That steadied Austin in all the right ways, clearing his mind to make decisions.
“Okay.”
“It’s Sunday so he’ll be having an early breakfast.” Clay began pulling on his socks and then his blue jeans, hopping around like he was late for an appointment. “We should grab breakfast too, though we can always get snacks along the way, and I do like a good fountain drink and some Bugles.”
All of this was said as if the entire problem was, for Clay, solved because they were going to talk to Leland about it. Borrowing the truck was one thing. Asking Leland to make concessions to a new employee with a young daughter was another.
Maybe he could get the days off. Maybe he could work remote from wherever while looking after Bea. Or maybe this was another disaster Mona created while living her selfish life.
He got dressed, thinking that he should shave, should charge his phone, but all of that didn’t seem to matter with his whole energy intent on rescue. Once dressed, he grabbed his phone and tucked it in his back pocket, still worried, but buoyed up by the fact that he’d get to see Bea, whom he missed every minute of every day.
Along the path to the main lodge, Clay bumped shoulders with him, smiling.
“We don’t need to tell everyone we’ve had a sleepover if you don’t want to,” he said.
“A sleepover?” This made Austin laugh in spite of himself. “What are we, ten?”
“Might as well be,” said Clay. “Or maybe we’re older, seeing as we’re going on a road trip in Dad’s truck.” He made quote marks around the wordDad, and snickered, and Austin envied him that sense of adventure, of innocence. “Maybe he’ll even give us money for candy.”
Now laughing full on, Austin mounted the steps to the main lodge and entered the dining hall, looking for Leland, who was to be found at a long table, along with Quint and Bill, all three deep in the throes of conversation.
“What’s up?” asked Leland, as they came up to the table. He scrubbed his hands with his paper napkin and looked prepared to jump into action, then and there.
“Well,” said Clay. He shuffled his feet and shrugged, as though signaling that he was willing to wait for a private moment with his boss.
“Ah.” Leland nodded at Quint and Bill, in turn. “Are we done?”
“Adventure rides are moneymakers,” said Quint. “But I’ve said my piece. Decide how you want.”
“Thank you.” Leland got up and took his tray. “And Bill, it’s not a deal breaker, but it would help the ranch.”
“Heard you the first time,” said Bill, burying his frown beneath a sip of black coffee.
Without responding to that, Leland nodded they should follow him, and Austin girded his loins as he watched Leland bus his tray.
“The situation is,” said Austin, beginning in the same way he would have were Leland a CEO of a huge corporation, getting right to the point. “My ex-wife, Mona, has decided to take a sudden vacation, and would leave my daughter Bea in the hands of strangers. I’m going to go get her and then I would need a few days off to look after her until Mona comes back. Which, at this point, is an indeterminate number of days. I’ll need to find a hotel or something—”
“Bring her here.”
“What?”
Leland wiped his hands on his napkin before throwing it away, and then he faced Austin full on, his shoulders broad enough to shield Austin from anything bad happening to him. Austin had to blink in the face of this, uncertain where the feeling had come from.
“Bring her here. We’ll fix up the other manager’s cabin, on the other side of Quint’s place. It’s only got the one bathroom, but it has two bedrooms. A small living room. A front and back porch to watch the sun rise and set.”
“What are you saying?”
“Bring her to the ranch. She can have riding lessons, she can hang out with the Frontier Girls, and Sue Mitchell runs an excellent day camp. Maybe we’ll cut back your hours, but you can work from anywhere and watch her, right? We’ll help you.”
“I’ll help,” said Clay, though he looked astonished to have volunteered. “And we need to borrow your truck to go get her.”
“We?” asked Leland, seemingly oblivious that Austin’s voice had been stolen, overcome that people he only barely knew, his boss, for one, would respond with such kindness and generosity.
“Sure,” said Clay with a shrug. “You always say, don’t go alone.”
“That I do.” Leland nodded. “Keys are in the truck.” He reached into his wallet to pull out a credit card, which he handed to Clay. “Ask for receipts. I’ll get Stella to give the cabin a good going over, and maybe Jasper can come up to put some curtain rods in.” He smiled as he looked at Austin. “A staff member had a party in that cabin some years back. They stripped the place and now that person doesn’t work here anymore.”
“I’ll be careful with it.” Austin nodded, swallowing. “Thank you for this, seriously.”
