Page 3 of Must Love Mistletoe

“I passed.” Which had been no small achievement given what little study he’d done. “My grades weren’t as good as my older brother’s. Or two of my younger brothers. Gotta admit that stung at the time. Still does.”

“Why?”

“Well.” Cal took the time to reposition his hat and shape his reply. “TJ’s a vet now, and Seth’s construction company can build just about anything. Mason travels the country buying and selling stock for a big multinational and no one’s better at running the numbers and calculating margins than him. Stayin’ at school and getting good grades gives a man options.”

“What about Jett?”

“Jett’s a thrill-seeking Olympian. Different skill set.”

“What’s your skill set?” asked Sam.

Ouch.

Even though Cal was proud of everything his hardworking, talented brothers had achieved, comparing himself to them out loud and in public was never fun.

Wasn’t much fun when he compared himself to them in silence either.

“I guess I’m good at taking care of things. Like the animals in my care and the land in this valley. People, too. I see to the little things that need doing.” It wasn’tnothing. “If I’m the one sweating the small stuff, it makes life that easier for everyone else in my world. I like watching the people around me soar.”

“I want to do what you do when I grow up.”

Cal almost choked on his bark of startled laughter.

“What?” Sam asked warily. “You don’t think I can take care of my mom and the ranch and all the things I love?”

“’Course you can. You’re already doing it. I was just surprised, that’s all. Lotta people think doing what I do is a quiet choice.”

Most people didn’t compare him to the rest of his high-achieving family and put him at the top.

“That or be a smoke jumper,” Sam said after a good long while.

Now that was more like it.

*

Cal saw theheifers in the distance and waited for Sam to spot them and point them out. Three missing, according to the boy’s headcount of the remaining cows and Cal had no reason to doubt it. Beth had been selling off stock for a while now. There weren’t that many left to count.

“Found ’em!”

“Good eyes.”

“Two of them,” Sam said next.

“Third one’s over by that fallen pine. On the slope there near the little stand of aspen, see? Stand up in the saddle and maybe you’ll see her.” Cal could just see her ears next to that little scrap of red. Whatwasthat? “You get ahead of the two on the track and I’ll get her.”

“Yes, sir!”

Cal turned his attention to the third cow again as the boy took off. Whatwasthat lying next to her all tangled up in broken tree branches of the fallen tree? It looked like… a cap? A cap and ajacket? He rode closer and the sitting heifer scrambled to her feet, unhurt. That was one worry gone, at least.

She moved toward the other cows, nice and biddable, making his job that much easier, except now he could see more clothing and a man-shaped body beneath the branches, and heknewthat Red Sox baseball cap. He’d sure as spring teased Red about it often enough. What kind of rugged Montana cowboy supported a baseball team fromBoston?

But this was Red, who’d never been one to follow the crowd.

The same Red who’d gone hunting cougar one cold winter night and whose body had never been found.

It hadn’t helped that the weather had closed in that same night, with the arrival of one of the fiercest snowstorms the region had ever seen. The search and rescue teams hadn’t been able to set foot in the valley for days, and as for heading up mountain… Even the low ranges had been inaccessible for weeks.

Two summers and almost three winters had passed since Red had disappeared, and the mountain had kept its secrets.

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