Cowboy Dad

“Your family didn’t want me here.”

“We’d have tolerated you.”

As they were now? “Is that why you’re being nice to me today? To clear your conscience?” Guilt gave Aaron’s voice an edge. He should have stood up to Jake and come to Hailey’s memorial service instead of hiding behind a wall of grief.

“I deserved that, which is why I won’t let your anger ruin our friendship.” The twinkle in Millie’s eyes reappeared.

Aaron found it hard to stay mad. “You think we’re going to be friends?”

“Good ones.” She glanced at Jake before patting Aaron’s arm. “Would you like to see more pictures of Hailey growing up? There are lots of them. We have albums for every year the resort’s been in operation. Ma insisted on it.”

“Sure.” He grinned. Whatever reason Millie had for being nice to him—and she had one, she was too wily not to—Aaron didn’t care as long as it irritated Jake.

She flipped to a new page in the album and said, “There’s all the cousins.” The six Tucker grandchildren sat grouped together on the floor in front of a huge, elaborately decorated Christmas tree. “Jake’s not only the oldest grandchild, he’s the only boy.” Millie chuckled. “And then the poor man goes and has three daughters. It’s not entirely his fault he turned out to be such a stick-in-the-mud. Natalie’s no relation but they’ve known each other their whole lives, and he’s as overprotective with her as the rest of the women in his life.”

Aaron changed the subject. For some reason he wasn’t inclined to talk about Natalie with any of the Tuckers, even the one being nice to him.

“You have four daughters?” He studied Hailey’s young face. She’d had the same exuberance about her as a child as she’d had as an adult.

“Oh, yes. Carolina and Rachel over there are my two middle ones. Don’t be put off. They’re not nearly as mean as they appear,” Millie teased. “My oldest is married and lives in Colorado.”

“You must miss her.” Aaron’s own mother complained frequently of his long absences.

“Yes, but the benefit of the family trust is that she’s required to spend eight weeks a year here. She splits her weeks up, taking them two at a time. This last time she brought my brand-new granddaughter with her.”

“Another girl?” He turned pages as Millie talked.

“It’s a family curse.”

Aaron’s mind went to Hailey. What might the sex of their children have been had she lived?

“My youngest is in the service.” Millie glowed with pride. “She’s a warrant officer for the army. I have a shop in Payson with Natalie’s mother, and I’m also the wedding coordinator for the ranch.”

“Is your brother still at the college?”

Because he and Hailey had eloped, Aaron didn’t meet his father-in-law until later, though she’d talked a lot about him. When Jake took over the ranch eight years ago, their father followed his lifelong dream of teaching and became an instructor at nearby Gila Community College.

“Are you kidding?” Millie said. “He loves it. Swore running a resort wasn’t his thing. Well, guess what he teaches?”

“Business?”

She harrumphed. “Hospitality and tourism management.”

Aaron wasn’t sorry his former father-in-law had to miss the meeting. Not that he’d expected the red-carpet treatment from him, either. Only after he and Hailey were married did he understand his wife’s reluctance to invite her family to the ceremony. The Tuckers weren’t thrilled with her chosen groom, especially her father and brother, and let her know it.

Aaron closed the photo album and returned it to its slot. He was enjoying talking to Millie but growing impatient with Jake’s stall tactics. “Why exactly are we here?”

“A family meeting. Jake’s authority to act on behalf of the trust has limitations. Whatever he has on the agenda must require a majority vote. If not, we wouldn’t have been summoned. Didn’t our attorney explain everything to you?”

“I wasn’t paying much attention.” Aaron had existed in a fog for months after Hailey’s death.

“Well, if you have any questions, call him. I can give you his number.”

“Jake doesn’t need me for a majority vote. He’s gotten along so far without me.”

“Ah, but he does. The trust stipulates that any members residing on the ranch are required to attend meetings. If he weren’t bound by the trust, you’d still be riding the trails with Gary.”

“Is everyone ready?” Jake snapped shut his cell phone and dropped it into his shirt pocket.

“Waiting on you,” Millie chirped.

She and Aaron wandered to the table and chose seats. Aaron selected his because it was next to Millie and directly across from Jake. They immediately locked gazes.

Aaron wasn’t the type to fold under pressure. It was a quality he’d honed, one that had enabled him to rise from a nobody at age nineteen to a national champion at age twenty-four.

Jake broke eye contact in order to distribute papers to everyone present. He explained to the group how the company they leased their fleet of ATVs from had waited until the last minute to announce a rate hike, one that far exceeded the ranch’s budget.

Options were discussed, everything from locating another leasing company to paying the higher rate. Aaron listened far more than he contributed. There wasn’t much he could add. And though he hated to admit it, Jake clearly was no dummy when it came to running the ranch. After a final round of discussion, a vote was taken.

The meeting was at an end when Aaron finally spoke up. “I have something I want to talk about.”

“You do?” One corner of Jake’s mouth curved up, either in amusement or disdain. It was hard to tell. His smile didn’t differ much from his frown. “Does it involve spending money?”

“Could.”

Jake made a show of checking his watch. “Can it wait until our regular monthly meeting on the twentieth? Alice will put it on the agenda.”

“This won’t take long.” Aaron’s insistence increased in proportion to Jake’s attempts to blow him off.

“I have a three o’clock appointment in town,” Jake said with a finality that implied his patience was at an end.

“Play nice, Jake,” Millie warned, all trace of her earlier congeniality gone. “Aaron has the right to initiate a discussion. Same as any of us.”

Aaron understood then what she’d meant about shaking things up.

If Jake was annoyed with his aunt, he covered it well. “Since when have the conditions of the trust interested you?”

“Since yesterday.” She broke into the wide, sassy smile of a person truly enjoying herself. “You’re an excellent manager of the family business, Jake. Better even than your father. But let’s be honest. You can also be a pain in the rear.”

One cousin looked away, the other one giggled.

Jake’s scowl lasted a mere two seconds. “If I am a pain in the rear, I inherited it from you.”

“One of my finer traits.” Millie laughed.

Aaron had to hand it to them. The Tuckers may not be an easy family to belong to, but their bond was strong.

Not unlike his own family.