Come Home

Chapter 15

Alice woke up hours before her alarm went off. Not being able to go back to sleep she got up, quickly changed and headed down to the office to get an early start on the plans for today. After taking a look over the lists she made the day before, she decided to head to the plot of land that caught her eye.

Stepping outside she smiled as she headed to the barn and let Jack out. He followed casually behind her as she started walking along watching as the sun rose.

"Oh hey Alice..."

She looked up shocked to see Nathan, North, and Silas on the roof of the building she planned on looking at. "What in the..."

"Surprise?" Kota asked as he came around from the back.

"What is going on?" She asked as Jack pawed the ground, "Easy Sweet Boy."

"I thought we could help you with this," Kota answered honestly. "We had been talking about repairing it for a while now, but we really didn't have a reason until you were asking me about it the other day. Since then, we have been emptying it out and fixing it so when you were ready you could use it."

"You fixed it up for me?" She asked shocked.

"Yes," North nodded.

"We even fixed up the small barn close to it for Jack to stay there when you are over here," Silas said while waving the hammer to the building next to them.

"The plan was to finish it today and tell you about it at dinner tonight," Kota said nervously.

"You did this for me?" She asked again and they nodded. "Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"We wanted to do help you," Silas said honestly. "That's all."

She eyed them leerily, "Thank you," she drew out, "I guess."

"You're welcome," North smiled.

"Would you like to see inside?" Kota asked.

"Is it safe?" She asked and all of them nodded. "Okay."

Kota opened the door and stepped to the side so she could walk in. He showed her the open space, "Gabe drew up some sketches for possible kennel lay outs, he said there's enough space for ten kennels and still have plenty of room. Your office is over here and once you get it set up the way you want, Corey said he can set up the Wi-fi for you. Back here is the fenced activity yard and as you now know here is the barn for Jack. We are going to create a covered walkway between the two this afternoon."

"I can't believe it," she whispered as she took in everything. "Is this your way of trying to apologize for the past?"

"Yes and no," he admitted. "We do want to do whatever we can to apologize for the way we acted but we also just want to help support your business anyway we can."

"Thanks, I guess," she said looking around. "It really is amazing. Jackson and Jasper are going to like this, so are the pups when I find them."

"Will Jack be okay around the dogs?" Kota asked.

"Of course he will," she smirked. "He's a perfect boy."

"Only for you," Kota chuckled.

"Are we going to have problems with the men?" She asked looking at him.

"We've already talked to them, and they are actually looking forward to helping with the dogs and you anyway they can. They don't really know what your program entails but they are willing to listen to you if you need their help with anything."

"Except Andrew," she scoffed. "What is his deal anyway?"

"You already know he has authority issues, but he firmly believes that women belong in the kitchen and are seen but not heard," Silas explained as he came in with North and Nathan behind him.

"Oh, he's one of those," she rolled her eyes. "He also thinks I don't belong here even though this is my family's ranch."

"We are working with him on his issues," North sighed.

"One of his biggest issues besides that is that it's hurting his male ego that he never was able to get Jack to listen to him no matter how much he tried and yet you tiny thing treat him like he's a puppy," Nathan chuckled. "He'll eventually learn to get over it."

"He better," she warned, "or I will fire him, I don't care how much help he is to you."

"We know," they said in unison.

Just then Kota's phone rang, "Hello? Yeah she's here, she found her surprise. Okay, I'll tell everyone." He hung up the phone and chuckled, "Well a few of the guys are disappointed they can no longer surprise you but are excited to hear what you think of it and breakfast is ready also."

She nodded and they headed back to the house. Once everyone was seated the door rang, they looked at one another in confusion so she sighed and stood, "I'll get it not everyone rush at once to answer it." She opened the door and gasped coming face to face with the tall brunette woman with bright blue eyes, "What the fuck are you doing here?"