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They finished the rest of the azine When he was done, he pushed back fro for the sweat-stained brown felt cowboy hat that hung on a hook by the door, he said, “Make me proud”
“I will ’Bye, Dad”
After he left, Vivi Ann sat there, feeling unsettled
For most of her twenty-four years she’d been like a leaf on the water, just floating along, follohatever current ca direction a few tie) had ended quickly, with her returning to this land
She loved it here, plain and si theirls who idolized her riding ability She loved that everyone in town kneho she was and respected her and her family She even loved the weather Lots of folks coray days that followed each other, one after another, from November to April, but she didn’t mind at all No rain, no rainbows That was her irl standing beside a freshly dug grave, trying to make sense of an incomprehensible loss Then, she’d told herself that life was short and having fun hat mattered
Now, though, it was tie needed her for once, instead of the other way around She wasn’t sure exactly how tosuits, but she was s All she had to do was think about it
But first she needed to borrow three hundred dollars from one of her sisters
She’d tell theood investment
Winona liked running the show Any show; every show And not froe, all it had taken was one constitutional law class, and she’d glimpsed her future Now, at twenty-seven, she had her life pretty much as she wanted it Not co, childless, and struggling with her weight), but pretty much She was far and away the most successful attorney in Oyster Shores It was coe that she was fair, opinionated, and sood person to have on your side Winona valued her reputation alht worship at the altar of their land, but Winona had a broader religion For her, it was the community that mattered and the people who lived here It was okay that Vivi Ann was the beautiful heart of town; Winona strove to be its conscience
She reached for the intercom on her desk and pushed the button “The council will be here in about ten h coffee”
Her receptionist answered promptly “Already done”
“Good” Winona turned her attention to the slim pile of paperwork in front of her There were a couple of environmental reports, a proposed short plat map, and a real estate sale contract that she’d written up
It could save Water’s Edge
Well, perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration; the ranch wasn’t poised on the edge of financial ruin or anything It washorses Vivi Ann kept rescuing: lih to keep the place running, and the taxes kept going up This secret corner of Washington State hadn’t been “discovered” yet by the yuppies who turned rugged waterfront lots into gold, but it was only a matter of time Someday soon a developer would realize that their sleepy town sat on a spectacular stretch of beach that overlooked the Swiss Alps–like Olye, and when that happened, Dad would find hi on one hundred and twenty-five desirable acres The rise in taxes would force him to sell the land or lose it, and no one seemed to notice the inevitability of this future except her It had already happened all across the state
She jotted notes down on her yellow pad, words to use in talking to him It was imperative that he understand how important this was, how she’d found a way to save and protect him Equally imperative was that she be the one to solve the problem Perhaps then, finally, her father would be proud of her