Page 14 of Love Unforgettable
Chapter 5
Cole
I pull into the ranch shortly after ten thirty in the morning. I already know from Babs that she’ll be at her bridge club meeting and I have free reign of the ranch. Even though she’s no longer living there, I still think of it as her property. It’ll take me a while to get use to anything different. I walk around a bit to get acclimated with the immediate area, then drive the horses out to the main corral to water them, feed them, and let them roam.
The air here is different. It smells salty even though I’m fairly sure we are miles from the coast. And the sun feels brighter. But the biggest difference is the mountains. I can see mountains everywhere, like they’re surrounding us. Obviously, miles and miles away, but still close enough to see with the naked eye. And they’re beautiful. I can see why Babs became so infatuated with the area. She fell in love with California, and more specifically San Soloman, when Pappy brought her here on vacation early on in their marriage. She loved it so much that he promised her then that they’d live here someday. I love Texas. Even though it’s flat, seeing hundreds of miles of land at once is a beautiful sight. That said, seeing mountains so close you can almost touch them on the horizon, makes a man feel downright giddy.
I head into the house and find a note from Babs. She’s set up a dinner for me with Mavis Strassburg, her best friend, tonight. Mavis owns the neighboring ranch, though tiny in comparison to this one; it’s just being neighborly for me to reacquaint myself with her. I haven’t seen her since I was a kid and would summer here. But the adult me doesn’t remember much of those summers outside of eating Babs’ homemade pies, swimming in the pool, and riding horses bareback across the fields.
Babs has done a bit of remodeling since the last time I was here some fifteen years ago. The entire space when you walk in is now one great big room with high vaulted beamed ceilings and three walls of windows. To my left is a sitting area and the largest kitchen I think I’ve ever seen. Straight ahead is the dining area, and to my right the living room and hallway leading to the bedrooms. The sitting area and living room both have large stone fireplaces and huge leather armchairs and couches. The dining table easily seats twelve, with space for another five at the kitchen island. There’s a wall of glass doors leading out to a little oasis with a huge patio, built-in BBQ, tons of seating, separate pool house, and, of course, the pool and jacuzzi.
She’s giving this up to go live in a condo by the water? Crazy fool.
The large space makes me wonder if she was hoping for family get togethers that just never happened. Pappy loved it in San Soloman because Babs loved it in San Soloman. But every holiday and family reunion-type event we ever had was held in Texas, and he never turned down an opportunity to return. Babs never did get the whole family here, if that was indeed her wish, but a picture of her and Pappy with the California state senator from a few years back, still hanging on the wall, reminds me that they would entertain a lot. Not just a few friends, but large gatherings like fundraisers and political parties. And I know they often held events for the staff and their families, some of whom live on site in separate outbuildings. It makes me happy to realize that Babs did get a lot of use from this amazing space.
I head down the hall toward the bedrooms and office spaces. His and hers offices with French doors leading to the outside, each mostly stripped of anything personal, and just left with basic furnishings and décor are first. Four bedrooms, each with a private bath and stone fireplaces, and two with French doors leading to little patios are just beyond the offices.
The master bedroom has Pappy written all over it. It’s all done up in dark browns and light tans, with a huge four poster bed, separate sitting area comprised of leather furnishings, and lots of wood, rock and steel worked in. Masculine with little touches of Babs sprinkled throughout. The master bath is much the same in style. Babs had since moved into a guest room, after Pappy passed, so this one has been void of an occupant for quite a while. My guess is it reminded Babs a little too much of the great man that we lost.
So far, there’s not much need for me to do anything. Maybe update some of the furnishings, a new mattress, adding a few personal touches, and I’ll be ready to roll. I make my way back to the office space and do a more thorough mental inventory. I’ll need all new furnishings in here that are more suited to the way I like to work. And the space is sorely lacking in technology, but I’ve got all my most pertinent electronics being shipped, on account I did not want all that in my truck.
My assistant back home handled those logistics. I send her a quick text to find where the WiFi codes are and get the ETA on my computers. Which also reminds me that I’ll need to find a new assistant out here now. So, I send her another text and ask for her assistance with that too. She knows what I need better than anyone and can narrow down the applicants. I’m okay with interviewing the most qualified candidates but sifting through a bunch of resumes from the beginning is not my strong point.
I minored in psychology with a double major in finance and business, then got my MBA from UT Austin. I’ll admit, the first psychology course I took was because of a girl I liked. She was in the class, so I was too, but then it began to interest me, so I stuck with it. In particular, the use of tactile tools in therapy to act as sensory aides.
So, in addition to negotiating all the acquisitions as well as handling all the books and the finances for my family’s ranch, I have my own thing I’m doing. I train horses to ready them for participating in equine therapy.
It feeds a different part of my brain than accounting and I like that. The whole right brain versus left brain thing. Plus, I also like knowing that the horses go on to make a difference in peoples’ lives. I know many people think that horses aren’t that bright, but it’s really an issue of communication. If the horse isn’t doing what you want, it’s because you are not conveying that desire clearly. Much like canines, a horse’s desire is to please and make their owner/rider happy.
I unpack everything that I brought with me in my office and the master bedroom then head outside to unhitch the trailer so I can track down something to eat.
“You must be Mister Mason.” I look up and see a tall and lanky man coming toward me from the pastures.
“I am,” I say as I walk toward him.
“Name’s Earl Simpson,” he says holding his hand out to me. We shake, and he continues talking. “Miss Babs told me you’d be moving in today.”
“That I am. You work as ranch manager, am I right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Call me Cole, please. I’m gonna go grab a bite and get my bearings in town, but I’d like to do a tour of the land this afternoon. You mind showing me around, maybe one o’clock or so?”
“That works just fine, sir. I mean, Cole. I’ll see you then.”
“Hey, Earl, you got a good recommendation for lunch in town?”
He tells me about his favorite mom and pop café then excuses himself. I find the address, put it into my GPS, and head out.
* * *
I take a little time to drive around downtown San Soloman after lunch to try and get a feel for the area. Near as I can tell, it’s a larger city with a small-town feel. And not large like Austin, still on the smaller side with a population of about 45,000, according to the welcome sign as you arrive. So not too big, not too tiny.
I note a decent amount of seafood restaurants, which is to be expected on the Pacific Coast. I see a Mexican restaurant that looks interesting,The Crazy Burro, doubt it’s Tex-Mex though. In fact, I don’t think I’ll get good Tex-Mex in California, which is a shame. A wine shop, or maybe a tasting room, calledLovestone. Looks like it’s closing or moving, not sure. Library, post-office, courthouse, a large water fountain smack-dab in the middle of town square. It’s the kind of place that looks like they have parades on the fourth of July and a big Christmas tree in December.
I’m gonna like it here just fine.
My phone rings.
