Summer Days (Fool's Gold #7)

“He stole from my mother.”


Heidi winced. “You’re close to her?” She shook her head. “Never mind. Stupid question.” If Rafe didn’t take care of his mother, he wouldn’t be here now. Not that she was surprised. From what she could tell, May was a lovely woman who had been very understanding about the mistake. Although not understanding enough to keep her son out of it.

“Glen, my grandfather, has a close friend who was diagnosed with cancer. Harvey needed treatment, didn’t have insurance, and Glen wanted to help.” Heidi did her best to smile, but her lips didn’t feel as if they were cooperating. “So, um, he got the idea of selling part of the ranch. To your mother.”

“The ranch that belongs to you.”

“Technically.” Her name was the one on the bank loan. She hadn’t done the math, but she would guess she had in the neighborhood of seventy thousand dollars in equity. The rest of the ranch was tied up in her mortgage.

“He took two hundred and fifty thousand dollars from my mother, and in return she owns nothing.”

“Kind of.”

“Your grandfather has no way to pay her back.”

“He gets social security and we have some savings.”

Rafe’s gaze moved from her to Athena and back. “How much in savings?”

Defeat made her shoulders sag. “Twenty-five hundred dollars.”

“Please move the goat. I’m going to the ranch.”

Heidi stiffened her spine. “What are you going to do?”

“Have your grandfather arrested.”

“You can’t!” Glen was the only family she had. “He’s an old man.”

“I’m sure the judge will take that into account when setting bail.”

“He didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

Rafe was unmoved by her plea. “My family grew up here, Ms. Simpson. My mother was the housekeeper. The old man who owned the ranch paid her next to nothing. At times there wasn’t enough money for her to feed her four children. But she hung on because he promised to leave her the ranch when he died.”

Heidi didn’t like this story. She just knew it had a bad ending.

“Like your grandfather, he lied. When he finally died, the ranch went to distant relatives back east.” His dark eyes turned into lasers that seemed to bore into her, promising untold punishment. “No one is going to screw my mother out of this ranch twice.”

Oh, no! It was worse than she’d imagined. Much worse. “You have to understand. My grandfather would never hurt anyone. He’s a great guy.”

“He’s the man who stole two hundred and fifty thousand dollars from my mother, Ms. Simpson. The rest is simply window dressing. Now, move your…goat.”

Unable to think of what else to say, Heidi stepped to the side of the road. Athena trotted along with her. Rafe got in his car and drove away. The only thing missing from his angry departure was a cloud of dust. However, the road was paved and well maintained by the city. One of the advantages of living in Fool’s Gold.

She waited until he’d gone past, then turned toward the ranch and started to run. Athena kept up easily, for once not insisting on extending her time of freedom.

“Did you hear that?” Heidi asked, her athletic shoes pounding on the pavement. “That man is really mad at us.”

Athena trotted along, apparently unconcerned about Glen’s fate.

“You’ll be sorry if we have to sell you to pay back May Stryker,” Heidi muttered, then wished she hadn’t.

All her life she’d only wanted one thing. A home. A real home with a roof and a foundation, hooked up to sewer and water and electricity. Something most people took for granted. But she’d grown up moving from town to town, the rhythm of her days defined by the carnival where her grandfather worked.

When she’d found the Castle Ranch, she’d fallen instantly and madly in love. With the land, the old house and especially the nearby town of Fool’s Gold. She had a herd of eight goats, uncounted feral cows and nearly a thousand acres of land. She’d started a business making goat cheese and goat-milk soap. She sold goat milk and goat fertilizer. There were natural caves where she could age her cheese. This was her home and she wasn’t giving it up for anything.

But she might have to give it up for somebody. Glen. Who’d sold a part of what he didn’t own to a woman with a very angry son.

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