Page 22 of Christmas with the Cowboy
Dawn came back in the room then, and Carter waved her over to the leather chair beside his desk. “I think you can add Trenna’s name to the guest list for the fundraiser.”
Dawn turned to Trenna. “That’s lovely. We’re finalizing the guest list now. You are, of course, on it, but I’m so glad to know you’ll be able to attend.”
“Do you need any help?” Trenna asked.
Dawn rejected the obligatory offer with a sweep of her hand and a smile. “As if you don’t have enough to do getting ready for classes and overseeing the cottage renovation.”
It was more a massive painting project than a renovation, but Trenna wasn’t going to argue with her stepmother. Neither Dawn nor her father knew that she was working with Audrey Keller archiving Keller Ranch documents, and as far as she was concerned, they didn’t need to know.
“Let me know if you change your mind, or find yourself in the weeds,” she said before raising her cup to her lips. The scent of fresh cinnamon tickled her nose. Dawn did nothing by halves, not even coffee, so this soiree would be an affair.
Dawn beamed at her. “So glad all is well now.” She gave her husband a look as if to say,“Thingsarewell now, aren’t they?”
“We’re good,” he said mildly.
Were they? Carter Hunt was a man of his word, but Trenna wasn’t certain whether she’d gotten his word. Better to nail things down now. When she finished her coffee, she smiled at Dawn and told her that she needed to get back to the cottage.
“I’ll walk you to your car,” she said, rising to her feet.
Trenna let her stepmother precede her out of the room, then paused with a hand on the doorjamb. “You’ll leave the Kellers alone?”
“I’ll consider the points you made.”
Which was probably as close to a concession as she was going to get. Trenna knew when to cut line, and now was the time. “Thanks for your time, Dad.”
He raised a hand in a salute, then fixed his attention back on his computer monitor.
And suddenly Trenna was very glad she’d majored in a subject she loved instead of one she hated. She never wanted to wear a look like that when she settled in to work.
Chapter Five
“Wait,” Daniel said,his fork poised in the air above his plate. “Henry came at you guys with the tractor?”
“He was trying to distract Hunt’s men.”
“With a 20,000-pound farming implement.”
“It’s what he had at hand,” Reed said dryly. He was about to say more when he noticed Lex’s gaze ping-ponging between him and his dad.
Daniel also seemed to notice and focused back on his plate. “I don’t want to think that Henry’s losing it or anything.”
“He probably knew what he was doing,” Lex offered. “Dad says he’s a good operator.”
“He is. But you never,ever…” Daniel sighed. “You know what I’m about to say.”
After four kids, Daniel had all but lectured himself out, so now he tended to keep it to the basics.
“Tractors are not distractors?” Lex asked, her eyes wide with mock innocence.
Daniel stared at her, and for a moment, Reed thought his dad was about to tip over, but when he did, it wasn’t in the way he expected. Daniel’s face broke into a wide grin. “Well put. Maybe we need to have Henry write that a couple hundred times.”
“Did you ever do anything dangerous with a tractor?” Lex leaned forward, her tone earnest.
“There’s very little your grandfather didn’t do,” Audrey said, pushing back her chair. “And what he didn’t think of, this one did.” She pointed at Reed, making him wonder if she’d lost her parenting marbles. You didn’t let your kid know you made…what? Poor choices, he’d call it, because it sounded better than stupidly impulsive choices, vengeful choices, drunken choices, I’ll-show-you choices. And, of course, the I-wonder-if-I-can-get-away-with-this choices.
“And they both suffered for it, didn’t you?” Audrey continued.
Reed and Daniel nodded as one. It was true. They had.
