Aja’s heart swelled slightly. This teenager had lasered in on the important detail that Aja was letting her anger make her forget—she was alive and it could’ve been so much worse.
“Thank you, Taylor. Please tell your dad I said hi when you see him next.”
An enthusiastic smile and the brightness in his eyes revealed that slight bit of boyhood still left in him. She wished she could be that carefree and hopeful again. But too much had happened between sixteen and thirty-nine to make her ignore the fear that she was on the wrong end of an hourglass with only a few grains of sand remaining until her time was up.
Chapter 6
The sound of familiar female voices and footsteps on the back porch pulled Aja’s attention from her coffee cup to the back door. She’d been dreading this moment since she woke up. Now that it was here, she wasn’t feeling any better about it.
The door opened and Brooklyn, followed by Seneca, walked into the kitchen and stood on the opposite side of the counter from Aja.
“As I live and breathe, Sen. It appears Aja Everett really hasn’t been a figment of our imaginations.” Brooklyn crossed her arms and lifted her brow. “Wouldn’t know it, though, considering we ain’t heard nothing from her since the barn exploded, like, two days ago?” She gave Aja a wink. “No big, though. Not like we were supposed to give a damn about her well-being anyway.”
Aja shook her head and smiled. Sure, she could get upset at the more than slightly disrespectful tone coloring Brooklyn’s words, but it didn’t really make sense to. First, Brooklyn was right. Aja’s presence had been extremely scarce on the ranch. Yeah, she’d had to visit the hospital and then the Rangers’ headquarters all the way in Austin, but that didn’t mean she shouldn’t have called or texted to keep them from worrying. Second, Brooklyn was like the bold, sometimes cynical town she was named after; she was going to let you know what was on her mind whether you wanted to hear it or not. Third, Aja’s guilt over the lie she was about tell wouldn’t let her chastise her employee for her impertinence.
Instead, Aja raised her hands in mock surrender and smiled. “I know I’ve been absent and unreachable since the explosion. But I’ve been terribly busy taking some necessary measures to both stop these dangerous pranks someone keeps playing on us and keep us on track with the overhaul of this ranch.”
When she wasn’t more forthcoming, Seneca was right on cue with her usual talent for breaking the tension in a room. She waved her hand as if she were ushering in an opportunity for Aja to respond. “Like?”
“Like solidifying start dates with the new construction company and hiring some new ranch hands.”
Aja grabbed her coffee cup and kept her eyes on its contents. Standing in a courtroom, leading strangers to contemplate her version of the truth was easy. Standing in front of people she cared about, knowingly lying to them wasn’t something Aja thought she could do with a straight face.
“Ranch hands?” Brooklyn asked “We suddenly get a shipment of livestock I didn’t know anything about?”
“No, but even with the ranch as a resort, I was always going to need to hire more staff. The vandalism upped my timetable. They’ll be working as ranch hands but each of them will be taking on security duties as well.”
“Security?” Seneca repeated. “Damn, I guess things are getting worse if you’re bringing in rent-a-cops.”
“They’re not rental police officers. They’re ranch hands. They each have a military background and understand keeping vandals off the property will be part of their duties.”
Aja waited to see their reactions. Seneca was usually a bit more easygoing than Brooklyn. But honestly, Aja didn’t think either of them would be happy about this new situation.
“You know what, Boss,” Brooklyn began. “I think it’s about time you got security on the ranch. Seneca and I have been talking about that since we found out the scaffolding was cut.”
“Yeah,” Seneca added. “We definitely are on board with that. We wanna be safe, but we also don’t want the law to have any excuses to come up here giving us grief. If someone gets hurt, Sheriff Hastings is coming straight for us.”
Aja cringed at the mention of the sheriff’s name and the recognizable concern passing between Brooklyn and Seneca. They shouldn’t have to fear him for the simple fact that they’d done time. She was about to state that when the front doorbell rang. “That’ll be them. Stick around for a minute so we can discuss living quarters and general ranch stuff.”
She excused herself and headed for the front door, hoping the ladies stayed in the kitchen. Her nerves were making her stomach jittery, and she needed the brief moments alone before she had to let Jackson and his men into her world.
She plastered on her professional smile and opened the door, greeting first Colton, then Storm, and finally Jackson as they filed into the foyer.
They made an impressive human wall standing next to one another, blocking the view of the hall that led to the kitchen. Each of them tall, bulky, and imposing with all their focus on her.
“Morning, gentleman. You’re right on time. The ladies and I were discussing your arrival. Please follow me.” Storm stepped to the side and made an opening for her to walk through. She led them into the kitchen and stopped once she reached the eat-in counter that sat in the middle of the room.
“Seneca and Brooklyn,” Aja began. “This is Jackson, Colton, and Storm.” She cleared her throat as she turned slightly to look at the three men standing behind her. “Jackson is our new foreman, and Colton and Storm are ranch hands.”
There was silence as the two women assessed the men and then shared a knowing look between them. The pause was nearing that awkward stage when Seneca turned away from Brooklyn and extended her hand to Jackson. “Welcome to Restoration Ranch, where everyone gets a second chance. I’m Seneca, and this is Brooklyn.”
Seneca released Jackson’s hand and shook Colton’s and Storm’s. Everyone in the room waited for Brooklyn to offer her hand, but she kept to her post at the counter, giving a two-fingered wave to them instead.
“You day laborers or permanent?” Brooklyn said.
Jackson chuckled at Brooklyn’s directness, and it eased the tension in the quiet room, bringing a friendly smile to Aja’s own face. If Brooklyn weren’t an ex-convict he was investigating, Aja could see Jackson and Brooklyn possibly being friends. They were both surly as hell and mistrustful of anyone they didn’t know. And Brooklyn was playing right to type by getting straight to the point, abandoning the niceties of polite society to get the information she wanted.
“More like temporary while Ms. Everett sees how we work out,” Storm answered, putting enough drawl in his voice to make himself sound as friendly and country as any cowboy who’d stepped foot on this land.
