get her thoughts in order. She had to write a presentation for Blaine to give to Mr. Bashear at the end of the week summarizing their last quarter. Blaine had explicitly told her to make him look good, but Julia wasn’t sure it was possible. He spent most of his time wining and dining clients, and very little either managing his team, or putting in the hard work of actually setting out his legal arguments.
For some reason, Melanie, who was usually tough on all her team, let him get away with it. Unsettled by the call from her mother, Julia walked over to stare out her window at the other tall buildings that surrounded her office. Far below her, in the dark shadows cast by the skyscrapers, the traffic looked sluggish and small—not that San Francisco could rival most cityscapes having way too many earthquakes to build really high.
If she couldn’t get herself together she’d have to work late tonight again. With a sigh, she returned to her desk. She had dinner arranged with the small-town developer she’d liked most from the ones Miley had contacted. They were bringing her a series of plans and suggestions about making the transition from ranchland to housing far less stressful and invasive while being respectful of the land and its heritage. She wasn’t sure if Morgan Valley would ever need the information, but she definitely wanted to share it with Silver and Ben for their heritage foundation.
Miley had also secured her a one-on-one breakfast meeting with Mr. Bashear at his hotel so no one at MZB would even know they’d met. The fact that he’d agreed to it had made Julia hope that whatever Melanie and Blaine had been saying about her hadn’t impacted his appreciation of her talents.
She opened her laptop and stared at the half-completed document extolling Blaine’s talents and pulled out her notes. If there was ever a prize for fiction at her job, she’d be a shoo-in.
* * *
Kaiden paused at the kitchen door, his toolbox in his hand, and checked to see who was there before entering. Beth came through the door with an empty tray and smiled when she saw him.
“Hey. I wondered if you’d be coming in today.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Kaiden lowered his voice. “Is Miguel still here?”
“He stayed the night. Some guy came and picked him up this morning, and they went out together. He didn’t say if he planned to come back, and he hasn’t left anything in his bedroom.”
Knowing Miguel’s secretive habits, Kaiden wasn’t surprised by any of that.
“How’s it been going?”
Beth started unloading the new dishwasher. “Juan’s absolutely thrilled to see him.”
“I bet.” Kaiden buckled up his tool belt.
“But just before I left yesterday they had some kind of falling-out. I couldn’t hear much of what Miguel was saying because he always speaks so quietly, but Juan was angry about something.”
“Miguel probably told him he’s not coming back to run the ranch.”
“That’s kind of what I gathered.” Beth nodded. “I suppose it’s good that Miguel came back to tell him to his face. From what Julia said, I guess he’d been avoiding it.”
“That’s Miguel for you.” Kaiden uncovered the countertop and considered it anew. “He’s never been good at facing the consequences of his actions.”
“You were friends once, weren’t you?”
“Yeah, we were.” Kaiden nodded.
“Then maybe you could ask him what’s going on?”
Kaiden pictured Miguel’s cold eyes and blank expression. Whatever his old friend had been through since he’d left Morgan Valley had only accentuated the ruthless streak buried inside him.
“I’ll certainly give it a try,” Kaiden said. “Is Juan okay this morning?”
“He’s trying to pretend that everything is fine, but I can tell that he’s tense. It would’ve been nice if Miguel had told him whether he was coming back or not.”
Kaiden looked out the window. “His rental is still here, so I’d say that was a yes.”
“That’s good then.” Beth shut the dishwasher door. “Would you like some coffee? I just made a pot.”
* * *
Several hours later, while Beth was in town with Juan at Dr. Tio’s, Kaiden heard the sound of a car pulling up on the driveway. He looked out of the window to see Miguel exiting the vehicle. The driver looked slightly familiar. Kaiden craned his neck to get a better look before picking up a random offcut of wood and heading outside.
He pretended not to be interested in the conversation going on between the two men and he headed to his truck whistling loudly. Even as