His father heaved himself off the couch, frowned down at Leo and said, “On that note, I’m going out to the shed.”
“Thanks for the totally nutritious but boring dinner, Dad!” Leo called out after his father.
Dad muttered something under his breath; a moment later they heard the back door slam.
“We’ll come back to Julie. What about the ranch?” Leo asked, his joviality suddenly gone.
Luke sighed and shook his head. “It’s a huge mess, Leo. I think we might have to face the fact that it’s a lost cause and move on. We haven’t any legal leg to stand on.”
“Move on? Who are you and what have you done with my brother?” Leo demanded. “You can’t give up, Luke. What about Dad?”
“What do you mean, what about Dad?”
Leo groaned as Heidi Klum’s face danced across the television screen. “Look, I’m eventually going to get sick of this house and Project Runway and the Denver Broncos, and that’s it, man, I’m outta here. Dad can’t live here, no way. He’d go nuts. You have to try again.”
Luke’s chest constricted at Leo’s way of stating that he would not live as long as his father. He could scarcely bear to think of that day. “I’m doing the best I know to do,” he said.
“You gotta mix it up then.”
Luke rolled his eyes. “I want to mix it up all right.”
Leo nodded in that crooked way of his. He turned his attention to the television. “Hey, do you remember that classic Super Bowl between the Cowboys and the Dolphins?”
“No,” Luke said.
“The seventies,” Leo reminded him.
“No, I don’t remember a Super Bowl from the seventies. I wasn’t alive in the seventies.”
“Okay, so the Dolphins lost,” Leo blithely continued. “You know what happened to the Dolphins after they lost that one, right?”
Leo had an annoying habit of changing directions midstream. He was also fond of reliving great moments in sports in minute detail. Luke shook his head.
“Okay, well, they had a decent running game, but the passing game sucked. They made it to the Super Bowl on the strength of their defense.”
“That’s great,” Luke muttered.
“No, no, you don’t get it. They were playing these teams that had sucky offenses and their defense was kick-ass. But then they got to the Super Bowl and went up against the Cowboys, and they found out what a really good offense was like. I mean, Roger Staubach, anyone? And when the Cowboy offense shut down the Dolphin defense, all they had left was this Mickey Mouse offense that wasn’t working. So the next year, they said, wait, we’re going about this all wrong! We have to do what those guys are doing and build an offense! We have to bow to a superior defense and learn to win with a new offense.”
“Are we going somewhere with this?” Luke asked.
Leo sighed as if Luke were taxing him with limited intelligence. “Dude, they had to change their game plan if they were going to win the big one. They had to go on offense instead of defense. Hello—Homecoming Ranch? Now do you get it?”
“Did they win?”
“No!” Leo said. “But they had the right idea.”
A slow grin spread across Luke’s face. “You’re bat-shit crazy, you know that?” he asked. “Yeah, I get it. In your own ridiculous way, you are telling me I need to change the way I am approaching the heirs. Why couldn’t you just say that?”
“That’s no fun,” Leo said, grinning again. “Glad to see some sunlight got down in the weeds growing in your head. Okay, now shut up—Heidi’s going to tell us who is on the chopping block.”
As Heidi Klum announced someone would be out, Luke looked at his little brother.
Man, he loved that guy.
TWELVE
The ringtone of Madeline’s phone went off so loudly and so close to her ear that her heart almost went through her chest. She fumbled with her black sleeping mask, tearing it off her head so quickly that she took what felt like a hank of hair along with it. She found the offending phone on the pillow next to her head, where she must have dropped it last night when she’d collapsed like a rag doll into bed.
“Hello,” she said, her voice hoarse with sleep.
“Mad!” Trudi shouted. “What are you doing?”
“Sleeping,” Madeline croaked, and sat up. She’d pulled the lodge draperies shut last night, and only a thin beam of light was breaking through the dark. She leaned over and flipped on the bedside light. “How did you get through? I couldn’t get a signal all day yesterday.”
“I dunno. I have you on speed dial,” Trudi said, as if that explained the technology behind cell phones. “Are you still in bed?”
“Yes. Why do you say it like that?”
“It’s noon, Madeline!”
Madeline gasped and threw the covers back. “It’s noon?” They were supposed to meet at one o’clock at the ranch to pick up where they’d left off yesterday.
“Not where you are, silly! It’s ten in Colorado. Why are you so out of it?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been so tired.”
“Stress, obviously! Well? I am dying to know—did you meet your sisters?”
“Yes, God yes,” Madeline said, yawning.