Page 83 of Traces Of You

“I’m not making her do anything,” Clay said. “We can hire help. Reenie is there. Mom can have her working other hours. It’s months away and we’ll figure it out. There are more important things to focus on.”

Which just told him that his brother thought Reenie would still be here too.

That made him feel better.

“Let’s head back,” his father said. “I’m sure some of your siblings are here. Gale was coming early to help too.”

“Does Gale know where I stayed last night?”

“Everyone knows,” Clay said. “You don’t think there are any secrets in this family, do you?”

Not when he needed their help, he didn’t.

They walked past Reenie’s cabin, her car parked in the back. They were far enough away that the trees were on top of her, but she was set back further than the ranch and farmhouse.

“Are you putting a fence around the trees back here?”

“At some point,” Clay said. “It’s not needed now with it so close to the house. The front is fenced in.”

Which didn’t mean people couldn’t access the grounds from adjoining properties miles away.

He didn’t think anyone would. Locals wouldn’t at least, but tourists might go hiking and riding ATVs and ignore the postings of private property and stumble across the crop.

He was sure his brother would be on top of it.

“Before I forget, Reenie doesn’t want to talk about her situation today. Can we just have other conversations?”

He pulled his phone out. He’d forgotten to text Ash and Blaze. Gale would know because his mother would have told her.

“We’ve got a lot of other things to talk about,” Clay said.

“Like what?” he asked.

“Let’s wait until we get to the house and everyone is here,” his father said.

Clay was frowning at his father and Ford didn’t like that he might be blindsided.

He didn’t have long to wait though because the minute all of his siblings were there and they were in the living room, his father walked in.

“What’s going on, Dad?” Gale asked. “Mom said I had to leave the kitchen.”

Reenie and his mother were in there getting dinner ready, so whatever was going on, they were excluding his girlfriend.

That’s what she was to him.

“I want to talk about the business, the land, the property, and how it’s divided up.”

“Why would you do that?” Ash asked. “There isn’t anything wrong, is there? I thought you were working more.”

“He is,” Clay said. “But he’s being stubborn about this. I want it known, this isn’t my idea.”

There was tension between his father and oldest brother. Like there was when Clay was hardheaded as a teen.

“What’s going on?”

“I want Gale to put the mill in Clay’s name only. He put the money into the building, he’s running it. It’s his. We wouldn’t have it without him.”

“I don’t have a problem with it,” Ford said.