Page 39 of Disarming The Rancher

Kenny tapped his fingers on the table like he was counting to ten.

Brax remembered the look that had passed between Tim and Randy earlier when she mentioned the band needed to make a decision. Something was definitely up there.

“Do you want us here?” Buck asked, motioning toward him and Jake.

“Johnny on the Spot is a little too green to sit at the big boy table,” Kenny said.

“Hey, lay off him,” Randy intervened.

“What the matter?” Kenny taunted. “Afraid he can’t stand up for himself?”

Kenny was a real jerk. He was also too self-absorbed and shallow to pull off the bomb threat. He moved down Brax’s suspect list a little further.

He wanted to know what the look between Randy and Tim was all about.

“Guys, I know this is a stressful time and tempers are up here.” Raleigh held her flat hand as high as she could. “But if we bicker, it’ll only get worse. We’ve been through tough times and made it. We’ll figure this one out too.”

A few heads bobbed in agreement. Kenny was the holdout, but he would come around. He was already at the angry phase. Last time he’d put his sights on her all she’d had to do was parade a date in front of him for him to get the hint. He was being a lot more stubborn now. This was a new side to him. She didn’t like it.

“Most of us have been together fourteen years,” she continued. “This is the only family I have left, and I know it’s true for a couple of you.”

Heads slowly nodded.

“I think we should let Wade walk us through the books and explain himself before we put his head on the chopping block.” Kenny made a hand gesture of a knife smacking down on the table.

“Okay. What does everyone else think? Is that how we want to move forward? Because I’m having a few problems with Wade that need to be brought out into the open,” she said.

“For instance?” Kenny continued.

“The fact he isn’t on tour with us half the time anymore,” she pointed out. “And then there’s my grandmother’s…my…place. He was supposed to be taking care of it. He knows how important that home is to me.” She shrugged. “You guys saw what shape it was in. I’m wondering what else is slipping through the cracks.”

“My direct deposit hasn’t come through this month now that I think about it,” Willie said. He pulled up his bank account on his cell phone and showed it to her.

“I haven’t even checked my accounts,” she admitted.

Suddenly, everyone was on their phone.

“No deposit on my account,” Buck said as Jake shook his head in agreement. The younger guy sat there with a sullen look on his face. Kenny was being hard on Jake again. She needed to figure out a way to put a stop to the harassment. Then again, Kenny had seemed unhappy for a while now. Maybe the band needed to call a meeting without him to discuss his future. She tabled the thought for now.

Raleigh pulled out her cell and double-checked her account. “Nothing on mine either.”

“It’s probably just an oversight,” Kenny defended. At this point, he would argue the sky was purple rather than admit to the fact it was blue and they didn’t have a chance to rekindle a flame that had burned out so very long ago. “People make mistakes.”

Well, that was a loaded statement. So much for him catching on.

“My wife is depending on that money,” Buck admitted.

“We’ll get you paid.” At least, Raleigh prayed they would. She sought out Brax and exchanged a look.

He nodded slightly and she would take the encouragement anywhere she could get it at the moment.

“Wade sent over some numbers. I’ll get working on those,” she said.

“The Marshall has an office you can use,” Brax stated and gave a little nod. He wanted to tell her something? Had he picked up on something she’d missed?

“I’ll get working on figuring this out right now.” She fired off a text to Wade, asking for him to call her about the deposits.

The bomb situation was awful. There was no getting around the fact. This was, however, giving her an opportunity to dig into a situation she’d been ignoring too long. As had the rest of the band. They wanted to play music and let the rest work itself out. The days of Sharon having their backs was over. They were long gone, in fact.