Weston Ranch, Fisher's Story (7 page)

"What the hell
just happen? When are
you
and
Lexie
at
odds?
D
id I miss something, I know
I
have been gone
awhile
, but come on,
"
s
he said
, trying to make sense of everything.

"
No
, I just
didn’t
want to deal with
her
today
,
"
Asher
said.

Claire expected him to further explain himself, but he never did. He
was saved
by the lunch
that
the
waitress brought out. She spent
several minutes eating, allowing Asher time to relax.

"I will talk to my brother if
you
want. I
don't
think that it will do
any
good
. I wish I could tell
you
more, but I just
don't
know. 
Ever
since
Fisher took over, everything has gotten better
,
so no one has
questi
oned his leadership with
the ranch,”
Asher said as he finished his meal.

"I get what
you
are trying to say. I
won’t
put
you
in that position. It was wrong of me to ask.
Don't
worry. I am going over to the realtor after we eat. I
didn't
even know about the land until
my sisters
said
something, so it
wasn't
a
tremendous
loss," s
he said shrugging off her
intense
disappointment.

Claire and Asher finished their meal with light banter about ranch life. Asher did the gentleman thing and paid for the two. Just like high school, she mused. She waved goodbye as she walked across the street to the realtor office
,
and
he walked towards his pickup truck
. Her
own truck
was being delivered
later in the
day. Apparently
,
the company was ahead of schedule, so she had to get
back
to the house in
about
three hours
.

Hopefully
,
Maddie
didn't
forget about her. They came into town together and went their separate ways
since
Maddie
had a doctor's appoin
tment. She had no clue where
Lexie
went after the confrontation at the diner
, but she
was surprised
to see her in town at all
, being
a veterinarian assistant
and spending
most of her time in the fields and barns.

Claire
heard the
bell ding overhead,
signaling a new customer
when she entered the realtor office
.
The building the office was
in is
new. There were elegant paintings on one side of the wall; the other side of the wall had listings of property on printed paper that
was held
up by
thumb tacks. There was no one at
the reception desk
,
and
the other doors
were closed
. Claire moved closer to the listings, browsing through to see if anything jumped out at her.

"
Welcome
Miss
Hicks
. Thank
you
for coming in. How may I help
you
?"
A voice said behind her. Claire faced
the older woman
, who
came o
ut of one of the closed door.

"You're welcome and I am fine.
I am
looking
to buy
som
e land around this area to buy
."
Claire
was trying to find a name tag or
name plate so she would know what to call the lady
.

"Well, I might be able to help. How much land are
you
looking for?
”
The lady asked.

"I
need about fifty acres, more if possible,
with wa
ter, sewage,
buildable lots
and preferable mineral rights included
,
"
she said.

It was a staggering amount.
Claire rendered the poor woman speechless, probably from the commission she would get if the sale went through.

"There is no land for sale with that amount of land, at least not around here. The best people to ask are the Weston's.
They own most the land in this town.
May I ask what
you
are planning to do with this land? Does it need to be commercial or residential
zoning
?"
The realtor asked, sitting down and taking out a pen, presumably to take notes.

"I am not sure what the zoning would be. I am opening a
special
needs camp for kids. I wanted land that
has
scenery but still flat. I have already spoken to the Weston's, which is why I am
now here,
" Claire said nicely.

"
Probably commercial then, but
you
can always get the zoning changed through paperwork.
I will make some calls and see what I can do for
you
, but it will take a few days to get back to you. Is that alright?"

"
That would be
great
.
Here
is my number, just give me a call when
you're
ready." Claire wrote down her cell phone number on the back of her business card.
She t
hanked the lady politely and walked out the door.
Maddie
was waiting for her in the parking lot, much to her relief.
Claire adjusted her sunglasses on her face and
got
into the
Land Rover
.

"Any luck with finding some land?"
Maddie
asked as soon as she finished buckling her seat beat.

"
Nothing yet, now s
pill
about what
is going on with Ash and Lexie.
" Claire
wasn't
going to be deflected from her curiosity.
Maddie
was mulling over what to say
. I
t took a few seconds for her to spit it out.

"Asher makes her
unsettled. For the past year
, he has been hovering around her
. At first I
was amused
by it, because I knew he wanted
me back in high school
.
They stayed the weekend
togeth
er once last summer when Lexie
was taking care of a calf of his.
They came back all weird around each other and acting that way ever since.
This
game
isn't
funny to me anymore
.
I am jealous as hell now.
He’s
total
ly
forgotten me.
I guess I am mad at him
too
,
"
s
he said
,
backing out onto the street.

“
You
never paid Ash any attention from day one.
You
told
me
that
you
weren’t
attractive to him. So why now?” Claire asked, curious.

“
I
don’t
know. I guess I
miss all the attention. I know Lexie has always liked him, so I never encouraged Ash’s attentions and still
won’t
.
We
need to get Lexie to spill on what happened, then we can help them,” Maddie said, cheering up
somewhat
.

"Well that makes
all us
sisters upset with the
Weston boys." Claire was trying to make light of her situation.

They drove the fifteen minutes back home listening to Taylor swift's
Mine
song.
She
was relieved
when she saw her shiny black dodge pickup sitting in the drive way with a
moving
truck behind it.
She jumped out
as soon as
Maddie
parked.

After signing the delivery papers, the men started unloading her boxes into the house.
It would be
gratifying
not
to
depend
on
her sisters
for
rides and
cloth
ing
. She looked over her truck making sure there were no dents or dings. Satisfied, she went inside to start the long unpacking process.

Chapter Five

Fisher was pulling out
of his drive way
to go into town when he saw the delivery truck and black dodge pull in next door.
So
,
that must be Claire's truck.
Figures she would drive a half ton
, crew cab,
diesel
that she
didn't
need. It had to be fairly new, probably
a
'06 or '07 model.
Claire would look sexy as hell behind the wheel. He shook his
head.
H
e had other things to worry about.

He was meeting a home builder in town. He
decided
he would build a home on the extra land
for
his parent
. It would be his gift to them.
A retirement gift, a house and land deeded back to them. Fully paid for out of his own pocket.
This is why he wouldn't sell the land to Claire.
This was too
important
to him.
The ranch was going to be given to Asher and
then he can return to New York.

He did feel a small amount of
guilt over denyi
ng Claire
.
He knew a little of what the land
would be used for.
He also knew there
was
more
land
to choose from
, other than his own,
probably
not as large as she wanted
nor
in town
. He arrived at the developer's office. He had a firm p
lan in mind for what he wanted, a t
wo story, three bedroom
home with a wraparound porch. H
e wanted
his parents
to
look out of the
ir
window and
see for miles
.
He wanted them set on their porch, rocking in their rocking chairs without a care in the world.
They deserved this after working hard for the last fifty years.

Twenty minutes later, with
the
meeting over with
and plans drawn up
, Fisher
was satisfied
with the end results. The building would begin in
six
weeks. He wo
uld have a new house by winter. His phone started vibrating on his dash board. He picked it up and glanced at the screen. Tricia was calling. He hit the ignore button. He
didn't
want to talk to her. The only woman occupying his thoughts these past few days lived across the street and by the looks of it, she would be around for
a while
.

Fisher sat in his truck in front of the developer's office, deciding his next move. He
wasn't needed
on the ranch today. His parents were over in the next town enjoying the Amish country
and
flea
markets
. His brother, well he had no idea where he was at since he
wasn't
answering his phone. He
drove
back home, before h
e turned left into his drive
,
he decided to visit Claire. He hung a right and the gravel crunched under his tires, announcing his presence.