Page 50 of Keeping His Brat

She took a deep breath and held it with an intense look of concentration on her face. He couldn’t tell if that was a good sign or not. When she let it out, she gave him a decisive nod. “That’s actually an amazing plan. And country weddings are in right now anyway. I’d like to be part of the planning on it because I’ve got some ideas too.”

He straightened, feeling excited now that he was actually discussing the future plans. “Of course, Charlie girl, as long as you’ve got the time and it doesn’t put you behind in your schoolwork.” He gave her a look, the kind that was meant to remind her that he was still in charge.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Daddy. I’ll keep track of my schedule.” The tone of voice bordered on snarky.

“Uh-huh. You better, or you know what will happen.” He patted her thigh significantly. “Anyway, I was thinking if it took off, we could hire someone part-time as a coordinator. There’s so much we could do with it. Even bring over some gentle horses for riding if we get kid’s parties.”

It was a good talk. Solid. Charlie helped him flesh out some of the ideas he’d been thinking of, and he went to bed thinking it was all going to work out. He had an agenda in mind for the next day. A lot of things to get done that would start them on the path to where he wanted them to do.

He'd promised to take it easy when he went back, and he meant to keep it. He’d already seen what happened when he let himself get too worn down. He was young and healthy, and he’d bounced right back –this time. That didn’t mean he was wanting to push too hard.

After two weeks in bed and then a long post-sex nap that afternoon he hadn’t expected to sleep as heavily as he did. He almost considered staying in bed when the alarm went off. It was an effort to roll over and sit up on the side of the bed, but he did finally manage.

A hot shower and several cups of coffee had him feeling moderately more alive. He did his best to be quiet in the kitchen, but he half-hoped that Charlie would wake up anyway. He was still making up for barely seeing her while he’d been gone.

But when he finished his third cup of coffee, and filled his thermos for the morning, she was still fast asleep. He tucked her in and left with a smile on his face. A fiancé, a new direction for the ranch to expand into, and plans to lighten his schedule were all good things and it put him in a decent mood.

That mood didn’t last long.

He’d set the alarm for earlier than usual because he’d wanted to go in and get settled before the hands arrived. Ben was usually first in because he unlocked the gate for the rest of the hands. So he’d get himself organized and then have a chat with Ben about how things had gone.

At least that was the plan. He hadn’t stepped more than a few feet inside the main barn before he realized something was different. It took him a few minutes to put his finger on it. Most of it was subtle. Things were no longer where they were usually kept.

Instead of going to the office he took a little tour, checking out what was different. He was irritated, but … he had to wonder if it was just because he hadn’t been consulted. When he separated himself from his emotions, he could see that some of the changes worked. They probably would make things a lot more efficient.

He'd inherited his position from his father, in a way. And it was a generational ranch that had been inherited since Charlie’s grandfather had started it. Things were added on, more than they were really changed. That meant sometimes the way things were was just because that’s how they used to be. Even when that no longer made as much sense.

So yeah, he could see the storeroom worked better where it was. And all the shelving and bins that had been added would make it easier to find things. It made sense to repurpose one of the middle stalls for all the mucking tools that were used daily. They would be nice and central and since there were usually open stalls there was no reason not to.

It still left him feeling out of sorts and irritated before he got to his office. At first, he didn’t notice anything unusual there. It all seemed to be the same as he’d left it. But when he fired up the laptop, he saw that his own space hadn’t been left alone after all.

Again, small changes had happened. It looked like a couple of new programs had been added. He didn’t know what their purpose was and wasn’t going to bother looking right then. But things had been moved around on the main screen as well and he frowned as he tried to figure out why.

Ben didn’t have the initiative to do any of this. It had Charlie’s scent all over it. His fiancé had been a busy little girl while he’d been gone, it seemed.

He forced himself to put it aside. He’d deal with her when he got home. They’d have a long talk about how she hadn’t consulted him, and then they’d discuss why she hadn’t told him yesterday when they spent the evening talking about the ranch.

At least he knew now what she’d been hiding. The little brat had obviously wanted to put off confessing as long as possible, and they’d deal with that. But … there had been too many miscommunications between them in the past. This time he was going to wait and think about the changes she’d made.

“Hey Sam! Good to see you back!”

Sam jerked in his chair, startled. He’d been so focused on his thoughts he hadn’t heard Ben arriving. Sitting back in his creaky old chair, he nodded at the man in the doorway. “Hey Ben. Got out yesterday. Figured I’d come see how things were going.”

He stayed right there as if gauging Sam’s mood. “Well, gotta say not too bad. Honestly, Charlie picked things up pretty fast. Don’t know if you saw the changes she’s been making?”

“I saw.”

When Ben winced, Sam realized that the words had come out sounding tense. He made an effort to fix it. “Sorry, I’m tired this morning. It looks like a lot of it makes sense. I’m not sure I caught all the changes but coming through I noticed some of it.”

Ben cleared his throat looking awkward. “We uh, assumed she’d discussed it with you.” Whatever he saw in Sam’s face must have confirmed that it had all been a surprise. “She’s—Well, she’s half owner so we just went with it. And I have to tell you boss, it really has made things more efficient. I wasn’t sure at first … but yeah it’s working out.” He seemed to be trying to cover his ass, while convincing Sam it had all been a good idea.

It left Sam wanting to snap at him. It didn’t matter if Charlie was half owner, not when he was the one in charge of running things. But even if he was mad at Charlie, and he wasn’t sure if he was yet, he wasn’t going to air their dirty laundry in front of Ben. “It’s fine, we’ll give it a try and whatever works can stay. Charlie has a good mind for these things. And sometimes a fresh perspective is useful,” he said instead.

All of it was true. It just didn’t resolve his annoyance that it had happened behind his back. He put his workface on. “Anyway, I’ll be here if you need anything but I’m going to let you handle the assignments. I’m easing back into things with a lighter schedule.

“No problem. Uh. Charlie switched things up with the routine there. Moved people around and had them working on some other stuff. Should I stick with that?” Ben asked, with hesitation clear in his voice.

Sam might not be letting anything show but Ben was still picking up on something. “Yes, if it seems to be working just stick with it until I can review things,” Sam said.

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