Page 32 of Kipp

With the waffles looking almost done, Kipp finished off chopping up the pineapple slices, apples, and orange segments too. Oh, and that was without mentioning the perfectly toasted sourdough too.

Kipp always enjoyed a big breakfast on Sunday, but to be able to have it in bed alongside Dale was taking things to a whole new level of joy.

‘And don’t think I’m forgetting about you either, Brutus,’ Kipp chuckled.

Kipp opened Brutus’s treat drawer and took out a fresh bone for his beloved canine companion to gnaw at over the course of the new few days.

‘It’s an extra-large one, so make it last!’ Kipp bellowed, smiling as Brutus eagerly took the bone and quickly made his way out of the doggy-door and into the front yard.

Kipp couldn’t resist taking a peek at Brutus as he began to devour his bone but as he opened the front door, he found himself confronted by an odd sight.

‘What the hell is this?’ Kipp grumbled, crouching down and picking up a letter that had been left on the front deck.

The envelop was handwritten and hadn’t arrived with a postage mark on it.

And as he opened it up to see what was inside, Kipp quickly got a sinking feeling as he saw a handwritten letter – and things only got worse when he began to read it…

This place is mine. By rights I should be there. Everyone in town knows it. You know it too if you’d just admit it. You can run your mouth about what Uncle Joe wanted, you can talk about wills and all that shit. But we all know that Eagle Ridge Ranch should be mine. That was always the family plan. I would inherit it, and then take the family into the 21stcentury. There’s money to be made with this land, but not with some old school jerk like you running it. Whatever. Uncle Joe was too old to be making decisions on the future of the ranch when he left it to you. Screw him. And screw you too. One way or the other, Eagle Ridge Ranch will be mine. And there ain’t a damn thing you can do about it. So be warned. LC.

Kipp felt a surge of anger come over him as he balled the letter up into his fist and tossed it out onto the yard. Leigh was a nasty piece of work and an embarrassment to the family.

Uncle Joe would never, ever have wanted someone like Leigh to take ownership of the ranch and then use it simply as a tool to make money. And to suggest that Uncle Joe wasn’t of sound mind when he chose to leave it to Kipp? That stung. And it stung badly.

But one thing that Kipp knew though was that Leigh wasn’t going anywhere.

Clearly, this situation was building up to something. Kipp didn’t know what Leigh’s next move would be, but every fiber in his body told him that his awful cousin was going to try and make a move to take the ranch.

‘Not in my lifetime,’ Kipp growled, staring out onto the front yard and beyond. ‘Eagle Ridge Ranch is mine. That’s the way Uncle Joe wanted it, and that’s the way it’s staying too. And no asshole cousin is going to do a damn thing about it…’

With that, Kipp turned and walked back into the house.

The last thing that Kipp wanted was another feud to turn ugly and end in tragedy. The death of his brother, Kaden, had been far too traumatic for Kipp to want to put himself in the same position over again.

But on the other hand, Kipp knew that he had to be prepared to fight fire with fire.

As Uncle Joe always used to say…

Always stand up and defend what’s right.

Chapter 13

Dale

The diner was as bustling and busy as ever. Dale and Marshall were working in perfect synchronicity and judging by the smiles on everyone’s faces, they were doing a great job in making The Hot Plate the place to be in Eagle Ridge that morning.

‘Table three, large breakfast with extra veggie sausage,’ Marshall said, spinning around and handing Dale the order.

‘Got it,’ Dale replied, smiling as he handed the order to the kitchen. ‘We’ve got a cleanup on the near booth. Baby alert.’

‘I’ll cover that, you take five,’ Marshall said, skipping over to pick up the mop and bucket. ‘And I really hope that’s porridge and not pukey-puke on the floor.’

Dale and Marshall giggled.

It felt so good for Dale to be reconnecting with Marshall like this. Despite the couple of years between them, even back in high school there had always been a bond between them that just came so naturally. And to know that the very same bond was just as strong now filled Dale’s heart with happiness.

Coming back to Eagle Ridge and finding a man like Kipp was one thing, but to relight the fire of his friendship with Marshall was such a bonus too. And it did make Dale wonder whether maybe – just maybe – his stay in Eagle Ridge could be for longer than he’d initially planned on.

As Dale took a glass of ice-cold water for his break, he looked around the diner and saw so many happy faces. Despite only having worked at the diner for a short period, Dale was now on first name terms with most of the regulars and feeling a connection with them that went beyond simply taking their orders and serving them their food and drink.

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