Chapter 126 Part 126
Asher
He was browsing the history section in the bookstore, looking for something new to read. The boys were in the ice cream store, and he’d meet them later. He was about to give up when he turned into the children’s section and stood staring at the book in front of him.
The cover had a bright yellow sun with a smiling face. A white, fluffy sheep sat on a porch that overlooked horses in a paddock. He picked it up and traced his fingers over the title of the book. The adventures of Morbid the sheep.
Emerson had written and illustrated her own children’s book. Pride surged in his heart, and Paul, the bookshop owner, gave him an odd look when he purchased it. He didn’t care what anyone thought. It was a piece of her that he’d shared.
That night, he put the story book with the sketch book in his dresser drawer. He hadn’t paged through it. Morbid’s adventures happened on a farm. That much was clear to see. It brought back so many different memories of their time spent together.
He was probably an idiot for buying the book, torturing himself by keeping her memory alive. It kept haunting him as the days dragged on, and he busied himself in ranch work. There was always something to do, and the sheep kept his mind occupied as he pulled double duty, with Winchester spending some time at home with Eden and Genesis.
They were finally planning the wedding and somehow Eden had roped him into watching Genesis while she planned and shopped. When his workload was heavy, he left Genesis with his father, who was happy to look after her.
She looked exactly like Eden did in her baby photos, and Asher knew she was going to be a little heartbreaker when she grew up. Things were busy on the ranch, and some nights, he couldn’t remember how he got to bed, but he woke up each morning, ready to do it all again.
The heat was blistering as Asher sat on One Star’s back, and stared off in the distance. He was on the cliff’s edge but he had no desire to fall or jump. He knew he had to move on, but he didn’t know how. He was right back where he was after the Maggie hallucination. Lost and alone. He shook his head sadly.
“How did I mess this up so badly?” His voice sounded strange as he spoke the words out loud.
The previous night, Joel had come to him with an idea. He proposed that they build little cabins near the meadow of the ranch, then rent them out to people that wanted to experience life on the ranch. He showed Asher a few websites of ranches that were already doing that, though none of them were close to where they lived.
The idea had stayed with him, but it would take time that he didn’t have. They could build the cabins themselves, it wasn’t that hard to do, but to take time out from the day to teach them to rope cattle and saddle a horse, was what bothered him.
Accidents happened, then they’d be liable. It was a risk, but Joel had answers for that, as well. Indemnity insurance, and liability disclaimer forms. He was a smart kid, and Asher liked the idea, but Blair shot it down immediately.
“You want to bring a bunch of city slickers to the ranch, and teach them how to be a cowboy? Are you insane?”
“It was Joel’s idea,” Asher said.
“Look, I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, but hell, Asher, we ain’t got time to scratch our own asses,” he said.
“The kid just wants to feel like he’s doing something to contribute to the ranch, something for him to focus on, that’s all.”
“I get it, Asher, but who would run that part of the operation? We’re already stretched thin as it is. The way you and Winchester are going, you’re going to need to hire some hands of your own to handle the sheep.”
“I know. I’ve made some calls about that already.”
“So, bring Joel in to your side, and let him help you with the sheep,” Blair said.
“What if we built the cabins, but not overlooking the meadow. We build them by the river, rent out the cabins only, like a weekend cabin resort where they can fish and hunt when it’s the right season, and get away from the city.”
Blair sighed, and wiped the sweat off his forehead. “That would be less of a liability on us than wannabe ranchers wearing cowboy boots for the first time.”
“Glad you like it. I’ll get Joel to work out some plans, maybe even spur him on to do a business proposal to the family. Everyone has to agree,” Asher said.
“Yeah, he’ll have a better chance of winning them over with a solid plan in his hands.”
“He’ll be ready by Friday when we have family dinner.”
Blair shook his head, as Asher grinned. “You want to do this? You think it could be lucrative?”
“Yeah, I do. People always want to escape the city.”
He walked back the way he came, and grinned, as he rounded the corner of his house. It wasn’t exactly what Joel had in mind, but it would teach him that not all ideas worked. He wanted everyone else to like Joel’s plan, too. The kid was excited, and he talked about online booking forms, and online payments, things Asher didn’t really understand, but Eden would.
That night, after dinner, Asher told Joel about his conversation with Blair, and why the ranching idea wouldn’t work on their ranch, but the more Asher spoke about the cabins at the river idea, the more Joel smiled, and nodded his head.
“So you want me to draw up a business plan? How it would work, where we would build, and how much it would cost? Things like that?”
“Exactly like that. We propose it to the rest of the family at dinner on Friday night, and they vote about it,” Asher said.
“Excuse me, I have a lot of work to do,” Joel said, and Asher grinned as he hurried out of the kitchen.