Chapter 3

Grady’s cell rang precisely at 8:30. “Hello, Mr. Comfrey. What can I do for you?”

Grady listened to his attorney pass on the information. With a pen in hand, he scribbled a couple of notes and a telephone number on the scratch pad as he leaned over the kitchen counter. He confirmed the telephone number and with a polite goodbye, he ended the call.

Grady scratched the four days of growth on his jaw as he considered the business offer Mr. Comfrey passed along. The query made much sense, solving some immediate issues, but they were issues that Grady could not explain to anyone. The hike up to the point on the Twin Sisters was much farther than he realized; the distance and the steepness of the trail would require at least an overnight if he walked.

Using a quad was banned by the federal rules his grandfather had signed. The Act was meant to maintain pristine conditions and quads were documented as tearing up the forest and the desert floors. Horses were the only solution. The problem for Grady was that his grandfather sold off the horses when Grady was seven or eight years old, declaring Grady was too young, and that he was too old to take care of them, and Grady’s father was a jackass.

Grady needed horses and he needed someone who knew what they were doing when it came to keeping horses. He could ride a horse and knew the bare basics of keeping the animals, but so did every other kid in the county. Horses were a gamble for most small outfits these days; the economics did not make owning them in any significant number easy. Of course, he was trying to keep people away at the same time as well.

He had buried his grandfather five days ago, and the busybodies had ceased coming to the house yesterday. When he hugged them he meant it, and when he said thank you for all the kindness, the gratitude was genuine. Still, he needed the solitude and the stretch of hours to sort himself and his future. There was no one he could turn to with the specifics he faced.

He had not picked up the diary again after reading that first entry. He needed to read it, but every time he walked to the office door determined to sit and open the text, he crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway, staring. He feared that with every page he read, the more deeply enmeshed he would become.

The instructions for completing his high school degree by Zoom had arrived yesterday. He needed to run by the school and get a few signatures to confirm and get started. Grady wanted to be at school his last semester, but he could not see how to juggle his new responsibilities with his previous life. Even with people to manage the trust, he still had to manage the people; Mr. Comfrey had been adamant about that responsibility. He picked up the school packet, flipped through the pages and put it down again.

“Aggh,” Grady yelled aloud to himself, “make a damn decision.”

He picked up his cell and inputted the number on the scratch pad. His thumb hesitated over the green button until he grimaced and pushed much harder than the phone required. He listened to the other end ring. He was almost hoping no one answered when he heard the line go live.

“Hello, this is Jessica,” the woman said.

“Hi, this is Grady Wolcott. I understand you are looking for a place to stable your horses?”

“Yes, I am. My, word travels around this town quickly. Do you have a stable available?”

Grady took a deep breath before answering. “We have a complete facility that has not been used in a number of years. We have a 15-stall stable, a couple of riding rings, and private riding trails. Everything needs a bit of TLC, of course.”