AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I reach across the table to take his hand, and he squeezes mine.
“I’m sorry, Nora,” he whispers. “I love you. I thought I was making a choice that was good for us.”
“I love you too, Daddy,” I say, my voice sounding alarmingly like a little girl’s. “How about this: no more secrets. We tell each other everything, because I can’t have another shock like this.”
He laughs, releasing my hand. “Deal.”
“So. The paper you were holding earlier?”
My dad grimaces. “The hospital bill.”
Oh. Shit.
“Let me see.” I hold out my hand. My dad looks at me, then at the paper, hesitating. “No more secrets, Dad. We’re in this together. We’re going to figure it out together. Whatever we do, we do it together. Got it?”
He sighs, finally handing over the paper. “No more secrets, Bluebird.”
My eyes scan the paper. With each line, my heart sinks.
All things considered? It could be worse. I’ve heard of hospital bills running into the millions. This one isn’t that high. But given that we don’t have a lot of money right now, the number of zeroes on that page is very, very alarming.
I put the paper down. “Okay. It’s not good.”
“No, Bluebird. It’s not.”
“But I think that it’s doable.”
My dad raises an eyebrow. “How?”
I shut my eyes, grimacing. “I think it’s time that I tell you something, too.”
Patiently, I relate the story about the grassfire and the auger. After I get to the part where I went over to the Wild Spur to yell at them, my dad is equal parts horrified and impressed. “Nora. You can’t just run over to our neighbor’s property and get into a fight with them!”
“I can if I think they’re being total jerks,” I say with a little frown.
“I don’t like those damn cowboys,” my dad growls.
That makes two of us. “Yeah. I know. And I don’t like them, either. But Dad… they’re running a pretty profitable business.”
He seems to deflate at the reminder. “I know.”
This is the part that’s going to suck. “They… have a lease agreement.”
His head snaps back up. “What?”
“A lease agreement. They have one that they say they’ve used with some other ranches. Closer to Bozeman,” I elaborate.
He frowns. “I don’t think I’ve heard of them leasing other places.”
“We’re not close to Bozeman. Not close enough to know for sure,” I add.
He nods. “True. Still. I can ask about it when I’m in town next.”
“You do that. All the same, they… offered me a lease.”
“What?”
“To lease some of our land from us in order to raise more horses.”
