Mrs. Reynolds pushed her cart away, mumbling, “A golf course. Cal would cry.”
Which was really too much. Kate couldn’t even shop without strangers insulting her. She folded her arms and pursed her lips at Landon. He was still gaping after Mrs. Reynolds like he couldn’t quite believe the things she’d said.
“So,” Kate said, “how many other people in Bisbee fervently hate me?”
His gaze returned to her. “I’m sure no oneferventlyhates you.”
Well, a poll might find otherwise. “What have you been telling people about me?”
Landon held up his hands. “I haven’t said anything about you.”
Kate’s lips went back to pursed position. “Right. Everyone knows about the golf course.”
“I just told a few people about the will. Stop glaring at me, Kitty. I had to tell people. One way or another, things are going to change for me in a year. I’ve got to make provisions and set things in order.”
He made it sound so innocent—the fact that he’d turned everyone against her. For the entire time she would live here, she was going to get nothing but the cold shoulder. And eggs would keep collecting in her fridge.
“I’ve just made my first business decision,” she said. “I’m selling some chickens.” She pushed her cart toward the checkout counter without further commentary.
Chapter Nine
The next Fridayafter Dewayne finished his work, he stopped by the house to talk to Kate about equipment. “The alfalfa is nearly ready to be cut. You’ll need to buy or borrow a baler. I could probably find a decent used one for ten thousand or so.”
It seemed odd that her grandpa wouldn’t have bought that sort of equipment already. “What did my grandfather do last time he needed to bale alfalfa?”
“The Wyles did it. That was part of the arrangement for letting them pump water from Cal’s wells.”
No mention of that had been made in the will. “Grandpa had a contract with them?” Kate asked hopefully, even though she already suspected they didn’t. Her grandfather wouldn’t have asked his friends to sign anything.
Dewayne shook his head. “Just a gentleman’s agreement.”
One the Wyles wouldn’t have to honor now. Kate let out a grunt. How could her grandfather have been so short-sighted? If she had to buy expensive equipment, she wouldn’t be able to turn a profit. But perhaps she didn’t need to purchase anything. The will hadn’t specified that people couldn’t loan equipment to her. It had only stated no one could give her equipment.
When Landon had first come to the house, he’d offered to help her. Maybe he would feel obligated to loan her equipment since he was using Coyote Glen’s water. She shouldn’t be too proud to ask.
“I could search for a used baler,” Dewayne reiterated. “Might be able to get a good deal on one if we agree to buy it as is.”
Meaning it could break down the minute after they bought it. Kate looked out across the pasture to the field of alfalfa. Her gaze wandered in the direction of the Wyle Away. “Let me talk to Landon first.”
Of course, this was easier said than done. During their last conversation, she accused him of turning the town against her. That wasn’t the best segue into asking for favors. Still, she shouldn’t burn through her grandfather’s savings the first month she was on the ranch.
Borrowing the Wyles’ baler would take a little strategy. Or at least bribery. She called her mother and asked for her grandmother’s secret cheesecake recipe, something her grandmother had guarded fervently. She’d only given it to her mother on the condition she would never share it with anyone outside of the family. Grandmother wanted to be the only one in town who could whip something as light and fluffy as her version of cherries jubilee. If Kate remembered right, the Wyle brothers were fans of the dessert.
She made two—one for the brothers and one for herself. If she was going to go eat humble pie, she was going to chase it down with a lot of cheesecake.
It was nearly seven o’clock when she drove to the Wyle Away and nervously called from the gate intercom.
A man’s voice answered. Probably Jaxon. “Howdy. What can I do for you?”
“I come bearing cheesecake. And asking favors.”
“Your grandmother’s recipe?”
“Yes.”
The gate swung open without further questioning. Bless Jaxon’s sweet tooth.
Kate drove through the gate, and a few minutes later climbed the stairs to the Wyles’ wraparound porch. Theirs was a sprawling, white two-story home with large picture windows that looked out over the land. Rustic meets modern. She’d liked the home as a child and now admired it as an interior designer. Great scale and proportion. It flowed with the land and made the distant mountains seem like a charming backdrop.