measuring out the powder. “She’s into messing with people’s heads. If someone pisses her off, and trust me, that’s not that hard to do, then she starts making life difficult.”
“How so?”
“Well, take my calves, for instance. I always raise the leppies. It’s been my job since I was twelve, unless there are too many for me to handle. But since we don’t have that many cows anymore, that hasn’t happened lately. Anyway, she made certain that I was miles away from where I needed to be at feeding time. I started paying Matt to feed them, and when she caught on, she started doing the same with him.”
“That sounds…”
“Psycho? Totally. Matt and I used to talk about it—when we were miles from the ranch. Miranda has spies.”
Before meeting the woman, Taylor would have thought Jancey was exaggerating. Spies in business, yes. Spies in a family-run guest ranch… What would have seemed far-fetched now seemed entirely possible.
“It’s a good thing you got out of there.” Safe thing to say. Taylor didn’t want to get too deeply into Cole’s business, but she felt protective of him and his sister—both of whom should probably be living on their ranch right now. Cole enjoyed his farming, but as he’d told her late the night before, he could also farm on his ranch if Miranda hadn’t nixed that. She’d said that plowed-up fields, small though they were, were not conducive to the guest experience.
“I hated leaving home, but…” Jancey pressed her lips together hard.
“It no longer felt like home.”
“She took that from me. I guess that, even more than the thing she pulled with the college, makes me kind of hate her.” She gave a small sniff and started stirring the onions with a vengeance. “And I don’t want to hate anyone.”
* * *
THEY ATE EARLIER than usual that day. Jancey had paced the kitchen as dinner cooked, staying close to the phone, which remained stubbornly silent. Finally, at 4:45 p.m., she announced that the stew was done. Cole could hear the disappointment in her voice, but managed to quell the urge to tell her that no news was good news. Trite sayings never helped, so instead, he ate two bowls of stew.
“I did it all,” she said, when he complimented her on the meal. “Cooking is a lot like chemistry lab, only you don’t have to measure so carefully. And you want to watch how hot the burner is.”
He was guilty of the same hot-burner crime. Impatience ran in the family.
Silence fell between them and then Jancey let out a sigh. Cole reached out to squeeze her shoulder.
“You know, it’s sometimes worse if you get an answer right away.”
“I know. But I’d hoped to get a job nailed down fast…to show Miranda, if nothing else.” She smiled a little and picked up her bowl.
“I’m doing dishes,” Cole announced.
She gave him a “for real?” look and he nodded. “Thank you.”
After Jancey left the kitchen, he started loading the dishwasher, shooting looks out the kitchen window toward the bunkhouse as he worked. He saw the occasional shadow cross in front of the muslin curtains and wondered if he should slip over in broad daylight, since Jancey was on to them, or follow the usual routine of easing out the back door—and apparently not closing it quietly enough—around ten.
The debate ended when Jancey’s phone rang at five thirty on the dot.
He heard her answer it in the other room before it had a chance to ring again, and, judging from the breathless quality of her hello, it had to be Magnus Distributing. He edged closer to the doorway, openly eavesdropping. He heard a smile in her voice as she said, “No, this isn’t a bad time.” And then there was a silence. Too long of a silence.
“I see.” The broken quality of his sister’s voice almost broke him. He took an instinctive step forward, then caught himself and stayed where he was. “I’m not certain why that would be,” she said. “I see. Yes, I know there were many applicants.” She cleared her throat, and his heart swelled as she said, “I would appreciate if you kept my application on file. Thank you.”
A second later Jancey came out of the living room still holding her phone, looking as if she’d been blindsided.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Some kind of trouble with my references.”
Cole tamped down the instant flare of anger, doing his best to keep his voice level as he said, “All of your references were from the ranch?”
“One was my guidance counselor.”
“The other two?”
“Beth and Raul. I didn’t think they’d tell Miranda.”
“She may have found out some other way.” Magnus did business with the ranch.
Jancey closed her eyes, and Cole could see that she was fighting to not cry in front of him. “What if…” Her voice cracked, and Cole reached out to pull her into his arms, rocking his little sister as she said, “She knows everyone. Lots of people like her. What if…”
What if she ruined every job Jancey applied for.
The sick thing was that she may well try, even if Jancey removed all the ranch references from her applications.
“She has sway, kiddo, but she’s not all powerful.”
Jancey stepped back, rubbing her eyes. “Someone should tell her that.”
“I volunteer,” he said darkly, and his sister gave a sputtering laugh. “Don’t. She’ll figure out a way to use it to her advantage.”
There was a light knock on the door, and Jancey gave him a wry look. She was doing her best to put a brave face on a sucky situation. “Whoever could that be?”
He tweaked her nose, as he had when she was six, and then called, “Come on in.” By the time he got back to the kitchen, Taylor was already inside.
She bounced a look between him and Jancey and said, “What happened?”
“I was screwed over by a superbitch,” Jancey said as she headed for the fridge and pulled out a half-pint of ice cream. She took three bowls out of the cupboard and set them on the counter. Taylor crossed the kitchen, put the bowls back, opened the utensil drawer and pulled out a single spoon, which she handed to Jancey.
“If you’re going to do it, do it right.”
Jancey gave a choked laugh, and then Taylor led her to the table, waiting for her to sit before taking her own seat. “Tell me what happened.”
Jancey set down the spoon beside the ice cream container and launched into a brief account of her phone call. Taylor listened, her expression going grim by the end.
“I’m afraid that she’s going to keep doing this,” Jancey finished.
Taylor nodded, then studied the table between them for a few long moments, and Cole found himself halfway holding his breath as he waited to hear her take on matters. “You can confront Miranda on this, which is, of course, what she wants. People like her feed on that kind of stuff.”
“I wouldn’t mind confronting her,” Jancey muttered, peeling the top off the ice cream container.
“Or you ignore her. Continue job hunting in spite of her maneuverings.” One corner of her mouth tilted up. “I’ll bet money that Miranda hates being ignored.”
“I kind of need references,” Jancey said in a dark voice.
Taylor glanced up at Cole then back to Jancey. “I think you should call my grandfather and see what he suggests. Miranda’s not the only person with connections in this town.”
“Culver Ranch and Feed,” Cole said.