DESPITE HER DETERMINATION to join the hands for chores, Molly woke up late. Well, late for her. Her sleep had been plagued with haunting images of her ancestors frowning at her as she let the Abernathy family lease their land. She’d have no choice but to accept Wil’s offer if the bid for the training facility wasn’t successful.
She needed to do something to move their plan forward. She showered and got dressed and then looked at herself in the mirror and decided to leave her hair down today. She went downstairs to find Rina singing along to Beyoncé and cutting up meat to go in the slow cooker.
“Late night?” Rina asked as Molly went for the coffeepot.
“Yeah. Still not sleeping well,” Molly said. Last night had been different. She didn’t want to dwell on it as she knew Jason wasn’t long for Cole’s Hill and the Bar T Ranch. He’d be back up on missions as soon as he could make it happen, no matter what they decided to do with the ranch.
“Have you seen, Jason—I mean Ace—this morning?” she asked Rina.
Rina chuckled. “Yeah, that boy lit out of here early.”
“Oh? Did he say where he was going?” Molly asked.
“Nope. He wasn’t too sure he’d be back for dinner,” Rina said.
Figures.
He was gone already.
Molly took her coffee down the hall to the office to work on the books. Their finances looked just as bleak as the last time she’d gone over them. They needed a solution. Something that would bring an influx of cash to keep the ranch going. How long would the NASA bidding process take? Could she count on Jason to see it through? Was there anything she could do now to hurry it along?
Molly just knew if she leased the acres to Wil she was going to bring down a shitload of bad karma on herself. But she had to consider all her—their—options at this point.
She found the hair elastic that she kept in her pocket and pulled her hair up into a ponytail.
Rina brought in a tray with lunch and some sweet iced tea on it and placed it on the desk before plopping down in the guest chair. The chair was a dusty old recliner that her mom had told her dad to throw out years ago, but Mick had never been able to part with it.
“You’ve been in here a long time,” Rina said. “What’s up?”
“Just trying to decide how much bad karma I can handle if I make a deal with Wil Abernathy for part of the land.”
“That bad?”
“Worse. Remember that spa we went to up near New Braunfels last year?” she asked Rina. Sometimes she and the housekeeper, who was really more like a friend, would decide they’d had enough of all the testosterone on the ranch and declare it “girls’ weekend.”
“Yeah, why?”
“Do you think people would pay to come out here and stay?” Molly asked. It was the only other idea she had that didn’t involve leasing part of the land.
“Maybe. We have the river and the pond is nice. Plus we could have trail riding out to the pond. Mick had talked about fixing the dock. The pond is already stocked so you could offer fishing,” Rina said.
Rina had some really good ideas and Molly jotted them down beside the ones she already had. Of course, she’d have to run them by her partner...if he came back. Jason seemed enthusiastic about the NASA bid, but there was more at stake for her and she had to keep an open mind.
“What’s the matter, sunshine? You look sad,” Rina asked.
“Just miss Dad,” she said.
“I do, too. I never thought I’d miss that cantankerous old coot, but I do. I wasn’t ready for our fights to end.”
Rina and her dad had fought like brother and sister. There was love under it, but they’d still both been stubborn and very sure they were always right. Rina was ten years younger than her dad. She was more of a surrogate aunt than a mom to Molly.
“Me, neither. I could use his stubbornness now, I think.”
Molly glanced down at the list and doodled Jason’s name on the top of it. “What am I going to do with him?”
“Nothing,” Rina said, following Molly’s train of thought. “Just do you. He’ll take care of himself. Isn’t he going back to NASA and on another mission soon?”
She drew a scroll pattern down the side of the paper. Doodled the words To boldly go underneath it, remembering Jason’s tattoo. His health was his business to discuss and so she just shrugged at Rina, but she was concerned. If his condition improved, would he still want to pursue his training-facility idea? It was clear he didn’t want to work on the ranch. Originally, he had wanted her to buy him out.
She added that to her list.
“I don’t want to have to mortgage any of the land. That was what Dad was trying to avoid when he borrowed money from Jason.”
“You can only play the cards you’re dealt. Your dad knew it and you do, too. Don’t try to do right by him. He’s gone and he wanted you to be happy. Do right by you, Molly. Does one option sound better to you than the others?”
“No. I don’t want people on our land. I want it to remain the way it always was...but I also wish Dad were here riding out checking fences and doing his chores.”
Rina stood up and came around the desk, leaning over to hug her, and Molly just turned her head to the side and hugged Rina back. Tears burned the back of her eyes and she felt more lost now than she ever had in her life. But there wasn’t another person who could make this decision for her. And as supportive as Rina was, she was an employee of the ranch like the hands. Molly knew she couldn’t screw this up. She brushed her hand over her eyes and shifted back.
“Thanks, Rina.”
“No problem, sunshine. You will figure this out. You always do.”
* * *
DENNIS LOCK HAD been an astronaut on the shuttle missions and had been Ace’s mentor since he was recruited by NASA. Ace trusted the older man and respected him. The news about Ace’s slow recovery hadn’t been easy for either of them. But it was all part of Dr. Tomlin’s research.
“You’re back pretty quick,” Dennis said. “I doubt your bone density has improved much in the last few days.”
Ace nodded as he shook his hand and then took a seat in one of the guest chairs.
“I’d be just as shocked as you if it had. I’m here for another reason. I have recently inherited half of a 760-acre ranch about an hour’s drive from here and we need to figure out what to do with the land. They only use about a third of it. I want to know more about the new Cronus facility. Has the bidding for that project closed yet?”
Dennis leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. He was in his early fifties and wore his salt-and-pepper hair in a military style. The former astronaut had been married and divorced three times while he’d still been active.
“Not yet. But it’s getting close,” Dennis said, pulling his keyboard toward him. “Are you thinking you want to bid on it?”
“Yes. It would be a solution to both of our problems,” Ace said. Molly and the Bar T would be secure and it was one way he’d be able to continue working with NASA no matter the outcome of his bone-density test in three months’ time.
“You won’t be able to pull together a winning bid on your own. You’ll need assistance from a defense subcontractor.”
“Do you know anyone?” Ace asked. “Or do you think this idea is bat-shit crazy?”
“I like it. You know I don’t want some yahoo who thinks it would be cool to be a part of NASA to get the bid. Or some billionaire who has always wanted to be the first person to own property on the moon.”
“Isn’t there a screening process designed to weed those out?” Ace asked. He heard the rancor in Dennis’ tone and knew the older man thought of these projects as almost sacred. Something that should only be pursued by men and women who are driven more by a love of exploration than a desire for commercial success.
“Sure. But there are some civilians with too much money who’ve never heard the word no. I like this idea, Ace. So Molly would be the liaison between the ranch and the facility and you’d...well, if you’re not on the missions, you could be part of the training staff. How long are you in Houston?”
“As long as I need to be,” he said. God, he hoped he was on one of the missions.
“Let me make a few calls to some old contracting friends. I’ll see if any are interested in partnering with you. Most of the qualified companies bidding have worked with us before and I know that your land is a prime location for this project. Is it just you? Are you able to make this decision on your own?”
“It’s not just me, but my partner has agreed to it,” Ace said.
“Good. That’s all I need for now.”
“I’m going to be on base for a little while. Text me if you hear anything.”
“I will. We need to get moving on this for you to have any chance in hell of getting your bid in on time. You’re cutting it close,” Dennis said. You’ll need to work with an experienced defense subcontractor. Everyone submits their bids on the deadline so your timing is good.”
He left the program manager’s office and stood there in the hot Texas sun. Even though it was May, summer was already on its way in Houston. He put on his sunglasses and acknowledged to himself that his health was the only reason why he’d ever thought of doing this.
He was going to find a way to stay involved in the Cronus program on his own terms. Dennis had offered to find a place for him on his management team, but Ace wasn’t ready to accept that he’d be grounded. He had been training to meet the physical challenges of extended spaceflight since he first heard about the mission parameters. And Dennis had done his best to help Ace out, giving him every opportunity to log as much space-time as he could.
Hemi pulled up in his ’69 Mustang. The man was a motorhead and spent a lot of his time between missions restoring the car.
“Hop in, Ace. I told the guys you were in town and we’re all meeting over at Rocket Fuel for wings and suds.”
Ace was glad Hemi had the top down because it didn’t encourage conversation. But they got caught in the lunchtime traffic of workers leaving the base and silence built around them.
“What did you talk to Dennis about?”
Ace filled him in about his plans for the ranch. He wasn’t ready to tell the whole base, but he trusted Hemi with his secrets and his life.
“Good. You’d be a great director for the new facility. But I still want you with me on our next mission. I’ve been thinking about your bone-density issue since you left. I mentioned it to my mom and she sent me—” he broke off to rummage around behind Ace’s seat “—this. It’s a diet that works to correct osteopenia. I know Doctor Tomlin’s on it already, but a little more help can’t hurt, right? I even ran it by the doc earlier.”
Ace took the email from Hemi and saw that Mona, Hemi’s mom, had addressed the body of the email to him.
He smiled as he read over all her notes. She was a holistic healer in California, where she lived with Hemi’s dad. And her advice was different from what the program’s medical personnel had given him.
“Thanks, man.”
“No problem. Mom’s afraid if I go up there without you, I’ll get into trouble,” he said.
Ace had saved Hemi one time during some equipment failure and the other man had never forgotten it. Hemi was the youngest in his family and they were all very protective of their “big warrior.”
“I guess everyone’s waiting to see if the doctor’s theories about how to fix this pan out,” Ace said while they were driving.
Hemi made a grunting noise under his breath. “You bet we are. You’re just one of the first who’s been out of Earth’s gravity that long, but we all need to know that the astronauts will be able to walk and function when they get to the way station and, later, to Mars.”
“Exactly. Even though NASA has green-lit the long-term space facility, and has the first long-term mission on the books, if Tomlin’s theories aren’t proven effective, it could mean...” He trailed off. He didn’t want to say it out loud. The end of the Cronus missions until some sort of solution was found. Everything was riding on Ace and the three other astronauts who had experienced the effects of prolonged exposure in space and were being monitored by the medical team.
“What about Candice? She’s been up there for nine months,” Hemi said.
“Tomlin and Dennis didn’t say. But I think she’s doing well. She’s due back on base next week,” Ace said. Candice O’Malley was one of the longest-serving female astronauts. The new astronaut classes were more gender-balanced than they had been even ten years earlier when he’d first gone to astronaut training school.
“I’ll talk to her when she’s back and text you,” Hemi said.
“Better to email. The ranch has a really spotty cell phone signal,” Ace said.
“That sucks.”
“Yes and no. It will be kind of nice to be on the back of a horse working with cattle or on the fence line and have nothing but that chore to focus on. Sort of like being in space. There is no pinging of my phone, no texts coming in fast and furious. Just me and the land.”
Hemi turned to look at him, leveling his steady dark gaze at Ace. “Dude, you are starting to sound like...a cowboy.”
“I guess I was always one. Just forgot. Dennis thought going back would be the best therapy for me. Give me a chance to do some different work that would build my strength.”
“I hope it works,” Hemi said. “Not just for you, Ace. I really want this long-term mission to be a go and I know that you and Candice are the ones they are looking at. Dev and Maury are already back in the training schedule, but they weren’t up there any longer than I’ve been.”
“I know,” Ace said. “Don’t talk about this too much.”
“I won’t,” Hemi said. “But most of our training group already has some idea of what is going on. Seeing you today will help them. I think they’re afraid you’re going to hobble in using a cane. Everyone is excited for the new missions and understands the associated risks, but you know it’s different to actually see them. And how you recover is going to affect everyone.”
“Well, there’s nothing to see here,” Ace said. He was the leader of this group of astronauts. Had been since Dennis had started pulling all of them together. Ace knew that today it was important to make each of them believe he was still going to lead them on the first Cronus mission.
Traffic started moving again and Ace realized that as much as the Bar T Ranch felt like home and Mick and Rina had been family, this was where his true family was. And as attracted as he was to Molly, as much as he wanted her, she didn’t know him the way Hemi and his fellow astronauts did. But as he ate lunch with the guys and listened to them talking, he also became very aware that his life had been one-dimensional for a long time. Just NASA. Just focused on training. He was surrounded by his astronaut family, but something was calling him back to the Bar T. It wasn’t the horses or the other hands... He missed Molly.
* * *
JEB DIDN’T SAY anything as she saddled her horse and they rode out to do the afternoon chores. When she’d been a teenager and she’d felt like she was going to scream from frustration at having to rush home from school to help with chores instead of hanging out in town with her friends, her dad had always assigned her to ride with Jeb. There was something calming about Jeb, steady and quiet. He was sure of himself and he rode with an easy grace that came from spending a lifetime in the saddle.
The ranch and ranching business had changed, but Jeb never would.
They fed the cattle and worked quietly alongside each other. And the tightness that had taken up residence in the pit of her stomach loosened. She let the peace of the day and the land wash over her. The sounds of the cattle and the horses.
The rhythm of life on the ranch worked magic on her troubled soul. That was why she never left for long. The land was part of her. She wondered if it was the same for Jason. If being up in his capsule in space soothed something deep inside of him.
Probably.
That was why he’d backed away in the kitchen last night. The sex had been amazing, better than even her steamiest dreams. But they were just having fun. She needed to remember that.
“I needed this,” she said to Jeb. There was something reassuring about doing the same chores she’d done for most of her life with Jeb by her side.
“I know.”
She shook her head. “Jason made a suggestion that I wasn’t expecting when we were at the lawyer’s yesterday...using the land for a NASA training facility.”
Jeb pushed his straw cowboy hat back on his head. “Say what?”
“I was surprised, too, but I think it could work. NASA would build the facility and we’d still run the ranch on this part of the land. The old bunkhouses would need to be updated—again on NASA’s dime—to house the trainees. What do you think?” she asked, realizing maybe she should have talked to Jeb before she’d signed off on the plan.
“Sounds... I’m not sure. I like the idea that we don’t have to play cowboys to a bunch of tourists, but a NASA training facility? What do we know about that?”
“Jason is the expert. He said NASA would hire the right people for the roles. Mostly we’d just liaise between the ranch and the facility. He’s going to manage most of the details.”
“I thought he was going back to space,” Jeb said.
“The work we do at the facility will help NASA to determine who goes and who doesn’t. It will provide the specialized training astronauts need for long-term missions. Something called Cronus. Jason would have to be evaluated and trained along with the other astronauts.”
She didn’t want to mention his health issue. It was his story to share if he wanted to.
“So, when will we know about this?”
“Soon, I think. In the meantime we should act as if we’re going to win the bid. You’ve already started clearing the land, which needs to happen regardless, but there’s more work that we’ll have to do.”
“I think the bunkhouses are going to take a while. There is a leak in the southern house. The one where some of the boys used to stay.”
“Rina’s brother is in construction. I’ll ask her to make a call. Maybe they can put their company’s name forward when NASA is ready to choose builders.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“I need you to assign someone to show Jason the acreage that will be used for the facility. He didn’t spend much time in that part of the ranch when he lived here before.”
“Why don’t you show him?” Jeb asked, turning to gaze at the horizon.
“Because I’m busy,” she said.
“All right, missy, no need to bite my head off,” Jeb said.
“Sorry. I’m just...”
“It’s fine. He always did rattle you.”
Jeb rode off before she could say anything else. But what would she have said? No, he doesn’t... Jason made her crazy. Not the good kind, either. Except for last night.
She wished... Why had she been so curt with him when they got back?
Because she’d felt him slipping away.
And it was easier to back away herself than to be the one who was holding on. The one who wanted more than the other was willing to give. She’d done love once. Been burned so badly that she’d retreated here and kept her distance from men ever since.
She needed to remember that. She didn’t want to be back at heartbreak hotel again. Rina had patched her up the last time and Molly had vowed she’d be smarter and stronger if she ever met a man she liked again. But it seemed that her heart didn’t care about common sense.
She hadn’t counted on Jason McCoy. Hadn’t figured he’d ever walk through her door again, but here he was. Making plans and promises, and she was just following along. Letting her battered heart hope she could handle whatever the future held.