Gary leaned back in his chair like she was the one who was being unreasonable. “I’ll talk to your parents about it.”
That irritated her too. He thought her parents were in charge of making decisions, not her. Well, he was going to be disappointed if he tried to go over her head about this. She smiled politely at him. “I’ll talk to them about it too.”
“You can’t fire him,”Kate’s mother told her. “You need help running things.”
“Exactly my point.” Kate paced across her living room with such quick strides. Missy was sure she was about to head out somewhere and was following her expectantly. “I need help from someone who knows what he’s doing. That isn’t what I have.”
“You can’t fire Gary,” her father added, “because he’s working for half salary with the expectation he’ll receive a bonus when we sell. If you terminate employment, his contract states you have to pay him the difference in salary.”
Money she didn’t have. “He blamed the cows for his shoddy job on the trailer floor. Thecows. Like the bunch of them tried to break out and make a run for it.”
Her father’s voice turned soothing. “Cheaper feed for a few months won’t kill your cattle. You’ve got to cut costs.”
“Or,” she said, with a sudden glimmer of hope, “I can increase revenue.”
Revenue didn’t have to come through cow sales. The will never specified that. It only said that no one could gift her money or things. The Wyle Away Ranch made extra income by offering adventure packages. Jaxon occasionally took tourists horseback riding, rock climbing, and repelling.Kate didn't have any expertise in those area, but she knew how to decorate.
“Maybe I could promote Coyote Glen as a wedding destination,” she said, thinking out loud. “Grandma’s gazebo is charming.” The rose bushes around it looked like something from a fairy tale. “I could string outdoor lighting from the trees.” Tall cottonwoods and eucalyptus trees grew around the perimeter of the backyard. “People pay thousands of dollars for wedding venues, right?” The ranch already had a website, she could update it to include wedding packages.
Her mother made a skeptical sounding noise. “You’d have a lot of startup costs—supplies to buy, marketing costs, and what would you do for bathrooms?”
Let people use hers. The house had three. Kate’s mind was jumping ahead to decorations. She had plenty of wood lying around. She’d make rustic wedding arches and decorate them with roses and eucalyptus. She could use her contacts in the fabric business to buy sheer voile wholesale for draping.
“Check the insurance costs first,” her father said.
Kate turned around and surveyed the living room. With the changes she’d made, the house looked quaint and homey. “I’ve got two spare bedrooms. I could rent them to people who want a getaway in the wide-open spaces.”
“I’m not sure I like that idea,” her mother said. “Having strangers in the house could be dangerous when you’re there alone.”
“For the right price,” Kate said, “I’d happily sleep in the barn.” But it wouldn’t come to that. Lots of people did Airbnb without any problems. She was close to Tombstone and tons of tourists went there every year. Some of them would want to spend time at a real cattle ranch.
“Don’t rashly jump into things,” her father added, perhaps because Kate had gone quiet. “You need to think about this.”
Kate already was. She would need bridal pictures to put on the website. She could pick up a used dress online, turn some of Grandma’s roses into a bouquet, get out her tripod, and model for pictures. A photo of herself sitting sidesaddle atop Marigold would be perfect. She’d look like a princess. What bride wouldn’t want that?
Kate had just found a way to save her ranch.
Chapter Twenty-Three
On most days,Landon kept himself as busy as possible for as long as possible. It was easy to do on a ranch. Perhaps he’d been working too hard, though, because that week when his cousin Samantha came for a visit, Jaxon insisted that Landon should be the one to take off work and play host. Samantha’s folks had a ranch in Round Valley, a fact that caused more than a little family competition, and she wanted to go to the livestock auction an hour away in Wilcox to see if she could pick up some longhorn.
The parking lot was crowded. Landon dropped her off so she could get a head start looking at the animals in the stalls and nearby corrals, then went to park the trailer. When Landon got to the stalls, he didn’t spot Samantha’s long brown hair, slim build, or white cowboy hat anywhere. He hoped she wasn’t off flirting with someone. He called her phone. “You couldn’t have gotten lost already. Where are you?”
“At the far end of the parking lot, talking to a seller. I want you to come and take a look at these cows and tell me what you think.” Her tone was slightly off—an emphasis ontell me what you think, that let Landon know something wasn’t right. Samantha didn’t need his opinion to know whether an animal was from good stock.
“I’m on my way.” Landon strode out of the pens and across the parking lot. He spotted Samantha talking to a tall, thin man in a baseball cap and sunglasses. He was chewing tobacco and glancing around too often. Years of hiring day laborers had taught Landon to spot certain things. The man was tanned, which meant he was used to working outside. If he had arm muscles, they were the wiry sort because they didn’t fill out his sleeves. His face had a gaunt look to it and several sores dotted his cheeks. Signs of meth use.
Samantha waved Landon over. “This is Jake. He heard I was from up north and offered me a chance to by some cows for cheap—without the auction commission.”
And without the stockyard checking the seller’s background or brand.
Jake gestured to the sixteen-foot trailer behind them. A couple of head were visible through the bars. “Good stock for breeding. And I’m not charging extra for the calves they’re carrying. Won’t get no better deal than that.”
Samantha gave Landon a meaningful look. “I thought I ought to check and make sure they weren’t some of yours.”
Landon took a better look at the trailer and saw why she was suspicious. The Wyle Away had mostly Angus, Brangus, and Hereford. They were all common enough around here, but for years his father had also crossbred some Longhorn with his Hereford to create more drought-tolerant stock. One of the cows in the trailer appeared to be that sort of mix—a red coat with a sprinkling of white spots.
Theft was a constant problem with ranching. Since cattle were usually spread out on miles of grazing land, someone could cut a fence, lure cattle to them with feed, and load them into their trailer. The cattle wouldn’t even be missed until the next time they were rounded up.