Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 90164 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90164 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“You and me both.” I shake his hand and then turn to the other officer. I don’t recognize him. “I’m Remington Wild.”
“Cole Sutton,” he replies and shakes my hand. “What happened?”
“I’m going to let Bruiser explain.” I gesture to my ranch hand and step back next to Chase as we listen to him describe seeing the mountain lion on camera and then racing out here to the field.
“She was poised and ready to kill the calf. She’s been killing cattle for about a month now, and we had to protect the calf.” Bruiser wipes his hand over his face. “So, I shot her, and when I walked up on her, I heard them.”
At his gesture, we turn to the tree line, and Cole says, “Damn.”
“I have traps in the truck,” Nathan says grimly. “We’ll take them to a sanctuary. They might even be able to be released back into the wild at some point.”
“Just far away from my ranch.”
“There’s going to be paperwork,” Nathan warns me.
“Of course, there is.” My phone rings, and I pull it out to find that it’s my mom. “Hey, Mom.”
“Hi, honey. Did you forget about Holly’s eye appointment?”
I close my eyes. Yeah, I had forgotten it in all of this mess. “Shit, yeah, I did.”
“I can’t take her because I have a doctor’s appointment of my own,” she says. “I suppose I could reschedule.”
“No, I’ll figure it out. Just give me a minute.”
I check the time and curse under my breath. I have less than an hour to get my daughter to her appointment, but I can’t leave the ranch until this whole mess is figured out.
So, I call my sister.
“Hi, favorite oldest brother,” she says in my ear.
“Remember that I’m your favorite, okay? I need some help. Tell me you’re not working today.”
“I’m not working today.”
“Good. Can you come get Holly and take her to her eye appointment? I’m hung up here at the ranch.”
“Uh, sure. Give me an hour.”
I close my eyes. “I can’t. She has to be there in less than that.”
“Jesus, Rem, give a girl some notice. Okay, I’m pulling myself together, and I’ll be there shortly.”
“I’ll let Mom know. I’m in the north pasture, so I won’t be at the house when you pick her up.”
“I’ll talk to you later,” is all she says before she hangs up.
“You good?” Chase asks.
No. I’m not good.
But I force a smile. “Yeah, great. Let’s get this taken care of.”
It takes two hours to answer a million questions, get the babies trapped, and bury the carcass of the mother so she doesn’t draw in other unwanted visitors.
By the time I get back to the house to return to some admin work in my office, Millie is just pulling in with the kids.
“I have to get glasses,” Holly announces as she bounces out of my sister’s car and runs over toward me. “Are the kids at school gonna call me Four Eyes?”
“Only if they’re idiots,” I reply and kiss her on the cheek.
“I helped her pick them out. She’s going to be gorgeous in them.” Millie smiles at both kids as they hurry inside.
It’s a cold spring day today, so we trudge up the steps behind them.
“Rem, we need to talk.”
“Hold on.” I hold up a finger and find the kids in the family room, already settling in to play their game. “Are you guys good in here for a little bit? I want to chat with Aunt Millie.”
“We’re good,” Johnny assures me. “We had McDonald’s for breakfast on the way home. We got there just in time, before they switched to lunch.”
“Grandma already fed you breakfast.”
My son just smiles slyly at me.
“Right. Okay, we’ll be done shortly.”
I walk into my office and close the French doors behind me.
“Okay, what’s wrong? Are you in trouble?”
Millie frowns. “Huh? No, why? What did you hear? It wasn’t my fault. The stupid tourists were being assholes, and I just—”
She breaks off and tilts her head to the side.
“That’s not what you meant, is it?”
“No, but now I want to know about the asshole tourists.”
She laughs and shakes her head. “It’s no big deal. I’m not in trouble, Rem. That’s not why I wanted to talk to you.”
“Good.”
“Your kids miss you.”
“Sorry, what?”
“Look, I’ve never been one to tell you how to raise your kids. Hell, I was a kid when Johnny was born, and you’re a great dad. You really are. But your responsibilities here at the ranch are huge now, Rem. You bought ten thousand more acres to the west last year, which means more work. Dad decided that since the ranch is now bringing in seven figures every year in profit, he could retire, which is awesome for him, but that means way more work for you because now you’re in charge.”
“Thanks for the recap.”
“You have a lot going on, and yeah, Mom helps out with the kids a ton, but even she can only do so much. I asked the kids today what you’ve done for spring break, and Holly said she’s hardly seen you all week because you’re gone before they get up in the morning, and you get home at dinnertime.”