Page 25 of Heart & Hope

Cowboy hack.

Loser.

And my parents handed over millions of dollars’ worth of real estate to this sham of a son.

“Reed!”

I slam on the brakes, shaking my head, trying to focus on what is flying up at us fast. Mack grips the dash. No, we are the ones going too fast. We slide to a stop, inches from Pa’s tailgate. His silver truck idles at the gravel road crossroads.

Holy fuck.

“Man, get out and let me drive. You’re not okay.”

Mack doesn’t wait. He slides over the seat, and I hop out and walk around the back of the truck, hands crawling through my hair, tugging as my nerves play havoc with my insides and my mind all at once.

“You wanna talk about it?” Mack says, shifting the truck back into drive as he looks both ways and follows Pa’s truck.

“Nope.”

“This about Ruby?”

I wish.

“Nope.”

“Geez, Reed. Give me something to work with here.”

“Drop it, Mack.”

When I stare out the window, ignoring the eyeballing he’s giving me, he returns his attention to the dirt road, and we make it to the ranch in short time. At least they are close together.

Ma hops out of the truck before Pa does. She is spinning around, arms out, delight on her face. The ranch is a smaller scale compared to ours, but it stills lays claim to two big barns, a homestead, and another small cottage-type building. A stream runs behind the house, about a hundred yards away. A set of cattle yards sit halfway up the nearest hill to the south, and stables are tucked in behind the closest barn to the house.

Yeah, this is definitely real now.

Bile rises in my throat. But before I can retch my insides onto the grass, Ma folds her arm around my shoulders. “What do you think?”

“Yup, it’s epic, Ma.”

My words are strained. I force a smile, and she rests her head on my shoulder for a moment.

“Your mother can show you inside while I help Hudson and Addy,” Pa says.

Huddo’s truck pulls into the driveway with the gooseneck towing behind. Addy sits in the front with him, beaming a smile my way as she waves. I wave back as Ma pulls me toward the house. The porch wraps around the front and one side of the house. A white swing seat hangs by the front door to the left.

“Right, so it’s a bit of a fixer-upper at the moment. But despite the outdated kitchen, the rest is still good. Could use a woman’s touch.” Ma opens the door, and we wander inside. Mack jogs over and walks in behind me.

The front room is something like a mudroom-slash-short hallway before opening into a living room with a fireplace.Sweet. The kitchen is pale wood with a navy counter. The small dining table sits between the front window and the kitchen bench. It’s homey.

“Where’s the bedroom and stuff?” I ask.

Ma almost skips down the hallway, waving to steps that lead to the upstairs. The house didn’t even appear big enough for an upstairs from the outside. We walk up the creaking stairs. When we reach the top step, three doors end the small landing.

“Your guest bedroom is here,” Ma says, opening the first door. A white room with a wrought iron bed sitting on hardwood floors. When she opens the center door, a full bath, white also. Neat and clean, not bad. At the final door, she hesitates.

“What?”

“This is your master.” She pushes the door open and steps aside, letting me go in first. I step through, and the giant rustic wooden bed sits on the wall to the left, a fireplace on the right. A huge bay window looks over the southern fields. I pad to the window, running a hand behind my neck. Below, Hudson is leading Magnet to the barn. Addy follows with Charlie in tow.

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