Chapter 5

“Thank you that’s just what I need,” as I start to take a seat. She moves the menus to the end of the table because we both already know what we want without even looking, since we are regulars here.

“So how was today at the bakery?” Hattie asks me with a smile on her face. That’s the first thing that you notice about her. Her smile is so contagious and beautiful. It just adds more beauty to her. She has always captivated people with her vibrant green eyes and chestnut hair that she just recently chopped off to her shoulders. She now styles it in beach waves which perfectly frame her almond shaped face. She is the same height as me and sometimes people truly mistake us as blood related sisters. But our personalities are completely opposite, where she is way more outgoing and not afraid to talk to people or strike up conversations with random people she meets. But that’s why she makes such a great photographer because she can get people to open up and be comfortable around her. As for me, I am more reserved and keep to myself, but I still love baking and interacting with my customers.

“It was a good day, sold out again and I finally got the wedding cake information back that I needed from Charlotte to prepare for her cake tasting tomorrow.” I say as I take a nice long sip of my margarita.

“That’s great, she reached out to me today as well and we finally got a set schedule for the photos for the wedding day, so now we can prepare and just wait for the big day this August!” says Hattie with her eyes now back to her phone. Which is not normal, because usually when we have our get togethers she puts her phone away.

“So what’s going on? “I said as I curiously stared at her waiting for a response.

She stops and puts her phone down on the table and stares at me. “I am so so sorry, it’s just my mother has just informed me that my stepbrother Wes is coming back and she is all up in a tizzy trying to get the house spotless and everything prepared for him.”

I can feel my jaw hanging open and I slowly start to close it with the look of shock on my face.

“O wow, he hasn’t been home in years and suddenly he is coming back?” I can tell she is trying to keep it together, but I can see the hurt in her eyes.

I don’t remember Wes very much when we were growing up. Hattie’s father was married to another women before Hattie’s mom Alice, so he was only around during the summers. When he was here visiting, he would work alongside Hattie’s father Graham. So, they were always out building and fixing the fences around the property, taking care of the cattle and horses; and when he wasn’t doing that, he was in every rodeo he could enter riding broncs. Hattie never talked about him much and never seemed like they had the best sibling relationship and I never asked about him.

He is 5 years older than us, so I rarely saw him growing up. When I ran into him, it would usually be when the Evans’ family would invite me over for dinner and get togethers. But during those encounters he would always look at me with disgust and give me the cold shoulder, so to say the least I always stayed away from him as much as I could when he was visiting.

“Since Luke doesn’t want the family ranch, my parents offered it to Wes instead. And of course, he accepted and is on his way here now.” Hattie said while she took a big chug of her margarita.

I was about to tell her to slow down with the drink, but the waitress came over and interrupted to get our order. Once she got our food order into the kitchen, she came back with more chips and salsa and some water.

I didn’t know what to say to that. I mean I know Hattie doesn’t want the whole responsibility of the ranch on her hands since she has taken off with her photography business. She has been entered into a cover contest for the Idaho Bridal Magazine Contest, and she is booked out until next year. She is amazing at what she does, but I can tell that this has hurt her feelings.

“Did your parents ask you if you wanted the ranch since Luke doesn’t before they offered it to Wes?” I asked in a serious tone.

“Ya they offered it to me, and I said that I didn’t want the full responsibility of it. I mean I enjoy being apart of it and helping out when I can when I am not doing photo sessions or weddings, but at the same time I do want it. I just have a hard time accepting that my dad is wanting to step back and let Wes take over. Dad said that he would give the house that I am living in that’s on East side of the ranch and an additional 20 acres. Which I’m okay with.” She said as she is stuffing her face full of chips and salsa. I feel bad because that’s her home and she enjoys being apart of it and I think she is afraid that once her dad steps down Wes won’t let her be a part of it.

I also understand her dad wanting to step back, it’s a hard way of life for anyone. It’s a 24/7, 365 days of hard labor. When your not fixing fences and moving cows to the summer pasture, you are calving them out in the middle of winter/spring during blizzards and negative 20 degree weather.  Then some of the local ranchers and farmers start planting crops and irrigating pasture in the beginning of spring/summer to make sure they can produce hay to cut and harvest for their livestock for the winter by the end of summer. It’s a never-ending cycle. Most people don’t how much work goes in a ranch to keep it going, so when the next generation wants to stand up and help and take over, that’s a blessing.

“When will Wes be here? Is he bringing anyone with him?” I asked her. Not like I care if he has a girlfriend or not but I was going to be nosey.

“He will be here in a week and no he isn’t bringing any one that I know of. I know that he is moving into the small cabin that’s a mile down from the main house. So at least we all get our own space from each other. Then I don’t have to worry about you not wanting to come over to family dinners with my parents and I, because of the way he treats you.”

I rolled my eyes at her, “ I will always come and visit you and your parents whether he is around or not, but I can’t guarantee I will be nice. I’ll just pretend he isn’t here and that will be it, since that’s how he treats me.”  I say as I dip my chip into the salsa and stick my tongue out at her.

Hattie laughs and is glad nothing will change once her step-brother gets here. But in the back of my mind I am curious on what kind of man Wes has turned into.

“What does Wes do for a living?”

“He went to college to become an Engineer and has been working out on the oil rigs all over the U.S.” Hattie said as she paused and told the waitress thank you for her food.

I was shocked as I told the waitress thank you as well. So, he actually got a real job besides riding broncs for 8 seconds I thought to myself.

We decided to drop the subject of her step-brother and talked about her photo sessions coming up and how I am starting to book custom cake and cookie orders.

We finished up dinner and headed our separate ways. I couldn’t help but think about Wes and how I still don’t know what I ever did to him to make him treat me the way he did when we were growing up. O well I have bigger things on my plate to think about besides him. I got back to my apartment and fed Woodrow his dinner, washed my face, put on an old T-shirt and shorts and climbed into bed. Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day I said to myself as I snuggled in and drifted off.