Page 29 of Grit
No, Calvin would not have said that.
I hope you know what you’re in for.
That was more likely.
Then again, Melissa had never been a live wire to Calvin the way she was with Cary. Being on her own had changed her. Holding everything together with sheer will and endless work had shaped the woman she’d become. She was more stubborn. More single-minded. More determined.
Do right by my family, asshole. Or I will haunt you.
Cary had to smile. That sounded like Calvin.
Do right by my family.
Cary could do that. In fact, hewoulddo that.
He picked up the phone and called Joan’s mobile phone. “Hey, Joan! It’s Cary. Yeah, Melissa told me. That’s fantastic. Uh-huh. … Sounds like the right kind of people. What are their names again? Stu and…” He jotted down notes as Joan raved about their new employees.
And neighbors.
Cary wasn’t worried about the ranch. Melissa was more than competent when it came to that. If someone fucked up, she’d fire them. But these people were living in a trailer next to the house where Abby slept. You better believe he was going to be suspicious.
“So they were up in Idaho before they came down here?” He wrote more notes, grateful that Joan was the chatty type. “Oh, Oklahoma too? I didn’t know there was much ranching there.” He couldn’t stop the smile. “I know. It’s very obvious I don’t own cows. Cattle. Whatever.”
He got all the information he needed to start a background check. Full names. Last address he could figure out. A few past employers. It was enough to start with.
“Melissa?” He frowned. “Yeah, she was over here. She’s not home yet?”
Fuck. Where had she gone?
It wasn’t his business. She was a grown woman. She didn’t need watching.
“Hey, Joan? Yeah, I need to go. Let me know if she doesn’t get back before dinner, okay?”
He hung up the phone and immediately dialed another number. Paused while it rang.
“Kern County Sheriff’s office.”
“Can I speak to Mark Guzman, please?”
“Just one moment.” The receptionist put him on hold while Cary tapped his pen back and forth on his desk.
He was going to find out just who these people were. If they were good people, then no problem. If they were dangerous? If the wrong kind were sleeping in a trailer and working around Abby?
Problem. Massive problem.
“Hey, Mark.” Cary tapped his pen on the pad of paper where Stu and Leigh Hagman’s names were written. “Good to talk to you too.”
Chapter Seven
Melissa wokeearly on Saturday morning, hoping to get in a longer ride during the coolest part of the day. She walked out the door in the blue light of the late-summer morning and saddled Moxie, nodding to Stu in the distance when she saw him heading up the road to the north pasture with his border collie, Dex, trailing behind.
Stu nodded back, raised a hand, and kept riding. He’d been introducing the herd to Dex gradually, and so far Melissa was pleased with what she saw. The cattle seemed less stressed, and she hadn’t seen any of the anxiety she’d been worried about. Stu’s calm commands were enough to move Dex, who herded with confidence but wasn’t aggressive.
It had only been two weeks since Melissa had hired him, and Stu hadn’t given her reason to doubt him once. So far he’d been as knowledgeable as promised. He had a good instinct for cattle, worked well with others, and was an excellent horseman.
She’d even been able to take Abby over to the coast to see her grandparents the weekend before to meet the famous horse that sort of belonged to her. They’d stayed two full days, and Abby had gotten to know Sunny, the gelding who really did seem sweet as apple pie.
It broke Melissa’s heart driving her daughter away from her new love, and she was sure that was exactly what Greg and Beverly were after. They wanted Abby to be on the coast permanently, which wasn’t going to happen.
