Page 5 of Tail Me No Lies
“The old Sarl place went for half that.”
And had sat vacant since spring.
“The Sarls also have a mornclaw infestation. Anyone dumb enough to buy that property is going to spend a fortune exterminating them.”
Geral fumed, growing redder.
“Oh, was that you? I’m surprised you have the money to waste,” she said, which was a lie. Geral had money, which was the real reason he was a pain in her butt. He had clout and the credits to back him.
“It’s not a waste if it gets rid of you,” he snapped. “You think about that when you’re scrubbing off the house’s new decorations.”
Fuck this guy. He was a cartoon villain and as subtle as a mallet to the head.
“How do you know about the graffiti?”
“I heard someone mention it.”
“No one knows, just Serene. Are you admitting to vandalizing my house?”
“Myhouse.”
“My house,” she repeated.
“For now. Enjoy it while you can.”
* * *
Ruth hadplenty of time to fume on the drive back to the farm. Geral’s smug face and Serene’s words about finding a mate played in her head.
By the end of the evening, she filled out the Celestial Mates application. Fury motivated her to act before thinking. After dinner and some time to calm down, she hesitated to submit the form.
It wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t.
Lots of people used matchmaking agencies. This so wasn’t a big deal.
She couldn’t work the farm alone. That was a fact. She wouldn’t give it up either. The professor’s work—their work—was vital. It would save lives, and right now that work was growing in the fields. She couldn’t pack up the lab. Not yet. After the harvest, she could move. Until then, the crops needed to be tested with real-world conditions and survive the extreme Corravian weather. An agripod or greenhouse would not do. Leaving wasn’t an option.
She could still contact an employment agency, but Serene’s words about finding a mate struck a chord in her.
Why shouldn’t she find a man interested in marrying her?
She had several perfectly reasonable explanations.
One, the farm was isolated. Comms didn’t always work. Bad weather often made travel difficult. Safety demanded that there be someone else on the farm.
Two, she needed another pair of hands. There was too much work for one person. A partner would lighten the load.
Three, she’d have to go to the next town over if she wanted to find that partner. There weren’t enough hours in the day to get the bare minimum done—how was she going to drive for an hour there and back to woo someone? Her old clunker might not be able to make the trip anyway.
Four, and this was the longshot, she was thirty-six. She didn’t expect to immediately fall in love with whomever the agency sent, but she expected that they’d have the same goals. She wanted a partner and children eventually. Waiting when she knew what she wanted seemed silly. Love would be an added benefit.
Five…she didn’t have to explain herself.
She submitted the application before she could talk herself out of it.
Done.
She couldn’t leave the farm and abandon the professor’s—now her—research. She needed a partner to come to her, which wasn’t usually the way of things. The phrase was mail-order bride, not mail-order husband. It probably wouldn’t happen anyway. Who wanted to come to one of the most isolated regions of Corra, a planet on the fringe of settled space and not convenient to anywhere?
