Just One Take
Book Four of the Billionaire Barons of Texas Series
Chapter One
No one ever mentioned how young old age starts. Craig Baron took a long swallow of cool water. Rebuilding the bull-proof fence line between the Baron and Gold ranches was proving to be a bit more challenging than any of the brothers had expected.
“The old gray mare, she ain’t what she used to be,” Chase sang to his younger brother, a huge grin on his face. “Growing older isn’t for sissies.”
“Pot calling the kettle black?” Leaning on the shovel handle, Craig straightened his shoulders. “And for the record, I am neither old, nor a sissy.” He wasn’t even going to address the mis-assigned gender of mare.
“Speak for yourself.” The eldest of today’s workers, his brother Mitch pulled a traditional bandana from his back pocket and wiped his brow. “I freely admit this was way easier a decade ago.”
“Ditto.” Kyle, the sibling most likely to be in the best physical condition, chugged a bottle of water, then squeezing it, he tossed it into the nearby bin. “I think fence digging is for the next generation.”
“And car racing?” One brow arched high on Jared Gold’s—soon to be an official member of the Baron clan thanks to Craig’s sister Eve—forehead.
Kyle blew out a long sigh. “It’s not official yet, but,” his gaze lifted to a point in the distance, “I think it’s time to hang up my helmet.”
Having taken another long gulp of water, Craig almost spit out his drink. His entire life, every single Baron family member had a competitive streak as wide as the Nile. Each and every one of them strived to be at the top of their game, no matter what it took to get there. The idea of Kyle walking away from racing was as absurd as Craig walking away from an award winning film. Not happening. “Are you kidding?”
“Nope.” Kyle removed his hat and slapped the dust off against his thigh before placing it back on his head. “I think it’s time.”
“Wow.” Mitch shook his head. “I know you’ve been hinting at it, but didn’t expect to see it actually happen. At least not yet.”
“Like I said,” Kyle grabbed hold of one side of the two man auger for digging deeper post holes, “nothing’s official yet. Might need to give Gibs another year.”
“Unless someone moves over.” Craig waved his fingers. “I’ve heard rumors that Bergeron isn’t happy with his team. He’s not as good as you, but he’s close.”
“Hmm,” Kyle muttered.
From what Craig could see, his brother might think he was ready to hang up his racing suit, but maybe not so much ready to be replaced. Heaven knew Craig and Kyle weren’t that far apart in years, and yet Craig was just beginning to reap the benefits of his hard work. Making it to the top of the movie industry was not any easier than climbing to the top of the racing world. He couldn’t fathom Kyle walking away any more than he could fathom not fighting tooth and nail for that next big film that would make Baron Productions the holy grail of the industry. The company that A listers would be chasing after him to produce instead of the other way around. Biting his tongue, he shook his head. No way could Kyle walk away.
Jared took a minute to survey their work for the day, then glanced up at the sky. “Heat’s starting to bear down on us.”
“This is Texas,” sarcasm dripped from Kyle’s words. “The heat is always bearing down on us.”
Jared chuckled. “True, but in today’s case, I think we’ve made nice progress. This would be a good place to call it a day and pick up again tomorrow.”
Craig’s back twinged at the mere mention of doing this again tomorrow. He really had let his desk job make him soft. “I admit, right about now, Hazel’s French cream crumb cake and a cool glass of blueberry lemonade sounds heavenly.”
Staring off into the distance, Mitch’s head whipped around. “Hazel made French cream crumb cake?”
The man had his moments. Just when Craig thought his older brother was totally in his own little world, he’d perk up and let everyone know he was right in step with the conversation even if he’d not said a word. The man had also been spending a great deal more of his time at the ranch than usual. Mitch would fly back and forth to DC to conduct Senate business, and then scurry home again for as long as he could. Every last member of the family considered the ranch home base and on any given weekend at least half of them would arrive and settle into their old rooms as if not a day had passed since their childhoods spending summers and weekends with the grandparents. Still, Craig wasn’t sure when was the last time Mitch had made even a short pit stop at his downtown home. Almost every weekend, sometimes weekdays too, he could be found in the barns.
Despite their best efforts to subtly uncover what, if anything, was bothering Mitch, none of the brothers had been able to learn why he was spending more time than usual on the ranch the last few months. The ache beginning to poke at Craig’s lower back reminded him that about now a good hot shower was in order. He could pick up worrying about his big brother another day.
“Last one back to the ranch is a rotten egg.” Of course Kyle had to reduce everything to a race. The man might think he was ready to retire from the adrenaline rush of the racing world, but Craig was yet to be convinced.
In record time the entire family made it back to the ranch for that long hot shower, a change into clean clothes, and a short respite before dinner with the Governor and Grams. Even Jared and Eve joined them for the family meal.
“Any news on a date yet?” stroking the pup nestled at her side, their grandmother casually asked her granddaughter. Much the same way she’d managed to ask every week since Jared got down in front of the entire family on bended knee and proposed.
“I want to look at a few more halls before we narrow down availabilities,” Eve answered just as casually as she had each and every other time her grandmother had asked the same question.
The truth was that he knew his sister was still waiting on their mother to give Eve a window when she could abandon her hideaway in Europe to brave another family wedding. Since tension tended to run high when it came to the Barons and their mother—the first ex Mrs. Bradley Baron—his sweet kid sister willingly took the flack.
“I understand Paige’s plans for making the winery available as a wedding venue are coming along well. Perhaps that would be a good fit?” His grandmother’s dimples deepened as the corners of her mouth lifted into a teasing smile. “I could pull a few strings if you like.”
Eve’s broad grin widened to match her grandmother’s. “I might have a few strings of my own I could pull.”
“What strings are we pulling now?” Paige, the aforementioned sister—daughter of the second ex Mrs. Bradley Baron—fluttered into the room, immediately planting a kiss on her granmother’s cheek.
Smiling up at her granddaughter, Lila Baron waved her arm at Eve. “For a wedding at the vineyard.”
Paige’s gaze whipped around to Eve. “You interested?”
Lips pressed tightly together, the corners of Eve’s mouth began to tip upward as she bobbed her head slowly. “Maybe.”
Slapping her hands together with enthusiasm, Paige took her seat and leveling her gaze with her older sister, waved a finger at her. “After dinner. We’ll talk.”
The two siblings grinned at each other like the little girls at the table he remembered from so long ago. Though he knew there had been a lot of discussion on Paige’s ambitions for the family winery, somehow, he hadn’t realized she’d made enough progress to host a Baron family wedding.
“Where are you filming this week?” The Governor sliced his beef tenderloin, and stabbing at the piece, held it on the fork dangling in midair, waiting for Craig’s response.
“Vancouver.”
“Long flight.”
Craig nodded. Didn’t he know it. As Executive Producer he didn’t need to be on set for filming every minute of every day, but his grandfather had taught him a long time ago that the only way to get ahead of the next guy was to work twice as hard. Besides that, the old man had also taught them all that the best way to avoid unpleasant surprises was to always keep at least one eye on any project. Whether business or pleasure, Craig had done just that, and more than once it had saved his bacon.
“Any luck with that option you were telling us about?”
Craig had to think which the heck option was his grandfather talking about.
“You know,” his grandfather continued, as if he’d read Craig’s mind, “that actress who lives near Austin that you were so excited about.”
Oh yes. The difficult diva from Austin who no longer considered starring in movies filmed outside of her state, and who just happened to own the rights to the hottest commodity out there at the moment. The potential golden goose. A slam dunk for an Oscar nomination if handled correctly, which his production company would do, and the movie that would be the ultimate deal to put him at the top. “Still a negotiation in progress.”
“Texas studio still the sticking point?” Holding a glass of water, the Governor lifted it to his lips in a show of casual chit chat when in fact, much like his grandmother’s approach to Eve’s wedding, there was nothing casual at all about the question.
Craig nodded. One of many where this particular diva was concerned.
“A studio closer to home wouldn’t be a bad thing. Give it any more thought?”
“Some.” That was most likely not the response his grandfather wanted, but it was the truth. Or at least part of the truth. With productions often running simultaneously all across the country, and his constantly catching red-eye flights to keep up, he’d more than thought about it. Including the expense and headache of undertaking the kind of project he would need, especially his preferred location in or near Houston and the ranch—a part of the country that was virtually a production desert. Austin was closer to his condo, but considering he spent more free time at the ranch than his own place, and that the cost and availability of land in the popular metroplex was beyond prohibitive, even for a Baron, that option was out of the question. Which left the idea of instead focusing on Dallas, a city that would bring him closer to his brother Chase, and that already had a healthy pool of industry professionals. Despite the head start the North Texas location offered, he couldn’t bring himself to be enthused about driving four hours to visit family and the ranch any more than sitting on a plane for that amount of time. So instead, he’d done his best to charm the diva out of Texas—so far to no avail.
“You do know that the legislature has just passed approval for new tax incentives for just this type of project?”
He couldn’t help but lift his gaze to meet his grandfather’s. Honestly, he hadn’t paid any attention to whether or not the State of Texas had perks lined up for such a project. “I’ll have to look into it.”
The Governor gave a single dip of his chin. “There’s a folder with the highlights in my office. If you’re interested, you can take a look after dinner. There also may be a few property suggestions your cousin Devlin left in the same folder.”
Again, Craig nodded. Whether he was interested or not, which he was most definitely at least curious, a suggestion from the Governor might as well have been a military order. The civilian equivalent of voluntold. The military concept of being told to volunteer was not lost on his family. Of course, now the question that ricocheted in his mind was whether or not this particular idea would be the Holy Grail solution to his travel exhaustion and negotiation frustrations, or a suicide mission.
* * * *
“Next time anyone shouts road trip after a plethora of chocolate martinis, remind me to insist we at least stay in the state of Texas.” Kathleen Elizabeth Donovan, more commonly known by Kate, was most definitely a through and through extrovert with a side of gypsy. She was also getting too old to sit in a car for most of the day after joining her friends on a spontaneous trip across two states.
“Are you saying you didn’t like the hot springs?” Joan, her best friend since kindergarten, didn’t bother to take her attention away from the road ahead. Most likely because Joan already knew the answer.
“You know I loved every relaxing minute.” And she had. Whether it was the refrigerator that insisted on freezing your milk, the neighbor’s teen whose high school band chose the middle of your online meeting to practice Metallica songs, badly, or some moron who didn’t understand why you couldn’t play with nesting sea turtles, some days life just came at your from every direction. Not till three whole days in the peace and quiet that Mother Nature intended and all the little critters that came with it did Kate realize just how draining the real world had become. “We really do need to escape more often.”
“Amen to that. Though it would help if you spent at least a fraction of the time you spend saving the world on pampering yourself.”
“Maybe.” She couldn’t say much more, after all, Joan had a good point. For as long as Kate could remember, she worried more about helpless and abandoned animals than humans. Not everyone had the privilege of growing up and making their passion their career. She just wished having become a successful environmentalist didn’t include having to deal with the money loving, profit above all, side of society. Preserving at risk species and their natural environment had proven to be a lot more demanding than fostering a few abandoned kittens when she was nine. Even so, she wouldn’t change a thing—except maybe from now on a few more girls’ weekends away.
Less than an hour from home, the computerized voice of the GPS stiffly instructed them to take the next exit. A quick glance at the map and the long line of orange then red along the freeway explained why. Within moments of the redirection, traffic began to slow just as they approached the suggested exit.
Joan shook her head and sighed. “I suppose the extra twenty minutes this little detour is going to cost us is less than the time we’d lose if we stayed on the freeway.”
“No doubt.” For the next few minutes they followed the service road and could see the parking lot the freeway had become. “I feel sorry for those folks. From the looks of it, they’re going to be sitting there a good long while.”
“Thank heavens for whoever invented GPS. I think I’ll have a glass of wine when we get home in his—or her—honor.”
“Ditto.” Kate chuckled. Her head resting back against the seat, she took in the spray of pinks and reds and oranges splattered across the sky as the sun lowered itself behind the treetop canopy ahead. The little detour had taken them far from the freeway and deep into the countryside. It had been ages since she’d seen so many stars in the evening sky. Light pollution in Houston had hidden the stars for as long as she could remember.
Keeping her gaze on the treetops under the moonlight, a bird in flight caught her eye. The wingspread was impressive and the graceful movement of the bird soaring about brought a smile to her face. For Kate, watching nature’s animals roam, or in this case fly, free in their natural habitat was as relaxing as the time they’d spent soaking in the natural hot springs. Her heart beat happily when what she now realized was an owl, landed on a low hanging branch down the road.
“Did you see that?” Joan waved an arm in the direction of the owl.
“I did. Magnificent.”
As they grew closer, Joan’s car was nearly underneath him when Kate realized which species of owl had been putting on a show for them. If she wasn’t mistaken, this particular owl was one of the endangered breeds on a protective list in Texas. Mostly because to the best of her knowledge, these guys rarely ventured west of Louisiana. As if the birds had a visible map to follow, they almost always stopped at the state line.
“Ooh, there he goes.” Arm extended, Joan’s finger dangled in the direction the bird had flown.
Taking in a deep sigh, Kate knew she needed to follow up on the bird. Every instinct she had, and she had good ones when it came to wild life, she knew she needed to determine where this bird was calling home. Her arm straight and her finger extended, she pointed at a dirt road just beyond the tree. “Follow that bird.”
Joan slowed and for the first time since turning off the freeway onto the lonely, dark, unlit country road, turned to Kate. “You’ve got to be kidding?”
Shaking her head vehemently, she continued to point ahead. “I have to find out of he’s tagged and protected.”
Joan’s deep sigh filled the small car. “I guess I should be thankful you didn’t find any endangered animals before we crossed the state line. I mean, I’m assuming the reason we’re following that poor bird is because it’s endangered?”
“Maybe.”
This time deep creases filled Joan’s forehead as she turned off the two lane road. “Please don’t tell me you feel like bird watching for the heck of it?”
“Of course not.”
“You do know that you’re off duty, right?”
“No such thing.” Saving the planet was not a nine to five job like a receptionist at a law firm. She cared about all the animals everywhere, even if she couldn’t help them all.
“Right.” Joan winced as her budget sedan bounced over the unleveled dirt. “Oh, I hope we don’t need AAA. They’ll never find us out here.”
For a moment, Kate lost sight of the owl and then, as if he knew she was looking for him, the bird did a near dive and flew across the front of their car.
“I’m guessing this is private property.” Joan practically hugged the steering wheel as she scanned their surroundings and winced louder with each pothole they hit. “If some old geezer comes out and shoots me, you get to explain to my parents why this bird is so important.”
For a brief moment the visual of an aging rancher with a corn cob pipe, overalls, and a shotgun the size of Texas almost had Kate reconsidering the folly of their pursuit. Almost. “I’m sure we’ll be fine. Any self respecting rancher or farmer went to bed with the chickens.”
“I sure hope they know that.”
“There!” Kate pointed to cluster of buildings across an overgrown field that the owl had disappeared into. “That must be where she’s nesting.”
“I thought it was a he?” Joan’s voice squealed as her car did another bounce.
"He, she, does it matter?”
“Only to its mate.” The tease was back in her friend’s banter.
Now all she had to figure out was how in the heck were they going to cross the field and find his or her nest in the pitch of night? And more importantly, without Joan killing her!
No one ever mentioned how young old age starts. Craig Baron took a long swallow of cool water. Rebuilding the bull-proof fence line between the Baron and Gold ranches was proving to be a bit more challenging than any of the brothers had expected.
“The old gray mare, she ain’t what she used to be,” Chase sang to his younger brother, a huge grin on his face. “Growing older isn’t for sissies.”
“Pot calling the kettle black?” Leaning on the shovel handle, Craig straightened his shoulders. “And for the record, I am neither old, nor a sissy.” He wasn’t even going to address the mis-assigned gender of mare.
“Speak for yourself.” The eldest of today’s workers, his brother Mitch pulled a traditional bandana from his back pocket and wiped his brow. “I freely admit this was way easier a decade ago.”
“Ditto.” Kyle, the sibling most likely to be in the best physical condition, chugged a bottle of water, then squeezing it, he tossed it into the nearby bin. “I think fence digging is for the next generation.”
“And car racing?” One brow arched high on Jared Gold’s—soon to be an official member of the Baron clan thanks to Craig’s sister Eve—forehead.
Kyle blew out a long sigh. “It’s not official yet, but,” his gaze lifted to a point in the distance, “I think it’s time to hang up my helmet.”
Having taken another long gulp of water, Craig almost spit out his drink. His entire life, every single Baron family member had a competitive streak as wide as the Nile. Each and every one of them strived to be at the top of their game, no matter what it took to get there. The idea of Kyle walking away from racing was as absurd as Craig walking away from an award winning film. Not happening. “Are you kidding?”
“Nope.” Kyle removed his hat and slapped the dust off against his thigh before placing it back on his head. “I think it’s time.”
“Wow.” Mitch shook his head. “I know you’ve been hinting at it, but didn’t expect to see it actually happen. At least not yet.”
“Like I said,” Kyle grabbed hold of one side of the two man auger for digging deeper post holes, “nothing’s official yet. Might need to give Gibs another year.”
“Unless someone moves over.” Craig waved his fingers. “I’ve heard rumors that Bergeron isn’t happy with his team. He’s not as good as you, but he’s close.”
“Hmm,” Kyle muttered.
From what Craig could see, his brother might think he was ready to hang up his racing suit, but maybe not so much ready to be replaced. Heaven knew Craig and Kyle weren’t that far apart in years, and yet Craig was just beginning to reap the benefits of his hard work. Making it to the top of the movie industry was not any easier than climbing to the top of the racing world. He couldn’t fathom Kyle walking away any more than he could fathom not fighting tooth and nail for that next big film that would make Baron Productions the holy grail of the industry. The company that A listers would be chasing after him to produce instead of the other way around. Biting his tongue, he shook his head. No way could Kyle walk away.
Jared took a minute to survey their work for the day, then glanced up at the sky. “Heat’s starting to bear down on us.”
“This is Texas,” sarcasm dripped from Kyle’s words. “The heat is always bearing down on us.”
Jared chuckled. “True, but in today’s case, I think we’ve made nice progress. This would be a good place to call it a day and pick up again tomorrow.”
Craig’s back twinged at the mere mention of doing this again tomorrow. He really had let his desk job make him soft. “I admit, right about now, Hazel’s French cream crumb cake and a cool glass of blueberry lemonade sounds heavenly.”
Staring off into the distance, Mitch’s head whipped around. “Hazel made French cream crumb cake?”
The man had his moments. Just when Craig thought his older brother was totally in his own little world, he’d perk up and let everyone know he was right in step with the conversation even if he’d not said a word. The man had also been spending a great deal more of his time at the ranch than usual. Mitch would fly back and forth to DC to conduct Senate business, and then scurry home again for as long as he could. Every last member of the family considered the ranch home base and on any given weekend at least half of them would arrive and settle into their old rooms as if not a day had passed since their childhoods spending summers and weekends with the grandparents. Still, Craig wasn’t sure when was the last time Mitch had made even a short pit stop at his downtown home. Almost every weekend, sometimes weekdays too, he could be found in the barns.
Despite their best efforts to subtly uncover what, if anything, was bothering Mitch, none of the brothers had been able to learn why he was spending more time than usual on the ranch the last few months. The ache beginning to poke at Craig’s lower back reminded him that about now a good hot shower was in order. He could pick up worrying about his big brother another day.
“Last one back to the ranch is a rotten egg.” Of course Kyle had to reduce everything to a race. The man might think he was ready to retire from the adrenaline rush of the racing world, but Craig was yet to be convinced.
In record time the entire family made it back to the ranch for that long hot shower, a change into clean clothes, and a short respite before dinner with the Governor and Grams. Even Jared and Eve joined them for the family meal.
“Any news on a date yet?” stroking the pup nestled at her side, their grandmother casually asked her granddaughter. Much the same way she’d managed to ask every week since Jared got down in front of the entire family on bended knee and proposed.
“I want to look at a few more halls before we narrow down availabilities,” Eve answered just as casually as she had each and every other time her grandmother had asked the same question.
The truth was that he knew his sister was still waiting on their mother to give Eve a window when she could abandon her hideaway in Europe to brave another family wedding. Since tension tended to run high when it came to the Barons and their mother—the first ex Mrs. Bradley Baron—his sweet kid sister willingly took the flack.
“I understand Paige’s plans for making the winery available as a wedding venue are coming along well. Perhaps that would be a good fit?” His grandmother’s dimples deepened as the corners of her mouth lifted into a teasing smile. “I could pull a few strings if you like.”
Eve’s broad grin widened to match her grandmother’s. “I might have a few strings of my own I could pull.”
“What strings are we pulling now?” Paige, the aforementioned sister—daughter of the second ex Mrs. Bradley Baron—fluttered into the room, immediately planting a kiss on her granmother’s cheek.
Smiling up at her granddaughter, Lila Baron waved her arm at Eve. “For a wedding at the vineyard.”
Paige’s gaze whipped around to Eve. “You interested?”
Lips pressed tightly together, the corners of Eve’s mouth began to tip upward as she bobbed her head slowly. “Maybe.”
Slapping her hands together with enthusiasm, Paige took her seat and leveling her gaze with her older sister, waved a finger at her. “After dinner. We’ll talk.”
The two siblings grinned at each other like the little girls at the table he remembered from so long ago. Though he knew there had been a lot of discussion on Paige’s ambitions for the family winery, somehow, he hadn’t realized she’d made enough progress to host a Baron family wedding.
“Where are you filming this week?” The Governor sliced his beef tenderloin, and stabbing at the piece, held it on the fork dangling in midair, waiting for Craig’s response.
“Vancouver.”
“Long flight.”
Craig nodded. Didn’t he know it. As Executive Producer he didn’t need to be on set for filming every minute of every day, but his grandfather had taught him a long time ago that the only way to get ahead of the next guy was to work twice as hard. Besides that, the old man had also taught them all that the best way to avoid unpleasant surprises was to always keep at least one eye on any project. Whether business or pleasure, Craig had done just that, and more than once it had saved his bacon.
“Any luck with that option you were telling us about?”
Craig had to think which the heck option was his grandfather talking about.
“You know,” his grandfather continued, as if he’d read Craig’s mind, “that actress who lives near Austin that you were so excited about.”
Oh yes. The difficult diva from Austin who no longer considered starring in movies filmed outside of her state, and who just happened to own the rights to the hottest commodity out there at the moment. The potential golden goose. A slam dunk for an Oscar nomination if handled correctly, which his production company would do, and the movie that would be the ultimate deal to put him at the top. “Still a negotiation in progress.”
“Texas studio still the sticking point?” Holding a glass of water, the Governor lifted it to his lips in a show of casual chit chat when in fact, much like his grandmother’s approach to Eve’s wedding, there was nothing casual at all about the question.
Craig nodded. One of many where this particular diva was concerned.
“A studio closer to home wouldn’t be a bad thing. Give it any more thought?”
“Some.” That was most likely not the response his grandfather wanted, but it was the truth. Or at least part of the truth. With productions often running simultaneously all across the country, and his constantly catching red-eye flights to keep up, he’d more than thought about it. Including the expense and headache of undertaking the kind of project he would need, especially his preferred location in or near Houston and the ranch—a part of the country that was virtually a production desert. Austin was closer to his condo, but considering he spent more free time at the ranch than his own place, and that the cost and availability of land in the popular metroplex was beyond prohibitive, even for a Baron, that option was out of the question. Which left the idea of instead focusing on Dallas, a city that would bring him closer to his brother Chase, and that already had a healthy pool of industry professionals. Despite the head start the North Texas location offered, he couldn’t bring himself to be enthused about driving four hours to visit family and the ranch any more than sitting on a plane for that amount of time. So instead, he’d done his best to charm the diva out of Texas—so far to no avail.
“You do know that the legislature has just passed approval for new tax incentives for just this type of project?”
He couldn’t help but lift his gaze to meet his grandfather’s. Honestly, he hadn’t paid any attention to whether or not the State of Texas had perks lined up for such a project. “I’ll have to look into it.”
The Governor gave a single dip of his chin. “There’s a folder with the highlights in my office. If you’re interested, you can take a look after dinner. There also may be a few property suggestions your cousin Devlin left in the same folder.”
Again, Craig nodded. Whether he was interested or not, which he was most definitely at least curious, a suggestion from the Governor might as well have been a military order. The civilian equivalent of voluntold. The military concept of being told to volunteer was not lost on his family. Of course, now the question that ricocheted in his mind was whether or not this particular idea would be the Holy Grail solution to his travel exhaustion and negotiation frustrations, or a suicide mission.
* * * *
“Next time anyone shouts road trip after a plethora of chocolate martinis, remind me to insist we at least stay in the state of Texas.” Kathleen Elizabeth Donovan, more commonly known by Kate, was most definitely a through and through extrovert with a side of gypsy. She was also getting too old to sit in a car for most of the day after joining her friends on a spontaneous trip across two states.
“Are you saying you didn’t like the hot springs?” Joan, her best friend since kindergarten, didn’t bother to take her attention away from the road ahead. Most likely because Joan already knew the answer.
“You know I loved every relaxing minute.” And she had. Whether it was the refrigerator that insisted on freezing your milk, the neighbor’s teen whose high school band chose the middle of your online meeting to practice Metallica songs, badly, or some moron who didn’t understand why you couldn’t play with nesting sea turtles, some days life just came at your from every direction. Not till three whole days in the peace and quiet that Mother Nature intended and all the little critters that came with it did Kate realize just how draining the real world had become. “We really do need to escape more often.”
“Amen to that. Though it would help if you spent at least a fraction of the time you spend saving the world on pampering yourself.”
“Maybe.” She couldn’t say much more, after all, Joan had a good point. For as long as Kate could remember, she worried more about helpless and abandoned animals than humans. Not everyone had the privilege of growing up and making their passion their career. She just wished having become a successful environmentalist didn’t include having to deal with the money loving, profit above all, side of society. Preserving at risk species and their natural environment had proven to be a lot more demanding than fostering a few abandoned kittens when she was nine. Even so, she wouldn’t change a thing—except maybe from now on a few more girls’ weekends away.
Less than an hour from home, the computerized voice of the GPS stiffly instructed them to take the next exit. A quick glance at the map and the long line of orange then red along the freeway explained why. Within moments of the redirection, traffic began to slow just as they approached the suggested exit.
Joan shook her head and sighed. “I suppose the extra twenty minutes this little detour is going to cost us is less than the time we’d lose if we stayed on the freeway.”
“No doubt.” For the next few minutes they followed the service road and could see the parking lot the freeway had become. “I feel sorry for those folks. From the looks of it, they’re going to be sitting there a good long while.”
“Thank heavens for whoever invented GPS. I think I’ll have a glass of wine when we get home in his—or her—honor.”
“Ditto.” Kate chuckled. Her head resting back against the seat, she took in the spray of pinks and reds and oranges splattered across the sky as the sun lowered itself behind the treetop canopy ahead. The little detour had taken them far from the freeway and deep into the countryside. It had been ages since she’d seen so many stars in the evening sky. Light pollution in Houston had hidden the stars for as long as she could remember.
Keeping her gaze on the treetops under the moonlight, a bird in flight caught her eye. The wingspread was impressive and the graceful movement of the bird soaring about brought a smile to her face. For Kate, watching nature’s animals roam, or in this case fly, free in their natural habitat was as relaxing as the time they’d spent soaking in the natural hot springs. Her heart beat happily when what she now realized was an owl, landed on a low hanging branch down the road.
“Did you see that?” Joan waved an arm in the direction of the owl.
“I did. Magnificent.”
As they grew closer, Joan’s car was nearly underneath him when Kate realized which species of owl had been putting on a show for them. If she wasn’t mistaken, this particular owl was one of the endangered breeds on a protective list in Texas. Mostly because to the best of her knowledge, these guys rarely ventured west of Louisiana. As if the birds had a visible map to follow, they almost always stopped at the state line.
“Ooh, there he goes.” Arm extended, Joan’s finger dangled in the direction the bird had flown.
Taking in a deep sigh, Kate knew she needed to follow up on the bird. Every instinct she had, and she had good ones when it came to wild life, she knew she needed to determine where this bird was calling home. Her arm straight and her finger extended, she pointed at a dirt road just beyond the tree. “Follow that bird.”
Joan slowed and for the first time since turning off the freeway onto the lonely, dark, unlit country road, turned to Kate. “You’ve got to be kidding?”
Shaking her head vehemently, she continued to point ahead. “I have to find out of he’s tagged and protected.”
Joan’s deep sigh filled the small car. “I guess I should be thankful you didn’t find any endangered animals before we crossed the state line. I mean, I’m assuming the reason we’re following that poor bird is because it’s endangered?”
“Maybe.”
This time deep creases filled Joan’s forehead as she turned off the two lane road. “Please don’t tell me you feel like bird watching for the heck of it?”
“Of course not.”
“You do know that you’re off duty, right?”
“No such thing.” Saving the planet was not a nine to five job like a receptionist at a law firm. She cared about all the animals everywhere, even if she couldn’t help them all.
“Right.” Joan winced as her budget sedan bounced over the unleveled dirt. “Oh, I hope we don’t need AAA. They’ll never find us out here.”
For a moment, Kate lost sight of the owl and then, as if he knew she was looking for him, the bird did a near dive and flew across the front of their car.
“I’m guessing this is private property.” Joan practically hugged the steering wheel as she scanned their surroundings and winced louder with each pothole they hit. “If some old geezer comes out and shoots me, you get to explain to my parents why this bird is so important.”
For a brief moment the visual of an aging rancher with a corn cob pipe, overalls, and a shotgun the size of Texas almost had Kate reconsidering the folly of their pursuit. Almost. “I’m sure we’ll be fine. Any self respecting rancher or farmer went to bed with the chickens.”
“I sure hope they know that.”
“There!” Kate pointed to cluster of buildings across an overgrown field that the owl had disappeared into. “That must be where she’s nesting.”
“I thought it was a he?” Joan’s voice squealed as her car did another bounce.
"He, she, does it matter?”
“Only to its mate.” The tease was back in her friend’s banter.
Now all she had to figure out was how in the heck were they going to cross the field and find his or her nest in the pitch of night? And more importantly, without Joan killing her!
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