Page 61

And all he could do was worry about his brother, which just irritated him. And when they got off the phone, Camilla looked at him, a little bit too sharply for his taste.

“You’re going to accept that girl’s help, right?”

“I don’t know,” he said, because at least that was honest.

“I don’t know why you’re so hesitant to do it.”

Of course she didn’t know. Because she couldn’t possibly understand. The ways in which he felt like he had let them all down. How compelled he felt to keep control now.

“Because I am,” he said. “Can’t that be enough?”

“No.”

“You are a stubborn little hellcat, Camilla. Has anybody ever told you that?”

“I don’t know why I’m so stubborn,” she said, looking at him, her expression bland. “It’s weird. Almost like it runs in the family.”

“Yeah.” He couldn’t help but smile. “Almost like.”

“She seems smart.”

He frowned. “Who?”

“Quinn.”

He had known full well what his sister meant but he felt that showing he did was too...validating to Quinn, and even without her here, he wouldn’t do it. “She’s Brian Sullivan’s daughter.”

“I know.”

“Why do you think she seems smart? Because she went to college? And because she’s encouraging you to stay at college?”

“You’re encouraging me to stay at college,” Camilla pointed out. “Why are you being mean about Quinn doing it?”

He was being unnecessarily rude. Quinn did seem smart, that was the thing. She was sharp, and more than that, she had a real love for the land. He was just being irritated. And he was letting himself be irritated. Because all this nonsense was digging under his skin. Because he had life sorted out for himself. And having somebody meddle in it right now just felt annoying. And like something he didn’t especially want to deal with.

They finished their pizza, and he went upstairs, pausing by the door to the office.

It had been his father’s office before his. The place where he had sat with his papers, and his pipe, and gone over the financials of the ranch.

His father had been a simple man. And all of his records had been physical, not digital.

Personally, Levi found digital easier to manage. And easier to read. Particularly in certain fonts.

Another thing that he’d learned.

He had work-arounds, but it didn’t mean that it made any of this easier, or that he felt more inclined to jump in and do things.

It was just...possible now.

He was holding on by the skin of his teeth when it came to filing taxes and all of that.

Keeping up with business licenses and email communications.

He did pretty well.

But that didn’t mean that he didn’t let it get to where it was all piled up. It didn’t mean that he didn’t procrastinate something terrible.

Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to let Quinn have a look at it all.