In the Crosshairs by Terry Odell

Author:Terry Odell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: former military turned cowboys, cattle ranching romance, action adventure romantic suspense, contemporary western, photographer, cattle rustling
Publisher: Terry Odell
Published: 2022-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

RELIEF THAT THE MOUNTAIN lion hunt had been successful vied with Kiera’s anxiety about Madelynn’s accident. Trying to push both out of her mind, she resumed working with her images. It was much easier to get lost in the creative process than to deal with numbers and spreadsheets. Even the mundane and tedious task of adding keywords to the images so she could organize and sort them as her collection grew was a welcome task. A tap on the door startled her. Derek ambled into the room.

“You’re back already?” Kiera hadn’t been that caught up in her work that she wouldn’t have heard the cowboys returning from their workday.

“Thought we could go over what you’ve done before it’s time to eat.”

“Sure.” She closed her laptop and pulled up the notes she’d made on Derek’s computer. “I have questions before I can go much further.”

“Ask away.” Derek lowered himself onto the loveseat.

“I’ll start with the most important. I’ve been considering what we talked about before. You have unentered receipts going back three months. Are you going to be willing to commit to sitting down at your computer once a week and spending an hour or so dealing with the books?”

Derek ducked his head and tugged at his ear. “I’m thinking of the saying about the road to hell.” He gestured to the folders. “It’s kind of obvious I haven’t been keeping up. However, I did think my bookkeeper was handling things.”

“Forgive me for being honest. Your best bet might be to hire someone, give them access to your accounts, and have them take care of the basics. I can recommend someone from the bookkeeping company I used to work for. She’s retired, but does freelance work. She’s detail-oriented and would take a lot of pressure off you. I can set things up, which means she’d be taking over an established system, so you’d save the expense of system design. You don’t have to answer right away. Think about it. Realistically.”

“I will.”

“One other thing. I’ve been talking to Tanya. She’s got training in nutrition, and she keeps an eye on prices. It might make sense for you to let her take the lead on your weekly menu suggestions. Of course, you would come up with meals together but she knows what’s on hand, and how to create recipes based on what the bargains are each week. That could save you money.”

He tugged his ear again. “That makes sense. I wonder why she didn’t approach me.”

“Probably because she considers herself the employee, and you’re the boss, and she’s afraid to do anything you might interpret as—to use her words—not be her place.”

A hint of color stained his cheeks. “I’m happy to comply. Anything to keep her here. She’s a prize.”

Sounds of returning cowboys floated into the room, which meant dinner wouldn’t be far off. And then, her riding lesson. Derek’s cell interrupted. Kiera rose to leave, but Derek motioned her to stay.

He listened for a moment, then said, “Got it. Thanks,” and disconnected the call.

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