Page 66 of Tempest

“Fine, darlin’. Any night that I don’t sleep on the ground is a good one.”

“How long have you been retired?”

“I’ve been off the Teams for three years. I was medically retired after an op went south. I returned to the family ranch and have been working there ever since.”

“Thank you for helping us out with all of this. Colin and I were not prepared to inherit the company and have no experience in the energy business. I can handle the operations and finance part of it, but the rest is all new to me.”

Rick filled his cup of coffee and nodded. “Do you want to learn it?”

“No. I like working for SAI. I go to work and feel like I’m helping make a difference. The work that the company does saves people’s lives. I worked for Harke Security before I came to SAI, and I knew it was the type of business that I wanted to be involved with.”

“We’ve got to fix it so she and Colin can put it up for sale,” Ryan added as he took the bowl of pancake batter from Ivy.

“Makes sense,” Rick responded. “I have an uncle in the oil business, and he lives and breathes it. It’s the only thing he ever wanted to do. I imagine that if it isn’t in your blood then it’s best to sell the company and move on.”

“Colin and I never had a relationship with our daddy, so the fact that he left it to us is a double-edged sword.”

“Money doesn’t replace love, no matter what,” he responded. “Something tells me that you two aren’t the only ones mad at your daddy. Those fires we saw yesterday were about as serious as it can get. I haven’t seen anything like it since the beginning of the war in Iraq. Nothing says ‘fuck you’ like lighting an oil well on fire.” He took a sip of coffee and then blushed. “Sorry about the language. I spend too much time around cows and surly old cowboys.”

“Don’t you worry about it. I work with retired spec ops guys. Nothing offends me.” She hip-bumped Ryan, pulled out the drawer with the pans, and grabbed a couple. “If you want to make it up to me, come fry up the bacon.”

He hopped off the stool and saluted her. “I like you, Ivy. My friend Ryan got lucky with you.” He punched his friend in the arm as he grabbed the packages of bacon from Ivy.

“I might be the lucky one,” she said as she moved to the other counter and started cutting up fruit. What Ryan had said earlier made her hopeful. All she had to do was not freak out and screw it up.

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