“I’m always happy to help. I won’t lie, though, I have a heavy workload at the moment.”
“All the better. You should have no trouble putting my daughter to work.”
“Mom!” Tory nearly surged right out of her seat. “That’s not why we’re here,” she assured Jonah. “I would never presume—”
“I would.” Enid cut her off. “You need the experience. Jonah obviously needs the help. Everyone wins.”
“You can’t spring something like that on a person,” Tory said. Her mind was racing at the possibility, though. Actual legal experience would count a lot later on.
“The best way to learn something is to do it. And Jonah is an old friend. If he isn’t on board, he’ll say so, right Jonah?” She sent him an arch look, and Jonah smiled again.
“How can I refuse?”
Tory wasn’t sure what to do. The situation was beyond embarrassing, but the way her mother and Jonah were eyeing each other, she had the feeling this wasn’t the first time they’d talked since Enid had been home, even if she hadn’t come to Jonah’s office before.
“I don’t want to impose,” Tory said.
“Your mother is right. I could use the help,” Jonah told her. “Been meaning to hire someone. If you’re anything like her, then she’s the one doing me the favor. In which case, I have to pay you back,” he said with a nod at Enid.
“Nonsense.”
“Let me take you to lunch at least.”
“That would be nice.” Enid’s cheeks had the slightest hint of pink, and Tory was surprised at how girlish she sounded. Was she… sweet on Jonah? “One more thing,” she added. “Tory’s friend has a bit of a problem we’d like to help him with. Can we run it by you? Do you have a few more minutes?”
“As long as it takes,” Jonah said.
Later, Tory carried her laptop out to the barn where, like Liam’s father at the Flying W, Dale had set up a rough office a long time ago. She’d wondered if she’d get more done away from the house and her mother, but the minute she let herself into the small room, she realized she’d made a mistake.
Musty animal scents, chaffy hay, turned soil and sawdust awoke a myriad of memories. Dale teaching her to ride a horse; chasing chickens with Lance and shrieking when they chased her back; sneaking out after bedtime to go swimming in Pittance Creek with Olivia.
She snapped out of it when a tear slipped down her cheek and landed with a splat on the paper in front of her. Rubbing a hand over her cheek, she jumped when she heard a voice behind her.
“There you are,” Virginia said crossly, as if Tory had done her a personal affront by being out here. She frowned. “Allergies acting up? So much time in the city must have made you weak.”
Tory just nodded. “I think it’s the hay.”
“You’ll get accustomed to it soon enough. You’re a Cooper, after all. This is where you belong. Speaking of which, what have you done about the Ridley property?”
“Uh…”
“Just like I thought.” Virginia stepped nearer and rapped the pointy end of her umbrella on the desk. “You’ve been fooling around instead of getting anything done. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
“I’ve got other things to do, Aunt Virginia.”
“What other things?”
Tory realized she couldn’t tell her she was trying to keep Liam’s mother from selling the Flying W. She couldn’t say anything about the organic certification idea, either. Not until she had everyone else on board. Virginia would have heard about Liam’s efforts in that direction and would put two and two together.
She needed to throw Virginia off the scent for now. How on earth could she help her family win the Founder’s Prize? It seemed like the Coopers and the Turners were taking turns fixing or saving Chance Creek’s civic institutions. What else needed to be saved?
She couldn’t think of a thing—except for Liam’s plan.
“I… I’m going to save the dialysis unit,” she declared. She’d figure out something else later. What, she had no idea.
“The dialysis unit, huh?” Virginia thought it over. “Sounds good. Get on it.” She tapped her umbrella on the desk again and left.
Tory sighed again, turned on the laptop and spent a few hours going over Liam’s organic certification paperwork, making lists of what they’d need to do at Thorn Hill, to share with her siblings later. As she went, her estimation of Liam’s talents grew. He was careful and conscientious, and she thought his plan would get enthusiastic approval when the inspectors came.
When she’d had enough, she walked to the main house for lunch, glad to put the problem of the Founder’s Prize out of her mind.
Lost in thought as she approached the house, she didn’t notice Steel until he cornered her in the kitchen. “I heard you’ve been spending time in Silver Falls,” he said without preamble.
It took Tory a minute to catch up. It had only been a couple of days since she’d been at Runaway Lake, but it seemed like weeks. “What if I have?” Tory met his intense gaze without flinching. Steel might intimidate others, but she’d been holding her own against him since they were kids.
“I heard about the fire, too,” he said. “Did you start it? Was it an accident?”
Tory bristled. “You think I’m that careless?”
“No. I don’t.” He shrugged. “I was kind of hoping you were just this once, though. It was Rod Malcom, wasn’t it?”
“You know Rod?” How had Steel guessed that? “You two have some kind of falling out I should know about?” It certainly had seemed like Rod was coming after her because she was a Cooper.
“Not me. Watch out for him, though. Stay away from Silver Falls while you’re at it. There’s history there.”
She wondered what kind of history he meant. Had Dale’s penchant for breaking the law gotten him in trouble up there? “I’m not planning on going back,” she said honestly. The last thing she wanted was
