From the Hat Down, page 34
“Love you, too,” Meg said, but she wasn’t sure Gina heard before she hung up. She slid her phone into her back pocket and went out front.
“Hey, Ginny, could you check my schedule for the Fourth?”
Ginny looked at her over the rims of her reading glasses. “You’re clear from Thursday afternoon through Monday.”
Meg stared at her, then grinned.
“Thinking about doing something crazy?” Ginny asked with a smile.
“I am going to do something crazy.”
“’Bout time.”
Meg was about to respond when Haley came in the front. “Hi, guys. Did you get my message that I’d be a little late today?”
“We did,” Ginny said. “How’d your exam go?”
“I think it went well. Let me put my stuff up and I’ll be right back.” She went into the back and Ginny looked at Meg again.
“Go make the reservations. Your next appointment is running late.”
“Hell, I don’t know why I even bother thinking I know anything in this place.”
“That’s why I’m here,” Ginny said.
Meg laughed and went to her office to find a flight and get Mary involved in her subterfuge.
Meg wheeled Destry around and rode back down the line of guests, chatting and laughing. She checked in with Bruce at the rear and rode back up to the front before they entered the forest. The trail narrowed through the trees and Destry wouldn’t have much room to maneuver so Meg had to make sure everybody was all right for this leg of the ride. She inhaled deeply, loving the spicy smell of aspen bark and the rich, pungent odor of forest loam as she urged Destry forward. In less than a week she’d be in Sacramento and that thought provided delightful company all the way back to the ranch.
Meg and Bruce helped Tom and two other seasonal hands get the eight horses unsaddled and put out into the paddock. A few of the guests hung around chatting and watching. Meg liked being around most of the guests at the ranch. People from all over the world passed through the DR. This weekend, two college-aged women from Salisbury, England, traveling through the American West over the summer, had come to the DR because a friend of theirs in France recommended it. They had gone on the Sunday afternoon ride with Meg and stood watching her brush Destry, talking amiably about the differences between English and Western riding before heading to the dining room for something to drink.
“I’ve got the last two, Meg,” Bruce said, glancing at her from beneath the brim of his hat. He had a voice like John Wayne’s, a low, slow monotone drawl.
“Thanks. Take it easy,” she nodded at him and headed over to Stan’s office. She poked her head in. He was on the phone, his reading glasses perched on the end of his nose as he studied a couple of print-outs on his desk. He smiled at her and motioned for her to take a seat. She did, and placed her hat on the chair next to her and ran her fingers through her hair to dispel the hat head she knew she had. She listened idly to him and flipped through an issue of Western Horseman. He was trying to get a food order straightened out and a delivery date. After what sounded like an amicable arrangement, he hung up.
“Gettin’ ready to take off?” he asked, pulling his glasses off and tossing them onto a stack of papers.
“Yep.”
“Good to see you, darling daughter. Oh, and before I forget, heard from Phil. He’s planning on bringing Alicia up toward the end of July, maybe.”
“Yeah, I heard from him, too. Mom called me last week and she wants me to buy something feminine for when Phil comes through.” Meg set the magazine back on the edge of his desk.
He stared at her for a long moment. “Like what? A square-dancing dress?”
“Something in powder blue,” Meg said, managing a smile.
“Well, shit,” he said, shaking his head. He chuckled. “I laugh because. . .”
“I know. Otherwise we’d cry.”
He shook his head. “How are things with the Roberts kid?”
“Okay. She’s going ahead with the restraining order and her mom’s filing for divorce. Last I heard.”
“Good. She and her partner are always welcome here. Just say the word.”
“You’re the best dad ever.”
He was quiet for a while. “I admit, I had some reservations when you told me about yourself. I had to take a few long rides, do some thinking. Had a lot of late-night talks with Alice. And then I realized that it ultimately doesn’t matter. As long as you’re happy and healthy and you find someone you love who treats you right, who the hell cares what the wrapper is?”
Meg looked at him, something dawning on her, the inflection he’d put on Alice’s name. “Alice,” she started, remembering the visit when she thought he was acting a little goofy. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He looked at her, a little smile at the left-hand corner of his mouth. “It’s fairly recent,” he said and much to Meg’s amusement, he blushed.
“Dad, that’s great! When did it start?” She leaned forward, elbows on his desk.
He shrugged, a “shucks” motion. “February, maybe. Thereabouts.” He cleared his throat. “I guess we’ve always kinda liked each other. And I realized one day that I wasn’t getting any younger. Neither is she. I asked her to dinner. Off the ranch.” He blushed again.
Meg gaped. “Oh, my God. My dad took a woman out on a date. Where’d you go?”
“The Wolf Hotel. Kinda nice but casual. You know.”
“A date but not a date,” Meg grinned. “Obviously, it went well.”
He cleared his throat and looked down at the desk. “She’s selling her house in Saratoga.”
“She’s going to live on the ranch permanently?”
“Well, hell, I sure hope so,” he retorted good-naturedly.
Meg shook her head slowly, amused and happy for him. “She keeps a secret, doesn’t she? So do you, for that matter.”
He nodded. “She told me I had to be the one to tell you but she said you might guess, though you’ve had a lot on your mind.”
“How come you didn’t tell me?”
“Sometimes a man’s gotta play some things close to his vest, make sure he’s making the right decisions.”
Meg laughed. “Okay, so I can talk to her about it? It’s not some need-to-know-basis thing?”
“Of course you can talk to her. You know how it is. People know but they ignore it. As long as it doesn’t interfere with them or the way things run, it’s fine.”
“I am so happy for you both,” Meg said. “I always wondered if maybe there could be something between you and her. I mean, she’s been here since I was sixteen. But that’s great because you’ve become really good friends. You think you might get married?” She looked up at him.
“Don’t know. Maybe. We’re both older, you know. Marriage isn’t all that important to us, since we’re both pretty set in our ways and we sure as hell don’t feel the need to produce any more heirs. But we’ll get hitched if it helps keep things legal and guarantees her something if I go first. I’d like to make sure she’s taken care of. If it’s okay with you.”
Meg smiled, a lump in her throat. “That’s one of the sweetest things I’ve heard you say about a woman. Of course it’s okay with me. So it’s pretty serious, huh?” She already knew his answer but she wanted to hear him say it.
His grin lit up his face. “’Fraid so.”
“Holy shit. My dad is getting all goofy over a woman.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I am. Speaking of which—when do you see Gina again?”
Meg flushed and he started laughing. “This weekend,” she said.
“Hell, your mom was right. You are my daughter. So how are things going there? You seemed pretty up when you got back from L.A.”
Meg grinned. “Great. They’re going great. I mean, as well as can be expected. She’s not quite sure what she wants to do next in terms of work, which is stressing her out. And she’s got some emotional stuff to deal with after the bomb and other kinds of stuff she’s seen and been through. But she wants to work on it, sort through it.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Stan said. “She want to keep working for the Times?”
“She’s not sure. She’s interviewing Friday for a stateside job. But she’s not sure she wants it.”
“How does she feel about what you’re doing?”
Meg smiled. “She loves it. She thinks that my long-term plans are great.”
He steepled his fingers against his lips for a long moment before speaking. “Do you love her?”
A deep warmth coursed through her veins, coupled with a series of little jolts. “More than anything. I’ve got it bad. Really, really bad.”
“I think you’ve had it bad for her since you first met her,” he teased. “How does she feel about you?”
Meg looked at him. “She loves me,” she said with the certainty of spring rain.
He smiled. “Ask her to join you. It’d be great having her around.”
She hesitated. “We’re talking,” she said in a way that indicated she wasn’t sure she wanted to continue discussing that topic.
He shrugged. “Well, just let me know. ’Cause if we get this clinic off the ground, you might want to live nearby. And if Gina joins you, you’re gonna need more space. And I’ll have to let the contractor know.”
She looked at him, puzzled. “What are you up to?”
“Hon, if you’re going to base at the ranch eventually, it makes more sense for you to have your own house out here then to commute from Saratoga or live above the dining room. You need your own place and if Gina’s going to be coming and going, it needs to be a nice, comfortable sort of place. With privacy.”
Meg stared. “You’d build me a house?”
“I’m building more housing at the DR, yes. I’m also expanding my place because it’s a bachelor’s house, not a place for a woman like Alice. She’s overseeing that.” He smiled. “So look at it that way. DR expansion. Making room for more.” He winked at her.
“How are you getting the money for all of this?” She asked, blown away at what he was telling her.
He leaned back and looked at her the way he did when she was getting ready to go to college, with a recognition that something had changed and Meg was ready to take another set of reins. “You and I need to have a talk soon. I want you to know all about every little business thing we’ve got going on here. You’re the primary inheritor. You need to know this and you’ve been out of the loop for a while. For good reasons, obviously, but it’s time to get caught up. I’ve made some good investments and I’ve been saving for a house for you. Even if you never lived there, it’d be a house that somebody here could use. Stuff like that doesn’t go to waste at the DR.”
Meg shifted in her chair, suddenly uncomfortable. “I guess I never really asked this, but is Mom still an inheritor?”
He smiled wanly. “No. I supported her until after the divorce and the agreement was that if she ever remarried, my obligations would end. Remember, she went to work after the divorce finalized and let me know that she didn’t need my help anymore. She didn’t have to do that. I didn’t update my will until after she let me know she was getting married. She’s always been honest in her dealings with me, hon. She might not see eye-to-eye with either you or me, but she’s always been fair in financial dealings. And I do appreciate that about her.”
Meg studied her hands. “I know I rag on her a lot, and it sounds shitty.”
He shrugged again. “She deserves what you gripe about. It is a part of her, the problem she has accepting you, but there are a lot of other parts, too. I wish she’d get past that one, though. It’s a block to seeing what a wonderful daughter she has.” He shook his head sadly. “And she’d also know that powder blue is just not your color.” He sighed heavily then looked at her, eyes twinkling.
Meg grinned. “Damn. I cannot believe you. A woman, a house, fashion consultant—what next?”
“Shit, I hope that’s it for a while.” He leaned back again, smiling. “So tell me, daughter mine. If it was legal for you here, would you marry Gina?”
Her grin faded. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe that’s the wrong question. Do you want to be with her?”
“Yes. Marriage is kind of a big question, though. I mean, we just started reconnecting. And she might stay in her job that takes her around the world again. Besides, it’s not like any marriage we did would be legal federally. Or even in states outside the one we married in.”
He nodded. “Things are changing, though. What is it, now? Three states?”
“Four. Iowa just okayed it. And for a while, it was legal in California. That’s in limbo, now, because of the election last fall.”
“Well, Iowa’s closer than Massachusetts or Vermont.” He grinned. “And if you decide to do it, or even if you decide you want a legally committed relationship with her—hell, if you just want to be shacked up on a permanent basis, she’ll be part of the DR family, too. And I’ll make sure both of you are part of the inner workings here. If she wants to, that is.”
“Damn, Dad.”
He smiled. “I realized something. It feels a lot better to just talk about things rather than file ’em away. And it feels good to talk to you about your life and what you want to do and the people who are important to you. If Gina was a man, I’d be asking you the same types of questions. Because she’s not, well, we have to figure out ways around the system to make sure nobody messes with you. I hate that we have to do that. But that’s how it is right now.” He paused, raising his eyebrows slightly. “So are you gonna ask her about something more permanent?”
Meg cleared her throat. “I’m not sure. I feel like yes, this is it, but I’m scared. I mean, we only kind of just started talking last month.”
He regarded her, a knowing expression in his eyes. “Sometimes you just know. But I know about that scared thing. You want her to say yes but you’re afraid she won’t. And you’re afraid she will because then where do you go? But you also know that if she says yes, it’ll be amazing. It’s a hell of a ride.” A little smile played at the corners of his mouth. “Good luck.”
Meg reached for her hat. She placed it on her lap, running her fingers over the felt. “I’m so lucky. I can’t believe sometimes how lucky I am.”
“I’m lucky, too. I’ve learned a hell of a lot from you.” He pushed back from his desk. “But right now, I’ve gotta check in on dinner.”
Meg grinned wickedly. “Oh, I’ll bet. I’d say you’re probably gonna check in on something else that’s cooking.”
He blushed furiously as Meg moved her eyebrows up and down. She stood and followed him outside.
“Oh—” he said, turning around. “Make sure you tell Haley that any time she wants to come by and ride or just be on a ranch, we could always use a spare hand around here.”
Meg threw her arm around his shoulders and steered him toward the dining room. “I already have. Now let’s go see what Alice is cooking. Or something.”
He jabbed her lightly in the ribs and she laughed, chanting softly, “Dad’s got a girlfriend.”
Chapter 33
Moonshine watched her as she poured a glass of iced tea. “I’ll be right with you, your lordship.” She put the pitcher back in the refrigerator and let him out back then went to her office to wade through emails. The one from her mom she ignored. Sean had forwarded one that included a colleague’s rewrite of a paper they were all working on together. She had also texted Meg earlier. She was in Texas at a cousin’s wedding and wanted Meg to know that straight weddings were boring and would she please hurry up and propose to Gina so they could have a giant lesbian potluck blow-out and put all these het weddings to shame.
Meg smiled. Weddings. She had never been much for them, though she liked the idea of a commitment ceremony. Something sort of simple, with friends and supportive family, and then a big party. That would be fun. She thought about what that would be like, to stand up in front of everybody and declare her feelings publicly to Gina. It made her nervous, but excited. Hell, if it ever became legal for her to marry Gina in a place like Wyoming, she’d still go with the simple ceremony thing. Maybe at the ranch.
She daydreamed for a while, waiting for the idea of a ceremony to make her anxious. It didn’t. Instead, it made her giddy. The damper came with thoughts of Gina continuing her current job and going to London. And after that, who knows where. But it was different, now, because Gina wasn’t going to let go. And neither would Meg. It would be hard, she knew, to make this work if Gina was overseas most of the time. Visits would be difficult. Even coordinating conversations via phone or Skype would be tricky, given the different time zones.
But so what? If that’s what Gina wanted to do, Meg would support her decision. They’d get through it. She took a deep breath. But she wouldn’t talk about it with her just yet, when she was all focused on getting through the interview and on thinking about the London opportunity.
Her cell phone rang and she smiled as she answered. “Hey. I was just thinking about you.”
“Good stuff?” came Gina’s warm reply.
“Always. So are you ready for your interview?”
She made a scoffing sound. “Please. It’s only Wednesday. I’ll start cramming tomorrow night.”
“Is that how you got through college? Party all week and then a late-night cram session?”
“Only sometimes.”
“How are you feeling about it?”
“Fine. I do all right in interviews.” Gina paused. “I got a call from the higher-ups. They’re willing to give me even more money than they originally said to send me to London.”
“That’s because they know you’re worth every penny. Hell, you’re worth double. Actually, no. You’re priceless.”
