Once and for All (8 page)

“Losing Dave was hard on Sam, both personally and professionally,” Margarite mused. “He really needs to get another partner, but I don’t know if he’s ready, you know?”

“Yeah.” Jodie did not want to discuss Sam’s business. She wanted to get to a computer. Fortunately, the oven timer rang a few minutes later and she was able to make her escape while Margarite checked the roast.

Jodie booted up her Netbook in the privacy of her bedroom and went online. Less than three minutes later her hands fell away from the keys as she stared at the screen. Colin Craig, her former client, had been convicted of vehicular homicide in the deaths of David and Maya Hyatt.

Damn. So much for the pleasant edge of attraction. Or testing that shyness hypothesis.

Jodie turned off the computer and stood, gathering her thoughts, reestablishing focus and objectivity.

This was…unfortunate. Regrettable. Not her fault.

The cops had screwed up. Craig had hired her firm to prove that, and the case had been handed to her. She’d nailed the cops and earned a healthy chunk of change for the firm. It was all a matter of business. But now that she knew Sam and saw firsthand the aftermath of her successful defense, she had to admit it didn’t feel that simple.

She pushed the thought out of her mind. Her dad would be the first to remind her that business was business…as sad as the outcome had been in this case.

So what now?

What now? She needed Sam. Theirs was a professional relationship.

He would never have to know.

And why Jodie? He couldn’t think of a less likely prospect, considering the bad blood between him and her father. Surely one game of two-on-two hadn’t impressed them that much. Although he had to admit to being a bit impressed himself. No. Make that a lot impressed. He liked this new side of Jodie. But…he looked at his nephews, who in turn appeared shifty…he was going to avoid complicating his life for a while. He didn’t need to be distracted from his mission of raising his little brother’s kids just yet.

“Don’t you think?” Tyler persisted.

Sam picked up a sweatshirt that was draped over the back of a kitchen chair and handed it to him. “I think she’s a good ball player,” he said flatly. “Who forgot to load the dishwasher this afternoon?”

Beau let out a breath, raised his hand.

“Get on it. Then hit the books. If you have any questions, I want them ready for Miss Simms tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah.” Beau sounded way less than enthused, but he had to pass the next test in order to be able to play again. They only had a couple games before the zone semifinals and then possibly the state tourney. Without Beau, there was a question as to whether the team would qualify. He needed to be eligible.

Sam spent some time with Beau and his math, Tyler and English, and then he went to bed. But still he thought about Jodie. Yeah, he was attracted, which surprised him. And perplexed him. She’d had some challenges on the ranch, more than her fair share, but she was a strong woman. She shouldn’t have that weird air of desperation every time something cropped up. Again he wondered how much Joe was to blame for that, and if Jodie was even aware of what she was doing, how she was reacting. Somehow he didn’t think so.

So was she lying?

Damned right she was. It might be by omission, but she was shielding her father from the truth. Her one concern was hitting him with too much when he came back. However, if the bull recovered and the heifers calved safely, and the only incidents she had to fess up to were the cut horse and Mike quitting, then her dad would probably be ticked about being kept in the dark, and pout for a while, but it shouldn’t raise his blood pressure.

She stared at her message for a moment. If she didn’t add some specifics, then Joe would start asking direct questions. She put her fingers back on the keys. We had some trouble with the plumbing in the house. A pipe froze two days ago and the plumber came. We had to wait forever for him to arrive and it was a bitch not having water, but he thawed the pipes and reinsulated. He assured us it won’t happen again. Also, the laser printer died, so I bought a new wireless model, which UPS delivered today. Hopefully I can get it up and running before you get home. She debated about another , then decided against it. No sense pushing things.

There. She’d added enough reality that Joe wouldn’t think she was sugarcoating. Jodie pushed Send and slumped back in her chair.

She was doing the right thing. She hoped. Joe should be enjoying his vacation, not pacing the floor over what was going on at the ranch in his absence, driving his blood pressure up and her mother crazy.

So, when he came back, would she tell him about Colin Craig and Dave Hyatt while she was confessing the other truths? She usually told her father everything, but this…this she might just keep to herself.

“But I get to go tomorrow, right?” The basketball team was working at a local charity function.

“Yes, but you’re not going out afterward. If Ty goes, you’re coming home with me.”

Beau looked as if he wanted to say something more, but just rinsed the sponge and headed for the kitchen table.

Four hours later the Beast pulled up to the house. Beau was sitting on the sofa, staring sightlessly at the TV, and Sam was almost asleep in his chair.

“Have a good time?” Sam asked with a yawn.

“Not bad,” Tyler replied.

“What’d you do?” he asked casually, although he was also checking for the telltale odor of smoke or alcohol.

“Hung out at the bowling alley, which is why I smell like smoke,” he said gruffly. “Then we went to the café for food.” Tyler did not seem thrilled to give a recitation of his evening’s activities—even an abridged one. He walked away without another word, shrugging out of his hooded sweatshirt as he headed down the hall to the bathroom. Sam watched him go, then shook his head and went to shut off the kitchen light before going to bed. It was his job to know what his nephews were doing, his job to see that they didn’t get into trouble, which was so easy to do nowadays.

A few minutes later, he heard the boys talking in the bedroom they shared. Tyler was giving an expanded version of the evening, no doubt. Sam just hoped Beau wasn’t hearing something that he himself should be aware of.

He took off his shirt and tossed it in the laundry basket in the corner of the room. Then he sat on the bed, resting his forearms on his thighs, his head bowed.

Dave and Maya should be the ones raising their boys, feeling the swell of pride when their sons did well, and propping them up when they didn’t. Setting the rules, enforcing the consequences. Sam felt more at ease in his role now than he had a year ago, but he still saw the potential for disaster every time Beau and Tyler went out the door.

And he missed his brother. Sometimes he wondered how life would have turned out if he hadn’t talked Dave into taking his place at the fateful veterinary conference, hadn’t convinced him that Maya could use a little time away from Wesley. Would he have been hit by the car instead of his brother? Would Dave and Maya be mourning him?

Logically, it would have been better that way. Then his brother would have had the opportunity to see his boys grow into men, and Sam’s nephews would have had parents who knew what they were doing.

Instead, Sam had the boys, the boys had him. All he could do was to hold on tightly and hope for the best.

“Where would they have gone?” Jodie asked when he came in to report. She already had a headache, having spent the morning trying to load the wireless printer she’d bought to replace the printer that had died the week before. Wireless had seemed like such a good idea at the time, but right now…

“That’s what I need to find out,” he said grimly. “The snow’s so deep they probably walked over the fences.”

“Won’t they come home when they get hungry?”

“They should be hungry now and they aren’t home. And I have two heifers ready to pop.”

Jodie tensed slightly as she realized what came next, but all she said was, “I’ll call Sam about the heifers.” This was what she was paying the retainer for. It was also an opportunity to make that first contact since learning she’d been inadvertently involved in his brother’s death, to hammer home the point that her professional life was separate from her private life. It was indeed a sad situation, but the hard truth was she would defend Colin Craig the same way today as she had then. She was a lawyer. That was what she did.

So why did she keep having to repeat that bit of information to herself?

Because she’d never had a case that had crossed over into her personal life before. This was new territory. Territory she needed to conquer.

“Let me call,” Lucas said. “I can give him the particulars.” He went to the phone, and for once Margarite didn’t grumble about slush on the floor, but simply headed to the cleaning closet for the mop.

Jodie listened as Lucas talked to Sam. Missing cattle. Oh, yeah. That would go over well. Her head snapped up when she heard Lucas say, “They haven’t come back, so I’m afraid they may be in one of the culverts. Yeah, if the boys could come, that would be a big help. And Sam…I think the one heifer is carrying twins.” He blew out a disgusted breath. “Yeah. Hope the county road is open. I plowed to the mailbox last night when the snow slowed down. There’s probably only six inches or so on the road, but it may have drifted some. Okay. See ya.”

“You think the cows might be in a culvert?” Jodie asked when Lucas hung up.

“Oh, no,” Margarite said as she came into the room, mop in hand.

Jodie glanced from the cowboy to the housekeeper, not quite understanding. “How
big
are these culverts?”

“Big enough to handle flood runoff during wet years,” Lucas said.

“Cattle walk through them to go from pasture to pasture,” Margarite added. “And sometimes they take shelter in them.”

“Wouldn’t that keep the cows out of the weather?” Jodie asked, not understanding the problem.

“If the culvert drifts shut, the cattle can die of carbon dioxide poisoning.” Lucas looked past Jodie to the housekeeper. He spoke to her when he said, “I’m going to saddle some horses, then head out. I’ll check the culvert on the Gypsum Creek side. Margie, have the boys check the one on Samuels Creek. Jodie, you better go watch that heifer.”

“What do I do besides watch her?”

“Just watch her. Sam will be here soon. I hope.”

If the county road was passable.

“Why is my father in this business?” Jodie asked with a moan after Lucas disappeared back outside.

Margarite shrugged. “Keeps a body busy. And your father is fortunate that something like this won’t make or break him. On a normal ranch, losing this many cattle would devastate them.”

Jodie’s insides went tight. “Don’t talk about losing cows. I don’t want my dad to have a heart attack when he comes home.” And she meant that literally.