It Happened One Night

Josh looked up to see a picture of Alex Santiago on one of the national evening news broadcasts. The anchorman reported that although Alex had been found, the investigation into his mysterious disappearance was ongoing. The reporter asked that anyone having seen Alex during the months he had been missing to please contact the state investigator, Britt Collins. He wrapped up the segment with a statement that all leads were being followed and that several members of the prestigious Texas Cattleman’s Club had been questioned as persons of interest in the case.

Clearly angered by the report, Gil shook his head. “I don’t like that the TCC is being disparaged by any of this. Our reputation has always been impeccable and every member of the club is carefully screened before they’re granted membership. This Collins woman has already interrogated Chance McDaniel, Dave Firestone and myself. Who’s she going to single out next?”

“It’s my guess she’ll investigate every one of us if she has to,” Josh said, finishing his beer. “I’ve heard she’s quite thorough.”

“She’d do well to look elsewhere for possible suspects,” Gil stated flatly.

Josh motioned for the waitress to bring their checks. “I wouldn’t worry too much about the TCC’s reputation. We’ve always been above reproach. We can weather this and anything else that casts a shadow of doubt over our integrity.”

“You’re right, but the club has been the subject of more than one negative news report lately,” Gil reminded.

“Have there been any more leads in the vandalism of the day care center?” Josh asked, picking up the slip of paper the waitress placed facedown in front of him. “The last I heard the police think it might have been teenagers.”

“That’s what I heard, too.” Gil reached for his check. “They’re the only ones I can think of that might be stupid enough to mess with the TCC. The lead detective did tell me they found a partial fingerprint, but when they ran it through the national database there weren’t any matches. He thinks it might be one of the members’ kids.”

Josh nodded as he removed his wallet from the inside pocket of his suit coat and tossed several dollars on the table to cover his dinner and a generous tip. “Kids are the only ones stupid enough to do something like this. Anyone else knows better than to come into our house and destroy any part of it. But you’d think a kid of one of our members wouldn’t even think about it.”

“Well, whoever it is, they’ve bit off more than they realize,” Gil agreed. “I personally can’t think of a single member, no matter what they think of the day care center, who doesn’t want them held accountable for what they’ve done.” Checking his watch, he rose to leave. “I guess I’d better get over to the Whelans’ and pick up Cade. Thanks for sharing dinner with me, Josh.”

Rising to his feet, Josh followed his friend out of the bar and walked to his car in favor of having the valet bring it to him. On the drive home, he thought a lot on what Gil had said about the day care center. It was true that the more the TCC had to offer, the better the chances of maintaining a full roster of members. And after seeing the way Kiley dealt with the kids, he knew firsthand that she was good at her job and the day care center was top-notch. Had he been looking at the club’s need for a child care facility through jaded eyes?

Josh had to admit it was highly possible. He and his twin brother, Sam, had been raised by a man who made no secret that he thought a woman’s place was in the home taking care of her own children and not outside of it working a job or playing tennis while someone else looked after her kids. For the most part, he had agreed with their father and it wasn’t until he’d watched Kiley work with the kids that he was starting to question his steadfast opinion.

Maybe his thinking would have been different if his mother had lived long enough to really have an influence on his and Sam’s lives. But other than what he saw from the pictures his dad had shown him, Josh couldn’t honestly say he recalled much about his mother.

Turning his car up the long drive leading to his ranch house, he decided to take Alex’s advice and not make any rash decisions about his recommendation to the funding committee. He had the rest of the month to observe what went on at the day care center and he owed it to Kiley, as well as the members of the TCC, to give it a fair evaluation before he decided one way or the other.

* * *

On Saturday afternoon when Kiley parked in front of Josh’s barn, her pulse sped up as she watched him walk toward her car. If she had thought he looked good yesterday when he stopped by the day care center, it couldn’t compare to the way he looked today. In a suit and tie the man looked very handsome. In worn jeans, a blue chambray shirt, boots and a wide-brimmed black cowboy hat, he was downright devastating. Who knew he had been hiding such wide shoulders and narrow hips beneath the expensive fabric of those Armani suits?