Seth paused with his hand on the driver’s door handle. Clive Loring was the president of Western Railroad, and he didn’t tend to show up when things were going well.
“Do you know why he’s here?” Seth asked.
“We’re trying to find out, but he insists on seeing you right away.”
Lisa’s phone chimed. She pulled it out as she climbed into the car.
Seth got in and turned the key, his mind going through possible scenarios. Had Clive heard about the escalating feud in Lyndon? Was he worried about the negative publicity for Mountain Railway? Was he getting impatient? Was he unwilling to wait through the referendum time period?
“Uh-oh,” said Lisa, as she read the text on her phone.
“What?” asked Seth, swinging the car around and heading down the gravel road.
“I’ve got some new information. Wadesworth County has submitted a counter-proposal. They want the railroad to parallel Jimmydee Road.”
“How’d they pull that off so fast?”
Lyndon City had been working on their final proposal for months. Years, if you counted all the preliminary work.
“Looks like they’ve quietly been at it for a while now. Their permitting is already in place.”
Seth frowned. “Waiting in the wings, just looking for an opportunity to pounce.”
“Arguably, both lines could eventually be constructed,” said Lisa.
“Mountain Railway only needs one shorter link to Ripple Ridge.”
Darby hadn’t been wrong about that being the obvious long-term plan.
Seth stepped more firmly on the accelerator. “If they get it through Wadesworth, our project is mothballed indefinitely.”
“There’s more than a month left until the referendum.”
“Call Mandy,” Seth told Lisa.
“You think Mandy can help?”
“Tell her we need Danielle Marin to fly in.”
“Caleb’s lawyer?”
“Caleb’s laywer,” said Seth. “She’s a tactical genius.”
Lisa looked doubtful. “You think a Chicago lawyer is going to help us in Colorado?”
“We’re running out of options. If we don’t do something quick, Darby won’t need to win the referendum. We’ll lose the railroad by the end of the week.”
Nine
Marta arrived shortly after Seth left. She’d brought several packages from the post office. After lugging them inside, the women blended some fruit-and-yogurt smoothies and sat down at the breakfast bar.
“Seth spent the night,” Darby began bluntly, bracing her feet on the crossbar of the high chair.
Marta’s spoon came to a halt midscoop. “Say what?”
“He came by yesterday. We had some wine. It got late, and he ended up staying.”
“Do you mean staying, or staying?”
“He slept in my bed.”
“Just to be completely clear before I react to this, you slept there, too?”
Darby laughed, wheezing as she inhaled some of the fruit smoothie. “I wasn’t trying to be oblique.”
“I was all for flirting, but this… Wow, you’re putting your heart and soul into distracting the man.”
Darby drew a heavy sigh. “He’s doing a pretty good job of distracting me, too. He’s not what I expected, Mar. He’s more complicated. He’s actually a pretty decent guy.”
“You mean, aside from the fact that his railroad will ruin your business?”
“Right. If you were to take that little flaw away…”
Marta arched a brow.
Darby realized she’d give a lot to take that one little flaw away.
“A little flaw can be a big flaw,” said Marta. “You need to be careful. You don’t want to lose Sierra Hotel and your heart in one fell swoop.”
“I don’t think—” Darby stopped. She was sure her heart wasn’t at risk. At least she was pretty sure. Okay, she’d make sure her heart wasn’t at risk.
She regrouped. “I don’t mind losing in a fair fight.” At least she didn’t think she’d mind. Maybe “mind” wasn’t the best word. “I could live with losing in a fair fight,” she amended.
“Could you live with Seth after he won the fair fight?”
“Are we getting ahead of ourselves? I slept with the man. I didn’t offer to have his children.”
“Only once?” Marta asked, watching her closely.
“Twice. Well, it depends on how you count. But on two separate occasions.”
“But your heart’s okay?” Marta asked skeptically.
“I like him. But it’s nothing past that. He showed up last night to give me a check. On another topic entirely, expropriation went through.”
“Unfortunately, that was inevitable. But I’m not seeing a straight line from that to sleeping with him.”
“It wasn’t a straight line. It’s never been a straight line with Seth. It was a strange day all around. First I visited with his sisters, all three of them. They’re pretty nice, too.”
“Are you losing your appetite for the fight?”
“No. No,” Darby repeated with determination. “If I lose the fight, we lose Sierra Hotel, and some of the greatest women in America lose an important emotional support system.”
“Agreed,” said Marta. “So what are you going to do next?”
“I don’t want to lose my edge.”
“Then stay out of Seth’s bed.”
Darby reluctantly agreed. “And I don’t want any more vandalism or bar fights.”
Marta came to her feet, taking her empty glass to the sink and filling it with water. “I’ve been thinking about this.”
“Good.”
“And I’ve come up with another idea.”
“I’m all ears.”
“There are two tacks you can take here. You can make it harder for him to win, or you can make it easier for him to lose.”
Darby followed suit, rinsing her own glass and placing it in the dishwasher. “I’m not sure I follow.”
“Up to now, we’ve been pointing out the dangers of the railway, how Lyndon will be negatively impacted if it’s built. What if we do a one-eighty? We gather some information on shipping alternatives for the ranchers. What trucking companies are out there that they might not have used in the past. Could a local company be set up, maybe even a co-op that could offer shipping at a reduced rate?”
“We give the other side a path forward.” Darby nodded.
“Giving someone a workable and dignified exit is often a good strategy, especially if you’ve developed feelings for them.”
“I can cope with my feelings,” Darby assured her, determined that it would remain true.
“I don’t think either of us sees a win-win here,” said Marta. “But maybe we can pull off a win–not-so-ugly lose.”
* * *
“We need to take them out of the game before they even know what hit them,” Danielle Marin said. She was seated in the Jacobses’ ranch house living room. “We can’t waste a few more weeks waiting on the referendum.”
She’d flown straight into Lyndon on Caleb’s jet. Having obviously studied the issue in flight, she now sat with Caleb, Mandy and Seth, strategizing their next move.
Seth was all for making this swift and decisive. His council members agreed; they couldn’t afford to let Wadesworth County get a toehold on the project.
“Any ideas on how?” he asked.
“Your judgment to grant the referendum is from a district court,” said Danielle. “We appeal the decision to the state. From what I can see, there was no point in law for granting the referendum.”
“Then why did they get it?” asked Seth.
“The final few signatures were definitely late. We can argue the judge made an error in letting the referendum go ahead on the basis of ‘what was good for Lyndon City.’”
“It was the judge’s opinion only. That’s always shaky ground.”
“Darby will fight at the state level,” said Seth. He had no reason to believe she’d back down from that.
“She can’t,” said Danielle. “She may be a party to the matter of the late signatures on the petition. But she’s not technically a party to the matter of the referendum being ‘in the public interest.’ The wording of the judge’s ruling leaves her out.”
“So we can fight it without telling her?” asked Caleb.
“She has no legal right to know,” Danielle clarified.
“I liked Darby,” Mandy put in.
Seth found himself shifting in his chair. He liked Darby, too, but that didn’t change his obligations as mayor. He couldn’t sacrifice the good of his city to make a woman happy.
The front door swung open, and Travis appeared.