Page 18 of The Surprise

“Because if you are, you should know that I fully support your aunt in buying that ranch.”

“Why?” I ask. “You know everyone around here. Surely there’s someone else whose property she could buy. Or she could keep living here and use the money to buy, like, an apartment complex or something. That would be easier to run and it would provide income for her and Aiden.”

“Beth.” Dad’s not just frowning now. He’s scowling. “Did you mention that to your aunt?”

“I mean, not specifically, but she knows that I like the Brooks family, and I wish they wouldn’t leave.”

“Do not breathe a word of any of that nonsense to Aunt Donna. Are we clear?”

Now it’s my turn to frown. “Why shouldn’t I mention it to her? She’s the one—”

Dad drops the cup he was holding and it clatters across the floor. Luckily it doesn’t break, but I brace myself. A noise that loud is sure to attract Mom’s attention, and she’s going to lecture us both for sure. Only, she doesn’t make a peep. She must be sleeping or something. Maybe she was up late binging a show or shopping online.

“You will not mention it to your aunt, and you will not bring it up to me again either.” Dad doesn’t pick up the cup. He doesn’t wipe up the second splash of water that he created either. He just turns back to the sink and starts washing again.

Does he really think that’s a good enough answer? I’m not four years old. That’s not a reason. It’s a command. “Is it because you want her to stay here and watch Grandpa forever?” I can’t really blame him for not wanting Grandpa back, but it’s not really fair to Donna that she has to care for him alone. She doesn’t even have a live-in nurse to help. “That house she’s in is really small, and there’s no way she’s going to want to—”

This time, Dad doesn’t drop a cup.

He throws it.

It smashes against the wall.

No matter how deeply Mom’s sleeping, she’ll for sure wake up to that noise and come in here. And I hope she does, because when Dad gets this mad, he really scares me. “You will not ask about the Brooks family again. You’re not a Brooks. You’re an Ellingson, and don’t forget that. Are we clear?”

If Mom was gone, I’d slither away to my room to hide. When she’s gone, I escape any way I can, but I know Mom will be here any minute, and that makes me brave. “But why does it have to bethatranch? Why can’t she just buy another ranch? I’m not betraying our family to ask why a totally new family can’t keep their family farm.”

Dad’s hands are balled into fists at his side and he’s trembling as he walks toward me.

“Mom,” I say. “Mom!”

But he doesn’t stop. “It’s not your aunt who’s buying that ranch, you idiot. She’ll buy it, sure, but then I’ll buy it from her with the life insurance proceeds from Grandpa when he dies. That way she gets the cash she wants, and I get the ranch I want, all of it tax free.”

“I don’t understand,” I say.

And that’s true—I don’t comprehend the reasons they’re doing it that way or the motivations behind it. But I’ve known Dad for long enough to get the gist. He’s doing something shady, and he’s using other people to do it.

“Their ranch joins our property across the back,” Dad says. “I’ve wanted it for years.”

“But—”

Dad lifts his hand, his face red, the muscles in his arm taut.

My heart hammers in my chest.

But he extends one single finger, and he shakes it at me. “Do not ask me about this again, and do not talk to anyone about it, especially any of those Brooks kids. Am I being clear?”

I nod tightly.

As I’m walking stiffly back toward my room, it occurs to me to wonder why Mom didn’t show up after Dad shattered that mug. Did she go somewhere? Her car was in the garage when I got home, but maybe someone picked her up. I reroute and turn toward my parents’ room, tiptoeing as quietly as I can. When I peek my head through the door, I see my mother immediately.

She’s passed out, her eyes closed, her mouth open, her fingers clutched around something.

A white pill bottle.

My heart sinks.

She was doing so well. She was better. The rehab worked this time. I was sure of it. So what happened? Why’s she like this again?

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