Page 13 of Head Above Water

“You may be right.” She put her feet up and sat back. “But you also might not be. Going through all these changes is hard, really hard, and figuring out the course of your life under these circumstances is even tougher. Do you think he wants to go through that alone?”

“But he has his family and everyone on the ranch for that.” Hazard stared down at the old rug on the floor. It had always been there, and he knew it was one of the things his parents bought together, along with the pair of plaid-upholstered chairs, one of which his mother sat in.

“He has his mother, who is taking care of his father right now, and he has his brother, who seems to do nothing but cause trouble and stir things up.”

Hazard raised his gaze.

“You heard me. Willard wants to be the big man and run everything.”

“He could never run this place. It would fall apart because none of the men respect him that way.” His belly hurt, and his heart ached for Bryce. “What do I do?”

“I’d be his friend. Start with that. If anything else comes of it, then fine… but first and foremost, do that. He needs to know that someone is there for him.” She put her feet down and leaned over, placing her hand on his cheek. “I raised you to be a good person. So be that man. And know that I’ll be there no matter what.” She smiled and sat back once more, raising her feet and turning on the television. Hazard knew she’d be asleep in less than an hour.

Willard answeredthe door when Hazard knocked softly a little later. “What do you need?”

“To see Bryce,” Hazard answered.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Willard said, and since he had no right to argue with him, Hazard took a step back. Willard closed the door, and Hazard took another step back before turning.

The door opened behind him. “That’s enough of your crap, Willard,” Bryce said softly, but with authority. “Hazard, sorry for him. He’s being a dick.” Bryce stepped outside. “What is it you need?”

“I just wanted to be here.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe I’m being dumb, and I should just go. After what your father said….”

“Bryce, what’s going on?” Mr. Maverick said, poking his head out. “What’s going on, Hazard? Is something wrong?”

“No, sir. I was just talking to Bryce,” he said gently. “I should be going now.”

“You do that.”

“Stop it, Lyle,” Bryce’s mother scolded as she guided her husband back inside. “You can’t run the ranch until you are feeling better. You feel like you have energy now, and you’re being your usual pain in the ass self, but in an hour, you’ll be worn out and too tired to do anything.”

“I know my own body,” he complained, but went with her. Bryce motioned inside, and Hazard followed him. Mr. Maverick sat in his chair, breathing rapidly.

“I run this ranch,” he said.

“Then tell me what you want done,” Bryce pressed.

“It’s been hot and dry, and we could run out of viable grazing land of we don’t get more rain—and soon. I think we need to start looking into thinning the herd and sending some of the head to market. Take the ones that are closest to being up to weight. I know it’s early, and we were hoping for another few months of growth, but we may not have that kind of time.”

“I know,” Bryce said. “I was looking into the possibility of leasing some fresh grazing areas, but everyone is in the same boat, and the few parcels that are available would be too expensive for us to lease.”

Mr. Maverick nodded his head and then closed his eyes. “I already did that.”

“Then you need to tell me,” Bryce said as he sat near his dad. “I don’t want to be spinning my wheels going over what we already know. At least most of the acreage has sufficient water.”

“I could just kill old man Calvin for digging those damned wells. I took him to court at the time, but he had a lot more money than I did, and I couldn’t afford to keep fighting the old bastard. We’d be able to use the acreage to the south if he hadn’t pumped all the water away.”

ChapterSix

“What amI going to do?” Bryce asked softly, wondering how much more he could take.

Hazard seemed to be keeping his opinion to himself, which Bryce both appreciated and found annoying. He shrugged, but those deep eyes didn’t shift from him.

“Is this some kind of Hazard therapy?” Bryce asked as he sat on the big, comfortable leather sofa. He loved this thing, and Hazard took the place next to him. “You know you can talk.”

“It doesn’t matter what I think. It’s what you feel that matters. I didn’t come here to give you advice or to tell you what I think you should do, because believe me, every single person on this ranch has some sort of opinion.”

His dad snorted, apparently awake now.

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