Page 8 of Her Cowboy Baby Daddy
Hayley blinked the sting away from her eyes and focused on matters she did have control of. Running the ranch. She needed help in that regard, so tomorrow, when she took Greta to Whiskers and Paw Pals, she’d ask around, see if anyone knew of a reliable person looking for ranch work.
*
“It’s okay, Grandpa.”Lex, Reed’s fifteen-year-old daughter, grinned over her shoulder. “I know that word too.”
She might know the word, but Spence wished his dad would watch his tongue.
Lex made a show of closing the dishwasher, twisting the knob to start it, then dusting off her hands. “I’ll just head next door so that you can speak freely.”
“Thank you.” Daniel’s voice sounded a touch choked, but he maintained a straight face. He waited until Lex had grabbed her sweatshirt and headed out the door before repeating the word he shouldn’t have said in front of his granddaughter.
Spence’s mom, Audrey, set an affectionate hand on her husband’s shoulder. “Well said,” she murmured without a hint of irony.
“I think it sums up the situation,” Reed said. “Now we need a solution.”
Daniel put his hands on the table in front of him, tucking his thumbs under the edge. “Last time we had a water issue, you guys were little, so you probably don’t remember.”
“No,” Spence said. “We do.” The issues the drought had caused had been hard to miss. The canal had dried up and fields on the east side of the ranch had gone yellow after only one cutting of alfalfa. On the west side, however, they’d managed two more cuttings, thanks to being able to pump leased water and continue irrigating.
He met his dad’s gaze, realizing where this was going. “You got water from the Lone Tree Ranch.” Their nearest neighbor and the most water-rich ranch in the valley.
“And hope to do it again. The thing is that Old Darrell was still alive at the time, and I dealt with him. Now both Darrell and Hank”—Hayley’s grandfather and dad—“are gone, which might complicate matters.”
“Because you don’t know Hanna?” Reed asked.
“Hayley,” Spence corrected. “Her name is Hayley.”
“Yeah. Sorry,” Reed said.
“Hayley,” Daniel repeated. “I only recognize her because of her hair. No, I don’t know her.”
“I know her,” Spence said.
“You know her?” Reed asked. “How? You left home before she graduated and as near as I can tell, you haven’t spent much time back here.”
“I know her from high school.” Reed cocked his head in a disbelieving way, and Spence explained. “We had an encounter.”
Audrey lifted her hands as if to ward off what he was about to say next.
“She saved my ass,” Spence said.
“When? How?” Reed scowled at Spence.
“I was a senior, and this is going to sound kind of stupid now, but you remember Lucas Barstow?”
“That mountain?” Reed said. “Kind of hard to forget him. What happened?”
“I might have run my mouth at him once too often, and before the bus left for the championship basketball game, he locked me in the equipment shed. You know Coach’s rules back then. If you’re not dressed out by warmups, you’re not playing.” And even though he’d been a top scorer, the coach would have kept his word.
“Hayley heard me pounding and managed to let me out. Then she drove me to the game.” He decided to leave the part out about the cop stopping them. “We passed the bus, and I was waiting there when it arrived.” He smiled reminiscently. “You should have seen the look on Barstow’s face when he saw me leaning against the lamppost as the bus drove up.”
“Hayley Parker. Red hair. Braids. Glasses. That Hayley Parker.”
“She’d lost the braids by then. Still had glasses.” He’d been impressed at how coolly she’d handled matters. “I’ll get you to the game,” she’d said matter-of-factly. And then she did.
“You owe her a favor,” Daniel said.
“Yeah. I do.” Plus, he hadn’t properly thanked her for rescuing his sorry ass. “But I think that I might be the guy to talk to her about this situation.”
