The Barefoot Summer(35)

“My eyes?” She frowned.

“Oh, yeah! The eyes are the windows to the soul, so he stepped in and—”

“And he conned me,” Kate finished for him. “How do I know you aren’t doing the same thing just to get more information from me?”

His eyes locked with hers. “Because I’m not like that.”

Finally, she blinked and looked out across the lake. She wanted to believe him. She really did. “Well, I’d sure like it if you solved this case. I don’t want the suspicion of murder hanging over my head the rest of my life.”

“I’ll still be on it until my paperwork is finished,” Waylon said. “And for your sake, I hope I do get it all tied up with a pretty bow.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Twilight had deepened into full dark, the moon providing the only light under the weeping willow tree branches.

“Did you ever have any regrets about going right into the family business?” he asked.

To his surprise she nodded. “I was groomed to take over the oil business from the time I was a little girl. Disappointing Mother was not an option. I don’t know what I would have done differently, but it would have been nice to have a choice,” she said.

“Well, if you’d like to—” He stopped midsentence and pulled his phone from his shirt pocket.

“Well, shit!” he muttered after he’d listened a few seconds. “Maybe Paul will find some guys willing to help.” Another moment and he rolled his eyes. “Then we’ll be working until midnight and using spotlights to get it all in.”

He inhaled and let it all out in a whoosh as he shoved the phone back into his pocket. “That’s the foreman of my ranch. He says that three of my summer hired hands have come down with the flu, so I’m really going to be shorthanded for the rest of the week.” He rolled up on his knees and then stood. “If you’d like to see if you’d like the ranching business, I could sure use a hay truck driver. I wouldn’t ask you to throw bales, but anytime you want to come out to the place and drive, I’ll pay you minimum wage.”

“I might take you up on that.” She smiled.

He offered her his hand, but she shook her head. “I think I’ll stay here a little longer. I want to think some more before I go back to the cabin.”

“Thanks for the visit, Kate.”

“Right back at you.” She smiled.



Driving a hay truck might be just exactly what Kate needed for a few days to convince her that her job in the city was ideal. She picked up her Kindle and the quilt and was on her way to the cabin when the buzz of conversation on the deck above caught her attention.

It had been several days since she’d found the letters and sent the will down to her lawyers. She’d hoped to have that part of the thing settled when she told Jamie and Amanda about the letters and let them read them, but there were still no answers to what would or could happen to the cabin. Still, tonight might be the right time to go ahead and tell them.

“What’s going on here?” Kate asked.

“We don’t need you to settle our argument,” Jamie said.

“You don’t even want this cabin, so just butt out,” Amanda said.

“Life is not fair and we don’t know yet who will wind up with this place. Why do you even want it, anyway?” Kate asked.

“I like it here, and Victor said there’s an opening at the school for an elementary teacher.” Jamie tipped up her chin a notch. “You’d only sell the place if you inherited it, and like I’ve said, it’ll be Gracie’s since she is his oldest living child.”

“What if we all inherit equally? I get a third. You each get a third. What then?” Kate asked.

“God, what a nightmare that would be.” Jamie groaned.

“You have money and a fancy job in Dallas. Why would you even want this place?” Amanda asked.

Kate laid the quilt and her Kindle on a table and sat down in a lawn chair. “Arguing about it now isn’t going to solve anything. The property could be tied up in court for years. We should all go home and wait until something is decided.”

Jamie hiked a hip on the railing. “No, Gracie likes it here. She’s coming out of her shyness more and more. Amanda has a business in Wichita Falls that she’s not going to leave. You have one in Dallas. You do the math.”

“I’m not leaving,” Amanda said. “I’ve got time and I don’t want to be cooped up in an apartment. I like this fresh air and sunshine, and I’m staying right here until I have to leave.”

Kate glanced at Jamie.

Jamie pushed away from the railing. “Like I said, it is amazing how much Gracie has come out of her shell this past week. I want her to have the rest of the summer here.”

“So we’ll all have to agree to disagree about who’s going to wind up with this property,” Kate said.

Tonight was definitely not the time to bring out those letters. Everyone needed to have a level head when they found out what was in that will. Hopefully, in the next few days, something would be decided about Darcy’s involvement.

And maybe the argument is an omen that it’s not the right time, that niggling little voice in her head said.

I don’t believe in omens or fate. Choices that we make determine our future, not fate or karma, she argued.