“Was Ezra a controlling person?” she asked.
“Where’d that question come from?”
“You probably knew him better than anyone, so tell me more about him?” she said.
“Oh, hell, yeah, and mean as a rattlesnake,” Rusty said. “I mean, he named the dogs after your mothers, so that ought to tell you something. He always told me he was leaving the ranch to me. Then a week before he died, he called the lawyer and changed his will.”
“He called you the son he never had,” Bonnie said. “Was that to make us feel less worthy of the Malloy name? I just can’t wrap my mind around why he changed his will and brought us here. If I could figure out why, then maybe I’d find some peace before I leave Texas. Seems like every time I think of him, all I feel is anger, and a little bit of fear that I might be like him in some way. Most of the time I don’t even like my mother, but I love her. I can’t imagine even liking Ezra.”
Rusty shrugged. “That old fart had his own ways. He was good to me, and for that I loved him, but what he did to you girls was wrong. I’m mad at him this morning, so I don’t want to talk about him.”
“Why?” Bonnie was stunned.
Rusty never had anything but praise for Ezra.
“He popped into my head and fussed at me when I said I might change the name of the ranch, and it made me even madder when he changed his will,” Rusty said.
“What were you going to change the name to?” she asked, “And how would Ezra feel about that? I thought y’all were best buddies.”
“Sunrise Ranch,” Rusty answered. “I love the way the sun comes up over the crest of the canyon every morning.” Rusty paused. “Sometimes I can hear his voice in my head, and it’s good advice, but he was on one of his mean streaks this morning.”
Bonnie pulled a banana from her sack and peeled it. “My mama does that all the time. Out of nowhere, she pops into my head and has something to say about what I’m doin’. Most of the time it’s to tell me that I’m not smart enough to do something. It makes me so mad that I make it my mission to prove her wrong. I’m glad you stood up to him, even if he’s dead and just a voice in your head. Sunrise Ranch has a nice sound to it. Maybe you’ll come up with the highest bid after all, since you said you’d change the name to something nice.”
“One more cup of tea, and then I’m going to work. You have a choice in what you do. I don’t,” he said.
“You could move off the ranch. I bet I could kick any mesquite bush between here and Silverton and a dozen foremen would come running out lookin’ for a job,” she said.
“And wouldn’t a one of them be as good as I am.” He settled his dusty old straw hat on his head and left without even looking back.
“Little egotistical there,” she called out.
He waved over his shoulder but still didn’t turn around.
You’ve met your match. Her mother was in her head again, and this time she was laughing out loud. Bonnie heaved a long sigh and wondered if he’d felt the same attraction and little shocks of desire that she did when they were together. If so, why was he holding back? Should she talk to her sisters about the way she felt?
She shook her head as she finished off the last sip of her tea. No, she wouldn’t talk to anyone about anything until she sorted it all out herself. She might find that the old saying about being out of sight, out of mind worked in this instance.
Chapter Three
Rusty had no intentions of going to the Sugar Shack on Saturday night, not after spending the whole day sitting in a tractor seat. He was dog-tired and ready to throw back in Ezra’s old recliner and watch Longmire on television. Ezra had bought the DVDs of both that and Justified, and Rusty had watched them many times. But neither show held his attention, and he was bored. He’d gotten soft in the past six months. Any old time he wanted company he could go up to the ranch house and visit with the sisters.
He went into the bathroom where he stared at his reflection in the mirror. Light brown hair that needed cutting, a couple of days’ worth of scruff on his face. “I am a loner,” he whispered. “I don’t need a gaggle of women around me to keep me company.”
He picked up his razor and shaved, then took a shower and put on a pair of pajama pants. He opened a can of chili, poured it into a bowl, and warmed it in the microwave. Once that was done, he poured himself a glass of sweet tea, and carried both to the living room. He set it on the end table beside his recliner and settled in to watch something on Netflix. At the end of the first episode of The Ranch, he realized he hadn’t been paying enough attention to it to even know what had happened, so he got up and turned off the television.
Feeling cooped up, he went outside to sit on the porch and pet the dogs, but they weren’t anywhere to be found. “Probably at the ranch house,” he muttered. “Since women came onto the ranch, they’re gettin’ plumb spoiled.”
So are you. Ezra’s voice was back in his head. Since them girls came around, you’ve gotten spoiled to having company all the time.
“Maybe so,” Rusty agreed. “So what?”
Ezra didn’t have an answer for that.
Rusty walked from the bunkhouse to the ranch house and found the dogs lyin’ on the porch—right where he figured they would be. Martha opened one eye and yipped one time. Vivien and Polly didn’t even bother to do that much.
“I’m going to the Sugar Shack,” he announced and headed back to the bunkhouse to get dressed. “Maybe I’ll feel better after a few beers and when I dance some leather off of my boots.”
* * *
Bonnie’s thoughts all through the day had been constantly on the ranch and the insane attraction she’d felt for Rusty. It seemed even stronger since they were the only ones left on the ranch. She had no intentions of ever doing anything about it, so why wouldn’t it just disappear? Too bad there wasn’t a delete button for times like this, or for just time in general. Push the button and the chemistry she felt for her foreman would disappear. Push it again, and a whole year would disappear. She’d be on a beach somewhere in a cute little bar—hell, she might even own the bar—drinking a margarita and dancing with handsome beach boys.
She’d been restless after she finished cutting hay all day, so she’d gone to the grocery store in Claude to buy food for the week. She was pushing her cart toward the checkout counter when the message came over the PA system saying that the store would be closing in fifteen minutes. “Bring your purchases to the front of the store, please.”
Evidently she was the last remaining person in the store, because no one else was pushing a cart toward one of the three cashiers. Bonnie unloaded her cart onto the conveyor belt and then stuck the ranch credit card into the machine to pay for everything.
“Been a long day,” she said in way of conversation.
“Yep, and I can’t wait to get home, get my boots on, and go to the Sugar Shack for some excitement,” the woman said. “The place don’t get hoppin’ until about nine, so I’ll get there at just about the right time.”
Bonnie just nodded. No way did she have enough energy to go to the Sugar Shack this evening, and besides, the last time she had gone there, she had had Shiloh with her. Going alone just didn’t sound like much fun.