To Dad, a horse was unpredictable, but he never met a cow he didn’t like. Dayne and Dylan felt the opposite.
Dayne went on, “Mom already found a smaller place in town. I don’t think she’ll care whether we keep or sell it.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Dylan murmured. “She would love for us to take it over and keep it in the family since this farm was everything to him.”
“Everything?” their sister exclaimed. “What are we? Chopped liver?”
“Don’t twist what I’m saying. Of course we were important to him, but so was this farm. Even so, she told me she’s leaving it up to us to decide what to do with it.”
“You mean you two,” Dani corrected, “since he didn’t pass it on to me. Only you two boneheads.”
Their sister must have a short memory. “Since you constantly complained about having to do chores around here, he didn’t think you’d want anything to do with it.”
“The value of the property? Sure I would. Squeezing cow nipples twice a day? No way.”
A snort exploded from Dayne. “Automated milkers are used for that, sis.”
“Even so, he named the damn farm Double D, instead of Triple D. That proves I’m always the forgotten one,” their sister bitched.
“You weren’t forgotten.” Dylan reminder her, “You were born after they bought the farm.”
“Yeah, you were a mistake,” Dayne teased. With a grunt, he folded in half when she whacked his gut with the back of her hand. “You know what I mean.”
“Not a mistake,” Dylan clarified, “unexpected.”
“I guess Mom and Dad humped like rabbits,” Dani said.
Dylan groaned. “Please don’t take us back to all the times we overheard it.”
“Or accidentally walked in on them,” Dayne added.
“Shut your face!” Dani yelled. “Just the thought of that is causing me emotional damage!”
“Join the damn club!” Dayne exclaimed. “But thanks to you beingunexpected, I think they gave it a break afterward. At least you were good for something.”
“They were probably too tired between running the farm and wrangling three kids to keep up their bedroom antics,” Dylan murmured.
“Stop,” Dani groaned.
“We’re getting off track. What’s this cockamamie idea, brother?” Dayne asked.
He needed to ease them into it. “First, let’s discuss the farm name… We’ll change it from Double D Farm to Double D Ranch.”
Dani sighed. “See? Once again, I’m the forgotten one.”
“We’re not calling it Triple D Ranch. That doesn’t sound as catchy. Anyway, who cares what the hell it’s called? The point is to make this place profitable.”
Dayne’s brow dipped low. “Why ‘ranch?’ And didn’t we just outvote you two to one on the decision to sell?”
“Maybe you’ll reconsider your vote once I explain my idea.”
“We’re waiting,” Dayne said dryly.
Dylan pulled in a breath. It was now or never. “I want to turn this place into a ranch resort. I’m calling it that because ‘farm resort’ doesn’t make sense. We won’t be making money off livestock or breeding horses. We’ll make money off people looking for an escape, hence the resort part of the name. Dad constantly busted his ass and struggled to financially survive raising dairy cows and selling milk. We can make this property more profitable by turning it into a lucrative business.”
“An escape,” Dani echoed, then shook her head. “I’m confused. And it seems like you already have your plan mapped out before even clearing it with us.”
“It’s called abusiness proposal,so of course it’s mapped out.”