Page 38 of A Surprise Wedding for the Cowboy

No man had that power, but with God’s help, he’d make it a lifelong pledge. This might all seem quick — they’d gone from first meeting to engagement in only a month, and then only another month to marriage? Tate could step outside the situation and see how crazy it looked. From inside, though? It seemed absolutely perfect, like it was meant to be.

“…better be able to focus, though.”

Tate glanced at his cousin. “Pardon me?”

“Exactly.” Graham leaned a little closer and pinned his gaze to Tate’s. “We’ve got a ton to do around here, so leave the wedding planning to Stephanie, and get on with your own job of getting this ranch up and running.”

Leave the wedding planning to his bride? Not a chance… but Graham was right that he needed to focus in the eight hours a day that belonged to the business. Tate cringed inside. Eight hours? Grandfather often demanded ten or even twelve. That wasn’t on the table right now.

“I’ll make every minute count.” Tate focused on his grandfather. “Where were we?”

Grandfather’s eyes twinkled. “Discussing how many positions are not yet filled for our grand opening. Which is fewer than I expected, to be honest.”

“Yes, the job fair pulled in a lot of good applicants.” Graham sent his desktop up on the wall screen. “More than I expected, to be honest.”

“My mother did a great job getting word out to Missoula and beyond.”

“She did.” Grandfather nodded. “It seems we need more help in the kitchen, in housekeeping, and in the stables. But only a couple in each, so we might be able to get by, if we need to, without lowering our standards.”

Graham fixed Grandfather with a look. “Our standards are everything. If we don’t make an excellent first impression, then we’ve wasted all this time and effort.”

And money, but their grandsire didn’t care so much about that. The purpose of this entire adventure was to integrate Nadine and her sons into the family. And that wasn’t going particularly well.

Oh, Aunt Nadine was fine and posed no threat to anyone. Mom had taken an instant liking to her sister-in-law. There probably should be a half and an ex in there somewhere, too. Whatever. The point was, the two women got along famously. Graham’s mom, Aunt Bridget, tended to be a little snootier. As usual.

Weston and Jude, though? Both seemed rather stand-offish. Weston had a chip on his shoulder, and Tate wasn’t sure about Jude, who was quieter.

Tate focused on the screen. “We’ve got quite a few reservations for the first few weeks.” Which ought to make him feel guilt for asking for time off. No guilt. Stephanie was worth the minor inconvenience to general operations.

“About a third of the RV park is booked over June.” Graham’s fingers flicked over his keyboard, bringing up the reservation map. “We’ve got a couple of the cabins reserved, and half a dozen rooms in the lodge.”

“Kaci ordered all new bedding?” Tate asked.

Grandfather nodded. “Plus draperies for the cabins on Firefly Lane. Those were in dreadful shape. They might not all be in place by Memorial Day, but it will be close.”

“And then there’s the grand opening on Saturday. We’ve got a public invitation in the Jewel Lake Gazette running on Thursday.” Tate chewed on his lip. “Nadine has already been prepping appetizers for that.”

“Weston has the stables whitewashed. He’s got a local farrier—” Grandfather consulted his notes “—Noah Cavanagh coming in this week to check our horses’ hooves. Have either of you boys been riding yet?”

“No, sir,” Tate and Graham said at the same time.

“You need to. This is a guest ranch. Each of you must have at least a working knowledge of horseback riding. You’ll need to know our horses by name and be able to converse with guests about them.”

“We don’t have time for recreation.” Graham scowled at Grandfather. “Perhaps you haven’t noticed how much is still to be done?”

“I’ll speak with Weston and set up a time for the two of you to get your first lesson.”

Best not to remind Grandfather that Tate had ridden a few times in boarding school. That was a long time ago, and he’d never really taken to it. But wasn’t Weston going to enjoy being the guy in the know? He wasn’t likely to make it easy or fun for them.

“I’d like to bring Stephanie, in that case. Maybe Jamie could ride with me, or we can leave him with someone else for an hour?”

“Good idea for Stephanie to come along. We can spare one of our new hires to watch him for a bit. Maybe during nap time.”

His cousin muttered something about being a third wheel, but Tate ignored him. The whole excursion was starting to sound a little more like a date with Stephanie rather than a torture device.

Graham switched to the next screen. “How are the other departments coming along? I’ve approved a large budget to Bryce for the grounds.”

Tate glanced over. “They’re looking good. I know he’s put fresh gravel on the road to the campground — Butterfly Lane. Seriously, Grandfather, can we rename the roads?”

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