“Three minutes?” Dawson asked. “I swear I’m not that late.”
Finn grinned at him. “Not late at all. You have three minutes.” He did like to stick to a schedule, because they all had plenty to do, and no one liked meetings, even if they were with friends.
He looked around, doing a quick catalog of who’d come. Their crowd was not smaller today by any means, though he didn’t see Gun or Rock Glover, and of course, Trap Walker was gone too.
“Your cousins aren’t coming?” he asked Wilder as he sat down only a few paces away.
“They’re on the way,” he said. “You haven’t checked your texts.”
Finn automatically reached for his phone. Getting texts on the ranchers group string was his favorite thing. “No,” he said. “Not for a while.”
“We’ve got a mud problem at Shiloh Ridge,” Wilder said. “They left about twenty minutes ago.”
Finn nodded and left his phone in his pocket. “Okay, well, let’s get started then.”
Paul, Henry, Trevor, Libby, Jake, Alex, Brandon and Lenore, and himself made up the farmers and ranchers from the northern part of Three Rivers.
He mentally drove down the eastern highway, and he hit the apple orchards, the eastern edges of Seven Sons, and thenSigns for Success.That put Colt, Mitch and Lacy, and JJ in that category, and Finn included Ty there too, because he lived in an apartment on that side of town and didn’t have his own place. Yet.
Coming across the southern border, he could turn north and hit Conrad’s hobby farm as well as the produce farm, or go south and end up at Shiloh Ridge or the Rhinehart Ranch. That put Link, Wilder, Gun, Rock, Dawson, and Tate in the southern cowboy group.
“We’re waitin’ on you,” Alex said, and Finn realized the room had gone quiet.
“Right.” He cleared his throat. “Let’s do intros quickly, since we have someone new joining us today. If you have announcements or prayer requests, include them in that.”
Finn touched his chest. “I’m Finley Ackerman. I run a small ranch-slash-farm that borders Three Rivers Ranch on the south with my wife, Edith, and our three boys.” He grinned around at his friends, his brothers. “Edee has started talking like she might want another baby, and I’d love it if you could get the Lord to sway her differently.”
He chuckled and nodded to JJ. They went around the table, each of them saying who they were, what ranch or farm they ran, and anything else they wanted the group to know.
When it landed on Dawson, he cleared his throat, threw his brother a look, and kept his head low so Finn couldn’t see his eyes. “I’m Dawson Rhinehart. I run my family ranch with my older half-brother, Duke. We’d like to ask for prayers for my daddy.”
He cleared his throat, his voice already deathly quiet. “He’s not doing well. The doctors say it’s just a matter of time now.” Heswallowed hard. “We’ve talked a lot about it, and I think we’re past the point of healing. Daddy’s eighty-eight years old.”
He looked over to Brandon, who nodded.
“We’re asking for prayers of peace for our Momma,” Brandon said. “And for him to pass quickly and peacefully, and that he won’t be in much pain.” He too swallowed and cleared his throat. “She’s much younger than him, and we’re going to have to figure out what she needs once he’s gone.”
Dawson nodded, and both he and Brandon looked at Finn. The room stayed silent, the weight of Dawson’s words settling over Finn and reminding him of how good these men and women were, of how good God was.
“Of course,” Finn whispered. “We’ll keep them in our prayers, Dawson; Brandon. Thank you for sharing that with us.”
Several others murmured their agreement, and Finn watched as Henry slung his arm around Dawson’s shoulders, and Link patted Brandon’s hand.
“Ty, you’re up,” Finn said after another moment or two.
He first nodded down to Dawson. “I’ll pray for your momma and daddy.” He drew a deep breath. “I’ve been thinking.” His voice changed on the last word, that familiar gruff edge reappearing.
“I finally moved out of my parents’ house, and I’m doing great. I think the next step is for me to get my own place—like a hobby farm, or even just a piece of land where I can have horses and a big garden.”
He shifted in his seat and looked around the room without letting his eyes land on any one thing or person. “Nothing huge, obviously. I can barely walk. Just like…somewhere I can keep my horse and maybe have some space to work with animals. I’ve got money saved from my rodeo days, but I don’t really know where to start looking.”
Finn looked around the room. “Light ‘im up, boys. What do we know that’s out there on the market?” He had a great real estate agent, and he could text the information to Ty later.
“You said you looked at the Hensen place?” JJ asked.
“Yeah, and it’s a joke,” Ty said. “Winnie and I just drove by.”
“Well, it used to be a petting zoo,” Conrad said. “I can’t imagine it’s in good condition.”
