Snorting, I half laughed. “You know as well as I do that our father doesn’t talk to me on a regular basis. Why would he tell me anything? He just assumed I’d come crawling back. Jesus. Here I am.”
Wade exhaled, twisting his hand on the steering wheel. “He’s in trouble, Kenz. You need to talk to him.”
Now my brother was going to pull out the cry for sentiment stops? “I’m sorry his great plan of ruling Missoula didn’t magically come true but take me to Charmaine’s house. I need to figure out about transportation and the rest of my life. That doesn’t include returning to Missoula.”
“Didn’t you hear me?” There was a pleading tone in his voice. Rare for my brother. “This is serious.”
He knew how to lay the guilt on, yet I took a deep breath.
“Okay, I’ll ask. What kind of trouble? If he needs investment advice for all his millions, I’m all out.”
“That’s not it. The ranch isn’t doing well. Some of it is the situation with the cattle prices. The market just isn’t what it used to be.” My brother rarely fidgeted. That’s exactly what he was doing now.
“What else?”
“Never could get anything by you,” Wade chortled, his expression hardening when I didn’t laugh with him. “He made some bad investments a few years ago, the kind with balloon payments all coming due at the same time.”
“All corrupt, I assume.”
“Jesus, Kenz. Dad is a businessman. Has he cut some corners over the years? Maybe, but he was trying to leave our family a legacy.”
“Fascinating. You’re driving a new truck that cost as much as a small house. My guess is you make a ton of money and you’re telling me the corporation is broke?”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you and I work my butt off to try and make a difference, but times have been extremely difficult. Not that you would know since you haven’t cared about your family in years.”
The dig was one I’d expected. I suddenly realized that he harbored the feeling that I’d abandoned him.
“I find it fascinating that the rebellious brother I once knew who wanted to get the hell out of a honky-tonk town to a big city is suddenly embroiled in a life he screamed he loathed.”
Wade rubbed his jaw while checking into the rearview mirror. “Things change. You meet people. You realize your surroundings aren’t that bad.”
“Okay. I’ll buy that. What aren’t you telling me about our father?”
“He owes a lot of people and institutions a lot of money.”
I slowly turned my head. “How much money?”
“Let’s just say we’re going to lose the ranch if things don’t turn around.”
Wow. That I hadn’t expected. Yes, I’d always suspected my father had been shady in many of his dealings over the years, but to lose everything caught me by surprise. I’d loved growing up on the ranch even if I hadn’t been very close to my dad. It was the only real home I’d ever had. Even when living with David, I’d always known it was his place. Not mine. Not ours. An ache formed.
“That bad?”
“Yeah, that bad. Maybe he didn’t want to tell you over the phone because he knew how you’d react. Mom is beside herself. She’s furious with Dad. All they do is argue.”
“Let me guess. He didn’t tell her what was going on until it was too late. Neither did you. You always acted like women couldn’t handle business.”
Wade shifted again, his sigh heavy. “Not my place to tell her. I’m sorry about that, sis, but Dad is a very proud man.”
Proud and determined, arrogant and purposely ignorant of the law. Why was it that every man I’d known in my life was a hardhead? I thought about what was being asked of me, not that I had any clear understanding.
“What does he want from me? To find a way of getting him out of this nightmare? I’m not going to do that. He’s an adult who got himself into this mess and he can get himself out. Besides, I’m not going to be disbarred because of some shady deals our father managed to get himself into.”
When he said nothing at first, I finally realized we were already close to the ranch. He pulled alongside the road, allowing the engine to idle. “Maybe he just wants your support.”
“I doubt that. What he needs is legal advice and I don’t feel comfortable giving it to him. I’m not a bankruptcy attorney.” Plus, it would break my heart to discuss the demise of the home I grew up in.
“Yeah, he does, Kenzie. He has some good ideas about how to turn everything around.”
