Page 28 of High Water

“She’ll be angry. I know my sister well enough to know that. But once she has time to think, she’ll understand. I don’t see how she couldn’t.”

“Let’s hope she does, because the only hope we have of getting access to that land is if she gives me permission to take Fallon to see her grandmother.” I’m not even sure that will work. It’s a long shot. But the only one we’ve got.

“It’s not yours? With your old man being gone, I thought…”

I shake my head, pushing off the rail and standing up again.

“He sold it to my grandmother when he was worried his debts were gonna cost him the property. She wants it to stay in the family and plans to leave it to a cousin.”

“Surely we could just sneak out there, find the place you stashed it, and get out before anyone’s the wiser?”

“She’s got security on the property. Some of my dad’s old contacts looted the barn, and now she’s got someone out there patrolling it. Chase’s helping her keep an eye on it, and if he gets wind of something, he’ll jump at the chance to throw me under a bus. Several of them, if he could.”

“Have you looked into the security company? Maybe we can exploit some weaknesses in their schedule.” Levi’s already trying to find a loophole to make this work.

“I was going to ask you if you wanted to look into it. See what you could find. I’ve got a name, but their web presence is pretty sparse. I know you and your friends back East have some contacts that might be able to suss out some more information for us.”

“I can do that. But in the meantime, maybe you’re right that your grandmother’s an easier in. You said she wants to see Fallon? Does she even know she exists?”

“She came down here a while back, stayed at Hazel’s place with some of the women from the assisted living facility. She remembered this was the ranch I came to when everything went to hell with my dad, and she was snooping around, looking at all the photographs to see if I was in any of them. Found a picture of Aspen and Fallon.” I look back at my friend, and he’s already smirking as he puts the pieces together.

“And she saw how much Fallon looks like you. The eyes. Guessed she was about the right age.”

I nod. “Don’t let the sweet-old-lady act fool you. She’s sharp as hell still. She even…”—a burst of laughter cuts off my words—“she even asked if the guy who showers outside was still around and then called back wanting to know if he did any of those firefighter-style calendars. Claimed she was asking for a friend.”

Levi buckles over in laughter alongside me, and it takes us several minutes to get ourselves back to rights. It feels good after such a terrible conversation to still find humor in it all.

“So maybe we just need to send Ramsey up there to sweet-talk her into it.”

“You think you can get Hazel’s permission for that?” I have to stifle my laughter long enough to speak.

“Doubtful. She’s pretty possessive. But we can always try.” He smirks, and we stand there together, imagining Ramsey trying to woo my grandmother into letting us have the land. It gives me one last taste of amusement before I have to return to reality.

I let out a long sigh as I try to think of how we can pull this off. But I have to make it happen, for my daughter’s sake, and Aspen as much as anyone.

“It’ll take me a while to even find where I buried it. I don’t know if I can remember exactly. I know generally, but it’s been years, and with the way that wildfire tore through down there…” I make a sharp sound with my tongue against my cheek. “Not to mention, we’ve only got a couple of weeks before it gets warm.”

“And not to be crude, but how’s your grandmother’s health?”

“Not great. She’s got a lot of energy, but she’s also got a half dozen health problems stacked on top of each other. She likes to joke that they’re too busy fighting each other to take her out just yet. I think she might be on to something. But still…” I look out at the valley below. “We need time we don’t have.”

“You bring Fallon to her, and what then? She reconsiders her bargain? Passes it down to her immediate family?”

“That’s the bargain I’m hoping for, yeah. There’s no telling if she’ll bite. Her terms were a little stricter than that.”

“As in?”

“As in she wanted it passed down to family—more than just a kid. She wants us, me or Chase, whichever one of us crosses the line first, to have a wife and a kid, and then she’ll consider rethinking her plans.”

“She said that?”

“When pressed, yes. To my knowledge, my brother doesn’t have any kids. Then again, neither do I to his. So I’m hoping meeting her granddaughter will change her mind in my favor. Make her rethink this whole scheme. Fuck, I’d even split the land with him. Let him have the house and the barns. I just want this strip out here to make sure we can solve your problems and put a buffer between these ranches. But I have to get Aspen’s permission for all of this first. We’d have to tell Fallon I’m her dad. There’s no way around it.”

“It sounds like you might need more than Aspen’s permission on a Fallon field trip.”

“What do you mean?”

“You marry her, you solve the whole problem.”