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don't give Wes grief, okay?"  Telling her mother where she was definitely wasn't in her plans, but that didn't mean she wouldn't find out on her own.  Sometimes, she thought Trudy Baker was psychic or something.  Psycho maybe would be a better description.
    "I won't tell mama where I am, promise.  It'll work out, just watch."
    Leigh Ann was determined it was going to work out.  She was going to do everything she could to make sure of it.  This was her chance to change her life, and she wasn't screwing it up, or disappointing her sister.
     
    Wes's stomach growled loudly.  Glancing at the clock, he put his hand there and realized why he was hungry.  It was nearly seven o'clock and he hadn't eaten yet.  His mother and Trey had gone out for burgers, but Wes had declined to join them so he could stay and work on his billing.  Even though Rocky had caught up two months of it, Wes was still a month behind. 
    It was a never-ending chore for him to maintain the accounting side of his business.  Mostly, because he sucked at it, and knew it was useless anyway.  People knew what they owed him, they would pay him when they could.  Usually though, his invoices got shuffled to the bottom of their monthly stack, or not paid at all.  Just like the ones he needed to pay to keep his head above water.  Everyone was struggling. 
    Wes knew he gave the farmers and ranchers too much slack, which led them to assume he would give them more.  That slack had tightened into a noose around his neck now.  He couldn't afford to give them more time, because his business was going under if he didn't figure out something quickly.
    If his ex-wife hadn't raped him financially before she left, he would have been okay.  Even if he gave away free services now and again, he could have survived.  But by emptying both their business and personal accounts, as well was running up all his credit cards on her way out the door, she had put him in a position he might never recover from.  But the price he paid to buy his son from her had been worth it.
    He paid another price when she left too though.  Even though she had been a terrible wife, Laura had been a good assistant who kept him organized.  He only found out when she left that was the last thing she wanted to be.  Right behind being his wife and Trey's mother.  She wanted to be a goddamn actress of all things.  She blamed him and her son for stopping her from realizing that dream.  Since then, Wes had a hell of a time trying to replace her in the office.  Good assistants were evidently hard to come by, even harder than finding a good wife.
    Instead of trying to replace her with another woman in his life though, Wes had used the last seven years to reevaluate what he wanted in a woman.  He figured out it wasn't a high-maintenance, show-stopping woman that every other man wanted.  In horse terms, Wes wanted an easy keeper, someone who was self-sufficient and didn't require much to make them happy.  He just didn't have the energy left to fight to keep the other kind of woman.  He had more important things to worry about, like making sure his son was happy.
    For a little while he thought he had hit pay dirt with Rocky Baker in both respects.  Until she told him the other day she was marrying someone else, and then today informed him she didn't have time to be his assistant anymore. 
    That bombshell had hit him right between the eyes.  Finding a replacement for her would be a challenge, because Rocky had been perfect in the job.  Even better than Laura had been.
    Wes had called the paper and placed an ad, but it wouldn't be published until next week, so he just had to survive on his own between now and next Thursday when Rocky came back again.  That meant he had to collect some money himself, or his lights would be off by next Friday.  He had been robbing Peter to pay Paul for too long, and both men were on his doorstep now with their hands out. 
    By the end of the month,