“It’s a joke, cowboy. Chill out,” she giggles. “While I see nothing wrong with doing those things, I have a lot of other options before I get to that on my list. It is on my list, though.”
“Is it before or after asking me?” I ask without thinking.
She rolls her eyes and starts toward another cow.
“Let me rephrase that. I will do whatever is necessary before you get to that spot. Capiche?” I add.
She rolls her eyes again and doesn’t reply. I reach out and touch her arm.
“I’m serious, Sutton. Doing those things, while seemingly innocent in a way, could be detrimental to your business. I won’t allow you to do that when I’m able to help. Don’t…think that I’m not an option.”
She blows out a breath and shakes her head. “Do you think that I don’t know that, Wade? It’s a joke, but it’s not, too. I’ll do anything to keep the ranch in my family. Had I…had I come home after school, then maybe…”
“Don’t go there,” I sigh.
“It’s the only place to go right now.”
I shake my head, reaching out to grab her wrist as I stand up. “It’s actually not. Listen, I’ll admit, and I’ve not been secretive about it either. I thought you were flaky, heartless, and a lot of other things because you didn’t come back here after you graduated. I thought you weren’t loyal and…I was wrong. Honestly, had I been thinking logically, I would have realized none of those things were true. My father saw that. You did what you had to do, and because of that, you came back when we all needed you, and you’re currently saving the day.”
“It doesn’t feel like that.”
“I’m sure it doesn’t because you’re only thinking about the monstrous negativity asteroid that’s hurtling toward you.”
She giggles and smiles back at me. “I love the way you explain things sometimes.”
“It’s a gift.” I smile.
“I appreciate it and you. I’ll figure this out.”
There’s no sense in reiterating that I’m here; even if she knows it, she’s not listening anyway.
“Dr. Reed and two of his colleagues were here yesterday.”
“I saw your text. And I’m sorry that I didn’t reply. I had every intention, but I went down a rabbit hole. They went to Dad’s, too. I did a search in the database, and those colleagues aren’t listed as part of the Ag board. Doc Lucy didn’t know them either. It seems that at all the other ranches, they were asking mostly financial questions.”
“Financial? What do you mean?”
“They asked Dad how much he owed on the property, how much his property taxes were. He told them it was none of their business, but the female kept pushing for more information, just in different ways.”
“Who do you think they were?”
“I did a little research yesterday. Remember my best friend from high school, Destiny?”
“Vaguely.”
“She’s been out of the country; her husband was deployed in Japan. They just got back into the States, and she texted me. I guess her parents told her I was back. She told me that there’s a Hicks Creek Facebook group, and there’s a lot of chatter about a company called Oakmont Holdings. Apparently, they’ve been doing some damage throughout town the last six months or so.”
“Yeah, but the employees of that place were arrested and…”
She shakes her head. “Yes, and…it turns out that Oakmont Holdings is one of the names of their corporation. They have about a dozen names that they go by; all of them are different depending on what they’re pedaling, so to speak. I went down the rabbit hole last night.”
“And what did you find?”
“I think Dr. Reed is working with them; possibly, he doesn’t know, but I think he may have let them pay him to come along.”
“That’s an assumption, and we’re not dealing with those today. We’ve got bigger things to worry about.”
“I understand, but listen, Cal told me that the bank was willing to work with Dad, but now they’re suddenly not. I think it’s related.”
