Chapter Seven
“Noah? It’s Brandon. Man, you’ve got to help me. I can’t get a job anywhere, and I need cash.”
“Slow down.” Noah put down the pitchfork he was using to muck out the stall of his favorite horse, Warning, and switched the phone to his other ear. “What happened?”
“The same thing that’s been happening. I see an ad. I apply. I don’t even hear back for an interview.”
“We talked about showing up in person—”
“When I do that, the person in charge of hiring is mysteriously away. And when I come back, they’re still away—”
Noah heard the desperation in Brandon’s voice, and he knew something had to change, fast. He didn’t have any answers, though. People were too worried about the drought to take a chance on a man who’d been in jail. He wondered if he could hire Brandon himself, but they were already stretched tight at the Flying W. Besides, that wouldn’t give Brandon the experience of solving the problem himself. “Why do you need money so badly?”
“The cost of living—”
Noah listened to his gut. “You live with your parents. So what is this really about?”
“Christie,” Brandon admitted. “She deserves more. I want to take her out to eat. To a movie. Dancing. I want to buy her things.”
“What kind of things?”
“She needs a new stove. Hers is busted—”
“She has a job,” Noah pointed out. “Let her buy her own stove.”
“She said—” Brandon cut off.
Now they were getting to the crux of it, Noah figured. “What did she say?”
“She said she wants to be with a good provider. And before you flip your lid, that’s what I want to be. That’s what a man should be. What’s wrong with that?”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Noah admitted. A woman like Christie had to think about the future. What if she had children? A man without a job wouldn’t be much help. “Look,” Noah went on. “You need to hang in there. I need you to trust me. This is the crucial part of the equation right here. If you slog through this and find a job—any job—you’re going to be okay. If you reoffend, you can kiss Christie and your future goodbye. Got it?” There was no use pulling punches.
Brandon heaved a sigh. “Yeah, I got it. But this sucks.”
“Check Silver Falls. Check everywhere you can. Go after every job. Persistence is going to pay off. I swear.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Brandon hung up.
Noah had barely pocketed his phone when Liam rushed into the stable, waving a fistful of papers at him. “Look at all of these letters about how much everyone loves Chance Creek High like it is right now. We’re going to bury those Coopers.”
“Shouldn’t you let people send them in themselves? They’re not going to look good coming from you,” Noah pointed out.
“Way ahead of you,” Liam said. “Everyone is submitting their own letter, a few each day. The paper can ignore some of them, but they can’t ignore all of them. I’m going to post these around town.” He waved the papers again. “I’ll do that tonight, when it’s dark.”
“Don’t get caught,” Noah warned him.
“Stop worrying,” Liam told him and left the stable.
Noah snorted. If anything, he was more worried than ever.
Olivia was curled up on the sofa with an old dog-eared paperback when Lance and Steel trailed through the living room, dressed in black and carrying flashlights.
“I don’t even want to know,” she told them.
“You’re going to know,” Lance said. “You’re coming to help.”
“Oh no, I’m not.”
Steel tossed one of the flashlights at her. Olivia caught it automatically, and he grinned. “Come on. We need you.”
Olivia marked her page and put her book down. “The Turners have the right to irrigate their fields.” Lance cut her off.
“We have the right to water our stock.”
“You’re right, we do. So let’s work on dredging our channel tomorrow when it’s light out.”
“The Turners didn’t wait for light when they made theirs deeper.” Lance was already moving toward the door.
That got her attention. Olivia got up and followed her brothers through the kitchen and out the back door. “You think they diverted water into their irrigation channel?” she asked Steel. She didn’t trust Lance to tell the truth.
“Doesn’t matter if they did or didn’t. Lance says we need more.”
“Then let’s work with the Turners to make sure it’s fair—”
“Coopers don’t work with Turners,” Lance started.
“I’m out of town tomorrow. We’ll take care of it right now,” Steel said. Olivia knew he wouldn’t change his mind, and the two of them outnumbered her. So much for being independent, she thought dispiritedly as they walked. She should go back to the house. Refuse to cooperate. What would they do then?
“What is your beef with Liam Turner?” Olivia demanded of Lance as they headed to the barn.
“My beef is with all the Turners.”
“Baloney. You have it out for Liam. Always have.”
“Not always.”
Lance wouldn’t elaborate no matter how she pestered him as they picked up tools and headed for the creek, and finally Steel shushed her. “We’re getting close.”
“I still don’t want to do this.”
“You’re doing this,” Lance growled at her. “Pipe down.”
Olivia gave up. She’d never crossed her brothers before, and she couldn’t seem to now, not when Steel was on Lance’s side. What if he knew something she didn’t? Furious at herself for failing to stand up to them, her heart in her mouth at the thought of Noah catching them in the act, she held the light for her brothers as they waded into the sluggish water of the creek and altered its flow toward their own side channel.
“Make sure you leave them enough. They’ll be less likely to come after us,” she hissed.
“They don’t deserve—” Lance began.
“Quiet, both of you. We’ll leave them some water.”
“Steel—”
“I said quiet.”
Lance shut up, but the way he hacked at the creek bed with his shovel told Olivia his anger simmered beneath the surface.
Someday that anger was going to blow them all to kingdom come, she thought.
“There. That will do it for now,” Steel said.
“For now,” Lance echoed and splashed toward the shore. He passed Olivia without another word and strode back the way they’d come. Olivia waited for Steel.
“We’ve started something that isn’t going to end well,” she told him when he was out on dry land.
“We don’t have a choice,” Steel said.
“We always have a choice.”
She thought he wouldn’t answer, but Steel stopped and stared into the darkness beyond the reach of her flashlight. “You’re right. We do have a choice. I hope someday you’ll understand mine.” He was gone before she could question him, leaving Olivia to stumble across the fields on her own.
After a few paces she turned off the flashlight, let her eyes adjust and continued by the light of the stars. She’d disagreed with Lance plenty of times in the past, but this was the first time she thought Steel was in the wrong. It left her feeling untethered. She’d counted on her brother, especially after their father landed in jail and their mother left. Now she was on her own.
Which was exactly what she’d said she wanted, Olivia reminded herself. She needed to make her own decisions. Take a stand. This was the last time she’d help sabotage the Turners.
She hoped like hell someday Steel and the rest of the family would understand her choices, too.
Noah knew something was up when Liam and Jed met him on the doorstep of the house the following afternoon. He’d been up well before dawn to drive into Bozeman for an all-day meeting, part of keeping up his credentials for being a parole officer. By the time he got home again, it was nearly dinner. He was hungry and worried because he still hadn’t talked to Olivia. He wished he could meet with her in person, rather than texting or calling, but he couldn’t simply arrive on her doorstep.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Just coming to say hi.” Liam stepped aside so Noah could pass. He and Jed followed him inside.
“You’re freaking me out. What’s going on?” Noah made his way toward the kitchen. Something smelled good. Stella was at the stove when he walked in.
“Jed and Liam tell you about their crazy idea?” she asked.
“Not yet. What is it?” When he spotted the pot roast she was lifting out, he nearly groaned with impatience. “Are there biscuits? Tell me there are biscuits.”
“There are. Wash up first.”
He moved to the sink. “What’s the crazy idea?”
“It isn’t crazy.” Jed elbowed Noah out of the way and washed up, too.
“Well?” Noah asked when they were all seated. “Come on. Spill it.”
Maya entered the kitchen and slid into her seat. “Have you heard—?”
“No. No one will tell me.”
Stella served him a plate of pot roast and a biscuit. Noah knew he should wait for the others, but he was too hungry. He made short work of buttering the biscuit, dipped it into the gravy, blew on it and took a bite.
Heaven.
“Jed’s opening a tubing business,” Liam said. “We fixed the irrigation channel so it reconnects to Pittance Creek downstream and got more water flowing into it. It’s perfect. We’ll charge ten dollars a head and—”
Noah dropped his biscuit on his plate. “A tubing business? What are you talking about?”
“You know—people riding on inner tubes, like a lazy river ride at a water park. We’ll rent out tubes, ferry people back when they’re done for another ride—”
“In our irrigation channel?” Noah couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“You’ve gotta come see—”
“After dinner,” Stella said firmly.
“But the creek’s gone down—”
“We fixed that,” Liam said. “The channel is full, and the water’s the perfect speed. We made it so it loops back to the creek—”
“Ten bucks a head,” Jed said with satisfaction. “That’ll add up in hot weather like this.”
“You fixed it?” All thought of food forgotten, Noah pushed back his chair. “How did you fix it?”
“The Coopers messed with the creek first,” Liam said, but he wouldn’t meet Noah’s eye.
Hell.
“What have you done, Jed?”
“Liam worked the machinery,” Jed said primly.
Noah just bet he did—under Jed’s careful direction. Liam loved using the tractor’s backhoe attachment. And Jed—well, Jed loved screwing things up between them and their neighbors.
“The Coopers messed with the creek first,” Liam said again. “I went down there this morning, and there was barely a trickle coming into the irrigation channel. They changed the course of the creek last night, Noah. They’re only getting what they deserve.”
“If we’re getting enough water to fill our channel full, how much did you leave the Coopers?” Noah demanded.
Liam ducked his head again.
Just as Noah had thought.
“If you left them nothing, then we’re worse than them.” He stood up.
“Eat your dinner,” Stella told him.
“Not until I see what they’ve done.”
“Noah, you’re not going to fix it tonight. There’s still water flowing in Pittance Creek. Eat,” Stella ordered. “Besides, the tubing idea might be a good one.”
“You can’t be serious.” Despite himself, Noah sat and scooped up more gravy with his biscuit. He was starving, and he needed to keep up his strength.
“Just for a little while, anyway. We need cash.”
Stella kept the books. They must be getting awfully short if she was willing to do something like this.
“Do you seriously think people want to tube in our irrigation channel?” He couldn’t think of anything more ridiculous.
“Some kids might. What else is there to do on a hot summer day in town?”
“They can go to Silver Falls or Runaway Lake,” Noah pointed out.
“Not everyone has the time to go that far,” she pointed out.
“Look, we’ve got the inner tubes, and we’ve already put out the word,” Liam said. “We start tomorrow.”
“You know the Coopers are going to retaliate.”
“Let them,” Jed said. “They’ll be the killjoys ruining everyone’s good time. Then people will remember who the true heroes of this town are.”
Noah waited for everyone to laugh at that pronouncement.
When they didn’t, he knew they were really in trouble.
“Where’s the shotgun?” Lance shouted when he burst in through the back door after dinner.
Olivia, hands deep in a sink of soapy dishes, shrieked, then fought to catch her breath. “Heck, Lance, don’t do that. What do you need the shotgun for?” She wiped her hands quickly on a towel and rushed after him as he strode through the house toward the gun safe in the first-floor office.
“I’m going hunting. I’m going to get me some Turners.”
“Lance, slow down! Where’s Steel?”
“Where is he ever? I sure as hell don’t know. He’s not here helping me protect our property!” Lance kept going.
She remembered Steel said he’d be gone today. “What did the Turners do?” Olivia tried to keep up.
“They diverted the water. Now it’s all running into their irrigation channel. Hardly any is reaching ours.”
“So let me get this straight.” Olivia put on a burst of speed, got past him and blocked his way, remembering the promise she’d made herself. “You diverted the water away from their irrigation channel, they diverted it away from ours and now you’re pissed?”
“Get out of my way!”
“No!” Olivia shoved Lance back when he tried to advance.
“What the hell, Olivia?”
“Don’t you see what you’re doing? You’re ruining everything for us! What are you going to do? Shoot Liam? Or Noah—or Jed? And then what? You’re going to spend the rest of your damn life rotting in a jail like Dad did? How does that solve anything?”
“I’m just trying to—”
“You’re just trying to make sure the rest of my life is as shitty as the first part was!” Olivia shoved him again. “If you wind up in jail—or dead—who’s going to run this place? Who’s going to put food on our table? Who’s going to be left in my family, Lance? Huh? Tell me! Because Dad’s gone, Mom’s gone, Tory’s gone and Steel’s never around!”
She’d never shouted at Lance like this before, but now that she’d started, Olivia couldn’t seem to stop. “I can’t do this all by myself. So stop being so goddamn selfish, and start thinking for once!”
For a moment she thought Lance might push past and get the shotgun after all. Instead he turned on his heel and walked out and slammed the back door so hard the house shook. Olivia scrubbed at her face, wiping away the tears she found there.
She didn’t know what Lance would do next.
Didn’t know how to stop the feud from escalating even more. How was it going to end? With someone dead?
Her hands were shaking when she pulled her phone from her pocket, and it took her two tries to make the call to Noah.
“Pick up,” Olivia muttered. “Pick up, pick up.”
“Olivia?” Noah answered.
“We need to meet. To talk. Lance was coming to get his shotgun when he saw what you did to the creek. I stopped him, but I can’t vouch for what he’ll do. We need to stop this.”
“I know. I told Liam there’d be more trouble.”
She heard Noah breathing. Thinking.
“Where and when?” he finally said.
“Tonight. Camila’s old cabin. It’s empty, right?”
“You can’t come here. Are you crazy? Liam’s got a shotgun, too, you know.”
“I’ve snuck onto your property hundreds of times.” She let that sink in. “I’ll be there. Ten o’clock.”
“I’ll be there, too.”
Her phone beeped, and she looked at the screen. “I’ve got another call.” It was Caroline.
“See you later.” When he was gone, Olivia eagerly greeted her friend, hoping for a break from the day’s worries, but Caroline’s voice was too thick with tears for Olivia to understand her words.
“Slow down. Say that again. What happened?” Olivia clutched the phone, wondering how much misery one day could bring.
“He took it. My lottery ticket,” Caroline sobbed. “He said he needs a new truck.”
“Oh, Caroline.” Olivia didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t surprised, but she’d hoped things wouldn’t turn out like this. “You need to stand up for yourself. That money is yours.”
“I… tried.” She was crying so hard she could barely form the words.
“I’m coming over. We’ll—”
“No!” Caroline cut right over her. “No, you can’t come. I just need you to listen.”
“But—”
“Olivia, you can’t come over here.”
Olivia took a deep breath. “Is he still there?”
“No. But I don’t know when he’ll be back, and he’ll be furious if he knows I told you. He said—he said I’m always so selfish. I never think about him. It’s not true—”
Olivia swallowed the fury that rose in her throat. “You’re right it’s not true. You think about him way too much. He’s not good enough for you.”
“You don’t understand. He’s had it hard.” Caroline’s sobs began to subside. “His parents treated him so bad.”
And Olivia knew her friend was lost. They’d had conversations like this before, and once Caroline started defending Devon, she couldn’t be budged. Olivia listened, hoping that her silent support was enough. Knowing it couldn’t be.
When she’d heard enough, she tried one more time. “You deserve that kitchen upgrade and to pay off some of your mortgage. Don’t you think?”
“Yes,” Caroline said softly.
“Devon needs to give you back the lottery ticket.”
“I know. He will,” she said, though she sounded far from certain about that. “I’ll wait for him to settle down and talk to him again.”
“I hope he listens to you,” Olivia told her.
But she doubted Devon would.