Page 85 of Grit
And now Melissa and Abby were up there.
Cary smiled. Melissa might get pissed off, but he didn’t care. He was used to Melissa getting pissed off, and he was starting to understand what calmed her down.
The image of Melissa on her knees flashed brightly for a second before he shoved the memory to the back of his mind.
He’d take that out later when he wasn’t at work.
Until then, he’d have to distract himself with scheduling because harvest was bearing down on him, the packing house was talking about a worker shortageagain, and in three weeks picking crews would be filling his groves. Not to mention the town council vote on the Allen Ranch project would happen the middle of next week.
Whatever was happening between Cary and Melissa, his life was about to get more than a little crazy.
Chapter Nineteen
Melissa knocked loudlyand shoved Abby’s door open at dawn the next day.
Her daughter sat up and rubbed her eyes. “What is it?”
“Nothing. Let’s go for a ride before school.”
Abby blinked. “Really?”
“Yep.”
“What if I’m late for school?”
Melissa shrugged. “If you’re late, you won’t bethatlate.”
And Abby was hardly ever late. Her daughter breezed through school. Unlike Melissa, Abby was a natural student, and she nearly always got straight As. Melissa credited Calvin, because while she’d been a good student, she’d had to work her butt off.
“Get dressed.” Melissa tossed her a helmet. “I’ll meet you in front of the barn.”
Nothing got Abby more motivated than horses and goats. She loved both with equal passion, though her heart was with the horses and her mind and pocketbook were with the goats.
Abby had spent dinner the night before detailing the steps of making goat-milk soap, which she’d recently learned from YouTube. Her grandmother was eager to try it out, even if it meant she had to sacrifice some of the milk. They had plans for the weekend after next.
Watching Joan and Abby the night before, Melissa had a revelation.
This wasn’t just her ranch.
Just like Melissa had started making plans for Oxford Ranch when she was a kid, Abby was making her plans too. Those plans might change, but for now Abby had to assume that Oxford Ranch would be a four-generation affair.
Which meant that anything that happened to the ranch was Abby’s business too.
Melissa readied Moxie and PJ and tied PJ to the corral. Then she mounted Moxie and waited for her daughter to come running.
Abby flew down the dirt road in the early-dawn light, her hair streaming behind her helmet and her boots kicking up the fall dust. There was a bite in the air and, like her mother, she’d thrown on a flannel shirt over her jeans and T-shirt.
Look at her, Calvin.Melissa’s heart swelled.Look at that stunning girl. We made that, babe.
“You ready?”
PJ turned his head to greet Abby, offering a sweet nicker when his second-favorite person grabbed his reins. Abby used the fence to mount the gelding and nudged him toward Melissa and Moxie.
“Ready now,” Abby said. “Where we going?”
“I thought we’d just take a quick ride up to Christy Meadow.”
“Is the creek running?”
