“Really?”
Nodding, Reese said, “The Whitcombs have discovered the most important thing to a military vet who is homeless—and that’s a home. That’s everything, Shay. All of us should pay rent for the home being on your property. I was looking at the costs, and the mortgage on such a house, without any interest attached to it, is going to be like three hundred dollars a month. They will be able to take fifteen percent out of their pay to give to you, no problem at all.”
Shaking her head, she whispered, “I just can’t believe their goodwill. No interest. They won’t make anything back on the money they’re loaning us, Reese.”
“They don’t want to,” he told her quietly, holding the look of disbelief in her eyes. “They know they can’t take money with them when they die. What they can do is begin parceling it out now and making a positive impact in a lot of people’s lives. They’re in their fifties now. If Kassie is right about their finances, they should probably start distributing their wealth at about this age. Do they have any children?”
“No, unfortunately. Maud could never conceive. Over the years, they were foster parents when they were younger, and they do have lots of kids, but they haven’t adopted them. At one time, when I was growing up, they had ten foster kids under their wing at the ranch.” She gave him a fond look. “Maud loves children. It seems horrible that she could never get pregnant. That’s heartbreaking to me.”
“Yes, but look at how many other children they’ve helped. She’s a mother, there’s no question. A gruff, kind of no-nonsense one, but you don’t have ten kids under foot in your home if you don’t love them.”
“Oh, she’s a big softy, Reese. Sometimes she gets gruff, but in a loving kind of way. I’ve never heard Maud raise her voice or her hand to anyone. And I would hope they are going to give their foster children some of that money.”
Reese shrugged. “I don’t know. Unless they tell us, we can’t ask because that’s a deeply personal and private question.”
“Right,” Shay agreed. “But knowing them, I’m sure they’ll take care of every one of them.”
“I agree with you. They’re kind, generous people.”
“I have no money to put in the stock market like Steve does.”
“That’s true. If you did, would you?” Reese wondered.
“Absolutely. There’s a way to protect your investments.”
“There’s a lot of pitfalls to stocks,” he warned her. “Steve is brilliant and he knows how to work the market to his advantage.”
“You’re not a risk taker, Lockhart,” she teased, smiling at him.
He gave her a wry look. “Bean counters tend not to go in that direction.”
She laughed and then became serious, searching his eyes. “I’m glad I got up, Reese. Honestly, I was hoping you’d be out here.”
“Yeah?”
“I like our early morning time together. It’s . . . nice.” Her voice softened as Shay gave him a shy look. “I always found it tough to talk to guys. I don’t know why. But you’re easy to talk to.”
“Maybe because I’m a bean counter by nature?”
She laughed outright. “I love that you’re showing me your humorous side. A lot of vets fighting to get back on their feet, lose their sense of humor in the process. I mean, it’s understandable.”
“Oh,” Reese murmured, “we always have black humor in our back pocket.”
“That’s a given.”
“You communicate fine with everyone around here. I don’t know why you say you have difficulty talking with men.”
“I just get shy and I overthink what I’m going to say.”
“Well, I don’t see it,” he said more firmly, giving her a steady look. Shay needed to stop second-guessing herself. She seemed only to do it on a personal level. Or did this have to do with her father, and she was projecting it on everyone around her? Reese couldn’t blame her. If her father was cutting her off, interrupting her all the time, it was a big signal to Shay that she wasn’t worth listening to. That, or if whatever she said to her father, Ray Crawford took it the wrong way. Shay would certainly begin to question that she didn’t have the ability to communicate accurately or clearly with him. He saw relief in her eyes.
“If I start to do it, stop me? Tell me I’m not making sense?”
His lips twitched. “You sell yourself short, Shay. Since I’ve been here, you’ve been clear as clean water. There’s no having to guess where you stand.”
Lips thinning, Shay said, “I hope so . . .”
“Tomorrow afternoon,” he said, “Garret, Harper, and I are driving down to see Steve at his office on their ranch. It will probably take a few hours. We’ll be home by five.”
“Garret already made us dinner.” She hooked her thumb toward the refrigerator. “He didn’t want me messing in his kitchen.” She grinned.
“Territorial, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, but he was black ops, Reese. Those men and women are alpha wolves. That’s their nature.”
“Can you cook?”
“Oh, come on!” she said, laughing. “Of course I can.”