“Even better than I expected,” Tucker confessed. He went for straight-up honest, because working with the man, it would be better to not tiptoe around issues. He met Caleb’s gaze straight on. “The only thing I don’t understand is your lack of focus.”
Caleb blinked. “Explain.”
Tucker shrugged. “You’ve branched out into a lot of areas. That’s not a bad way to put money on the table, but it’s not how Silver Stone becomes established as the best at what she does. You’ve got the breeding program, you train horses for everything from personal rides to rodeo stock. You raise cattle, you had a semi-commercial agricultural arm.”
“Only made sense,” Ashton said, a little more gruffly than usual. “Diversifying brought in money.”
“I’m not saying it’s wrong,” Tucker insisted. “But I am saying that it’s something you need to think about going forward. If you like what you’re doing, then we’ll carry on and find ways to make each part of the operation stronger and more lucrative. Or, if you don’t want to keep that many pots on the fire, you could pick the ones you like best and specialize. Since you’re no longer fighting to keep finances balanced.”
Caleb’s expression seemed stern, but he blinked more than usual, which Tucker recognized as a tell the man was considering brand-new thoughts. “You’re saying I need to take my own advice. The way I told everybody on Christmas Eve to dream about what they’d like to do.”
Tucker dipped his chin. “If you want to bounce ideas around, Ashton and I are more than willing to listen.”
“Huh.” Caleb stared at Luke and Kelli, but his gaze seemed far more distant. “I might take you up on that.”
Conversation shifted to other topics. Eventually Ashton hauled Tucker into the mess hall for lunch, the cook serving up an eclectic mix of classic ranch food and tasty, spicy Indian dishes that created a mouth-watering aroma that set Tucker damn near drooling.
He settled opposite his uncle and dug into his food, the empty hole in his stomach messing with his manners.
When he finally paused, he looked up and discovered Ashton sitting across from him, arms once again folded over his chest and a highly disapproving expression back in place. “Sorry. Didn’t realize I was that hungry.”
“Your lack of table manners isn’t the part I’m pissed about,” Ashton growled.
Yeah, Tucker had figured this was coming. And yet, same as he had with Caleb, he figured it was better to start as he meant to go on. Which had in fact, been one of the bits of advice that Jack had offered that made a hell of a lot of sense.
“You mean me asking Caleb to consider the overall direction of Silver Stone going forward?”
Ashton’s frown deepened. “I thought you planned to apprentice under me, not take over the first chance you got.”
Tucker put down his fork and wiped his mouth clean with his napkin, considering his words. “I absolutely want to apprentice, but what I said to Caleb goes for you as well. With the changes available to Silver Stone, plus me joining the mix, you need to think hard about what you want. There’s not much use in training me to do something that will be obsolete a year down the road.”
Ashton made a harrumphing noise.
The fact his uncle wasn’t tearing a strip off him at that moment was a positive thing. Tucker went on, allowing amusement to slide into his tone. “Plus, I figure you have no intention of retiring completely.”
“Damn right.”
“So tell me I was wrong to nudge the two men with the most influence to consider all their options.” Tucker leaned forward and winked at his uncle. “Nope. Thought not.”
“Ungrateful brat,” Ashton murmured, but he picked up his fork and went back to his plate instead of continuing to harass Tucker.
And so it began.
12
New Year’s came and went in a flash, and as they rolled into January, Ginny found herself retreating to the cottage at the end of each day far more exhausted than expected.
Finding a new path forward meant a lot to do, and all of it seemed to involve other people. There were her friends who felt they had years to catch up on, and rightly so. Her nieces and nephew wanted to spend time with her. Plus, sharing time with each of her new sisters-in-law—who were, thank God, nothing like Caleb’s first wife—was also high on Ginny’s daily activity list.
Thoughts of the cold-blooded creature still gave Ginny nightmares if she were being honest.
She quietly said something to that effect to Tamara while they were cleaning up after lunch on Monday. Emma’s happy laughter echoed in the room, simultaneously driving guilt and happiness into Ginny’s heart
Ginny eyed her niece. “I had no idea how much damage Wendy caused. I’m so glad you’re in their lives,” she admitted as she and Tamara worked quietly beside each other.
Tamara paused in the middle of washing and laid her hand on Ginny’s. “You couldn’t have known.”
“I lived right here,” Ginny said gruffly. “I should have seen that Wendy’s attitude was more than simply someone uncomfortable with her surroundings. When I heard she’d had been abusive, I kept thinking back for some sign that I missed. I wish with everything in me I had stopped it.”
Dishes forgotten, Tamara grabbed Ginny by the hand and tugged her until they were face to face. “It was not your fault,” she said clearly, still softly though, as the girls entertained their brother in the living room only feet away. “Caleb does this at times, as well. He beats himself up for not being perfect. And it’s useless, because it’s in the past. If you had seen, you would’ve changed things, but now things are different anyway. We move forward, we don’t look back.”
Which was usually Ginny’s way, but the thought still haunted her. “I was too tangled up in my own head,” she confessed.
Tamara stole the dishtowel from her hands, stepped back as she twirled it a couple of times, then applied a well delivered snap to Ginny’s thigh.
“Ouch,” Ginny exclaimed loud enough to draw the attention of small children playing nearby.
Tamara was winding up again. “If you don’t stop, I’ll give you something else to worry about.”
Ginny raised her hands, backing away. “Okay, okay. I’ll behave.”
Emma came rushing to her defense, which emphasized Tamara’s point even more. “Auntie Ginny, you need to be good,” she teased. “Mama only hits Papa with the dishtowel when he’s been naughty.”
“Very naughty,” Tamara said, totally amused. “Which means I don’t have to do it very often.”
Sasha wandered up, Tyler on her hip. His little toddler arms were wrapped in a stranglehold around his big sister’s neck. “Tyler says he wants to go look for kittens.”
Tamara rested her fists on her hips and offered her oldest daughter a look.
Sasha opened and closed her mouth a few times before speaking again. “Oops. Sorry, Mom. Tyler, tell Mommy what you want to do now.”
Tyler bared his little teeth and made a meowing sound.
“Then I guess that’s what we’re doing next.” Tamara slid over and gave Ginny a squeeze. “You’re a wonderful auntie, and wonderful sister. Never forget that,” she chided softly in Ginny’s ear.