Neil
Book Fourteen of the Farraday Country Series
Chapter One
This was a really dumb idea. Nora Brown stared at the screen in front of her, one finger poised over the enter key that would send her response through cyberspace.
“You okay?” Brooks Farraday dropped a patient folder into the to-be-filed box. “You look a little green around the gills.”
“Really? I feel fine.” She couldn’t put on a straight face if she tried. The fact that she teetered somewhere between terrified and jubilant was probably a contributing factor to the urge to throw up.
Brooks’ brows crinkled together before he shook it off and proceeded to exam room two where the Montgomery triplets were in for their annual checkup.
Once again holding her finger over the keyboard, she looked at the photo on the screen. Nice face. Nothing special. Nothing scary. Just another nice face. Ted, the first candidate to catch her attention, had had a nice face. For almost a month the messages they’d shared had been nothing to write home about but she’d looked forward to each and every communication. The little internet flirtation had been the closest thing she’d done to steady dating since college.
Though she’d never thought it possible, with all of her friends happily married off and now having babies, and the Saturday afternoon Ladies Social Club card game the most exciting part of her week, she felt as if her best years were behind her. Like she should take up knitting and cat collecting. And at her age that was the dumbest thing she’d ever heard of. So, without any decent prospects in Tuckers Bluff, she’d embraced the internet and gone hunting for a date not too far from town, but not too close. No point in looking in Tuckers Bluff and no point in letting the grapevine learn she was looking for a man online. That’s how she’d found Ted. She wasn’t sure quite what went wrong but the communication slowed and then stopped all together. That led to the next nice face, Brandon.
At least his emails had been more entertaining. An efficiency consultant, he traveled quite a bit which didn’t thrill her, but he had a fun sense of humor and she’d liked how easily he could make her laugh. In the end, that potential relationship fizzled as well. She was beginning to wonder if there was something really wrong with her. So many dating apps and so little success, but what other choice did she have? The risk of being ghosted once again was worth it. Maybe.
So here she sat looking at another nice face on her screen. A used laser equipment salesman who was ready for someone more permanent in his life. Unlike the others, this time he wanted to meet her face to face. Here. In Tuckers Bluff, even though he lived in Butler Springs.
If she agreed, good, bad, or ugly, her dinner date would be the lead story in the following day’s gossip mill. Everyone would know she’d resorted to online dating to find a man, and not just any man, she wanted a soul mate. No matter how many times she told herself that dating apps were the norm nowadays, that everyone did it—heck, she’d even known of a few people who were practically addicted to the apps—deep down she still wanted her knight in shining armor to ride up on a powerful steed, single her out in a crowd, fall madly in love with her, and then sweep her off her feet.
“Don’t you look pretty as a picture.” For someone who had made an appointment to see the doc because she was feeling beyond poorly, Nadine Peabody stood by the front counter looking awfully chipper.
“Thank you.” Even though Nora knew Nadine probably would have said that to anyone sitting by the front desk, she was nonetheless grateful for the small boost to her self esteem. “Feeling better?”
The woman’s smile slid away and she reached for the nearby wall to brace herself. “Not really.”
“Well, you take a seat and the doc will be with you shortly.” Nora had no idea if the woman was putting on a brave face or fueling her own imagination. Either way it was her job to keep the patients comfortable until Brooks could see them.
“You are always so kind.” Nadine shook her head and sighed. “I don’t understand why some good man hasn’t snatched you up yet. Smart and pretty women don’t come along every day.”
“That’s sweet of you to say.”
“Sweet my foot.” Nadine leaned back in a waiting room chair and smiled. “Mark my words. One of these days someone with the sense God gave them is going to recognize you for the treasure you are and snap you right up.”
Nora wasn’t so sure that it was politically correct to refer to a woman as being snapped up by a man, but Nadine had a point. She was a catch and any man should be delighted to have her take interest in him. And so what if her knight in shining armor found her on the internet. There was no rule that said fate—or a pair of dogs—had to introduce a person to their soul mate.
Nodding her head, she reread the message she’d written. Her mom’s voice repeating if at first you don’t succeed played in her head. Maybe this time would be the charm. Or with her luck, three strikes and you’re out would be more likely.
***
“There’s been a slight change of plans.”
Since Neil Farraday and his brothers had taken on this crazy reality television project, change of plans had become a regular part of his vocabulary. With only one episode under wraps, the overall plans for the rest of the season were good, and behind schedule. He did not need any more change of plans. “Describe slight.”
“Well.” His brother Owen cleared his throat. That was never a good sign. “The sisters were approached by a developer.”
Neil glanced at the dashboard clock. Tuckers Bluff was a bit more than thirty minutes ahead.
“Did you know that there are at least three abandoned homesteads—still standing, that is—just outside the city limits of Sadieville?”
“Can’t say that I did.” Nor did he see what that had to do with the network’s plans to refurbish a ghost town or why developers would be talking to the owners of the Sisters Boutique and Sadieville’s Parlor House.
“Even though only one episode has aired, the show is causing a lot of buzz.”
That much he knew. The network had been so excited with the reception for the Ghost Town Fixer episode they ran as a test, that they’d opted to change the series name in the event it ran for longer than the town had buildings. Promos had been blasting for the now renamed series—and boringly, if anyone asked him, not that they did--The Construction Cousins. Public reaction so far made the hype over Who Shot JR seem rather lackluster.
“Valerie on behalf of the production company, the sisters, a smattering of Farradays—”
“Including you?” It wasn’t really a question.
“Morgan, Ryan and me, along with the Tuckers Bluff City Council, had a meeting this morning over the future of Sadieville and the surrounding area. Making a long story short—”
If this was short, he didn’t want to hear the long version. At least not without a comfortable chair, tall beer, and some good music in the background. “Any chance you can make it even shorter? I’m almost in town.”
“Yeah. Based on the developers’ interest in Sadieville, Valerie and I pitched an idea. It was a hit. I went with Val and Morgan to check out one of Sadieville’s old houses. That’s when our beloved brother Morgan fell through the floor and scared the heck out of his wife. He’s got a broken ankle.”
“What! That should have led the conversation.”
Owen chuckled. “I had a captive audience. No point in rushing.”
“Comedian. How bad is the ankle?”
“Bad enough that Morgan won’t be on his two feet wielding a hammer any time soon.”
The clank of his college ring against the hard plastic of his steering wheel echoed in the small cab of his pickup. “Blast.”
“Hope you brought your tool belt.”
“Don’t I always?” With this clan, pitching in wherever needed meant he was one of the few prominent architects he knew who wielded a hammer as often as he did a pencil.
“Good, because you’ve got until the film crew arrives next week to spit out the plans for the homestead remodel.”
“Homestead? What happened to the hotel?” The plans he’d spent weeks drawing and re-drawing until everyone from the network and new owners to the producers and city council agreed. Mostly.
“That got shoved to later,” Owen said. “The spa will be the episode after that. We’ll also need—”
“Whatever it is, you can tell me in person. I’m coming up on the city limits.”
“Fair enough. Have you eaten?”
“Yes, Mother.”
“Not funny,” Owen deadpanned. Their mother had been a bone of contention of late. She was none too happy that her sons were spending so much time in Tuckers Bluff. Which made no sense at all for a woman who had hammered into them that nothing was more important than family. “Morgan and Valerie are already installed at O’Fearadaigh’s. Instead of following doctor’s orders and going home to rest he’s here, but at least his foot is propped up on a cushioned chair. I just slipped out to call you in peace and quiet.”
“Okay. See you in a few.”
“Later, bro.”
The call disconnected and Neil took his time riding down Main Street. Like his cousins’ family, the Oklahoma Farradays had been cattle ranchers too, but over time, his branch of the clan veered off in a different direction. As the kids grew up and out of the cattle business, and it became clear not a single one was destined to follow in the family footsteps, his dad slowly sold the land off bit by bit, leased out some of the pastures to neighboring ranchers, and to the surprise of his family, started a Christmas tree farm on the remaining chunk of the land he’d kept for the family use. An even bigger surprise to everyone, especially his mother, had been that the idea actually reaped a profit every year.
His phone sounded again and he debated for a split second if he should send his mom to voice mail. He loved the woman as much as any son, maybe more, but she was not at all happy he was on his way back to Tuckers Bluff, and didn’t seem to make any effort to hide her feelings. “Hi Mom.”
“You there yet?”
“Just pulling into town.”
A moment of silence hung. “I’ve tried calling your brothers. They’ve gone radio silent.”
Crud. The question now was did he want to tell her about Morgan and the change of plans. He pulled his car into a spot in front of his cousin Jamison’s pub. “Sorry Mom, I’m pulling into the pub now. I’ll have Morgan or Owen call you.”
“The pub,” she scoffed. “Figures. Never mind. I’ll talk to them tomorrow. Take care and hurry home.”
“I’ll do my best.” A round of I love you’s was exchanged and Neil refrained from mentioning that the slight change of plans was going to keep him in Texas way longer than his mother would like. Of course, any time in Texas was more than his mother would like.
Stomping his feet on the hard concrete, he rolled his shoulders and neck before spotting the large furry dog by the side of the building staring at him. “Gray?” Slowly easing his way to where the Farraday cattle dog almost seemed to be standing guard like a gargoyle watchman, Neil held his hand out low and repeated the animal’s name, relieved when the furry tail swished back and forth. “It is you. Who did you hitch a ride with and do they know you’re here?” He took a minute to see if he recognized a ranch truck while scratching under the canine’s chin. “I guess if you’ve waited this long you’ll stay a bit longer.” Stepping away, he yanked open the large wooden pub door and walked inside.
At just past the dinner hour, the place was already doing a fairly brisk business. Only a few tables remained empty. The music was loud enough to have a handful of couples on the dance floor, but low enough for most folks to be huddled in conversation. Except for one table. Off to the side, away from the majority of tables, a lone woman with shoulder length dark hair sat looking up at him. For a short moment their gazes met and even in this dim light, huge brown eyes drew him in and left him momentarily stunned like a deer in the proverbial headlights. A flash of disappointment sparked as she lowered her head, her hand slowly stroking a tall, almost empty beverage.
A variety of scenarios began running through his mind for what could have caused such a pretty woman to nurse a drink alone in a family run pub. Most had his brows creasing with distaste.
“If you’re looking for your brothers, they’re in the opposite corner.” Abbie, Jamison’s wife and occasional hostess, bumped shoulders with him.
He couldn’t bring himself to pull his gaze away from the brunette, but leaned into his in-law and lowered his voice. “What’s that gal’s story?”
It took Abbie a few moments for her gaze to settle in the same direction. “Nora?”
This time he turned to make sure she was looking at the same person he was before he nodded.
“Not sure.” She frowned. “I got the impression she was waiting for someone, but she’s been here for just over an hour and is still nursing the same drink. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was stood up.”
“Know better how?”
“For one thing, I can’t remember the last time I saw her out on a date.”
“Really?” That made no sense to him at all.
Abbie nodded. “Nice girls often aren’t the popular ones. That aside, if she had a date with someone here in Tuckers Bluff, anyone here in Tuckers Bluff, trust me when I say half the town would have known about it before she did. And they’d have been talking about it all day too, bless her heart.”
In the last few months he’d spent enough time at his uncle’s ranch to know that Abbie was most definitely not exaggerating. “Tell my brothers I’ll be over in a bit. Oh, and whoever rode in tonight from the ranch, let them know Gray is out front.”
“Gray?” Abbie sighed. “He must be roaming again. If he’s still there when you leave, you might want to give him a lift.”
“Sure.” Following Abbie’s unconcerned lead over the dog, his gaze darted to the brunette, Nora, and back to his cousin’s wife.
Abbie studied him for a second before hefting one shoulder in a lazy shrug and turning on her heel. He had about five seconds to make up his mind and with one foot moving in front of the other and the distance between him and the brunette growing shorter, he was pretty sure his mind had been made up in two. The next question was whether or not that decision was the smartest or dumbest thing he’d ever done.
This was a really dumb idea. Nora Brown stared at the screen in front of her, one finger poised over the enter key that would send her response through cyberspace.
“You okay?” Brooks Farraday dropped a patient folder into the to-be-filed box. “You look a little green around the gills.”
“Really? I feel fine.” She couldn’t put on a straight face if she tried. The fact that she teetered somewhere between terrified and jubilant was probably a contributing factor to the urge to throw up.
Brooks’ brows crinkled together before he shook it off and proceeded to exam room two where the Montgomery triplets were in for their annual checkup.
Once again holding her finger over the keyboard, she looked at the photo on the screen. Nice face. Nothing special. Nothing scary. Just another nice face. Ted, the first candidate to catch her attention, had had a nice face. For almost a month the messages they’d shared had been nothing to write home about but she’d looked forward to each and every communication. The little internet flirtation had been the closest thing she’d done to steady dating since college.
Though she’d never thought it possible, with all of her friends happily married off and now having babies, and the Saturday afternoon Ladies Social Club card game the most exciting part of her week, she felt as if her best years were behind her. Like she should take up knitting and cat collecting. And at her age that was the dumbest thing she’d ever heard of. So, without any decent prospects in Tuckers Bluff, she’d embraced the internet and gone hunting for a date not too far from town, but not too close. No point in looking in Tuckers Bluff and no point in letting the grapevine learn she was looking for a man online. That’s how she’d found Ted. She wasn’t sure quite what went wrong but the communication slowed and then stopped all together. That led to the next nice face, Brandon.
At least his emails had been more entertaining. An efficiency consultant, he traveled quite a bit which didn’t thrill her, but he had a fun sense of humor and she’d liked how easily he could make her laugh. In the end, that potential relationship fizzled as well. She was beginning to wonder if there was something really wrong with her. So many dating apps and so little success, but what other choice did she have? The risk of being ghosted once again was worth it. Maybe.
So here she sat looking at another nice face on her screen. A used laser equipment salesman who was ready for someone more permanent in his life. Unlike the others, this time he wanted to meet her face to face. Here. In Tuckers Bluff, even though he lived in Butler Springs.
If she agreed, good, bad, or ugly, her dinner date would be the lead story in the following day’s gossip mill. Everyone would know she’d resorted to online dating to find a man, and not just any man, she wanted a soul mate. No matter how many times she told herself that dating apps were the norm nowadays, that everyone did it—heck, she’d even known of a few people who were practically addicted to the apps—deep down she still wanted her knight in shining armor to ride up on a powerful steed, single her out in a crowd, fall madly in love with her, and then sweep her off her feet.
“Don’t you look pretty as a picture.” For someone who had made an appointment to see the doc because she was feeling beyond poorly, Nadine Peabody stood by the front counter looking awfully chipper.
“Thank you.” Even though Nora knew Nadine probably would have said that to anyone sitting by the front desk, she was nonetheless grateful for the small boost to her self esteem. “Feeling better?”
The woman’s smile slid away and she reached for the nearby wall to brace herself. “Not really.”
“Well, you take a seat and the doc will be with you shortly.” Nora had no idea if the woman was putting on a brave face or fueling her own imagination. Either way it was her job to keep the patients comfortable until Brooks could see them.
“You are always so kind.” Nadine shook her head and sighed. “I don’t understand why some good man hasn’t snatched you up yet. Smart and pretty women don’t come along every day.”
“That’s sweet of you to say.”
“Sweet my foot.” Nadine leaned back in a waiting room chair and smiled. “Mark my words. One of these days someone with the sense God gave them is going to recognize you for the treasure you are and snap you right up.”
Nora wasn’t so sure that it was politically correct to refer to a woman as being snapped up by a man, but Nadine had a point. She was a catch and any man should be delighted to have her take interest in him. And so what if her knight in shining armor found her on the internet. There was no rule that said fate—or a pair of dogs—had to introduce a person to their soul mate.
Nodding her head, she reread the message she’d written. Her mom’s voice repeating if at first you don’t succeed played in her head. Maybe this time would be the charm. Or with her luck, three strikes and you’re out would be more likely.
***
“There’s been a slight change of plans.”
Since Neil Farraday and his brothers had taken on this crazy reality television project, change of plans had become a regular part of his vocabulary. With only one episode under wraps, the overall plans for the rest of the season were good, and behind schedule. He did not need any more change of plans. “Describe slight.”
“Well.” His brother Owen cleared his throat. That was never a good sign. “The sisters were approached by a developer.”
Neil glanced at the dashboard clock. Tuckers Bluff was a bit more than thirty minutes ahead.
“Did you know that there are at least three abandoned homesteads—still standing, that is—just outside the city limits of Sadieville?”
“Can’t say that I did.” Nor did he see what that had to do with the network’s plans to refurbish a ghost town or why developers would be talking to the owners of the Sisters Boutique and Sadieville’s Parlor House.
“Even though only one episode has aired, the show is causing a lot of buzz.”
That much he knew. The network had been so excited with the reception for the Ghost Town Fixer episode they ran as a test, that they’d opted to change the series name in the event it ran for longer than the town had buildings. Promos had been blasting for the now renamed series—and boringly, if anyone asked him, not that they did--The Construction Cousins. Public reaction so far made the hype over Who Shot JR seem rather lackluster.
“Valerie on behalf of the production company, the sisters, a smattering of Farradays—”
“Including you?” It wasn’t really a question.
“Morgan, Ryan and me, along with the Tuckers Bluff City Council, had a meeting this morning over the future of Sadieville and the surrounding area. Making a long story short—”
If this was short, he didn’t want to hear the long version. At least not without a comfortable chair, tall beer, and some good music in the background. “Any chance you can make it even shorter? I’m almost in town.”
“Yeah. Based on the developers’ interest in Sadieville, Valerie and I pitched an idea. It was a hit. I went with Val and Morgan to check out one of Sadieville’s old houses. That’s when our beloved brother Morgan fell through the floor and scared the heck out of his wife. He’s got a broken ankle.”
“What! That should have led the conversation.”
Owen chuckled. “I had a captive audience. No point in rushing.”
“Comedian. How bad is the ankle?”
“Bad enough that Morgan won’t be on his two feet wielding a hammer any time soon.”
The clank of his college ring against the hard plastic of his steering wheel echoed in the small cab of his pickup. “Blast.”
“Hope you brought your tool belt.”
“Don’t I always?” With this clan, pitching in wherever needed meant he was one of the few prominent architects he knew who wielded a hammer as often as he did a pencil.
“Good, because you’ve got until the film crew arrives next week to spit out the plans for the homestead remodel.”
“Homestead? What happened to the hotel?” The plans he’d spent weeks drawing and re-drawing until everyone from the network and new owners to the producers and city council agreed. Mostly.
“That got shoved to later,” Owen said. “The spa will be the episode after that. We’ll also need—”
“Whatever it is, you can tell me in person. I’m coming up on the city limits.”
“Fair enough. Have you eaten?”
“Yes, Mother.”
“Not funny,” Owen deadpanned. Their mother had been a bone of contention of late. She was none too happy that her sons were spending so much time in Tuckers Bluff. Which made no sense at all for a woman who had hammered into them that nothing was more important than family. “Morgan and Valerie are already installed at O’Fearadaigh’s. Instead of following doctor’s orders and going home to rest he’s here, but at least his foot is propped up on a cushioned chair. I just slipped out to call you in peace and quiet.”
“Okay. See you in a few.”
“Later, bro.”
The call disconnected and Neil took his time riding down Main Street. Like his cousins’ family, the Oklahoma Farradays had been cattle ranchers too, but over time, his branch of the clan veered off in a different direction. As the kids grew up and out of the cattle business, and it became clear not a single one was destined to follow in the family footsteps, his dad slowly sold the land off bit by bit, leased out some of the pastures to neighboring ranchers, and to the surprise of his family, started a Christmas tree farm on the remaining chunk of the land he’d kept for the family use. An even bigger surprise to everyone, especially his mother, had been that the idea actually reaped a profit every year.
His phone sounded again and he debated for a split second if he should send his mom to voice mail. He loved the woman as much as any son, maybe more, but she was not at all happy he was on his way back to Tuckers Bluff, and didn’t seem to make any effort to hide her feelings. “Hi Mom.”
“You there yet?”
“Just pulling into town.”
A moment of silence hung. “I’ve tried calling your brothers. They’ve gone radio silent.”
Crud. The question now was did he want to tell her about Morgan and the change of plans. He pulled his car into a spot in front of his cousin Jamison’s pub. “Sorry Mom, I’m pulling into the pub now. I’ll have Morgan or Owen call you.”
“The pub,” she scoffed. “Figures. Never mind. I’ll talk to them tomorrow. Take care and hurry home.”
“I’ll do my best.” A round of I love you’s was exchanged and Neil refrained from mentioning that the slight change of plans was going to keep him in Texas way longer than his mother would like. Of course, any time in Texas was more than his mother would like.
Stomping his feet on the hard concrete, he rolled his shoulders and neck before spotting the large furry dog by the side of the building staring at him. “Gray?” Slowly easing his way to where the Farraday cattle dog almost seemed to be standing guard like a gargoyle watchman, Neil held his hand out low and repeated the animal’s name, relieved when the furry tail swished back and forth. “It is you. Who did you hitch a ride with and do they know you’re here?” He took a minute to see if he recognized a ranch truck while scratching under the canine’s chin. “I guess if you’ve waited this long you’ll stay a bit longer.” Stepping away, he yanked open the large wooden pub door and walked inside.
At just past the dinner hour, the place was already doing a fairly brisk business. Only a few tables remained empty. The music was loud enough to have a handful of couples on the dance floor, but low enough for most folks to be huddled in conversation. Except for one table. Off to the side, away from the majority of tables, a lone woman with shoulder length dark hair sat looking up at him. For a short moment their gazes met and even in this dim light, huge brown eyes drew him in and left him momentarily stunned like a deer in the proverbial headlights. A flash of disappointment sparked as she lowered her head, her hand slowly stroking a tall, almost empty beverage.
A variety of scenarios began running through his mind for what could have caused such a pretty woman to nurse a drink alone in a family run pub. Most had his brows creasing with distaste.
“If you’re looking for your brothers, they’re in the opposite corner.” Abbie, Jamison’s wife and occasional hostess, bumped shoulders with him.
He couldn’t bring himself to pull his gaze away from the brunette, but leaned into his in-law and lowered his voice. “What’s that gal’s story?”
It took Abbie a few moments for her gaze to settle in the same direction. “Nora?”
This time he turned to make sure she was looking at the same person he was before he nodded.
“Not sure.” She frowned. “I got the impression she was waiting for someone, but she’s been here for just over an hour and is still nursing the same drink. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was stood up.”
“Know better how?”
“For one thing, I can’t remember the last time I saw her out on a date.”
“Really?” That made no sense to him at all.
Abbie nodded. “Nice girls often aren’t the popular ones. That aside, if she had a date with someone here in Tuckers Bluff, anyone here in Tuckers Bluff, trust me when I say half the town would have known about it before she did. And they’d have been talking about it all day too, bless her heart.”
In the last few months he’d spent enough time at his uncle’s ranch to know that Abbie was most definitely not exaggerating. “Tell my brothers I’ll be over in a bit. Oh, and whoever rode in tonight from the ranch, let them know Gray is out front.”
“Gray?” Abbie sighed. “He must be roaming again. If he’s still there when you leave, you might want to give him a lift.”
“Sure.” Following Abbie’s unconcerned lead over the dog, his gaze darted to the brunette, Nora, and back to his cousin’s wife.
Abbie studied him for a second before hefting one shoulder in a lazy shrug and turning on her heel. He had about five seconds to make up his mind and with one foot moving in front of the other and the distance between him and the brunette growing shorter, he was pretty sure his mind had been made up in two. The next question was whether or not that decision was the smartest or dumbest thing he’d ever done.
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