"What is it?"
"Rain coming in."
Dante glanced at the clear blue sky with its pattern of white puffy clouds.
"Trust me." Clicking his tongue, Barry started towards the ranch.
They were barely inside the house when the showers came. The older man just grinned at him and went towards the dining room where the table was already set for supper and the housekeeper gone for the day.
Dante shrugged off his jacket and hung it by the door, the patter of rain falling now against the old tin roof. The house was warm with the scent of roasted vegetables and something rich simmering in the oven, a comfort he found almost disarming. Barry had a way of soothing nerves he didn't even realize were frayed, simply by being present, gruff and steady as a mountain.
He washed his hands and, wandering into the dining room, found Barry already pouring two glasses of iced tea. The older man slid one across the table, his eyes sharp but his manner easy.
"Sit," Barry said simply. "And don't think you're getting out of this talk with just the weather for a distraction."
Dante took his seat, the wood creaking comfortably beneath him, and stared at the glass for a moment, weighing his words. He had always been careful, especially with matters of the heart. Especially here, where the land itself carried the weight of old secrets.
But as the rain hammered softly outside, he found himself loosening, the barriers dropping in spite of himself.
"She's a definite complication." Dante cut into his meat slowly with precise movement. "An employee and a pregnant one."
Barry simply sipped his tea, letting the silence fill the room, offering space instead of judgment. "Oh?"
Dante shrugged and picked up his glass. "The guy left as soon as she told him."
"That's tough as hell."
"She did not tell me when she was hired."
"Probably afraid you would not hire her."
"I probably wouldn't have." He admitted.
"And now?"
"Now... hell Barry, I want her. Her being pregnant does not make a damn difference. I don't know what to do. She's carrying someone else's baby and she's also an employee. We work closely together and she's damn good. Mrs. Carstairs was efficient and highly trained but Courtney, Ms. Vernon is a whiz. It's been only a month, and I cannot see myself doing without her."
He stared into his iced tea moodily.
"Are you going to let her go?"
Barry knew the boy well, had watched him growing up, working harder than men twice his age and hungry to learn everything. There had been something very special about him even from back then. It certainly did not surprise him to see how much he had succeeded.
"I know you'll figure it out," Barry finally said, voice low, "or it'll figure you. That's how these things go."
Dante managed a smile, grateful for the lack of preaching. For now, the storm outside was easier to face than the one inside him, but here, at least, he didn't have to face it alone.
"The place looks good." Barry had hardly changed anything. It was the same worn furniture in the house, the quilted throws on the faded sofas and the scarred table in the living room. He had modernized the kitchen, and Dante knew how reluctant he had been to go that far. The man would spend the money on equipment for the ranch but had often complained that he hardly stepped foot inside the house. That it was a waste of time spending good money on furnishings and such when he was hardly inside to appreciate it.
"The cattle are moving fast. We've added a greenhouse and hired ourselves some young ones who claim to know what they're doing." He sipped his iced tea, a frown touching his brow. "Cultivating and planting organic crap. People love it. The business is growing, which is good. Means I don't have to fire their asses."
Dante chuckled and felt his dark mood disappearing. He would have to go back soon. He had meetings lined up and things to attend to and running away was not really his style. He would spend another day trying to come up with a solution and then he would have to return. Turning his mind away from what was weighing him down, he relaxed and discussed ranch business with an expert.
She tried to casually get it out of Donald when he dropped by bright and early Monday morning.
"The boss not back yet, I see."
"No." She busied herself by tidying up her desk. She had work to do of course. Notes from the meeting to type up and more than enough emails to respond to. She also had been neglecting her filing and figured that if she was going to be fired, she should tryand make life easier for the next person to be hired. Very noble of her, but she figured she owed him that much. Or maybe not. "It was an unscheduled trip."
