“I’d’ve done that out of friendship, all of us would’ve. But we didn’t need to. You’re an asset, Cal, the best all-around horseman I know, and that includes my own father. He’d say the same. We all know you could’ve gone anywhere.”
“I didn’t want to go just anywhere. I’ve been there.”
“So here you are.” Sensing dawn was close, Chase looked up at the sky, watched a few stars gutter out. “I might fight Bo for you, might even win, though God knows she’s a fierce and dirty fighter. Remember that time we had to haul her off Bud Panger? Bud had a year on her, ten pounds, too, easy, and she had him down in the dirt crying for his ma.”
“I remember. She caught me one on the shin while we were hauling her off Bud. I limped for two days. I’m not going to be a cause of upset between you and Bo.”
“You wouldn’t be. I might fight her, but the resort’s part of the whole, so it’s all, well, of a piece, isn’t it? Besides all that, it’s what you want here, Cal. As dirty as Bo can fight, she’d say just the same. And I expect she has.”
“I came here to work for you, Chase.”
“You came to work for the Bodine Ranch, and the resort’s part of it.”
The long night shifted toward day, a lessening of dark, a slight rise of wind. Horses whickering, the low of cattle, the boot steps of men already about the day’s work.
“I love this place.” Callen breathed it in. “I love it nearly as much as you. Leaving it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Had to do it or I’d never have made anything of myself.”
Knowing his friend, Chase kept his silence, waited for Callen to work through the rest.
“I admire the resort. I admire the hell out of what you all have built there. That Bodine/Longbow vision, it’s an awesome, admirable thing. I know I could be an asset to you here on the ranch, I know you could depend on me to pull my weight here, and maybe take some weight off you and Sam. At the resort…”
He took another minute, gathered his thoughts. “I think I might be able to add to the vision. I can see ways to do that, to contribute to that.”
“Then that’s what you ought to do. To my ear that’s what you want, and what’s holding you off is feeling obligation here. There’s no need for that. If we need you for something over here, we’ll work that out, too. And don’t feel bad we’re likely going to have to hire two in the next month to replace you.”
Most of the stress lodged at the back of Callen’s neck loosened. “Three’d be better.”
“You’re not that damn good. Work it out with Bo, give me a few hours here like you have been until we start hiring on, and we’re square.”
“Yeah.” The stress punched right back again. “About Bodine.” Callen shifted, looked east, waiting for the sun to rise. “I—we—” he corrected, as last night cemented the mutual. “We have a thing going on.” He rubbed the chin he hadn’t bothered to shave that morning. “An intense sort of thing.”
“What thing?”
Callen glanced over, saw the mild and puzzled interest. “You’ve always been obtuse when it comes to the romantic and sexual dynamics of people, Longbow. A block of wood buried in cement obtuse.”
“I’ve got more to think about than the…”
And it struck him, Callen saw, like that block of wood—right between the eyes.
“What?”
“We’ve got a mutual interest and attraction going on, me and Bo.”
“What?” Chase repeated, taking a step back as if his body had just reacted to that strike. “You—you’ve—with my sister?”
“Not yet, but only due to my heroic restraint so far, and hearing, in my head, you say ‘my sister’ in just that way.”
“You never looked twice at her,” Chase began, then reevaluated. “Did you?”
“Christ almighty, Chase, she was still a kid when I left. Mostly a kid.” An itch worked into the stress. “Maybe I looked twice, a couple times. But only because, hell, she’s always been pretty, and I guess she was starting to blossom some right about the time I left. I never did anything about it. Never thought of doing anything about it. But she’s not a kid now. And she’s…”
Brother to brother, Callen reminded himself. Even if a sister stood between them. “She’s smart. Always was, but, man, she’s honed that to a sharp edge. The way she runs that place? She’s smart and crafty, and she has a way of seeing to it that everybody who works there does good work, and stays happy doing it. That’s some talent there. I admire that.”
“So you’ve got this thing due to her brain and her managerial skills.”
It wasn’t often Chase laid on sarcasm, but when he did it had some serious weight.
“They’re part of the package. She’s beautiful.” Callen let out a sigh. “I don’t know when she went from really pretty to beautiful, and maybe if I’d been around the whole time it wouldn’t have hit me like a lightning bolt. I’ve got feelings for her—I’m not altogether sure where they’re going, but it’s clear enough we’re going to find out. I couldn’t do that behind your back, or without telling you right out.”
“You’re standing here, telling me right out, you’re planning to have sex with my sister.”
“I’m going to put it this way. It’s not a small embarrassment to me to admit, due to not going behind your back and the job offer, I had to tell her to get out of the shack last night. She packs a punch.”
“She hit you?”
Callen laughed, laughed until he had to bend over to brace his hands on his thighs. “There’s that obtuse again. How do you ever manage to get laid?”
“Kiss my ass, Mister Hollywood. And be careful talking about getting laid and my sister in the same conversation.”
Heaving out a breath, Callen pushed up again. “She left, telling me whether I took the job or not, she intended to follow-through on … the personal area. I guess I can fight her off if you feel strongly against it. I think she’d probably take me down, but I could put up a fight.”
Chase stared hard at the hills, the mountains, just coming into silhouette relief as day waited to bloom. “This isn’t a conversation I expected to have when I got up this morning.”
“I’ve got the advantage, as I spent most of the night thinking about this conversation. When I wasn’t thinking about her. She knew I would, too. Crafty. Didn’t I say that? She’s a crafty sort of woman. I like it.”
Chase stood, mulling, weighing, struggling a little as the first shimmers of red rose up over the eastern peaks. “She’s a grown woman who makes her own choices. If that choice is … I’d just as soon not go into that detail inside my head. I’m going to say I love you like a brother, and there are times when Rory devils me enough I like you more than the brother my parents gave me. I trust you with my life, not one instant’s hesitation on that. I’m telling you: If you hurt her, I’ll kick your ass. And I’ll kick it harder than Bo kicked Bud’s.”