LITMIR.BIZ

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was old Joe Falkner, known to be worth millions. Joe still drove a truck he’d bought new a couple of decades ago. He lived in a house that appeared to be falling apart. But he raised some of the best Angus in the state.

      He joined Larry as Joe drove off.

      “Don’t tell me Joe is thinking of getting a new stock trailer.”

      Larry laughed and pulled a stick of gum out of his pocket. He’d been trying to quit smoking for six months. So now he chewed gum. A lot of gum. He offered a piece to Tanner.

      “Yeah, he’s going to have to buy a trailer. The floor rotted out of his. The guy who normally fixes it said no more, he isn’t fixing that trailer again.”

      “Did you close him on one?”

      Larry shook his head. “He won’t turn loose of a dime. He said in 1970-something he could get that trailer for, I don’t know, a ridiculous amount.”

      “I guess if he decides to haul some cattle to auction, he’ll come back and buy a trailer.”

      “Knowing Joe, he’ll go hire some drovers and herd those cattle to the auction like they did a hundred years ago.”

      “Don’t give him that idea.” Tanner glanced at his watch. “I’m going to take a drive. You’ll be here for a bit?”

      “Yeah, anything you need me to do?”

      “Yeah, pray. We’ve got six months to find some people, or old Cyrus Culpepper’s place is going to be paved over.”

      “I’d heard rumors about a crazy will. You can’t pave over that many acres, and Cyrus hated those types of developments.”

      “Tell that to his will.”

      Larry adjusted the bent-up cowboy hat he always wore. “He was an ornery old cuss. It’s hard to tell what he was thinking, but I’m sure he had some kind of angle when he came up with this plan.”

      “I’d sure like to know what it was. If I don’t get back, will you close up?”

      “You got it, boss.” Larry headed back to the building.

      Tanner didn’t really have a plan when he left, but he found himself heading up the drive of the Triple C. It wasn’t too far from his own spread. When he pulled up, he saw another car in the driveway. He got out of his truck, surprised to see Macy sitting on the hood of her car looking at the old Culpepper place.

      For a long minute he stood watching her. Her blond hair was pulled back with a headband, and sunglasses perched on the end of her nose. She looked out of place in jeans, boots and a plaid shirt, as if she was trying to fit, but she didn’t. She was city, from her manicured nails to the way she stepped around mud to keep it from getting on those boots of hers.

      He admired that she wanted to blend, that she wanted to transplant herself in this community for the sake of a little boy who had already lost too much.

      Admiring was as far as he wanted to let his thoughts take him on a sunny day in October when his sister was looking at wedding dresses, his brother was currently on temporary duty somewhere in the Middle East and Cyrus had strung them all up by their toes, asking for something that might be impossible. “I came to pray,” she finally said without turning to look at him.

      The words took him by surprise, but they weren’t uncomfortable the way they might have been if someone else had said them. She was simply stating a fact.

      He closed the distance between them.

      “I came to take a look around. I haven’t been here in years. I don’t know if anyone has been up here. Cyrus kept a loaded shotgun, and he made it pretty clear he’d shoot first and ask questions later.” He grinned at the memory of the old guy.

      “He didn’t like people?”

      He leaned a hip against the hood of her car, leaving a good bit of space between them. “I guess he liked people okay. He just didn’t want anyone messing around up here. He must have liked people, because he’s making a big donation to the LSCL Boys Ranch.”

      “He isn’t making it easy.”

      “I guess that’s true. But we’ll work it out. Like most of us, Cyrus had baggage. I never knew he had a kid, let alone a granddaughter. I didn’t know he’d lived at the ranch.”

      “There are several Avery Culpeppers in the area.”

      It hadn’t taken her long to get started. He hadn’t even thought about where to start his search for Theo Linley. He doubted Gabriel would be much help.

      “We’ll find them all,” he assured her. Or maybe he was hoping to assure himself.

      They sat in silence looking at the big house with the pillared front porch. There were three wings. Plenty of space for kids to run and be kids. He’d looked over the will, and it said they could go ahead and begin moving. It would take weeks to get the process started. There would be supplies to purchase, as well as volunteers to organize. A place like this meant more of everything. More staff. More furniture. More food. More time. But it would be worth it.

      It would be good to have the boys in this house so they could celebrate Christmas in their new home.

      “I should be going.” She slid off the hood of her car.

      “Me, too.” He paused, watching as she dug her keys out of her pocket. “Have you thought about what I asked you earlier? About reading to the boys?”

      She glanced away from him, her hand going up to brush strands of blond hair from her face as the wind picked up a bit. “I don’t know.”

      “Something troubling you?”

      “No, not at all.” But the worried look in her green eyes said that something about the offer did worry her.

      “It isn’t something you have to decide on today. The library as it is will be packed up and moved over here. We just got it put together. Now we’ll have to take it all apart and do it all over again.”

      She moved to her car, and her hand settled on the door. “I can help with that, with getting things packed and then getting the new library organized.”

      “That would be good. I hate to overwhelm you, since you’re new to the area, but you might have noticed if we get a willing volunteer, we use them.”

      “I don’t scare easily. And I don’t mind helping.”

      He reached past her to open the car door, the way Aunt May had taught him. A hint of something soft and floral, like wild roses on a spring day, caught and held him a little longer than was necessary or safe.

      Chloe would have told him to stop living his life off a list he’d made twenty years ago. He couldn’t. That list had served him well. It had taken him from the gutter to the life he had now, and someday he’d find a woman to share that life with him.

      He closed the car door and watched Macy drive away in her little economy car, and he smiled. She wasn’t at all the woman he was looking for. But something about her made him think about finding someone.

       Chapter Three

      Macy juggled her purse, book bag and keys in order to get her front door unlocked. As much as she wanted to just crash, she had more work to do and she was going to need a cup of coffee to get her through the rest of the day. It had been a few days since the reading of Cyrus Culpepper’s will. She’d been substituting at the Haven high school, so she hadn’t had much time to think about finding Avery Culpepper or even going out to the Silver Star.

      Entering the house, she was met by silence. It was peaceful. But lonely. Colby should be here. He should be running to the kitchen to grab a snack, plopping in front of the TV to watch his favorite afternoon shows.

      But then, in a perfect world

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