for?”
“Isn’t that a self-evident answer?”
“Not at all. You want it pretty. You could travel ten miles down the road, see the same vista without oil wells, and what would this one little piece matter?”
“Because it’s mine.”
“Ah. Is it, though? Do you plan to be here? Plan to come back here with a family? Children? Grandchildren? That’s what ‘mine’ means, you know.”
“Good gosh, Cole.” Anger rose quickly. “How am I supposed to know that? What is this, some kind of guilt trip?”
He took his arm from her shoulders and grasped her by both upper arms, turning her firmly to face him. “It’s not. Of course it’s not. There’s no right or wrong answer for you. But I know what I want, and I will fight for it.”
“Fight our family for it, you mean?”
“That’s not at all what I mean. I’d like to work with you for it. With Mia, Joely, the triplets, and your mother. If there’s a way to keep this place alive, I want to help find it. And it isn’t just for the pretty view.”
“What is this thing you want that you’ll fight for? Kids? Grandkids?”
“Absolutely. The things my parents never got to have.”
“And you’d like to give them a ruined landscape?”
“It doesn’t have to ruin it. You saw one disaster out of thousands of oil wells.”
“One disaster you can still see the effects of twelve years later if you go look.”
“Oh, and you have?”
“As a matter of fact, I have. Last winter when I was home.” He actually looked impressed. Harper glared at him. “I don’t just talk through my ass, Cole. I do my research.”
“Okay. I’ve never said you weren’t smart. You’re damn smart, Harper. And you care. I love that you care. But why hate this so much? Everyone uses oil. You flew here. You drove on asphalt made of petroleum. Finding oil here could help your family out.”
“I wish I didn’t have such a big footprint. I don’t back in Chicago. I’m vain about that.” She offered a tiny, sheepish smile. “But I don’t have an alternative. Believe me, if I were smart enough to come up with an electric airplane, I’d be the first on that project.”
“I believe you.”
“Look,” she said. “I know we can’t go back to zero oil in this world. That’s not my goal. But we’ll never have other alternatives that are affordable if places like Paradise Ranch keep feeding into the big money oil pot. That’s all.”
“So it is purely philosophical for you?”
“No!” She wanted to throttle him for his dogged attack. So what if it was philosophical? Everyone had a philosophy. She was now seeing his, too. One wasn’t right and the other wrong. “I do love this place. I do want it pristine. Why isn’t that enough? You should want it pristine, too, for these illusory future grandchildren of yours.”
“I want it to be, period.”
“There are other ways to save it.”
“I’ll grant you that. Today we’re exploring one way.”
They fell silent, and he put his arm around her again. Maybe they’d drawn lines in the sand, but she appreciated that he wasn’t angry. Surprisingly, her own irritation had gone, too.
“Do you want kids?” he asked.
What the heck? Her brain had brought the topic of children up just that morning. This had to be some weird kind of psychic disturbance in The Force, she thought.
“I haven’t thought much about it,” she said. “I don’t think I do right now, the way my life is. You want a whole bunch, it sounds like.”
“Two or three to carry on the legacy.”
“Are you forgetting how well that didn’t work for Sam Crockett?” She said it lightly, but a seed of melancholy sprouted deep within her.
“Sam Crockett has six amazing daughters. They’ll figure out his legacy.”
His questions stopped. He embraced her shoulders again. She stared a long, silent while into the distance, across a view she’d memorized years and years ago. She did love it. She loved it with every fiber of her innermost
“Isn’t that a self-evident answer?”
“Not at all. You want it pretty. You could travel ten miles down the road, see the same vista without oil wells, and what would this one little piece matter?”
“Because it’s mine.”
“Ah. Is it, though? Do you plan to be here? Plan to come back here with a family? Children? Grandchildren? That’s what ‘mine’ means, you know.”
“Good gosh, Cole.” Anger rose quickly. “How am I supposed to know that? What is this, some kind of guilt trip?”
He took his arm from her shoulders and grasped her by both upper arms, turning her firmly to face him. “It’s not. Of course it’s not. There’s no right or wrong answer for you. But I know what I want, and I will fight for it.”
“Fight our family for it, you mean?”
“That’s not at all what I mean. I’d like to work with you for it. With Mia, Joely, the triplets, and your mother. If there’s a way to keep this place alive, I want to help find it. And it isn’t just for the pretty view.”
“What is this thing you want that you’ll fight for? Kids? Grandkids?”
“Absolutely. The things my parents never got to have.”
“And you’d like to give them a ruined landscape?”
“It doesn’t have to ruin it. You saw one disaster out of thousands of oil wells.”
“One disaster you can still see the effects of twelve years later if you go look.”
“Oh, and you have?”
“As a matter of fact, I have. Last winter when I was home.” He actually looked impressed. Harper glared at him. “I don’t just talk through my ass, Cole. I do my research.”
“Okay. I’ve never said you weren’t smart. You’re damn smart, Harper. And you care. I love that you care. But why hate this so much? Everyone uses oil. You flew here. You drove on asphalt made of petroleum. Finding oil here could help your family out.”
“I wish I didn’t have such a big footprint. I don’t back in Chicago. I’m vain about that.” She offered a tiny, sheepish smile. “But I don’t have an alternative. Believe me, if I were smart enough to come up with an electric airplane, I’d be the first on that project.”
“I believe you.”
“Look,” she said. “I know we can’t go back to zero oil in this world. That’s not my goal. But we’ll never have other alternatives that are affordable if places like Paradise Ranch keep feeding into the big money oil pot. That’s all.”
“So it is purely philosophical for you?”
“No!” She wanted to throttle him for his dogged attack. So what if it was philosophical? Everyone had a philosophy. She was now seeing his, too. One wasn’t right and the other wrong. “I do love this place. I do want it pristine. Why isn’t that enough? You should want it pristine, too, for these illusory future grandchildren of yours.”
“I want it to be, period.”
“There are other ways to save it.”
“I’ll grant you that. Today we’re exploring one way.”
They fell silent, and he put his arm around her again. Maybe they’d drawn lines in the sand, but she appreciated that he wasn’t angry. Surprisingly, her own irritation had gone, too.
“Do you want kids?” he asked.
What the heck? Her brain had brought the topic of children up just that morning. This had to be some weird kind of psychic disturbance in The Force, she thought.
“I haven’t thought much about it,” she said. “I don’t think I do right now, the way my life is. You want a whole bunch, it sounds like.”
“Two or three to carry on the legacy.”
“Are you forgetting how well that didn’t work for Sam Crockett?” She said it lightly, but a seed of melancholy sprouted deep within her.
“Sam Crockett has six amazing daughters. They’ll figure out his legacy.”
His questions stopped. He embraced her shoulders again. She stared a long, silent while into the distance, across a view she’d memorized years and years ago. She did love it. She loved it with every fiber of her innermost
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