Page 37 of The Last Dance You Saved
“They were here when I came for the funeral.”
“They were just helping out because of what had happened, pitching in like our community always does,” Lauren’s voice got small and pained.
“So, how many people do you actually have left working on the ranch?” he demanded.
A tense silence filled the air until Fallon answered, “No one full-time.”
“No one?” Rafe’s voice held astonishment and a hint of frustration.
“It’s cheaper and easier to bring them in for one-off jobs. We’ll have staff on hand to help out while we focus on the wedding, but we can’t keep them year-round and pay all the employee benefits. Adam suggested the contract work last year, and it’s worked out for us,” Lauren explained.
“Has it,” Rafe said, and you could hear in his tone that he didn’t agree. “And how’s that working out for Teddy and Kurt and the others? Do they even have health insurance now? How are their families getting by in between the jobs they do for you?”
Adam dropped his napkin. “Don’t act like you care about us or any of them, Rafe. This community has done what it needed to do to keep everyone afloat. Kurt has a job in town bartending. Teddy works out at the national park.”
Rafe ignored Adam and looked at Lauren. “So who’s helping you bale today?”
“I don’t need help. The machines do it all,” Lauren said.
Rafe’s gaze narrowed. “Cut the crap, Lauren. One personcando it all, but it’s easier to have at least two working it.”
She didn’t say anything. Instead, she got up and started cleaning up the kitchen.
“Why aren’t you helping?” Rafe addressed the question toward Adam. His cheeks flushed, and the hand that reached for his coffee cup actually shook.
“You know I’m allergic to alfalfa,” he said. “I’m loaded up on meds as it is during harvest with the wind blowing pollen all over the place.”
That explained his red eyes and runny nose, but I couldn’t help but think his tone was a tad bit too defensive and whiny. It made me like the guy just a hair less. I understood allergies could be deadly, even something seemingly as simple as hay fever could cause a person’s lungs to close. But to my ears, that wasn’t what kept Adam away. He simply didn’t like the work.
Farm labor was dirty and hard. You had to truly love the land and the life it provided you to continue to do it day after day, year after year. My dad and Ryder would never stop working the ranch. While I didn’t mind lending a hand here and there, I certainly didn’t want to do it as my job every single day. Just like I wasn’t sure I wanted to sling pints across a bar top every night. But I preferred spending my time at the bar more than cleaning rooms or stalls at the ranch.
Still, I did all of it whenever my family needed me. I’d never leave them short-handed.
I’d never leave Ryder alone baling hay. It was dangerous, even if it was doable.
I scraped my plate clean then rose to help Lauren clean up. In my family, if you cooked, you weren’t allowed to cleanup.
In the strained silence that had settled in the room, Rafe’s deep voice sounded like a gunshot. “Fine. I’ll help.”
Lauren whipped around to stare at him from the sink. “What? No.” She shook her head. “Spence would hate that.”
“Last I checked, Spence was dead and didn’t have a say.”
It wounded her. Fallon gasped. Even I felt like I should snap at him for being so harsh.
He didn’t wait for anyone to say anything. He just stormed out of the kitchen.
“You know it isn’t a good idea to have him here,” Adam said dryly.
“Like I have a choice!” Lauren bit back.
When I looked across at Fallon, she was staring down at her plate as if she wanted to cry. No sight of the girl who’d danced on a horse’s back just minutes ago with a vivacious energy all but beaming from her. This one looked as if she’d slowly withdrawn, making herself as small as possible.
The air in the kitchen had already been tense, and it grew now until it felt like it was an actual entity. As if suddenly realizing they had an outsider watching the exchange, Adam shot a smile my way. It was friendly and full of a charm I might have been taken in by if I hadn’t witnessed everything else. “Sorry to let our family drama ruin your day, Sadie, but you can probably tell how important the information you’ve brought is to us.” He wasn’t just talking about the ranch’s conversion but about the jewels.
I didn’t know how to respond and wasn’t sure I could because my heart was in my throat. So, I simply nodded. Sympathy and compassion welled inside me for Fallon. For Rafe. For all of them caught in this limbo of pain and betrayal and loss.
Fallon brought her dishes over, set them in the dishwasher, and then left the kitchen as if she was a ghost floating on light feet. Neither Lauren nor Adam even acknowledged her as she disappeared down the hall. My sympathy disappeared in a surge of anger on the teen’s behalf.
