7
Mandisa waved at Mama Indy on her way in the house and made a quick detour upstairs for her wallet. She stepped into the walk-in closet, picking up one of two purses she’d brought with her. She made a quick check inside for her wallet and headed toward the door. When she reached it, she heard a harsh voice that sounded like Slade. Concerned, she walked closer to the balcony door, and opened it slightly to listen withoutdetection.
“What’chu want,Bull?”
“You need to learn some respect, boy, when you’re speaking to yourdaddy.”
“I’m a grown man on my own land. I’ll speak how I want to uninvited guests that show up on my doorstep. Again, what do you want,Bull?”
Slade’s voice was off. It was rough, heavy with anger and annoyance, so unlike his usual light tone. Since she’d met him, Slade had been nothing but kind to Mama Indy and everyone else he encountered on his ranch. The way he spoke to his surrogate mother, the care and regard Slade held for the elderly woman was obvious in all his interactions with her. Mandisa wondered what could cause such a shift in Slade’s kind personality, make him demonstrate such blatant acrimony for hisfather.
She was about to lean in closer to hear more of their conversation when she heard a knock at thedoor.
“Mandisa, it’s Mama Indy. Aaron’s out back waiting to take you shopping. It’s best not to keep that sulking brute waiting. He can get a bittesty.”
Unwilling to let the matron catch her snooping, Mandisa stepped away from the balcony door, storing away what she’d heard in her “to-be-discussed-later” file. She was still attempting to comb through the unanswered questions her discovery poured into her head when she grabbed the doorknob to the bedroomdoor.
“Everything all right,Mandisa?”
Mandisa nodded briefly, forcing a small smile onto herlips.
“Yes,” she answered. “I wanted to make sure I had my wallet in the rightpurse.”
“I understand that, but I’m certain if Slade’s sending Aaron with you, Slade will be covering the cost of your trip totown.”
Mandisa didn’t doubt Mama Indy’s assumption. Slade took care of all her needs, with or without her request. Maybe it was time she began doing the same forhim?
Once the two made it downstairs, Mandisa waved goodbye to Mama Indy and opened the back door to find the same black SUV she’d arrived in waiting for her. Aaron was leaning against the passenger door, texting on his phone. When she closed the door behind her, he lifted his head and pushed his phone into his jeanspocket.
“Hope I’m notinterrupting.”
Aaron shrugged a shoulder and opened the door for her. She shook her head in jest and climbed into theSUV.
This is gonna befun.
By the time Aaron sat next to her in the driver’s seat, Mandisa was belted in and ready for the trip. When the sound of the turning engine filled the cab, she looked out the passenger window to get another look at Slade’s property. It didn’t matter which direction she looked, it was all beautiful. Strong, vibrant, and welcoming, his land mimicked the sensation of a comforting hug, an invitation to come in and rest awhile.
When they made it back to the main road, Mandisa pulled her attention from the receding tree line that surrounded the perimeter of Slade’s property and focused on Aaron. “So, how long have you knownSlade?”
He spared her a brief glance and returned his gaze to the road. Save for the quick moment of eye contact, she’d have believed he hadn’t heard her. There was no reaction, not the slightest twinge to make her believe he’d actually heard or understood herwords.
“We grew up together on his grandmother’s ranch. After my dad died, there weren’t a lot of options for my mother and me. When Mrs. Logan offered her a job with good pay and living quarters, my mother moved us here from Arizona. My mom passed a few years after moving here. Mama Indy took me in. Been here eversince.”
“You’ve never left Texas in all thattime?”
Aaron shook his head. “No. Had the chance to leave when I was going to law school. But my family is here. Couldn’t see my way to leaving them. I went to a local schoolinstead.”
Mandisa kept her head turned and her gaze focused on Aaron as he spoke. “A lawyer,huh?”
She could see a smile creeping up on the corner of his mouth. “What? Dusty ranch hands can’t be lawyerstoo?”
She shook her head. “Not at all. I’m just wondering who or what was so special that you would spend all that time and money training to be a lawyer, then give it up to be a ranchforeman.”
His smile bled away and the muscles around his jaw began to tighten. “As I said, my family neededme.”
“Your family meaning Slade and MamaIndy?”
He tapped the steering wheel with his thumb as he drove, still looking out at the open road before them. “Slade and I have been through too much to be just friends. He’s a brother. Both our moms died when we were young. Mama Indy raised usboth.”
