Page 70 of Cowboy's Last Stand
“There’s work for you here.Just say the word.”
Jason didn’t answer because they’d already been over this.If he returned to Montana, it wouldn’t be for an indoor job.
“I know you’d rather run cattle than keep books, and I’d put you on the team if I could, but your health is too important to risk another head injury.The doctors have been clear.Your years of hard riding are over, son.”
“Would you quit riding after one injury?”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m old,” his father said, his voice raised with ire.“You’re not.You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.”
Jason bit back an angry retort.They wouldn’t talk about the fact that his mother had died in a riding accident.They never talked about her.
“Think on it,” his father said and changed the subject.“Anna wanted me to invite you to Thanksgiving.She’s having a big to-do.It would mean a lot to her if you came.”
Jason didn’t want to be in a house full of Anna’s relatives.They were strangers to him.
“I’m aware that it’s not the most comfortable situation for you, and I respect your mother’s memory—”
“You don’t respect her memory,” Jason said flatly.
“That’s not fair.”
“You got rid of everything she owned.Every keepsake, every photo.”
“I put all of her stuff in the attic.It’s not gone.”
Jason swallowed his surprise.He hadn’t known this because he’d never asked.“You should have told me.”
His father didn’t disagree, for once.“It was hard for me to talk about.I couldn’t look at her things without…”
“Feeling sad?”Jason ventured.
Jeff grunted an acknowledgment.It was the closest he’d ever come to sharing his grief over the death of Jason’s mother.Jason couldn’t appreciate the sentiment, though his father sounded sincere.It was too little, too late.Jason was too raw with other emotions.
“I’m not coming home for Thanksgiving,” Jason said.
“What about Christmas?”
The plaintive tone broke through Jason’s defenses.“Yeah.OK.”
“Good.Good.I’ll tell Anna.”
“Tell her I appreciate the invite.”
“I will.”
“I’ll call you in a few weeks, Dad.”
“All right, son.”
That was as mushy as they got.No declarations of love or affection were expressed.Still, Jason hung up with tears in his eyes.
“What are you doing?”
Jason turned to see Natalie standing at the front of the garage.She was wearing her yellow chenille robe, her hair in a fluffy disarray.She held the slingshot in one hand.Her brow was furrowed with concern.
