Page 79 of More Than Anything

Avery sighed. He didn’t want to see her, but right about then, it would’ve been good if it meant they could find her and stop her.

After buying some fly spray for the horses and cattle, they climbed back into Avery’s pickup truck and drove back to Frank’s office. As promised, he had the will ready. If anything happened to Avery, Lydia would get the farm. He could take a deep breath; she’d be protected, and that was really all that mattered to him.

By the time they got back, they had time to start the washer and dryer before feeding the cows again. That evening, Lydia and Danette both came back to Avery’s and the guys told them about seeing Shannon. Lydia was upset, and Danette was just downright pissed off. “You should’ve chased the bitch down!” she snapped.

“And do what?” Jason asked.

“If I ever catch her, you won’t have to ask that question because I’ll take care of her,” Danette assured them.

Avery had no doubt she would.

Two weeks went by and everything was quiet. No one saw Shannon again, and Avery wondered where she’d gone. He’d signed all the divorce papers and was hoping that Shannon would go home, find them, and sign them, then send them back. JudgeBennett had assured them that if he didn’t get them back in eight weeks, he’d go ahead and give Avery a divorce decree. He was a judge; he could do that if he wanted to. And Avery knew the judge had enough information to know that every day he spent legally married to Shannon was another day of hell for him.

“Do you know how good you’re getting at that?” Avery called to Jason from astride Dixie.

“Yeah. I think I’m getting the hang of it.” Jason had practiced moving the herd with Buttercup every afternoon, and Avery could tell he was enjoying himself. The first few days he’d seemed a little overwhelmed, but when he learned that the horse would do the work if he’d let her, he relaxed and really started to fall into it. And it meant that, besides himself, Avery now had two people who could help him?Jason and Lydia. She’d been riding all her life, so it was nothing new to her, and she and Buttercup moved as a singular unit, darting about to bring in this and that stray. With the two of them on board, Avery was confident he could handle more. “So what’s this all about?” Jason asked as he tore up to Avery and reined Buttercup in.

“It’s about me buying more cattle. I think I’m going to the auction over in Parkersville tomorrow night to pick up more. Maybe a hundred, hundred and twenty, something like that.”

“I think that’ll be great. You’ll have to have a couple more pastures bushhogged again since they haven’t been used from the last mowing.”

“I suppose I should buy a bushhog for my tractor and start doing that myself. But damn, this is growing. I can’t wait until I start having calves out of this herd. I’m going to have quite a bit of beef on the hoof,” he said, gazing out over the fields at the black cattle everywhere.

“Avery?” He turned to Jason and found his friend smiling at him, a gentle smile, the kind a father would give a son. “Man, I’m so proud of you. You’re doing so well with this. And you know,” Jason said, waxing philosophical, “there’s something about this place. I feel comfortable here, like I belong and I’m connected to it somehow.”

“You are. You’re connected by your dick to that brunette with the Texas-sized rack,” Avery said, just as sarcastically as he could manage. When Jason scowled, he started to laugh. “Man, I’m just yanking your chain! I’m happy for you?for her too. She’s turned out to be a great friend to me, even though I tapped that as soon as I got to town.”

“What?” Jason’s eyebrows shot up and his eyes went wide. “You slept with Danette?”

“Son, everybody slept with Danette. All the men and half the women,” Avery said, howling with laughter. “But don’t let that rattle you. I got hold of her and set her straight. Before you, she was dating a guy…”

“Greg,” Jason offered.

“Yeah. Nice guy. But I told her she was worth a lot more than just a random fuck, and I think she believed me. I gave her a challenge, and she met it. I told her I wouldn’t do her again until she went out on a real date. That lit a fire under her that, thankfully, didn’t include me. She’s a sweet thing. I wanted better than that for her. And by damn, she went right out and found herself a boyfriend! Shame what happened there, though.”

“I suppose it worked out okay, though. She was free when I got here, and that was good for both of us,” Jason said, smiling so hard that Avery was sure his face hurt.

“You guys seem to be good for each other.” Skipper let out a couple of short, quick barks. “Somebody’s at the house. Better go see who.” Before he could get Dixie to the gate, he could see Lydia coming across the backyard. “Hey, baby!” he sang out, sliding out of the saddle and ground tying Dixie.

“Hey yourself!” she said and gave him a big kiss across the top of the gate. “Brought your mail.”

Avery thumbed through it. Nothing important, at least until he got to the last envelope. “What the fuck?”

“What is it?”

Avery opened the envelope. “It’s a bankruptcy notice for the company. God damn him!” Avery shouted. “I can’t believe this! That idiot’s run the place completely into the ground! What the hell am I going to do?”

Lydia shrugged. “Go back there and straighten it out?”

“No! I’m not doing that. I’ve got a life here. Holy shit, I’ve got to try to find somebody I can trust and then intervene somehow.” Running through a list of possible candidates, his face softened a little, but not much. “I know who I can call. It’ll take me a little bit, but I think I can straighten this out.”

“Good. I don’t want you preoccupied. Are you still thinking about tomorrow night?”

“Oh, yeah! I told Jason I’m pretty sure I’m going to do it. A hundred more head will be a great way to go into fall, don’t you think?” he asked her, then gave her lips a light nip.

“Yeah. I think so too. I bought some new throw rugs for the bathrooms, so I’m going in to put those down. But I’ll wait until you come in before I leave.”

“Good deal. I’ll be in shortly.” Avery mounted Dixie and sat watching Lydia sashay back to the house. The sway of those hips could get him into trouble in about ten seconds, so he turned and headed back to talk to Jason.

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