“I did.” She slipped her hands, which were picking at the hem of her shirt, into the pockets of her jeans. Sheesh, this was one of the most formal conversations they’d had in a while. “The weather is beautiful outside today. Hopefully it’ll make your job easier.”
“I’m sure it will.” Gunner ran in and Jace picked him up and hugged him close. “You be good for Miss Bonnie today. I love you, buddy.” Jace set him down on the ground and turned to Bonnie. “Call if you need anything.”
“Will do.” She waved goodbye and watched until he closed the door behind him. Only then did she relax a little and focus on her young charge. “What should we do today?”
* * *
Jace hatedhow his conversations with Bonnie were much shorter now. Like they used to be before they’d all moved to the ranch. Before she’d started to relax around him because he’d lowered his guard and let her in.
He frowned.
Monday had been a little awkward, and he’d hoped it would get better as the week progressed. Now it was Thursday, and he was beginning to hate the way he’d handled things. Maybe he should’ve just kissed her anyway. Or at least talked to her about it. The end result couldn’t have been much weirder. Instead, they’d ignored the giant elephant in the room, and it’d only managed to get bigger.
At least that’s the way it seemed to him.
One thing was certain: it’d served as enough of a distraction that he’d almost forgotten about the damaged fence. Until now.
Jace stood with Cabe and surveyed the section of fencing that had been knocked down in a completely different field. Deep ruts in the ground revealed more than one vehicle had gone through into the field.
That wasn’t the worst of it, though.
Every last sheep in that field was gone. Thankfully, it was a small fraction of the herd. However, this field contained the ewes who recently gave birth along with their lambs.
Livestock that was vital to keep the ranch going.
Jace snatched the hat off his head and whacked it hard against a nearby fence post.
“What are we going to do now, Cabe?”
The older man released a heavy sigh. “Exactly what your grandfather would do. We’ll pick ourselves up by the bootstraps and keep on keeping on. We’ve got a number of ewes about to birth. There’s a good buffer built into the ranch’s finances to help weather a rough year or two.”
Jace scratched his head. “I’m worried that we’ve got someone getting onto the property and messing around at night. If they got away with stealing last night, what’s to say they won’t try it again?” He didn’t like the idea of someone stealing from him. But he disliked the thought of someone sneaking around the ranch at night with Gunner, Noel, and Bonnie there even more.
“I’ll report it to the police. Let’s fix this fencing, and we’ll go from there. We need to move the flock to the fields closest to the houses or barn.”
“Agreed. Let’s get to it.”
It was truly a grueling day. By the time Jace headed home, he was tired, hungry, and concerned. Noel’s car was parked in front. He’d been gone longer than he realized.
When he entered the house, he found Bonnie and Noel in the kitchen, chatting like old friends. Both women were cheerful until they noticed him, and the smiles faltered.
“What happened?” Noel asked.
“All done!” Gunner announced, holding up hands covered with flour.
“You did a great job.” Bonnie picked him up and took him to the sink where they worked on washing his hands. She glanced back at Jace, though, unease on her face.
Jace told them about the fencing and the stolen sheep. “I can’t even think about how much money we lost today.” He’d have to work it all out in the books soon, but not right now.
Now he had to figure out what they could do to make sure this didn’t happen again. “I’m sorry I’m late. We moved the herds closer to the house and barn to keep a better eye on them.”
“It’s too bad we can’t put surveillance cameras up along the fence line,” Noel said with a frown. “Except it would cost a small fortune.”
Bonnie set Gunner down. “Is there any indication that this was the same set of people who tore down the panels before?”
“We have no way of knowing.” Which truly frustrated Jace. “I filed a report, the police came down and took our statements and a bunch of pictures. No other reports of stolen animals or damaged property in the area. I’m hoping the two weren’t connected and this is the end of it all, but…” Yeah, he just couldn’t quite convince himself of that. This made three separate issues on the ranch. He didn’t believe in coincidences.
Noel hopped up to sit on the countertop. “You don’t suppose our parents might have hired someone to mess things up for us?”
