“I don’t give up easily,” I said. “I need him.” She had no idea how important this was to me, to the ranch. Ineededthis, to get the operation back to what it used to be. Back to what itshouldbe.
“Thanks for the warning, but neither do I.” A breeze caught a strand of long curly hair and brushed it across her face. She quickly tucked it behind her ear. “The price is generous, but the stud fees I can charge over the coming years for Twister will far exceed your offer. So you see, it’s nothing personal, just business.”
It was very personal to me. There was nothing that mattered more to me than improving my stock.
“I want to keep talking about this,” I said, not giving up.
She shook her head. “You can talk all you want, Jake Thorne, but don’t be too stubborn to listen to what I say. I’ll see you later.” She walked away from me and got in her truck.
I watched her drive away. Twister’s black tail swished over the trailer’s gate as if the horse was waving a final goodbye to me, but I wasn’t defeated. I’d try again. I was stubborn as she’d said,but that had usually gotten me what I wanted, and I figured it would this time as well.
I turned to walk back toward the arena, thinking about Twister’s owner as much as I was the horse.
TWO
JULIA
“Quiet in here tonight.” Sofia Alvarez, the town’s chief deputy sheriff, slipped onto the barstool next to mine and crooked her finger at the bartender.
“What can I get for you?” he asked, giving her a wide smile.
“I’ll take a shot of tequila for now, but later…” Sofia returned his expression, but hers was sultry.
“Later, then,” the bartender said with a wink and then moved to get Sofia’s drink.
“You and Donovan still going at it?” I was amused by my friend’s relationship with the Roundup bartender.
“Yeah, he’s fun and super sexy.”
“Maybe.” I took a look at Donovan as he came back toward us with Sofia’s drink. He was hot, but I didn’t quite see the appeal. Not my type.
“And he wants nothing from me,” Sofia said after getting her drink. “We just enjoy ourselves. No commitments. No what-ifs. Just sex. It’s a great stress relief from work.”
“What about boy wonder over at the station?” I asked. Everyone in town knew that one of the young deputies had a thing for Sofia.
“Mack?” Sofia sighed and looked a little wistful. “He’s a sweetie and I like him, but he’s a lot younger than meandI outrank him, which makes it complicated. Donovan is anything but complicated.”
“Whatever you say.” I laughed and took a sip of my frozen margarita.
“What have you been up to since the rodeo?” Sofia asked.
“Business planning,” I said. I’d been crunching numbers and making phone calls between my vet appointments in the week since the rodeo. That conversation with Jake Thorne had my mind whirling. I had no intention of selling Twister, but our talk had reminded me that he was a valuable asset I needed to capitalize on. Especially now, when the need for capital was increasingly apparent.
“Sounds deadly dull,” Sofia commented with a grin. “Tell me all about it.”
I laughed, knowing that my friend would listen to whatever I had to say. We’d been friends since sixth grade, and Sofia had never let me down. “You’ve probably seen the signs and heard the radio ads for Family Veterinary Care. They’re everywhere.” The chain of vet clinics had recently opened an office in the next town, and they’d been relentlessly promoting their services to everyone in a fifty mile radius.
“Are you losing patients to them?” Sofia’s face was serious now.
“Only a few so far. Declan has too, at least with the smaller animals.” Declan Morris was the other local vet. It wasn’t that long ago that he’d bought out Ruth Wilcox’s old vet practice, complete with a crumbling building, aging equipment, and a diminishing client list. He’d managed to turn it around, but now we were facing new challenges.
Poplar Springs was big enough for both of us—after all, there were plenty of people out there who owned animals. But were we big enough to stay in business if a corporate chain took a bite out of our client bases? I wasn’t so sure. Family Veterinary Care was offering a lot of flash and deep discounts to bring in clients. I had to think that the quality of care wasn’t as good as what Declan and I offered, but would our clients realize that in time?
“I’m still doing okay with the ranch contracts but with that new practice offering free first-time visits and swag bags for every new animal patient, I’ve had a few cancellations. I’ve got to step up my game to compete. I need to upgrade my equipment and facility, and that takes cash.” Lots of cash. I planned to be one of the town’s primary vets for many years to come, so I needed to get this right.
“What’s your plan?” Sofia shot back her tequila and signaled for a second one.
“In a word, Twister. I’ve made some money from his stud fees already, but I haven’t gone at it systematically. And it’s time I did.”
