Page 31 of Blazing Hot Nights
“Check with Blaze. He’s camping up on the ridge until she’s safely in South Dakota. I’m sure he’d be happy to show you. Just remember, you can never tell a soul she was born on Bison Ridge Ranch.”
They both held up their hands in unison and agreed with a nod.
“The implications of it are vast and scary,” Tex said on a head shake. “If word got out, we wouldn’t have a moment of peace from the TV reporters and cameras.”
My heart started pounding again and I swallowed hard around the lump in my throat, tears spiking my eyes immediately. Dawn grabbed my hand and patted Tex’s arm. “But we aren’t going to tell anyone,” she reminded him, her head nodding until both of us followed suit. “We will accept it as knowledge that will better the lives of another community without needing the glory for ourselves, right?”
Tex glanced at me and right away nodded again. “Absolutely. I was agreeing about why we needed to protect the ranches. I’m sorry, Miss Heaven. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
I took a drink of coffee, my hand shaking slightly when I brought it to my lips. “I’m okay,” I promised when I set it down again. “I get worried that something bad could happen again, but Blaze made me promise to trust him, so I will. I know I can trust both of you too.”
“One hundred percent,” Tex agreed.
I let out a sigh of relief and smiled, albeit a shaky one. “I’m glad we’re on the same page. If we’re lucky, we can work ahead this week and then there will be less to do for the weekend.”
“It helps that there’s hardly any cattle,” Tex said cautiously. “There’s not much to do around here besides take care of the horses and cut hay.”
I decided not to defend myself, since they’d understand soon enough why I’d kept the herd small. “That’s true, and Beau and the other ranch hands will have their eyes on their beasts. Bison Ridge will be fine, so if you need help, let Beau know.”
Dawn muttered and sputtered about not needing help from any man.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said sweetly, jamming in some more roll as though we hadn’t heard her plain as day. That girl had it bad for Beau, and maybe someday, when she finished lecturing me about Blaze, she might do something about it.
“Okay, then after breakfast, we’re going to take a walk.”
Tex finished off the last bite of his second roll and swallowed the rest of his coffee. “I’m ready. Where are we going?”
“Just follow me,” I said, motioning to each side of me. “I’ve been working hard the last couple of weeks, even before someone got upset with me.”
Dawn grabbed my shirt and pulled me up short. “Heaven, I was just blowing off steam the other night. I shouldn’t have said those things.”
I lifted her hand off my shirt and held it in mine for a moment. “You might have been blowing off steam, but you also meant every single word.” She grimaced, and so did Tex. “The thing is, I needed to hear every single word, Dawn. I needed a good smack with the reality stick, or nothing was going to change. As I said, I’ve been working on this but I still hadn’t come to a complete decision. Your tirade helped me make it. We need to make changes at Heavenly Lane if we’re going to stay alive.”
“I don’t want anything to change, Miss Heaven,” Tex said sadly. “I love my life here on the ranch.”
I dropped Dawn’s hand and grabbed his. “You’re not going anywhere, Tex. At least I hope you aren’t. Things are going to change, but hopefully for the better. Let’s go talk where you can see my plans in better detail.”
We finished the walk to the old bunkhouse in silence other than our boots crunching on the gravel. I was pretty sure we were all thinking about something different. We all had different experiences on this land. I was thinking about what my daddy would want me to do with what he left me. Tex was probably thinking about if the changes were going to be suitable for his desires as a cowboy. And Dawn was thinking about whether or not Beau was staying in Wellspring before she committed to staying too. Of that, I had no doubt.
We climbed the wooden stairs to the bunkhouse porch, and the wood creaked under our weight. That was probably a bad omen. I wouldn’t—couldn’t—let it stop me. I sat on the bench on the porch, and they reluctantly sat on each side of me. I motioned out at the empty field in front of us with my arm. “This is what I wanted you to see.”
“An empty field I’ve seen ten thousand times,” Dawn said. “Wow, I’m overwhelmed.”
I shoulder-bumped her and shook my head, even though I couldn’t hide my smile. “No, silly. I prefer to think of it as an empty canvas.”
“What ya gonna paint?” Tex asked.
“A riding ring.”
“A riding ring? Are you feeling okay, Miss Heaven?”
“I’ve never been better. How do you like the sound of Heavenly Lane Dude and Guest Ranch? Or maybe, Heavenly Lane Riding Ranch? We could try out Heavenly Lane Dude Ranch too.” I motioned my hand around. “I’m working on what has the best ring to it.”
Dawn leaned forward and pinned me with her giant brown eyes before she felt my forehead dramatically to see if I had a fever. “Heaven, are you delusional? We have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about my decisions to keep Heavenly Lane alive. Instead of cattle, we raise cowboys. Well, I mean, we’ll still have some cattle so they can learn to drive them. It will be a small herd, though. Easy to manage. Not overly costly to maintain. And we won’t be raising actual cowboys, of course. We’ll be letting men pretend to be cowboys for a hefty fee.”
