Page 3 of Snowed In With the Maverick
There was some vindication in this, but the idea of going back to work at a museum, at a job she loved but that was now tainted by the memories of gaslighting and humiliation, was not an option.
She’d given everything to that job, and the fact that the museum could so quickly dismiss her was completely crushing. So, she’d accepted the settlement money as well as a generous severance check, sold her town house in the Golden Triangle and made the decision to leave behind her life in Denver, and seek the peace and tranquility of the rolling grasslands and prairies of eastern Montana.
It hadn’t taken her long to find the charming ranch right outside Tenacity, and since the property had been on the market for some time, she was able to negotiate a good price. Within a month, she was unpacking her belongings in her new home.
And now, not two months after moving in, she was already faced with the past she was trying to leave behind.
Andrea glanced around the mess of her front foyer that she was tearing down to rebuild something better. She had to believe that she could do the same with her life.
She picked up her crowbar, and wrenched off the final piece of drywall, which came off in large, satisfying chunks, and tossed it on the floor.
Just as she went to put away her tools, she noticed something between the studs, and peered down to the ground where a rusty old tool sat, covered in drywall dust.
Andrea picked it up and examined it in her hands. The device looked like a pair of pliers but made of rusted iron with long handles. It creaked as she pulled the handles apart, the grainy joint resisting moving from the position it appeared to have been in for several decades.
It was probably garbage, but rather than tossing it in the big black industrial waste bag on the floor, Andrea placed the tool on her workbench, then dusted off her hands on her pants.
What else she’d find behind these walls, she wasn’t sure, but she was resolved. Both the house and her life were about to be rebuilt, piece by piece.
Chapter Two
When Seth pulled off the main Bronco road that led to the Triple T Ranch, he was surprised to see his brother’s truck parked in the lot outside the property’s business office. Daniel had taken a leave from the ranch back in the summer, which he’d extended and was now living just outside of Tenacity at his boyfriend Mike’s family ranch. It was a rare occasion these days for Daniel to make the drive out to their own family’s property.
Maybe Daniel could pitch in and help Seth with his work so he could turn his attention to what he really wanted to be doing that afternoon. Instead of planning grazing schedules, going over the inane details of pasture health, hay production and supplemental feed, all Seth wanted to do was to retreat to his cabin at the back end of the Triple T property and spend time poring over some more of the research materials he’d been collecting in anticipation of his conversation with Andrea Spence.
He’d been preparing meticulously, determined to make their conversation worthwhile. He couldn’t shake his confusion over her tepid response on the phone. Discovering real fossils, right in the backyard of her new home—it felt like a no-brainer for a paleontologist to jump on the opportunity.
But she’d seemed hesitant. Uncertain. Hopefully she could at least give him a sense of what his instincts had been telling him ever since Luca Sanchez had made that discovery, and validate his kernel of an idea that Tenacity—never considered anything other than a speck on a map, a place to drive through on the way to something bigger and better—might just be about to turn a corner and establish itself as a destination in its own right.
He’d get to that later. Now, he had his other job to attend to, which as of late was feeling more and more like an obligation and less like the career he felt much more suited for. But, as his father often reminded him and his brothers, his words always dripping in haughty condescension,Taylor men work Taylor land.
The cool November winds blew by as Seth exited his car. He spotted Daniel and Mike making their way down the path from the main house. Cody, Mike’s nephew, a nine-year-old boy with dark curly hair who bore a striking resemblance to his uncle, trailed them, holding an action figure in his hand.
Seth waved. “Didn’t expect to see you guys here,” he said.
“We’re taking Cody to see a movie in Bronco,” Daniel said.
“They have the 3D screen,” explained Cody. “And the movie we’re going to see has lots of explosions and rockets.”
“Sounds like fun,” Seth said, then nodded to what Cody was clutching in his hand. “What have you got there?”
Cody held out a plastic dinosaur figure.
“Styracosaurus,” Seth said. “Nice.”
Cody’s eyes widened. “How did you know that? Everyone always thinks it’s a triceratops.”
“Six spikes on the frill instead of three horns,” Seth said.
Cody gaped at him, and Daniel laughed. “Seth here might be almost as big of a dino fan as you,” he said.
“I’ve heard you’re into dinosaurs,” Seth said to Cody. “Wait, didn’t I hear you found a dino bone in the forest just outside Tenacity, even before the other bones were discovered?”
Cody nodded vigorously. “On a hike.” He looked up at Mike. “And you said we’d go back and look for more, right, Uncle Mike?”
“In the spring,” Mike said. “Everything’s going to be covered in snow soon.”
“Well I’d love to talk shop with you sometime, Cody,” said Seth.
