“It’s a long story. My parents are down there. And, well, I told you about Lisa, the newly discovered cousin? We need to tell my mom about her before other people find out. I just talked to Seth and then to Travis. They want me to do it. In person. Of all the sisters, I know Lisa best. And Katrina and Mandy are-”
“Living their own lives?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“I suppose not,” he allowed. Though it still galled him that she seemed to be the one in the family bearing the most burden.
“I know you’re in a hurry.” Despite everything, there was an apology in her voice.
“We can keep working while you’re in Houston,” he pointed out. “In fact, it’ll be easier. DFB headquarters is there.”
“Whoa.” She held up her palms. “I’m not going to have spare time in Houston.”
“You won’t be busy twenty-four seven.”
“Zach-”
“Abby-”
“Abigail.”
“Yeah, ’cause that’s our biggest problem.” It might not be fair to her, but he was frustrated by the situation. And he was getting genuinely worried about losing his entire company.
Her tone was tart. “I have to focus on my family right now. I’m sorry if it slows down your personal agenda for me, but I have obligations.”
He pointed out the window. “See that? Do you have any idea how much it costs per hour to dig that hole?”
She tightened her jaw. “You don’t own me, Zach.”
“Maybe not, but we have a deal.”
“I’m altering the terms.”
“That’s not your choice to make.”
“Are you drawing a line in the sand?”
He was. But maybe that wasn’t the smart choice. Maybe he’d pushed her as far as he could. It was time to change tactics. “You can have time with your family in Houston.”
“Thank you so
“But you’ll also need to find time for me. Five other breweries are waiting to press the go button on spring orders. If I can’t confirm Craig Mountain, I’m going to have a way bigger problem than a useless hole in the ground.”
She hesitated, and her teeth came down on her bottom lip.
“I’ll spring for your plane ticket.” He sweetened the pot. “Hell, for your hotel, your meals, anything you need.” He didn’t give a damn about the cost.
“My sister Mandy’s fiance has a jet.”
“He coming with us?”
“There is no us.”
“I need you, Abby.”
He realized the words were true on far too many levels.
“We can bring Ozzy,” he offered. “He can stay in my penthouse.”
She cracked a smile at that. “You’re bribing me with a dog?”
“I am.”
“You’re going to spoil him,” she accused. “And then he’s going to hate me when I make him live at the ranch.”
Zach bent and picked up the pup, scratching under his chin. “He really doesn’t strike me as the ranch-dog type.”
There was total sympathy in her eyes when she gazed at Ozzy.
“Fine.” She capitulated. “You take the dog, and I’ll see you in Houston. But I’m not promising anything. I’m going to be busy.”
“Thank you,” Zach offered sincerely.
“Are you ever going to be out of my life?”
He hesitated over his answer. What an intriguing question. He didn’t really want to be out of her life. And he sure didn’t want her out of his. Not yet, anyway, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with any water license.
Six
Abigail was happy to see her father looking so well. He’d been in rehab in Houston for several months following a stroke in the early summer. Luckily, her sister Mandy’s fiance had been in the valley with his jet plane that night, and they were able to whisk everyone to Lyndon and then Denver for his treatment. Ultimately, they moved him to a state-of-the-art facility in Houston. After months of therapy, he was nearly ready to come home to walk Mandy and Katrina down the aisle at their double wedding, coming up in a few weeks.
Now Abigail and her mother, Maureen, moved to a shady table in the lush garden of a restaurant a few miles from the facility. The scents of roses, asters and sage mingled beneath the oak trees in the September afternoon. They ordered iced tea and spinach, raspberry salads, settling comfortably into padded rattan chairs.
“And how’s Travis doing with the ranch?” asked Maureen, stirring some sugar into her glass.
“He seems good,” Abigail answered. “Though I’ve actually seen more of Seth lately than Travis.”
“But you are back on the ranch.”
“I was for a few days. But I’m back in Lyndon.” Abigail drew a breath. “Speaking of which, your sister Nicole’s name came up the other day.”
A look of obvious shock contorted her mother’s face. “Nicole?”
“You never talk much about her.”
Her mother’s fingers trembled ever so slightly as she rested them on the table. “Even after all these years, it’s hard for me to think about her. She was so young and beautiful and full of life. It hurt a lot to lose her.”
“Seth said she ran away from home?”
“Sadly, she did. All she could talk about back then was the bright lights and the big city. I tried to convince her to pick out a college.” Maureen squared her slim shoulders. “But I couldn’t. She thought she was going to become a model or an actress or some such craziness. Seven months later, she was in that accident.”
“Seven months?” Abigail’s stomach flip-flopped.
Maureen’s eyes shimmered. “I can only guess what happened. I adored her. But she always partied too much, was constantly finding excuses to stay in town on weekends. She smoked and drank with her friends. There was no holding her back.”
While her mother spoke, Abigail’s brain did the math. The nuns had told Lisa she was two weeks old when her mother dropped her anonymously into their care. Nicole had died a week later. That made her ten or twelve weeks pregnant when she left town.
Lisa’s father was from Lyndon. But that would have to wait until later.
“We were told the pair of them were leaving a bar,” Maureen continued, a faraway look on her face. “We later found out his family didn’t know Nicole, had never met her. They were estranged from their son, too.” Maureen absently restirred the iced tea.
“Mom.” Abigail reached forward and took her mother’s hand.
“Yes, dear?”
“I have something to tell you. It’s surprising, maybe even shocking.”
Maureen frowned. “Are you ill, honey? Is something wrong?”
Abigail quickly shook her head. “No, no. Nothing like that. It’s good news. At least I think it’s good news.”
Her mother waited.
“It’s Nicole, Mom. She had a daughter.”
Maureen blinked, her expression frozen in the dappled sunlight.
