She just blurted it out: “I’ve been thinking about something. A way for the ranch to make some money.”
Everyone looked up.
Winona frowned. Apparently she’d been in the middle of a story, but Vivi Ann hadn’t noticed.
“In Texas I spent a lot of time with Holly and Gerald Bruhn. They just built that big arena down in Hood River, remember? Anyway, Holly is running a winter barrel-racing series. Eight weeks, every Saturday. They’re giving away money and prizes.”
“You always win those things,” Aurora said.
“No,” Vivi Ann said. “You don’t get it. I want to run a series here at Water’s Edge.”
Dad shrugged. “Might work.”
Vivi Ann grinned at the encouragement. “If it does, we could branch out to team pennings and ropings. Holly said last week they had over four hundred teams at the roping jackpot.”
She had her father’s attention now. “That costs money.”
“I did some checking around. We could probably do it for about one hundred thousand dollars.”
Winona laughed. “Is that all?”
Vivi Ann was surprised by that, and a little hurt. “We could get a loan. Mortgage the place.”
That shut everyone up.
“We’ve never had a mortgage,” Dad said.
“Times are changing, Dad,” Vivi Ann said. “I really think we could make a go of this. All we’d need are some steers, a groomer, a new tractor, and—”
Winona was not smiling. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Lord knows I’m tired of shoein’ horses all day and worrying about taxes,” Dad said, “and now that Luke Connelly is back we can use his acreage. We could keep the steers there, so we wouldn’t need a big trailer.”
Winona made a great show of rolling her eyes. “But if you can’t make a mortgage payment you’ll lose your property. You know that, right?”
“I ain’t stupid.”
“I didn’t suggest you were,” Winona said. “But this is crazy. You can’t—”
“You gonna tell me what to do again, Winona?” he said. On that, he left the table and headed for the study, where he closed the door behind him.
Vivi Ann turned on Winona. “Way to be a bitch. You’re just mad because it’s not your idea. Miss Brainiac couldn’t think of shit.”
“And what happens if you suck at doing all this, Vivi? What happens if no one comes and Dad has to find a thousand bucks a month to cover this new mortgage? You going to stand by his side and watch him lose this place? It’s all he has.”
“What if he’s already losing it?” Vivi Ann demanded, determined to stand her ground.
“It’s just like Clem,” Winona muttered, and Vivi Ann had no idea what her sister meant by that.
“You’re just jealous that I came up with the idea,” Vivi Ann said.
“Yeah, I’m jealous of your intellect,” Winona snapped back.
“Come on, you two,” Aurora said. “Let’s not go down that road.” She looked from one to the other. “It’s a good idea. Can we figure out how to make it work?”
Chapter Three
In the past twenty-four hours, Vivi Ann had filled a spiral notebook with ideas. It didn’t matter that her father hadn’t agreed with her yet. She had no doubt at all that he’d come around to her way of thinking. So would Winona, once she got the bug out of her butt and stopped caring that it wasn’t her idea.