Page 35 of The Sun Will Rise
“How far is it to walk to your parents’ house?” Her question throws me for a split second. I never think of it as ‘my parents’ house’. My childhood home, sure. The house I grew up in. My family home. But usually, it’s ‘the main house’.
“It’s about a twenty-minute walk. Longer, if you don’t rush.” I round the truck and open the passenger door for her. I dip my head to hers before I finish my thought. “And ain’t nobody rushin’ in Texas heat, baby girl.”
She considers my words for a minute, sliding her sunglasses from the top of her head to her eyes, then nods and climbs in, reaching for the door even as I close it behind her.
By the time we arrive at the main house and make our way through to the kitchen, it’s quite clear we’re the last ones to arrive. Jody is making himself at home rummaging through the fridge, and without even turning to see me in the doorway, he tosses a bottle of water in my direction, followed immediately by a second one. I catch both. He emerges with a third bottle, and a plate of my mom’s strawberry and cream muffins in his other hand.
His own mother, Ms Angie, simply shakes her head as she lifts an enormous mug of coffee to her lips.
“You’d think the poor boy’s never seen food a day in his life,” she says with the tiniest quirk of her lips. “It’s a wonder he stays so skinny.”
“Hollow legs,” Mick Fisher answers, although with his heavy Texas drawl, it sounds a little more likehollerthanhollow. Ms Angie and her husband, Mick, are as close to me as my own parents, and Brooks’ parents too.
Ruth and I take seats at the long dining table, on the bench opposite my parents and Ms Angie. Mick takes a seat beside his wife, and Jody slides in beside me. Ruth pulls out a legal pad and a floral pencil case, and Mom does the same. Ms Angie has a handful of printed pages in front of her.
“So, Ruth, Ev says you might be able to help us out here,” Mom begins. I clear my throat, eyes narrowed. Ruth nudges me gently, a silent instruction to stand down.
“I might,” Ruth says. “It all depends on what you want to do. Ev hasn’t really told me much, so why don’t you tell me the plan?”
Mom and Ms Angie take turns in sharing their ideas for a cooperative business between our two ranches. Mick interjects periodically,with the occasional comment from Dad, and my brain spins a thousand miles an hour trying to keep up.
It’s impressive. Mom and Ms Angie have done a ton of research, that much is obvious. Dad nods along as Mom presents a cost analysis. Ms Angie shares some comments from a couple of businesses in Skillett, about how they believe this will help revitalise the town. By the time they’re done, Ruth has filled two pages with neatly-scrawled notes, and Mom is breathing fast, leaning in across the table with a pleading look in her eyes.
“Okay,” Ruth says, placing her pen on her notepad. “So, where, exactly, do you need my help? It sounds like you have this figured out, to be honest.”
“We needa get contracts,” Mick jumps in, except the wordgetsounds more likegit. “Ain’t goin’ into business with no one without contracts. Not even buddies, am I right, Derrick?”
“You got that right, Mick,” Dad answers. “Ruth, we were kinda hoping, uh—we were hopin’ you might be able to advise.”
“Well, business law isn’t really my specialty,” Ruth starts. “I mean, if youhavea contract drawn up, I can take a look, but—”
“Okay, we can get Malcolm,” Ms Angie says.
“That asshole bought his law degree from Disneyland,” Dad grumbles. “He don’t know shit.”
“Derrick,” Mom admonishes.
“Well, ain’t that why we’d have Ruth look it over?” Jody speaks up. He’s been quiet up to now. “Make sure we ain’t gettin’ fucked in the ass?”
My lips quirk, and I can’t help the smirk that spreads. “Jody Fisher, you kiss your mother with that mouth?”
Across the table, Ms Angie frowns at her son’s language.
“I can definitely take a look,” Ruth says, carefully training her expression. I can tell from the way her eyes sparkle that she’s dying to crack a smile, but she’s determined to keep a professional facade. Dad must be able to tell, too, because his lips twitch, before his mouth opens and he cackles loudly. Before long, we’re all laughing, Ruth and I holding each other and Jody falling into me as tears stream down our faces. Mick slaps a hand on his thigh as he cackles.
“So, that’s it, then,” Dad says, catching his breath. “We get a contract, and Ruth here looks it over for us.”
“Sounds like a job done to me,” Ms Angie says. “I ain’t one for tempting fate, but this sounds like the start of a beautiful partnership.”
“Welcome to the family, kiddo,” Dad says. He winks at Ruth, who beams back at him, and my heart swells to triple its size in my chest. Almost all the people I love the most are in this room right now: Mom, Dad, Jody, Ruth. The only ones missing are Brooks and Ashton. Brooks is outside somewhere, supervising the delivery of animal feed. Ashton’s picture is right above Ms Angie’s head on the wall, eyes sparkling down at me, so it’s almost like she’s here with us.
It’s not lost on me how quickly Ruth has become a part of that group—the group of my favourite people. And it fills me with the most unimaginable joy that my family have welcomed her with such open arms.
We spend a little while longer talking about plans for the new venture, tossing around ideas. Ruth posits the idea of registering the joint venture as a separate business, jointly owned by the Tanners and Fishers, rather than trying to run it split across our two existing ranch businesses. It makes sense, and now Jody is trying to come up with names.
“Tisher? Fanner?” he suggests.
“Be so for real, Jody,” I say with an exaggerated eye roll. “We’re not calling this thingFanner.”
