Page 25 of Final Ride

“Wonderful. Breakfast first and then off we go again. I’m having the time of my life.”

Tammy smiled at Willy. She enjoyed seeing him so happy after all he’d done for her, but her heart wasn’t in touring Washington and soaking up history. She had other things on her mind.

Red Roof Hotel. Martinsburg. West Virginia.

“I can’t figure it out, Cleo. Why is Tammy hanging around D.C. so long?”

Bobby showered and dressed and went down to the breakfast room for food and coffee. He checked the tracker periodically, and there was still no movement.

Back to the room with a second cup of coffee and after that, he couldn’t sit still.

“Come on, Cleo. A long walk for you and then we’ll check the tracker again. I hope we don’t sit around this motel for another whole day.”

Lexington. Texas.

The first ranch Mister Bennett took us to was outside of a little place called Lexington. Seven hundred acres, a small loafing barn for cattle. No bunk house.

Long, low ranch house in good condition but not suitable for what Dad had in mind.

“What I’m looking for, Kevin, and I should’ve gone into more detail at the outset, but I want a fairly big place where I can run cattle and horses and take in juvenile boys on parole and rehab them.”

Bennett smiled. “Okay. That’s a tall order, Travis, but I think the next one we’re scheduled to see up in Round Top will come closer to your specs.”

“Great,” said Travis.

Round Top. Texas.

“This is a bigger spread,” said Kevin. “With more acreage comes a higher price tag. I’m sure you’re aware of how that works.”

Travis laughed. “Sure am. What kind of dollars are we looking at for this one?”

“Fifteen hundred acres with a big barn, bunk house and a decent main house is going to run you about five million bucks.”

I looked at Virge and he rolled his eyes.

“Not surprising,” said Travis. “Let’s take a look at it.”

As we walked towards the house, I leaned close to my brother and asked him, “You think we can afford five for a ranch?”

“No fuckin’ way. Do you?”

“Nope.”

We toured the house first and it was nice. Four bedrooms at the one end. Big family room. Huge kitchen with a woodstove. Mud room and laundry at the back entrance. Long porch across the front of the house for sitting outside.

Virgie was in love with the barn. Beautiful stalls and eight on each side of the aisle. Big tack room and a full loft up above for the hay and straw storage.

“I could live in this barn,” he said to me as we left to check out the bunk house.

Travis seemed to be most interested in the bunk house, and I figured it was where he planned to house the juvies when we got them.

Two big bedrooms with four bunks each. Common room and a galley kitchen if they wanted to make themselves something to eat.

If they were on parole, I couldn’t see them staying on the ranch unless they were handcuffed, but Dad might’ve had a plan to keep them there. If he did, he hadn’t shared it with us.

“I like it a lot, Kevin. Couldn’t touch it until my ranch is sold, but my guy in Coyote Creek thinks it won’t take long. Land in Montana is at a premium right now with the millionaire ranchers scooping up all they can get.”

“I’ve heard about the high prices in certain areas up there in Montana, Travis. This might be the perfect time for you to sell your ranch.”

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