Page 305 of The Brothers at Horseshoe Ranch

“I do. There’s so much going on here at the ranch. There’s so much we’re going to change. Wyatt’s training horses. We got the plans back from the architect for some of the cabins. I was speaking to someone in Seattle who thinks that they can start a marketing program for us there and in the California Bay Area because there are a lot of rich people in tech that want to come to ranches like ours and just hang out.”

“Okay, well that’s all good news, right?”

“Exactly. So I’ve just got a lot on my mind, Dad.”

“And that’s why you decided to interfere in Arya’s business?”

“Dad, you wouldn’t want Mama working at the bar, would you?”

“No, but she’s my wife.”

“Exactly.” I chewed my lower lip as I realize that I completely misheard what he’d said. “I mean, obviously Arya’s not my wife, but I look at her like family. She’s got no one else, and she and Eloise have—”

“You have a soft spot for them. I understand. But that doesn’t mean you can just go and meddle in her business.”

“I didn’t mess in her business. It’s not my fault that—”

“Son, we both know that Chip all of a sudden got ten thousand dollars. And I wonder where he got that from.”

“I don’t know where he got it from.”

“So you don’t have a deduction from your trust?”

“Not that I know of.”

“You forget that my name is still on the paperwork of all of you guys’ trusts, so I can see when anything over five thousand dollars has been deducted.”

Oh shit, I remembered now. My dad didn’t really care what we did with the money, and he wasn’t necessarily overseeing it, but he was still on all of the accounts, based on how the trust had been written up. “Okay, well, I mean, Chip wanted to go away for a little bit and I figured, hey, why not now?”

“Son, I get it. You like Arya.”

“No, I don’t. It’s got nothing to do with that.”

“Okay. If you say so. Well, I’m just going to say this to you, Chet. There’s such a thing as being protective, and there’s such a thing as being overbearing. Now, I don’t mind it if you’re protective of the woman that you love or your child or your sisters-in-law or your grandkids, but if you’re going to be protective of someone you don’t know that well, then you’re going to have to find out and figure out if that’s what they want from you. You’re going to have to figure out your role in Arya’s life.”

“What do you mean, my role in Arya’s life? I’m her friend.”

“But if you’re just her friend, then you’re going to have to listen to what she wants. You can’t dictate.”

“What does me being her friend have to do with me dictating anything? I’m not dictating anything. It’s not like you being married to Mom means you get to dictate her life.”

“No, it doesn’t. And I would never presume that I could tell your mother what to do, but we come to decisions together because we’re partners. You and Arya are not partners.”

“I know we’re not partners. I’m just trying to look out for her because she doesn’t know what it’s like around here.”

“Chet, she can figure out what she wants to do herself. Trust me, I understand your thought process, but what you did wasn’t right.”

“Well, I apologized to her and she’s still pissed, so whatever.”

“She has a right to be. She’s got a child to take care of.”

“I know she’s got a child to take care of, but we’re looking after Eloise too.”

“But we’re not family.”

“That doesn’t matter. We still love them all the same.”

“Oh, Chet. You’re a good boy and a strong man, but sometimes I do believe you’re my most obstinate son.”

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