Page 20 of Roots of Redemption (Hicks Creek #4)

Chapter Sixteen

Wade

“ I think it’s time to put that thing out to pasture,” Dad chuckles as he stands on the other side of the old John Deere tractor.

The rhythmic clang of metal against metal echoes in the cool night air as I work on the tractor’s stubborn engine. I’ve been at this for hours, my hands greasy and my patience wearing thin, but I’m not ready to quit.

“We don’t use it enough to warrant that expense.”

“You know best.” He shrugs. “Sometimes it’s best to take into account how much time you’re wasting fixing things, though.”

“I hear you.” I smile as I look up at him.

“Caleb on checks with Sutton again?”

“Nah, they’re done for the day already. Caleb said she had some errands to run. He’ll go with her tomorrow. Man, he was wound up about it when he got home. I had to force him to bed last night. He was up before me this morning to get his chores done.”

“That’s a good kid you got there.” He grins proudly.

“You and Mom definitely helped with that.”

“Nah.” He shakes his head. “I’m glad she’s so open to his help. He’s getting hands-on learning. I saw Bob Nance at the feed store this morning, and he was raving about the both of them. Kept telling me that I have a genius for a grandson. Don’t know why anyone would be surprised by that.”

I chuckle. “He’s definitely in his element.”

“I was so angry at Frank back then, I don’t know that I really understood how our tiff affected everyone else. I’m glad things are good with Sutton and you. Your mom is tickled pink to have her at the ranch, too.”

He leaves the sentence hanging there as if he wants to say more, to ask more, but he doesn’t. After a few minutes of watching me continue to cuss at the motor, he chuckles to himself and walks into the house.

I hear the crunch of gravel under tires. I glance up just in time to see the beam of headlights sweep across the barn. Sutton pulls up in a cloud of dust, slams the door, and practically leaps out, her boots hitting the ground with a force that sends a clear message: she’s pissed.

I lean back against the tractor, wiping my hands on a rag as I watch her march toward the old barn where she’s quarantined the herd. She’s all fire and purpose, her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, her shoulders tight with whatever’s eating at her.

“Well, this ought’a be interesting,” I mutter to myself.

She disappears into the barn, and I go back to the engine, though my attention isn’t really on the tractor anymore.

I’m too curious about what’s got her so worked up.

Sutton doesn’t do anything halfway; when she’s mad, the whole world knows it.

And judging by the way she stomped in there, something big’s gone down.

A few minutes later, she comes back out, her expression still stormy.

She’s muttering under her breath, and I can’t help but smirk.

Whatever’s wrong, it’s clearly not getting better.

She’s so focused on her internal monologue that she doesn’t even notice me standing there until she’s almost past me.

“Everything all right?” I ask, not looking up from the engine.

She jumps, her hand flying to her chest. “Damn it, Wade! Don’t sneak up on people like that.”

I chuckle. “Didn’t sneak up on you. Been here the whole time.”

She narrows her eyes at me, clearly not amused. “It’s fine,” she says curtly, brushing past me.

I straighten up, tossing the rag onto the tractor. “Have a run-in with your dad again?”

She stops mid-stride, her shoulders stiffening. When she turns back to me, her eyes are flashing. “That’s none of your business.”

I hold up my hands. “Fair enough. Just asking. I’m not the enemy.”

She huffs, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face. She looks as though she’s going to walk away, but then she stays put, her hands on her hips.

“My dad was actually tolerable today. Especially when Caleb is around. It’s everything else.”

I raise an eyebrow, waiting for her to elaborate. She doesn’t. Instead, she looks up at the night sky, letting out a long, frustrated breath.

“You wanna talk about it?” I offer.

She glances at me, her expression skeptical. “Why? So you can tell everyone in town?”

I snort. “I’m not Miss Turner. Your secrets are safe with me.”

That earns me a reluctant smile, though it’s gone almost as quickly as it appeared. She crosses her arms, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“I’m not doubting your ability to handle anything,” I reply easily as I bend back over the tractor and start fiddling with the motor again. “Maybe if you weren’t so sure the world was against you, you’d have a better time around here.”

“You know nothing about me.”

“I know enough. I’d like to know more. You’re all up in arms around me—are you this way with everyone?”

She huffs, narrowing her eyes at me. “You’ve been—”

I hold my hand up quickly to stop her. “I’m not trying to argue with you, Bishop.

I…I..” I blow out a breath. “I know that it can’t be easy to come back to your hometown, especially not as an authority figure in the situation you’re in.

I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like for you to step foot on this ranch, let alone your dad’s and, again, I’m sorry that I was such an ass to you. ”

She stares back at me in shock before she playfully rolls her eyes.

Why does that turn me on?

“Here’s an idea,” she says slowly as she eyes me carefully. “Start with not calling me Bishop ever again.”

“It’s your last name.”

“You call guys by their last name, not women,” she hisses.

She made a comment the other day about me not knowing she’s a woman…is that what her attitude is about?

“Fair enough,” I reply. “My apologies, Sutton. I didn’t mean any harm, but I can see how that could be annoying.”

Her eyes flash as if she doesn’t fully believe the apology. She sighs before saying, “Thank you.”

“I had another steer with symptoms earlier. We’re going to have to get along in order for us to figure this out. You should take all the cooperation you can get.”

“Dr. Reed talk to you, too?”

“Who’s Dr. Reed?”

She sighs and shakes her head. “Ag officer. He’s in town because someone called him about the outbreak. It may be protocol with the issues everyone’s been having, but…I don’t know. I met him at Mack’s today, and he seems to think that I can’t handle it alone. He wants to take over.”

I frown. “Take over? Like, shut us all down?”

She nods, her jaw tight. “Exactly. He’s convinced that the local ranches can’t handle the protocols, that we’ll screw it up and make things worse. But I’m not letting that happen.”

“Why’s he so sure we can’t manage?”

“Ag officers are notorious for being arrogant and judgmental. If he takes over, it’ll be a disaster. He’ll shut down operations, impose fines, make it impossible for anyone to recover. They will ruin everything.”

I watch her as she talks, her eyes blazing with determination. She’s got that fire in her, the kind that makes you want to stand back and let her burn. It’s impressive, really, how much she cares about this. She’s not just doing this because it’s her job; she’s doing it because it matters to her.

“Sounds like you’ve got your hands full,” I say.

“You have no idea, Wade. He’ll insist on a cull.

He’ll force you to kill off all your cattle, sick or not.

I remember my mentor telling me that an ag officer stayed at a ranch for three days while the owner had to kill five hundred head of cattle, cattle that were on the mend from antibiotics, but he wasn’t willing to listen or even look at the reports.

That ranch owner filed for bankruptcy and lost everything. ”

“Doing that would be fifty-k minimum of a loss. Most insurances don’t cover disease with special coverage.

We’re one of the biggest ranches in Hicks Creek and we won’t recover from that kind of hit.

Your dad, these other ranchers won’t either.

Hicks Creek will be a ghost town within a year if the ranches all go down. ”

“Exactly. It’s too expensive to carry for most ranchers. My dad will lose everything.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “What’s this ag officer like?”

“I’m going off my gut feeling about him, but he seems like an ass.”

“Great,” I reply sarcastically. “What can I do to help?”

“I’ve already started putting together a plan. I’ve got data, protocols, everything we need to prove we can handle this. But it’s going to take everyone working together, and that’s the hard part. Not everyone’s on the same page.”

“Including your dad?” I ask, unable to resist.

She glares at me, but there’s no real heat behind it. “Like I said, he was tolerable today. But he’s not exactly helpful.”

“Sounds about right,” I say with a shrug.

She sighs, rubbing her temples. “I just… I can’t let Reed win. If he takes over, it’ll ruin everything. And not just for me. For everyone.”

I nod, leaning back against the tractor. “It’s good to see this fire in you.”

“Of course I am,” she snaps. “This is my job. My responsibility. I’m not going to let some outsider come in and…”

She stops abruptly as her voice breaks. She looks away, but not before I see the tears in her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I ask as I take a step toward her.

“I’m worried that since our ranch has seen the worst of it, the first to start showing the symptoms that…that Reed will…” she says in a gruff voice.

“Everyone is having the issues, though. There’s no way to tie Nance or Taylor back to your dad. Us, maybe, but not the others,” I tell her as I take another step toward her, reaching out and touching her arm.

“I…” She shakes her head again. “Dad told me to go through his paperwork to see if he missed anything or if I could…I found something he wouldn’t have known to look for. He took out a …”

Her voice starts to trail off because the two of us are standing millimeters apart. My arms go around her waist and I dip my head low, ready to capture her mouth with mine.

Lights pan across the barn, and a car I don’t recognize is barreling down the gravel driveway. She pushes away from me gently.

“Who the hell is that?”

She lets out a groan. “I didn’t think he’d show up here now.”

“He? You got a boyfriend coming to visit or something?” I ask, somewhat playfully.

She rolls her eyes again. “No. My boss. He decided to fly out to pick up the samples himself. And check on me. He thinks that I’m using this as an excuse to visit home.”

“Does he know you?”

“That’s what I asked,” she snorts.

The car stops, and the headlights shut off, showing the brand-new BMW convertible in all its glory.

Who drives a Beamer out here? How do you get a BMW as a rental car?

A tall, blond-headed man rolls out of the car, flashing a grin at Sutton before he extends a hand to me.

“Ronnie Jameson. Pleased to meet you,” he says with a fake drawl.

“Wade Callahan. Is there a reason you’re showing up at my ranch after nine at night?”

“Oh,” he chuckles lightly. “Came to see my girl.”

I stare back at him in disbelief.