he’d been sucker punched by his own grandfather. The idea of his grandfather selling the ranch never even occurred to Gage. It wasn’t in his realm of possibilities. “You always told me the ranch was mine,” Gage said, hoping that clearly stating the facts might change his mind. “You promised me that I could run it one day.”

  “I did, and it was true as long as I knew you would live there and work it. That’s not true anymore, hasn’t been for a lot of years. If I gave it to you, you’d just sell it and add the profit to your pile. This way, I can live in comfort off that money and maybe do some good for some deserving people I know. You don’t care one bit about the Circle R, at least not the way you used to. It’s the idea of it, the memory of those summers, that you get all nostalgic for, not workin’ the land or caring for what lives there. I finally faced the truth when my beautiful Rosie passed. She loved you more than anythin’.

  “I’ve forgiven you for your lack of compassion, son. This trip has forced me to see there’s still a good part of you that loves your family, and you’re tryin’ mighty hard to do right by me. That’s a good start, but your cowboying days are in your past, and there ain’t nothin’ I can do to change it. Not anymore.”

  Gage stood, running a hand through his hair. There was a lot of truth to what Gramps was saying, and Gage knew it. “Gramps, I am so very sorry I missed Grandma’s funeral. There was no excuse for it. I was dead wrong, and I know there’s nothing I can say to make it up to you. But I’
d like to try. Maybe my cowboying days are over, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find a way to keep the ranch, especially if we work together to find a solution.”

  “A ranch don’t run well with a long-distance solution. ’Sides, I don’t want to take the chance you’ll lose interest after a bit and I’ll end up in the same position I am now. My mind’s made up, son.”

  “Isn’t there something I can say to make you change your mind?”

  A deep smile creased his grandpa’s lips as he glanced at Cori, who smiled right back at him, but Gage could tell this was a dismissive grin. He’d seen it many times before on his gramps whenever he’d had enough discussion on a subject.

  “Gage, there ain’t nothin’ at all you could say. Sayin’s just words, and words are only half the truth. It’s what’s in your heart that counts. What you take the time to do says it louder than if you shouted your feelings from a mountaintop. And so far, how you behave convinces me that I’m doin’ exactly what I have to. Now, if you both don’t mind, I’m needin’ a nap before I meet someone for dinner. I want to be at my best. It’s important.”

  “But we’re not through here.” Gage balked. He didn’t want to give up. Not like this.

  Gramps stood, went over to the door and opened it. “Yes, son, we are.”

  Gage sighed and headed for the door, along with Cori. His heart ached and he blamed himself for his grandfather’s decision. There had to be something that would change his grandfather’s mind, and Gage was determined to find it.

  “Don’t forget your books,” Gramps said.

  “But those are yours,” Cori countered.

  “I want you both to have them. Consider them my gift to you.”

  “Thanks, Buck,” Cori said, as she grabbed her copy of Call of the Canyon off the bed and gave Buck a tight hug and a kiss on his cheek before she left his room.

  “This is not over,” Gage warned, as he stomped out of the room without his book. There was no way he would allow his grandfather to sell that ranch, not now, not ever.

  Chapter Nine

  “I didn’t know ranching meant that much to you,” Cori said as she sipped a cup of first flush Darjeeling tea from a pink teacup. A matching pot sat on the table, along with local honey and a creamer filled with steamed milk. The arrangement was almost perfect, except for the foamy milk. She’d ordered the milk warmed, but apparently the barista didn’t quite understand what that meant.

  Gage sipped a latte from an oversize mug. They sat inside a bakery down the block from the hotel and shared a plate of some of the best macaroons Cori had ever tasted. She was feeling a bit shaky from both the sugar and her third cup of tea, but she couldn’t stop herself from enjoying the fine delicate taste.

  “It doesn’t, or at least I didn’t think it did, but when Gramps said he was selling the place, something snapped. I can’t accept his ranch not being in our family anymore, and I can’t figure out if what he said is true.”

  “Which part?”

  “All of it, part of it, any of it. That he’s really going through with selling the ranch. It doesn’t make sense.”

  He took a sip of the latte and foam stuck to his lip.

  “You’d look good in a mustache,” she said, snickering.

  “What? This is serious.”

  “Not as long as you have foam on your upper lip, it isn’t.”

  He sat back, chuckled and wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. “That’s my problem. I take everything too seriously. I walk around with a continuous chip on my shoulder, and Gramps keeps swiping at it, but I’m holding on with steel gloves.” He took in a deep breath and let it out. “I’m a grown man, and Gramps is still teaching me lessons. How can that be?”

  “Seniors have a lot to teach us about the intricacies of life. All we have to do is listen.”

  He leaned forward again. “You believe that, don’t you?”

  “Never used to, but the more I’m around my grandmother and Buck and everyone else at this conference, I’m coming around to realize all that I’ve been missing. Every time I’d call my grandmother to see how she was doing, the call ended up being exactly what I needed to hear. I’ll never know what she got out of all those calls, but in listening to what she was doing and how she was taking charge of her life after my grandfather died, I gradually learned how to cope with my own grief.”

  Cori hadn’t really thought about it that way before, but now that she put her feelings out there, she could see just how much she benefited from those calls. Without her knowing it consciously, those calls were probably the reason that the first place she’d thought to go to de-stress and figure out what she wanted out of life was her grandmother’s house. It all made sense now.

  “Your grandmother’s a lot different than my grandfather. She’s calmer, and sweeter, not the belligerent old man that he’s turned into.”

  Gage seemed restless. He kept moving in his chair, sliding his feet under the table then back out again. She suspected the conversation was hitting a nerve.

  “That’s all superficial stuff. You heard him today. You saw him. He’s vulnerable. Plus he loves you more than he likes to show.”

  “And you got that from his wanting to sell his ranch out from under our family?”

  “Precisely. It’s a test, and I’m thinking you failed miserably.”

  He sat back, cocking an elbow over the back of the chair, a look on his face as if she’d just said something completely preposterous.

  “What? That’s not true. It can’t be, or I’m a complete idiot.”

  “Absolutely true, at least the way I see it, and I’m pretty good at this kind of stuff.”

  He leaned forward, taking another sip of his latte, appearing to mull over what Cori had said.

  “I don’t understand. I told him I didn’t want him to sell it. I made that clear, but he kept pushing that he had to get rid of it.”

  “That’s because you never told him why you didn’t want him to sell it.”

  “Yes I did. Well, I tried to.”

  “Not really. You rattled on about family and his promise to you, but you never once talked about what really kept you away from your grandmother’s funeral. I think he deserves to hear that. You apologized for it, but you didn’t tell him the facts.”

  Several teens entered the bakery, and proceeded to the glass case filled with a wide assortment of macaroons. Maple happened to be Cori’s favorite, and they were almost out. She wondered if she should hurry and buy a few more before they were all gone.

  When she looked back at Gage, his eyes had watered. Obviously, she’d hit a soft spot and hadn’t even considered the power of her words. “I’m sorry,” she told him. “Sometimes I can come across sharp and to the point. It’s a habit I’ve fallen into during the past year or so. It allowed me to keep my distance with my patients. I know now that was a mistake.”

  “No need to be sorry. You’re absolutely right. I couldn’t go back for my grandma’s funeral because I knew if I did, I would never have left. My life had turned into a lie, and I’d given up everything I loved for a drink, for that high. I’d lost everything my grandparents had taught me about honesty, and doing the right thing no matter the cost. Gramps stands for hard work and duty. I stand for what’s easy and the next party.”

  “I don’t think you can say that about yourself now. You’ve changed. You stopped drinking. You’re here in Durango, attending a conference with your grandfather because you want to mend fences. I can see it in you, hear it in your voice and I like it. I like it a great deal.”

  “I admire and love him so much that sometimes, when I think of anything happening to him, I can’t breathe. That day in the lobby when I saw him lying on the floor, I thought if he didn’t make it, well, I don’t know what might have happened.”

  “Have you told Buck any of t
his?”

  He shook his head. “No. I’ve never said it out loud before. Not even in an AA meeting. Only to you. Here. Now. Thank you.”

  He reached across the table and took her hand in his, running his thumb over the softness of the palm of her hand. An intense heat sparked across her skin as she gazed into his eyes, causing her to remember his kisses.

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  “Yes, you did. You forced me to face the truth and I’ll be forever grateful for that.”

  “But it’s not me you should be telling the truth to, it’s your grandfather.”

  He let go of her hand.

  “That’ll take some courage, and at the moment, I seem to be lacking in that department.”

  “Take another swig of your coffee. I hear caffeine is a courage builder.”

  “Since when?”

  “Since that’s all we have at the moment.” She grinned and he instantly lightened up. She loved that she could get him to smile even when the situation seemed dismal.

  “I can think of something much more delightful that might help.”

  He was finally on the right track as a sly smile spread across his face, lighting up his whiskey-colored eyes, and she knew exactly what he was referring to.

  Cori feigned being coy. “What’s that?”

  “Follow me, and all will be revealed.”

  He finished off his latte, wiped his mouth on a napkin and stood, staring down at her as if there was no one else in the restaurant.

  “Is that a promise?”

  He reached out for her hand, and she took it without hesitation.

  “You bet your sweet...” But she stopped him in mid-sentence with a kiss, thinking that finally nothing was going to get in their way, and she didn’t care who knew it.

  CORI’S BLOODY NOSE didn’t start until they were in the elevator on their way up to Gage’s room. As soon as it happened he insisted she not be alone, even though she wanted to change out of her now-bloody clothes.