S toney ended up begging off supper in favor of being one with the bottle, and breakfast in favor of worshipping at the porcelain throne.
Okay, so that didn’t help a goddamn thing. It just left him scoured out and headachy. Still, he’d given Ford a couple meals on his own, and he could just grab coffee and get to work. Geoff should be out milking goats or something by now, and Stoney could crawl into the kitchen and get a coffee and a piece of toast.
Christ have mercy, his brain was going to explode.
The coast was clear in the kitchen, so he ducked in. Stoney popped bread into the toaster and pulled out a pod to make coffee in the fancy little brew machine Geoff loved.
He flipped through his e-mails on his phone, then his texts, pleased when there wasn’t a whole lot of nothing. He might survive today after all.
Then Ford walked into the damned kitchen, handsome face like a thundercloud, and Stoney knew his parade was about to get rained on like whoa.
Good thing he was waterproof as all fuck.
“So, guess you skipped dinner and breakfast just to make me feel better?” Ford scowled harder, and if he wasn’t wearing a pair of sweats and a T-shirt with a Dr. Who logo, he might be scary.
“I drank my supper and puked through breakfast, but thanks for asking.” Fuck-head.
“Why the hell did you do that? Don’t you have a kid?”
“Last time I checked.” Like he was drunk around Quartz. Fuck that shit. Quartz was spending the night with his best friend, Bennie, in Glenwood. They had plans to go to the hot springs and hike up to Doc Holliday’s grave.
“Well, what am I supposed to think?” Ford was ramping up. Oh, the guy was all class; he’d never been a shouter. But Ford was getting all Western on him, assuming a credible cowboy stance. Someone must have given him lessons, because he sure as fuck hadn’t stood like a bull rider back in the day.
“It ain’t none of yours, one way or the t’other.”
“Bullshit.” The word cracked out like a walnut being stepped on by a dinosaur.
He didn’t respond; he simply let one eyebrow lift as he stared. Stoney had stared down way scarier things than Ford Nixel.
“I need you to be in on this, Stoney.” Ford wasn’t pleading, Stoney could tell. He was stating fact. “You and Ty will lose the ranch otherwise.”
“Have I slacked in my job today? In any way?” He kept his voice even. It was easier to get close enough to clock a man that way.
“Not the wrangler part. Too bad your head is too far up your ass to see you need to act like an owner,” Ford sneered.
“You mean the part where you sit in the office or the part where you pretend that you remember anything about this ranch?”
“Fuck you! I fucking grew up here. I love this place. I always have.” Ford shocked the shit out of him by shouting.
“Then you might ought to show up every now and again.”
“You made it pretty clear you didn’t want to see me, and Ty made it perfectly clear he’d rather have a stranger around than me.” Ford shut down; Stoney saw it happen, just like it always had. His expression cooled, became guarded, which meant he was about to turn tail and run.
It was a shame; playing with pissed Ford would be more fun. He wasn’t smart enough to spar with Mr. Top of His Class in Law School.
“Enough of the ancient history. God knows I don’t want to know how you hooked up with Brit. Ty wanted me to try to help keep the ranch for you and Quartz, and I will, but I can’t do it if you fight me.”
“I’ve spoken to you twice.” He was fairly sure that didn’t count as fighting.
Ford stared at him for a moment, a muscle jumping in his jaw. “Fuck. Right. Have a good hangover.”
“Look, what the fuck do you want? What are you up to?” Stoney wasn’t even 100 percent sure why he asked, but he did it anyway. He couldn’t buy Ford out, he couldn’t imagine moving Quartz, so he had to figure… something.
“Ty called me. This place is important. It needs improvements, needs a new plan. I’m not up to anything.”
“So what do you want?” It was a fair question.
“I don’t know.” Ford laughed, the sound strained but seemingly genuine.
“Oh.” He guessed that was fair. “You want coffee?”
“Please. I have to drive into Aspen in a bit and deal with some tax shit for a client.”
That sounded like pure hell.
He grabbed the pod dealie and popped it in, fixing Ford a cup. He automatically added cream to it, then half a teaspoon of sugar. When Stoney handed over the cup, Ford was staring at him, eyes wide.
“You remember.”
“Sure I do.” He remembered every single thing about Ford. The bastard had been his Mr. Right, and it had torn out most of his heart when Ford had gone back to school without even trying to talk to him. Just packed up in the middle of the night and left.
“You—” Ford cut himself off. “I’m sorry, man, I just don’t get it.”
“Get it?” What was there to get?
“Why—I mean, what happened? Why the hell did you break up with me and stay here and…. What the hell was with you and Brit?”
“I was failing out of school. They were about to make me leave. Ty offered me a job.” And there was no way to fix the fact that he was too fucking slow to make it in Ford’s world.
“What?” Ford actually stepped toward him, scowling. “Why wouldn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what? That I was a fuckup? You figured that out.”
“No, what I figured out was that you wanted a ranch more than you wanted me.” Ford’s mouth twisted.
“I needed a job. I got one.”
“You sure did.” Ford took the coffee in hand. “There’s leftovers in the fridge. Pancakes and bacon. Talk atcha later.”
He didn’t bother answering. What the hell was he supposed to do? He hated this shit, but he was who he was.
The dumb cowboy.
At least he had a boy who was the neatest kid in the world, the best thing that had ever happened to him. He wouldn’t jeopardize that for anything. So, no more getting his drunk on—at least not where the asshole owner could catch him.
Stoney grinned, feeling good enough to heat up some of Geoff’s amazing pancakes for a post-toast snack.
His phone rang on the way to the fridge, and he grabbed it. “Boss? Boss, we got a hunting group coming in tomorrow. I need you in the office.”
“Be there in two shakes of a dead lamb’s tail.” Lord have mercy, time to get to work. Stoney grabbed his toast, his coffee, and his phone and headed out to the office. He had to decide what to do with those hunters.
Ford could wait.