Once she owned this property, she could hydrate it properly. She could move her horses onto it. She could think about renting out the farmhouse after she’d given it a thorough cleaning.
“Nice to meet you,” she said to Bryce, because she did have some manners. “Where are you two staying?”
“We’ve got a rental over on the other side of town,” Tex said. He pointed back to the house. “How long has it been like this?”
“A couple of years,” Abby said. “The last couple who owned it left suddenly, and they couldn’t sell it. He had a job that came up in intelligence, and they were here one day and gone the next. Neither of them came back, and a for-sale sign appeared a couple of months later. The bank eventually repossessed it, and they’re doing an auction tomorrow.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was looking at,” he said, his smile as brilliant as the summer sun shining down today. Abby tried not to find him attractive, but any woman would fail in that quest. Tex had the kind of face a woman longed to touch, if just to feel if that jaw was as strong as it looked.
He had large hands that knew how to coax the most beautiful melodies from a guitar, and Abby would only admit to herself in her quietest moments that she’d watched some of his videos online. He had a series of how-to’s for kids to learn to play the guitar, and there were plenty of music videos to choose from.
His son stood as tall as Tex, and while he wasn’t quite as filled out in the shoulders, they could both break a woman’s heart.
Abby vowed it wasn’t going to be hers. Not this time.
“Anyway,” Tex said, a high note entering his voice. “We’ll get out of your hair. It’s too hot to stand out in the sun.” He lifted his hat and moved his hand through his hair in such a familiar gesture that Abby blinked, and the world went black.
He and Bryce walked back to their truck, both of them talking in such similar voices, and she still stood on the fried grass. She shook her head and told herself to pull everything together. She’d been around plenty of good-looking cowboys over the years. Tex Young wasn’t going to bring her to her knees.
“Oh, no, he is not,” she vowed as she crossed the patch of land that used to grow vegetables that separated this ranch from the farm she helped her brother run. Back in the house, she poured herself a big glass of lemonade as Wade wheeled himself into the kitchen.
“Who was it?” he asked. “I’ll take some of that.” He swiped off his hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I got the pipes moved. We’ll get the sprinklers on tonight.”
“Okay,” Abby said, handing the glass of lemonade to him. “I bet we can get the tomatoes and peas in this weekend. I don’t think it’ll freeze again.”
“The weather is so weird right now,” he said, shaking his head. He took a drink and set the glass on the counter. “But I bet you’re right.”
“So I’ll go to the nursery after the auction tomorrow,” she said. “We can do them tomorrow night.” She’d already spent half a day putting in tomatoes that had then died in a late frost. Abby hated having to do work twice, and she had not been happy with Mother Nature that morning a few weeks ago.
“You’re still sure about the auction?” Wade wore doubt in his eyes and wouldn’t meet her gaze.
“Yes,” Abby said. “We can take care of that land, and if we own it, then we control who lives right next door to us.”
“Mm.” Wade pushed himself over to the cupboard. “Don’t spend more than eighty on it, or we’ll be in trouble.”
“I know.” They’d discussed the budget for her auction habits, though she hadn’t bid on any of the other properties around Coral Canyon. She just wanted to preserve the small town feel of the place where she’d grown up and still loved.
“Do we have any of that chicken noodle soup?” Wade asked.
“We’re in the middle of a heat wave.” Abby leaned against the counter and watched him pull out the packet anyway. How he ate that stuff, she’d never know. “I have homemade mac and cheese in the fridge.”
“We’ve eaten that for three days.” Her brother filled the electric kettle and set it on the element. After switching it on, he added,