Sunrise Ranch - Carolyn Brown Page 0,7

about all of you. I figured you’d sit on the porch and draw your pay. Never figured you’d pitch in and learn a damned thing, but y’all got out there doing your best,” he chuckled. “But I could also see that the other two were determined to learn, and you were just passing time. You don’t give a damn about this place.”

“Nope, I don’t,” she admitted. “Only reason I learned anything at all was out of sheer boredom and to show my sisters that they weren’t better than me. Why’d you come over here anyway? I thought we were mad at each other.”

“Only shade tree around here,” he replied.

“I was here first,” she protested.

“Too bad.” He shrugged.

She tipped up her chin and looked down her nose at him. “I’m going to take a lot of pleasure in getting out of this place.”

“Then I’ll get the whole shade tree to myself,” he smarted off.

There weren’t many times she’d been alone with Rusty. She stole a glance over at him. Bulging biceps, a flat tummy under a chambray work shirt that was wet with sweat. That some woman hadn’t snatched him up already was a miracle. She’d have to be very careful in the next months to not let anyone know about the little flutters in her heart whenever he was around.

“You’ve gone all quiet again,” Rusty said.

“Was Ezra a controlling person?” she asked.

“Where’d that question come from?”

“You probably knew him better than anyone, so tell me more about him?” she said.

“Oh, hell, yeah, and mean as a rattlesnake,” Rusty said. “I mean, he named the dogs after your mothers, so that ought to tell you something. He always told me he was leaving the ranch to me. Then a week before he died, he called the lawyer and changed his will.”

“He called you the son he never had,” Bonnie said. “Was that to make us feel less worthy of the Malloy name? I just can’t wrap my mind around why he changed his will and brought us here. If I could figure out why, then maybe I’d find some peace before I leave Texas. Seems like every time I think of him, all I feel is anger, and a little bit of fear that I might be like him in some way. Most of the time I don’t even like my mother, but I love her. I can’t imagine even liking Ezra.”

Rusty shrugged. “That old fart had his own ways. He was good to me, and for that I loved him, but what he did to you girls was wrong. I’m mad at him this morning, so I don’t want to talk about him.”

“Why?” Bonnie was stunned.

Rusty never had anything but praise for Ezra.

“He popped into my head and fussed at me when I said I might change the name of the ranch, and it made me even madder when he changed his will,” Rusty said.

“What were you going to change the name to?” she asked, “And how would Ezra feel about that? I thought y’all were best buddies.”

“Sunrise Ranch,” Rusty answered. “I love the way the sun comes up over the crest of the canyon every morning.” Rusty paused. “Sometimes I can hear his voice in my head, and it’s good advice, but he was on one of his mean streaks this morning.”

Bonnie pulled a banana from her sack and peeled it. “My mama does that all the time. Out of nowhere, she pops into my head and has something to say about what I’m doin’. Most of the time it’s to tell me that I’m not smart enough to do something. It makes me so mad that I make it my mission to prove her wrong. I’m glad you stood up to him, even if he’s dead and just a voice in your head. Sunrise Ranch has a nice sound to it. Maybe you’ll come up with the highest bid after all, since you said you’d change the name to something nice.”

“One more cup of tea, and then I’m going to work. You have a choice in what you do. I don’t,” he said.

“You could move off the ranch. I bet I could kick any mesquite bush between here and Silverton and a dozen foremen would come running out lookin’ for a job,” she said.

“And wouldn’t a one of them be as good as I am.” He settled his dusty old straw hat on his head and left without even looking back.

“Little egotistical there,” she called out.

He waved over