Free A Moment in Time by Tracie Peterson

another learn from their mistakes, banding together in difficult times, and making changes to how operations were managed had they thrived.
    “Ready to grab something to eat?” Tyler Atherton asked Will.
    Robert felt a little uneasy around the man many presumed would one day become his father-in-law. He’d grown up as just another one of the Barnett children, but as his mother conspired with Tyler’s wife, Carissa, to put Jessica and Robert together, Robert felt Mr. Atherton watched him with an especially critical eye.
    “I’m starved,” Robert’s father said. “Where’s Brandon?”
    “Tied up right now with some horse trading. Said he’d join us across the street.” Atherton motioned to one of the larger restaurants set up to accommodate the cowboys and ranchers.
    Will nodded and the threesome headed out. Robert couldn’t help but wonder if the topic of his marrying Jessica would come up. Mr. Atherton and his father weren’t usually given to such conversational issues, but Robert couldn’t be sure.
    They placed their orders for fried chicken dinners, which came complete with biscuits, gravy, and grits. Robert hadn’t realized how hungry he’d gotten until the serving woman placed a huge platter of chicken and one of biscuits in front of them. She quickly followed with bowls of gravy, grits, and another platter of biscuits.
    Robert’s father paid the woman and then turned to Tyler. “You wanna offer grace, or are we gonna wait for Bran?”
    Tyler grinned. “If he don’t know when to come to dinner, that ain’t my problem. Let’s pray.”
    Will offered a short blessing before the trio dug in. Robertsank his teeth into a crispy chicken breast and smiled at the most satisfactory flavor. He was on his second piece when Brandon Reid finally showed up. Brandon eyed the diminished platter of chicken.
    “Looks like I barely made it in time.”
    “You know how it is,” Tyler teased. “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”
    “And we had to eat,” Will added with a grin.
    Brandon wasted no time in gathering food to his plate. “Well, while you three were sitting here stuffing your faces, I made a great deal for some new horseflesh. Craziest animals you’ve ever seen—got a curly coat.”
    “Why’d you want to go with that?” Tyler asked.
    The question seemed to take Brandon by surprise. “Well, I figured if it was smart to diversify your cattle breeds to make them stronger and fatter, maybe I could come up with a new hardy breed of horse. These curlies are stout but have really great spirits. They aren’t afraid of anything. Could come in mighty handy in a cow horse.”
    “Gotta give you that,” Will said, grabbing up another biscuit. He immediately sopped it in gravy and bit off a huge chunk.
    Robert listened to his elders talk about their purchases and endeavors until the conversation turned to him.
    “So what about you, Robert? You find anything worth buyin’?” Tyler asked.
    Robert looked up from his plate. “Saw some great Angus with Pa. Should be interesting to see how they do, although they don’t seem much suited to our climate. From what the man said, they have a hard time with the heat.”
    Tyler nodded. “But Angus have a good reputation for cross-breeding with the longhorns. Should improve the stock. Instead of twelve hundred pounders we’ll get upwards to two thousand.”
    “Well, given the talk we just heard,” Robert’s father began, “I’m beginning to wonder if we shouldn’t consider opportunities to invest in slaughterhouses back east. Seems Texas cattle are getting noticed, and it might be one way to diversify our investments. Law allows for Texas cattle to be shipped by rail and immediately slaughtered. They aren’t seeing any spread of tick fever that way. So what if we were to set up our own slaughterhouse on the rail line, say in one of the eastern cities?”
    The older men got caught up in the positives and negatives of such endeavors while Robert got