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“I hate this place.” He held up a hand. “Fine. I’ll sell it. Full market value.” His hand moved to offer a handshake.
“I don’t do handshake deals. Sign. Now.”
Kevin went red in the face, but he took the papers that I offered him.
“I want my lawyers to review it. In case you have any bright ideas.”
“Sure, have lawyers review it. But the more you piss off Jade, the less it’ll be for.”
“You can’t change it once you’ve offered it to me.”
“There’s a clause in there for making me wait. The longer you do, the less it’s worth.”
Kevin scoffed again and flipped through the pages. I knew what was in that offer. It was more than Kevin would ever get if he tried to sell it anywhere else. Even with the deductions.
He stormed to the desk and took a pen, scribbling his name on it. “You small-town hicks don’t know what you’ve lost.”
My chest loosened at seeing his signature on the offer. Finally, the land would be back in our hands.
“We small-town hicks are happy with exactly what we have,” I said, a genuine smile taking over my face. “So fuck off into the sunset and never come back, Kevin.”
The grass was growing back slowly from the bulldozers. I shivered in my jacket, and a hand tugged on my own.
“You broke me out of school for this?” Agnes frowned. Beatrice was still near the car. She’d agreed to be taken out of school, but she didn’t want to come all the way to the tree line. Agnes was a bit more adventurous.
“I’m having fun.”
“It’s cold as shit. My hands are gonna fall off.”
“Sorry.” I put her hands in mine to warm them up. “I just wanted to stop here now that everything is signed.”
Agnes nodded and looked out across the land. “What are they doing with it?”
“Your dad said it would be a surprise. I don’t think he’ll change it much, but this is the last time I can see it as it was, but it’ll be better.”
“What does that mean?” Agnes asked.
“Can we go get food?” Beatrice called.
“Yeah, yeah. I suppose I should feed you while I watch you.” I took in all the land for one more moment. I knew the spring wouldn’t change, and it was far too cold to go there anyway. Once I had my fill, I walked Agnes back to the car.
Gabe had made true on his promise to get me a new vehicle after I won my bet. I was fine with something used and cheap, but he went above and beyond as usual. For the first time, I got to directly see how much money he had, and my new car was nicer than anything I ever imagined.
“Where did Daddy go?” Beatrice asked.
“He went to get the things not burned from San Francisco and his computer, remember?”
“Why is he getting his computer?”
“He wants to start coding again.”
I kept smiling as I thought about us talking about it. He wanted to make a new game, one that matched everything he’d been through. It would be set entirely in a small town.
I couldn’t wait to play it.
He’d offered for Beatrice and Agnes to go with him, but they turned him down. They both really wanted to go to Jasmine’s birthday party, which was this weekend.
As time went on, both of us were finding a rhythm that worked for us. Slowly, we were able to find time to do our hobbies. Gabe worked at night and I hired someone for the shop during the day. Sometimes, Atticus helped. Other times, other people in town stepped in. The girls were slowly trusting everyone else, and it made it easier for them to be watched.
