willing to trade their pristine landscape and quaint towns for things that were more essential to survival, like medical care and law enforcement.
The West was going to change. It was his job, and Eric’s, to make sure it changed for the better. It had been Sarah’s job too, up until the day before. Maybe he could do something about that too.
“Hey, bro.” Eric lowered his feet from the desk, where his polished loafers had been crossed casually on the shining wood. “What’s with the new duds?” His face changed from mockery to dread in an instant. “Oh, shit. You’re looking for Sarah.”
“Nope. I heard.”
“It wasn’t anything personal. I just—she couldn’t…” He waved a hand helplessly. “Two Shot’s the only game we’ve got going right now, and she couldn’t do us any good there. She—wait. How did you hear?”
“I was there.”
“With Sarah?” A smile spread over Eric’s face. “I guess she can do one of us some good in Two Shot.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Okay. Whatever. But I’ll give her a good recommendation wherever she ends up. She’s good at what she does—she just can’t do it in Two Shot.”
“That’s between you and her.”
“Exactly. So why are you here? Must be serious. You shaved and everything.”
“I shave.”
“Yeah, once a week, whether you need it or not.”
Lane settled into the chair in front of the desk and stretched his legs out. Sitting there with Eric lording it over the big mahogany desk always made him feel like some kind of supplicant. But today, he was just that.
“I want to talk to you about Two Shot.”
“Not again,” Eric groaned. “Lane, the project’s going forward. You can’t stop it.”
“I’m thinking about a conservation easement.” Lane leaned back in his chair and folded his hands over his stomach, smug as if he’d just laid out a winning poker hand. “It won’t entirely prevent you from drilling on the ranch, but it’ll make it a pain in the ass.”
Eric paled. “Great. Do the people of Two Shot know what you’re doing to them? Hijacking the jobs and money we bring in?”
“The jobs and money come too late. You bring all those people into those small towns, there’s nowhere for them to go. You see it over and over. People slap up substandard buildings to house them. The men come on their own, because their wives won’t bring their families to these godforsaken little towns. You need to put some things in place before things get going. And if you do, I’ll cancel the easement.”
“What kind of things?”
Lane shrugged. “Ask the townspeople. You could get together with all those pillars of the community, just like you were going to have Sarah do. But instead of trying to talk them into giving us free rein, figure out how to help them get grants, loans, that kind of thing. And maybe Carrigan could get things started with a grant of their own.”
“You want me to shell out money before we even start?”
“Dad would have done it. If he’d have seen Midwest, he’d have wanted to prevent it from happening again.”
“So this grant…”
“They need a medical clinic and an ambulance. Right now if something happens at the drilling site you have to drive all the way to Casper. And law enforcement—the place doesn’t even have a real police station.”
“That’s millions of dollars.”
“And how much will you take out of the ground?”
Eric was silent.
“Plus when people see what you’ve done, it’ll be that much easier to get going in other places. Responsibility brings rewards. That’s what Dad always said.”
“Don’t bring Dad into this.”
“Why not? He’s the reason you do all this.” Lane gestured around the room. “You’re still trying to please him.”
Eric scowled. “It’s easy for you to make fun of that. You were always getting pats on the back with all your sports stuff.”
“He didn’t have any respect for that. Not once he figured out that winning at bronc busting didn’t translate to winning in business. He’d be proud of you, Eric. Especially if you do this.”
Eric moved a couple of pens from one side of his blotter to the other, then back again.
“Look, I’m not here to harangue you. I just wanted to make that suggestion.”
Eric huffed out a laugh. “Your suggestions sound a lot like demands.”
“Yeah, well, kind of.” Lane rose. “You want to drill on the ranch, you need to do something for the town. Otherwise, there’s going to be trouble.”
“We own those rights.” The bravado in Eric’s voice clashed with the tempo of his pencil-tapping, which was