by Claire Adams
“Kelsi, so why don’t you want to go out with one of the guys from the dating site?” Hannah asked.
“I just don’t want to,” I said as we sat there.
“Are you afraid you might find a man you like and Clyde will have to adjust to a man in your life?”
“No! Well, I just don’t want to have to deal with it all. I don’t want him to have to meet a strange guy, and I don’t want that guy to have to meet him. My dating life just isn’t possible anymore, and I’ve accepted it. It’s time for me to just be a mother.”
“Maybe you could be an even happier mother if you went on a few dates and took some time for yourself,” Hannah added.
“I’m happy. Don’t you think I’m happy?” I said as I anxiously watched the house.
“Oh, yeah, you look like the picture of happiness,” Kendall said sarcastically.
“Will you two just leave me alone already? Fine, there,” I said as I clicked the accept to the blind date option on my app. “Are you happy? I just agreed to connect with a total stranger who probably isn’t even a millionaire and is going to murder me on our first date. I hope you two are happy.”
“Actually, I read the rules about the blind date section. Only men who had verified identities, platinum status, and had completed a full background check were allowed to pick that option. So, he should be a decent guy,” Kendall added and then saw my darting look at her and she quickly looked away.
“So, a guy with a background check can’t be a serial killer. Good to know.”
“Come on, Kelsi, you had fun at the reunion, right? Maybe you could just go on a date to have a fun night out. You don’t have to marry anyone, and you don’t even have to go on a second date. Just go on one date. This is more about you than it is about this guy. Just talk to him, set up a meeting, and go on one date. I think it would be good for you to have a little excitement in your life,” Hannah said sweetly as she stood with me watching the house.
“I’ll talk to the guy; it’s fine. But I just don’t connect with men like I used to. I’ve got a busy life, I’ve got Clyde, I’ve got the ranch which is now in desperate need of my help. It’s a lot to deal with.”
“You also spend Friday nights watching Netflix and eating popcorn by yourself because Clyde is sleeping by eight o’clock. There’s no reason you couldn’t go on a date. It’s fear, I get it, but you can give yourself the right to have a little fun.”
“I still think you should have gone out with Tyler,” Kendall added.
“Stop. I’m not dating him. He lives halfway across the country and there’s just too much history there. Plus, we don’t really have anything in common anymore. He’s all about the superficial stuff and building his empire now.”
“Fine, but I’m still holding out hope for the guy,” Kendall said under her breath.
I just rolled my eyes as I continued to watch the house. My heart was breaking for my parents and what they must have been going through the last few months as they kept this secret from us. We were adults, though, and we could handle it. I would do everything in my power to make sure our ranch stayed running, and they didn’t lose what they had worked so hard for.
“He’s leaving,” Hannah whispered as we saw the front door open. “Your dad doesn’t even look mad. Look he’s shaking the guy's hand and smiling.”
Seeing how my father was interacting with the loan manager didn’t surprise me, though. My father was kind to everyone, even a man who was clearly trying to take away the life my father had worked for since he was a kid.
The three of us marched right past the black shiny truck and up the front steps to where my father was standing. He just waved and smiled at the man as he drove away and then looked to us as if he didn’t have a thing to hide.
“So,” I said as I waved at the truck leaving. “Is there anything you’d like to tell me?”
I was trying not to be angry with my father, but the frustration of the moment was getting the better of me. How could he have kept this all such a secret for so long? How could he not have trusted me enough to tell me what was going on? I was the responsible one, I was the one who would have helped him figure out our next best approach. He should have trusted me.
“Let’s talk,” he said calmly as we all made our way to the kitchen table.
“I’ll go finish in the barn,” Hannah said as she backed down the steps of the porch.
“No, come in, Hannah; you should know what’s going on, too,” my mother added. “You are all affected by this, and it’s time we shared what is going on.”
The calm resignation in my mother’s voice sent a shiver down my spine. She didn’t even look like she was going to fight for the ranch and she always fought for what was important to her. I didn’t know what all was going on, but I absolutely didn’t like the idea of my mother giving up on anything.
“Are you selling the ranch, Daddy?” Kendall asked.
“Maybe. It’s too much for us to keep running and we are losing money each year. It might be the best option.”
“No,” I said louder than I had expected. “I’ll run it for you. I’ll do everything if I have to. You two deserve to keep the ranch.”
“Kelsi, we are getting old, darling, and it’s more work than it’s worth to us. If we sell it now, we can get a decent offer and have plenty of money to retire with and not have to worry. And as much as we would love to have you run the ranch, you can’t do it alone, and even if we gave it to you, there’s so much money that needs to be invested in the infrastructure.”
Dad was right about the infrastructure, and I knew it. As much as I wanted to scream and yell about them selling the ranch, if we really weren’t making money, I knew there was no way I could take over things. I didn’t have a huge savings account. I didn’t have the ability to buy the ranch from them unless I took out a loan. But what bank would loan me money if the business wasn’t cash positive? The answer was no banks would do that, and I knew it.
“So, what’s going to happen? Are you selling?” I managed to mumble.
“Your mother and I are strongly considering offers. But please don’t think of this as a defeat. We want to retire; we are old. This business is for the young or at least the people rich enough to hire the young. But Kelsi and Kendall, if you want to take over, we will support that. We will co-sign a loan for both of you or either one of you to take over the ranch,” my father said and then paused as he started to get misty eyed.
“This isn’t about the money to us, and if either of you are passionate enough about this, we think you should take over. Our only concern is saddling you with a huge amount of debt at such a young age,” my mother added.
“Well, I don’t want it,” Kendall blurted out.
“Rude much,” I said under my breath.
“What? I don’t want to run the ranch, and I think everyone already knows that. I was just putting it out there so no one was confused.”
“Oh, we all know that you wouldn’t want to take on anything that had responsibilities associated with it.”
“You’re a jerk, Kelsi. I’m responsible.”
“Sure you are,” I said as I continued to be snide and petty.
I wanted to stop. It wasn’t like me to be so rude, but I felt this anger building up inside of me that just had to get out. The more Kendall talked, the more I just wanted to punch her. She was being insensitive, or at least I felt like she was and it was really agitating me.
Our parents had just told us they were done with their dream of ranching. They had just dropped a huge bomb on us, and Kendall didn’t seem to see the significance at all. I’d built my life around someday running this ranch. I didn’t earn money and the small salary our parents paid me had all gone right back into the ranch. I had no savings, I had no future if they sold the ranch. I’d basically be homeless with my five-year-old son. Well, I was sure they’d let me stay living with them, but it sounded like they had big plans for traveling the country and vacationing. There was just so much to
take in that I couldn’t sit at the table any longer.
“Do you want to buy the ranch?” my father asked.
“I don’t know. How am I supposed to know something like that right away? I already felt like the ranch was mine. This is all too much,” I said as tears rolled down my cheeks and I stormed out of the housed toward the barn.
Up until an hour before, I had owned the ranch with my parents. Sure, I didn’t have my name on a piece of paper saying I was an owner, but I ran the place, and I was the one who made most of the decisions. It was me who stayed up late thinking of new ways for us to bring in revenue. The ranch was mine, at least in my mind. But with one quick conversation, my parents wiped away my ownership and set out the realization that I’d have to get a bank loan if I really wanted to own the ranch. I’d never considered I’d have to buy my own family ranch.
Tears weren’t really my thing. I was the strong one. I was the oldest daughter and the person who took care of things most of the time. Things really were out of control if I was sobbing in the corner of a barn, looking on my phone for how to apply for a loan to buy a ranch.
As I clicked through the local bank’s website, I noticed a message pop up from Dating the Rich. I wasn’t normally online when one of those messages popped up, so I glanced at the app to see what it was all about.
Mr. Blind Date: Thanks for accepting my blind date request. I know it’s really weird.
Me: Yeah, it is weird.
I wasn’t going to lie to the guy; it was a little creepy and really weird that he couldn’t even say who he was. I certainly wasn’t in the mood for playing some weird hide-and-seek game with a rich guy who didn’t have something better to do with his time.
Mr. Blind Date: I appreciate you taking the leap. Would you like to talk here for a little bit and then meet up for a date?
I froze as I read his message. Did I want to meet this guy for a date at all?
Chapter Nine
Tyler
“Your father looked so happy to spend the day with you two,” my mother said as we sat down for dinner.
“He looked happy?” Maryanne asked.
“Yes, I saw it on his face. I know he’s sick, but I saw the happiness.”
Neither Maryanne nor I was about to argue with our mother about seeing happiness on our father’s face, but I didn’t see it either. He had been asleep almost our whole visit and only reached out to hold my hand for a brief few minutes before drifting back to sleep. Happiness was not the emotion that came to mind when I looked at my father and how difficult his end-of-life journey was.
“Do you two feel up to talking about the property right now?” I asked.
“I’m not sure. It’s so overwhelming.”
“Mom, we don’t have to deal with it now if you don’t want to, but I’d liked to get a better understanding of what you want to do.”
“She’s selling it,” Maryanne chimed in. “We hardly do anything now and even rent out the entire back half of the property. It would be best to sell it to and we can live off the money. We can still keep the canning store.”
Mom burst into tears as Maryanne talked, and I couldn’t help but look at Maryanne like it was all her fault.
“Good job,” I whispered.
“What? I didn’t do it.”
“I’m sorry, kids. It’s just that I thought your father and I would have had this all settled by the time he got this sick. I didn’t want to have to tell you.”
My gut bunched up in knots at whatever this secret was my mother had been keeping. She was clearly emotional about it all, and that wasn’t how she typically acted. My mother was a rock, she was probably tougher than my father and I put together, so seeing her cry was heart-wrenching for me.
“What is it, Mom?”
“We had a big offer from Everett’s farm and your father and I turned it down. Now they rescinded the offer, and I’m sure they are just waiting for us to go bankrupt so they can steal off the property after your father has died.”
“First of all, we are making great money and won’t be going bankrupt, Mom,” Maryanne said. “Second of all, if you want to sell the property, Tyler can help you, and he’ll make sure you get an insanely high price. Won’t you, Tyler?”
Maryanne looked at me with a death stare that was so intense I had no other option but to agree with her. That was my sister; she was sweet and kind until she wasn’t sweet at all.
“There is no need to sell it at all. I’ll just give you the money, and you can retire, Mom. Please don’t stress out about money. That’s the one thing I’m actually good at,” I joked. “Women, not so good at, but money…that’s something you can count on.”
“I’m not going to let you just give me money, that’s ridiculous,” my mother said as she pulled herself together and sat up straight. “And from what I hear, you are pretty hip with the ladies.”
My sister and I both laughed at my mother’s old fashion language.
“Yeah, I’m hip.” I continued to laugh.
“He is pretty hip,” Maryanne joined in.
“Seriously, what would your ideal price be? Or what would you like to do with the land?” I asked.
“I’ve always hoped that the Sullivans would buy us out. That Kelsi loves ranching. She’s so good with the horses, but since you broke her heart, I don’t see her anymore and I’ve heard their ranch is going bankrupt soon. So, that’s not an option.”
“I didn’t break her heart, she broke up with me,” I defended as if I were still that 18-year-old boy who Kelsi had broken up with.
“They are going bankrupt?” Maryanne asked. “That really sucks. Kelsi is so tough. She and Clyde deserve to keep the ranch. She’s worked so hard and is so strong.”
“Who’s Clyde?” I asked.
My mother and Maryanne looked at each other like they had just let out a national secret. My eyes widened as I stared at Maryanne and waited for her to answer my question. Was Kelsi married? Did she have some sort of live-in boyfriend? Was that why she kept pushing me away and said there was no possible chance I would sleep with her? Something was going on, and by the look on my sister’s and mother’s faces, it wasn’t a secret they were going to be able to keep for very much longer.
“We should get back to talking about our land, Tyler,” my mother said. “I think we should look for some new buyers. Maybe someone out of town. I don’t want the Everetts to get a hold of this. Kelsi’s family won’t have a chance if the Everetts expand even further, but if another small rancher comes in that might actually boost everyone’s businesses.”
I didn’t respond and instead just continued to look from my mother to my sister as I waited for them to answer my question. There was no way they were going to just switch the conversation to something else. I needed to know who this Clyde guy was and I wasn’t moving on with our conversation until I did.
“Maryanne?” I said as I looked at her. “Tell me.”
“It’s no big deal. Really, I just thought she would have told you already. I heard the two of you were very cozy at the reunion. It really is nothing big.”
“If it’s not a big deal, why are you and Mom acting like it’s some sort of national secret?”
“Clyde is her son,” my mother said finally.
“He’s five and the most adorable thing I’ve ever laid eyes on,” Maryanne said. “She’s a single mother and raising him all by herself. Well, with the help of her family of course.”
“She has a son?” I asked as the conversations she and I had had played over in my head.
It was entirely possible that she had told me she had a son and I wasn’t really listening. Sometimes I just zoned out during conversations with women, but I didn’t remember that happening with Kelsi. In fact, I remember being zoned in on every word she was saying and I was almost positive she hadn’t mentioned a son at all. I would have remembered that.
“Yes,” my mother said. “Kelsi is a very strong woman. You two should at least be friends again.”
“We are,” I said softly as I thought about our long horse ride. “Things are good between us, but she didn’t mention a son. Do you think she was trying to keep him a secret from me?”
“No, I think she liked talking to you and reminiscing about easier days. She probably didn’t want to get into the whole sticky mess since you’re only here for a little while,” my mother said as she gently rubbed my hand.
“She was married?” I asked.
“No, he was a jerk and left her while she was pregnant,” Maryanne added.
“Really? What? Who would do that to her? That’s insane. Did she love him? Who was he? Why did he leave?”
I had so many questions that flooded through my brain. I genuinely couldn’t imagine any man leaving her, especially knowing that she was having his baby. It was beyond what I could fathom. Kelsi was the nicest girl I’d ever known. Even knowing that she had crushed my heart, I pretty much deserved it and she was still talking to me all these years later. Whoever this guy was, he had to be a giant ass for leaving her.
“I think you should talk to her if you really want to know the answers to all of those questions. But don’t get her all worked up, you’re going home soon, and she’s got her own life here to deal with. It’s not really any of your business.”
It was like a gut punch to think about all the things I really didn’t know about Kelsi. I didn’t think I deserved to know all about her, but for some reason, I did feel connected to her still. There was real emotion between the two of us, and it went beyond just sexual chemistry. We became adults together throughout our high school years, she and I shared so much back then, and we fell right back into that comfortable feeling while horseback riding. Yet, she hadn’t told me about her son.
I didn’t care if she had a son. Why should I care? Who was I to care if she had a son? We didn’t talk to each other for 15 years; of course she lived her life during those years, and so did I. Plus, I wasn’t going to stay around Rainbow, I had no say in what her life was like and it wasn’t right that I even felt slightly jaded by the news. The truth was, she had a whole life that I didn’t know much about at all, and I hated it.