Home on the Ranch 47 - Tina Radcliffe Read online

  “Did he mention the due date?” Ryan asked.

  “Still right around the Fourth of July.”

  Ryan nodded. “This your first delivery?”

  “Yeah. Last one was when my grandfather was alive.” Will smiled at the thought. Lots of firsts since he’d taken over the ranch.

  Annie glanced up at Ryan, then back at him. “We’re going to a movie and late lunch. Do you want to join us?”

  Will, too, glanced at the other man. Oh, yeah, Jones would love him to join them. That much was evident. A nice little threesome.

  “Southern Hills?” Will asked.

  “That work for you?” Ryan’s lips twitched, enjoying the exchange.

  Will turned to Annie. “Thanks for the invite, but I’ve got to get back to the ranch.”

  Will rapped on the door of the old Tudor estate. Hands in his pockets, he turned to admire the other houses along the old moneyed neighborhood of Utica Square.

  Margaret Reilly greeted him with a smile and led him down the hall and into a small parlor.

  “Coffee?” she asked.

  “No, thanks, I’m cutting back. Water would be great.”

  He sat and glanced around the sitting room. The air smelled like candle wax and oranges. For some reason he couldn’t shake the feeling he had just been scheduled for a surprise visit to the dentist. Somehow he knew this was going to be one of those painful but necessary appointments.

  A moment later, Ed Reilly strode into the room, with Margaret at his side.

  “Ed.” Will rose.

  “Will. Hey, glad you could make it.”

  Margaret handed Will a glass of water and he took a deep swallow.

  Why did he feel that uneasiness in the pit of his gut? He set down his glass on a crystal coaster and shoved his restless hands back into his pants pockets.

  “Sit, Will, sit. This won’t take long. I just wanted to review where we’re going.”

  Will nodded.

  “Let me say that I have been very pleased with our relationship with you and Sullivan Ranch. The numbers are positive. Our clients are happy. All of that makes us both look good. But now that the renovation is complete and projects are moving forward, we want you to start thinking long-term. Margaret and I feel a certain responsibility for you and Sullivan Ranch.”

  “Responsibility?” He couldn’t help sound confused.

  Ed leaned back in a leather wing chair and gestured with his hands. “Perhaps that isn’t the correct term. Let me explain. We’re grooming you for, well, for big things. You have that much potential, Will.” With a grin, Ed turned and smiled at his wife.

  “Thanks, Ed. But as I’ve told Margaret, I’m not sure that’s where I want to go.”

  “Don’t rule it out. You and Sullivan Ranch must continue to grow and that means extending your reach.”

  “You have to run in the right circles, maintain certain decorum,” Margaret interjected. “Get a little more involved, socially.” She paused. “With the right people.”

  “Expand your network to extend your reach,” Ed said with a satisfied nod.

  The words sounded like an advertising campaign. Will swallowed hard as Ed repeated the pitch yet again.

  “Don’t think I don’t know it isn’t easy, Will. I’m a loner just like you. But sometimes you have to do what’s necessary to grow the business. These are difficult times, son. Business doesn’t just walk up to your door. While you have KidCare marketing supporting you, it’s important that you do your part.”

  “Okay. Well, I see where you’re coming from, Ed. But what exactly is it you want me to do right now? Because I have to tell you, I’m running on empty ninety percent of the time. I flat-out do not have any more energy to give anyone.”

  “All I want you to do is to start thinking about extending your reach. Sullivan Ranch can’t grow unless you do.”

  Will’s cell phone began to ring, and he grabbed it off his belt. “Sullivan,” he answered. “Yeah, Chris. Great. Thanks for the update. I’ll be home real soon.”

  Margaret lifted a brow. “Is everything all right?”

  “The vet stopped by to check on Okie. She’s almost ready to drop foal. Everything is looking good.”

  Ed nodded.

  “I probably should get going. I want to talk to Chris before he leaves for the night.”

  “One more thing before you go. Will, Margaret’s been feeling some resistance from you, and I want you to work on relaxing. She’s been working with KidCare for a long time. Give her a chance. Can you do that?”

  Will released a breath. “Okay, sure.”

  “Give some of her ideas a try before you jump straight to no.”

  “I’ll work on that.”

  “Thanks.” Ed stood, gripped his hand and gave him a slap on the back. “We think a lot of you, Will, and we know you won’t let us down.”

  Will nodded, eager to get back to the ranch.

  Chapter Eleven

  “I thought you liked Doc Jones,” Annie said, as she dumped the softened shortening into a large bowl.

  “Don’t dislike him,” Rose replied, turning the page of the Granby newspaper and then smoothing it flat on the kitchen table. “All I said was that he sure has been hanging around here more than usual lately.”

  “Twice, besides taking me for my checkup. Both times he said he was checking on Okie as a favor to Will.”

  “Checking on you is more like the truth. Will has a fancy horse vet for Okie now.”

  Annie shrugged. “Ryan’s lonely. He’s happy for conversation and a glass of lemonade.”

  “Tell that to Will.”

  “Why should it bother Will? In fact he was fortunate Ryan was here last week when that girl was tossed. She hurt herself and the horse.”

  Rose merely made a “harrumph” under her breath.

  “Maybe I should put pecans in this batch,” Annie commented. “It might dissuade Will from eating them so fast.”

  “Will? Ryan has had a good share, too. If Will finds out he’s got competition for your oatmeal cookies he’s going to grouse loud and long, and you can count on that.”

  Annie cracked an egg and disposed of the shell. “What is it about Ryan that bothers you?” she persisted, determined to get to the bottom of Rose’s attitude.

  “I don’t begrudge Ryan the conversation and lemonade. Just want you to keep in mind that he’s a man on the rebound.”

  “His engagement was over almost ten years ago.”

  “Not in his heart.”

  “What does that mean?” Annie chuckled and tried to find a grain of logic in the statement.

  “It means he’ll be thinking of another woman all the time he’s courting you.”

  “Courting? Who said anything about courting?” She waved the spatula in confusion.

  “Don’t have to say the words out loud for them to be true.”

  “Rose, really. We’re just friends. Nothing more.”

  “Annie, you’re the first woman who has had his interest in all these years. Just don’t forget that Ryan’s heart is still promised to another woman.”

  Had Rose heard a word she’d said? Ryan was simply a friend. Annie paused and stared down at the floor. “Tell me about this other woman.”

  “Kait Field. You look a lot like her, except she had that exotic look of Cherokee heritage. Those high cheekbones. And her hair was black like Will’s not chocolate brown like yours. She and Ryan were sweethearts all through high school and college. She took off the night of college graduation.”

  “What happened?”

  “Some think the high-and-mighty Jones family sent her on her way.”

  Annie stopped what she was doing to listen to Rose. Poor Ryan. He really was a tortured soul. She stirred the batter slowly as she contemplated the fate of the young lovers.

  “Do you believe in true love, Rose?”

  “True love? Not sure I understand that word. Sounds like the emphasis is on the romantic.”

  “Isn’t love su
pposed to be romantic?” Annie asked.

  “Love is a lot of things. You’ve read Corinthians. Doesn’t get more plain than that.”

  “Love always hopes. Love never fails.”

  “That’s a big challenge right there,” Rose said.

  “I never thought about it like that.”

  “You ought to. Romance is a wonderful thing, but when push comes to shove, love is just like faith. A step in the dark. A choice.”

  “You’re right, Rose. How’d you get to be so smart?”

  “I’m old as dirt. You don’t get to be my age without a few hard lessons along the way.”

  “Have you ever been in love?” Annie asked.

  Rose glanced at Annie, a beatific smile appearing on her face, transforming her countenance. “Oh, yes. Still am.” She cleared her throat. “Enough about me. Now, what is it we were discussing?”

  “Ryan and his broken heart.”

  “Pshaw. Don’t you worry about Ryan. The Lord has a plan for him, too.”

  “Do you think so?”

  “Of course. In the meantime you be careful not to encourage him.” She scoffed. “That man is much too handsome for his own good. And those bedroom eyes.”

  “Bedroom eyes?” Annie’s head jerked up. She laughed loudly this time. “Now how did I miss that? And for that matter, what are bedroom eyes? I mean, as opposed to kitchen eyes or bathroom eyes.”

  Rose removed her glasses and folded up the paper. “Men don’t talk like women, Annie. You have to read their eyes. Now our Will, for example, has kitchen eyes.”

  “You can say that again.”

  “Say what again?” Will asked, tossing a straw cowboy hat on a chair.

  The inviting grin he shot Annie sent tiny chills through her. She focused on stirring the batter.

  Will leaned over and examined the bowl. “There’s nuts in there,” he complained.

  “We said that if you eat any more cookies you were going to start looking like one,” Annie said. She gently slapped his hand away.

  Will patted his flat abdomen through the denim shirt. “Six-pack abs. Comes from hard work, not some fancy gym.”

  “What a cowboy thing to say.” She shook her head and spooned out dough.

  “Do you have time to help me with that paperwork?” he asked.

  “Sure. Soon as the cookies are done.”

  “You hire Annie as your secretary, Will?”

  “More like all round gofer,” Annie said.

  “What can I say?” Will asked. “I interviewed three others but she was the only one who could do CPR and bake cookies while she filed invoices.”

  Rose laughed. “Oh, you’re joshing me now.”

  “Annie tell you we won’t be here for dinner?” he asked.

  Rose nodded. “Singles supper and concert at the church. Yes, I heard.”

  “I’m still not sure I want to go,” Annie said, as she opened the oven door.

  Rose turned and her gaze connected with Annie’s. “That’s because you overdid yourself at Margaret’s party. You haven’t been out of the house hardly at all since then. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you know the names of all the characters in my soap opera.”

  This time it was Will who burst out with a hard laugh.

  “Hey, I’m having lots of fun,” Annie said. “Joanie has me exercising the horses. And I’ve helped cut the grass on the riding mower. Tomorrow Chris is going to let me do the entire thing by myself.”

  “That’s your idea of fun?” Will asked with a shake of his head. “Last time we discussed fun, I ended up at the mall. Now you’re talking about a riding mower like it was a lap at Indy.”

  “I also went to Binding Stevens three times this week.”

  “Buying flowers doesn’t count either,” Rose said.

  “But don’t they look nice?” she asked. Rose gave her free reign with the color scheme for this year’s perennials and ignored the fact that Annie had gone overboard filling every container she could get her hands on with soil and small plants. It had been so satisfying to pick out the flowers and plant them.

  “The yard looks lovely, but you need to have some real fun,” Rose said. “Soon enough you’ll be back to work and wishing you’d taken more time to relax.”

  “Work?” Will asked, perking up. “Do you know something I don’t know?” He glanced at both Rose and Annie.

  “No, but I’m trying to be realistic. Annie isn’t one to sit still, and the doctor told her he’d give her a release after eight weeks. That is coming up here soon.”

  “I can’t believe I’m hearing this from you, Rose,” Will said.

  “I didn’t say she could move out of the Tulsa area or anything.”

  “Still, that’s a mighty mature attitude,” Will said.

  “Mature?” Rose laughed. “That’s another word for old, isn’t it? Which reminds me. Since you both are going to be out of the house, I thought I’d take the opportunity and have a few of the church ladies over. Ellen is coming by to help me get things ready.”

  “You won’t be kicking up a row again, will you? Gets embarrassing when they call the sheriff,” Will said, eyeing the cookies through the glass window of the oven.

  “He’s in rare form, isn’t he?” Rose looked to Annie.

  “I thought it was something you put in his oatmeal. He’s been like this all week.”

  Rose glanced out the window. “There’s the mail truck.”

  “I’ll get the mail,” Annie said.

  Will followed right behind.

  “Getting your exercise?” she asked, noting his strides matched hers down the drive.

  “Walking pretty good these days, aren’t you?” Will countered. She increased her pace, but he still kept up.

  With a grin Annie began to jog away from him.

  “Hey, I want to talk to you.”

  At the road she pulled open the mailbox and gathered the periodicals and envelopes. “The amount of junk mail you get is incredible.”

  “Yeah, I’ve noticed ‘Resident’ gets more mail than I do. Sure beats bills, so I’m not complaining.”

  “What did you want to talk about?” she asked, handing him a small package.

  “Well, I was thinking maybe we should all go together.”

  “Together?”

  “To the supper.”

  Annie nodded. “And which ‘we’ are you referring to?”

  “Margaret asked me to escort a friend of hers. Joan or Jill? She’s new in town and her father is negotiating a contract with KidCare. And I thought, well, since Ryan is picking you up and we’re going to the same place, why not?”

  “I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  He stared at her for a moment, before his eyes widened. “You want to spend time alone with Jones.”

  “No, that’s not what I mean at all,” she said, with a flash of irritation at his words. “I keep telling you we’re only friends.”

  “Tell him.”

  “I don’t need to tell Ryan. He and I communicate quite nicely.”

  “That right?” Will narrowed his eyes. “So if you two communicate so well, then what’s the problem?”

  The problem was it would pretty much kill her to be forced to sit around and watch as some friend of Margaret’s fawned over Will. Not her idea of a good time.

  “Annie?”

  “Fine,” she huffed. “We can all go together. Whatever.”

  “You don’t sound like it’s fine,” Will grumbled.

  “Don’t push your luck, Sullivan. I said it was fine.” She leafed through the rest of the mail, handing things over to Will one at a time, but holding back a large envelope which she stuck under her arm.

  “What do you have there?”

  “This is probably the preliminary paperwork for my next trip.”

  “Mexico again.”

  “Maybe. But you knew it was coming.”

  “Yeah. And I also know you don’t have to go. You do have a choice. Correct?” He said th
e last word slowly.

  “Yes,” she answered, knowing he was leading her somewhere she would probably regret going.

  “Would you at least check out some of the hospitals here? Please?”

  Annie released a breath. “Sure, Will. I’ll do that.”

  “That was way too easy,” he said, as they strolled back up the driveway.

  “As it happens, I’ve already set up interviews at several hospitals. One of my good friends from nursing school is now a recruiter. We’re meeting for lunch next week. I’m also preparing to send some résumés out.”

  “Why didn’t you say so?”

  “I guess because I’m trying to turn this over to God, not to Will.”

  He stopped short. “Is that how it seems?”

  Her eyes met his but she didn’t answer, not eager to offend him but unable to lie.

  “I sound like a pretty heavy-handed guy.” His voice reflected surprise at the observation.

  “The word stubborn came to mind. Possibly even a little manipulative.”

  “Whoa. Wait a minute there. Stubborn I can maybe see. Sort of. Manipulative? How do you figure?”

  “I spoke with the associate director of the medical missions program.” She stopped and narrowed her eyes in challenge. “Apparently he’s called on multiple occasions.”

  “I told you he called.”

  “Not numerous times.”

  Will rubbed a hand over his face and through his hair. “Busted.” A dark curl dared to unfurl onto his forehead, and Annie barely resisted the urge to reach out and push it back in place.

  She sighed but said nothing. When they reached the porch steps, Will turned to face her. “I’m sorry.”

  “Are you? Or would you do it again given the opportunity?”

  He considered her words and shrugged. “Probably, but I’m still sorry. You know I’m just trying to protect Rose.”

  “Oh, Rose. So that’s your story.”

  “Not going to forgive me?”

  “Not going to let you off the hook.”

  Will groaned, his eyes tightly closed in mock pain.

  “Look, Will, you’re you and I’m me. You may be stubborn—”

  “And manipulative,” he added.

  “And manipulative. But what was it you said I am? Impulsive? I think that was the word.”