“Of course, dear. You should come for a visit next time, you hear?” she replied.
Jake half heard the end of the conversation, turning away to look out the window at the back gardens. Late summer flowers were in full bloom. He could just see the heads of the tall dill plant starting to bud in bright yellow, and he sighed, running a hand over his head.
Liz handed him his phone and put her arms around his waist, looking out with him.
“Think he’ll do it?” she asked.
“Tanner deserves to be on the title, but he needs to want to change the way we operate on a fundamental level, so he’s gotta decide.” Jake sighed. “That is what all this is about, right? Making sure Brett’s legacy stays with his sons.”
Liz went quiet, and he turned as she detached herself from him and fiddled with the drape beside the window. She was frowning, her thinking face on, and he touched her shoulder on impulse. She looked upset. He could guess why.
“The thing is, Jake, Brett’s legacy is intact the way things are now,” she murmured as she pushed at the fabric impatiently.
“How? With me? It isn’t supposed to be me!” Jake replied. “I’m not—”
“Not what, Jake? A West? You damned well are! Not entitled to one blade of grass on this property? Bullshit. I . . . I—”
Liz exploded, her hands flying, tears filling her eyes, and she stomped past him in a flurry of mad, out the same way Tanner had gone a few minutes before. He stared after her, not quite sure what to say.
Peony put her hand on his arm as she passed him on her way to the kitchen and he looked at her imploringly. “Now what do I do?”
“She’s right, you know,” Peony remarked, and hummed at him, her eyebrows raised. “You fit here, young man. You fit with her too. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if this all stayed the way it was. But it’s your choice Jake, just as much as it is Tanner’s.”
Peony patted him gently on the arm and made her way past him, leaving him alone by the window.
“Oh my god, this family,” he muttered under his breath, before stretching his tense shoulders and following her in.
Chapter Thirty-four
Tanner was sitting on the open tailgate of Liz’s truck when she left the house, wiping at her eyes. She stopped in front of him, and he patted the metal beside him.
“Up you get, Lizzie.”
She hefted herself onto the tailgate beside him and slouched against the side of the truck box.
“So?” she asked simply, focusing on him rather than the giant question of Jake staying or going. “You gonna become a tree hugger and rescue cougar kittens so you can get this place back?”
He snorted a laugh and leaned back, looking at her from under the brim of his hat. He didn’t look mad, which she was glad to see, but he did look like he’d been thinking. Hard.
“I don’t know. It’s a lot to try to understand. You know I have no head for the numbers side of this place,” he replied.
“No, you don’t, but it doesn’t mean you can’t learn, you know,” she teased. He frowned.
Tanner liked being the hands-on guy. Spreadsheets, paperwork, accountants—it made him break into a cold sweat whenever he had to buckle into that chair in his office and fire up the old computer. He could organize the work, keep schedules, and knew the cattle inside and out, but balance sheets, bills, and banking? He avoided it whenever possible or wheedled her and Brady into helping.
“We could always hire a business manager,” Liz hinted. Tanner would squirm at the mention of adding staff, and they already had one with Jake. But if he didn’t stay, they’d have to think about it. Liz had no idea if they were solvent; Jake hadn’t mentioned anything about financials being dire. All the same, securing a salary for a full-time office person would put a dent in their operating costs, she at least knew that.
“Not the right time, not with all this up in the air,” he confirmed, and sighed. “But you’re right. I do hate it. Not like Jake. He’s a natural at keeping up with the books.”
“He’s run a few restaurants, I think,” she replied dryly, trying not to think about Jake running a restaurant, and not here.
“What if he stayed?”
Liz blinked in shock as she gaped at Tanner. He was looking out at the main road, squinting, the corners of his eyes wrinkled up. He glanced over at her and huffed out a laugh.
“What?” he asked.
Liz let out a strangled noise of exasperation. “Damn it, Tan, you just about made me fall over. Stay?Youwant him to stay?”
