store with her list of groceries. Maureen, Nancy’s mom, who ran the store, was sitting at the checkout playing some kind of game on her phone.
“Hi, Julia, how’s your dad doing?”
“He’s doing great, Maureen,” Julia called out, as she picked up a basket and headed into the store at some speed. If she stopped to chat on the way in as well as the way out she would be there all day.
She’d done the food shopping and had gone into the back where the Western wear and ranch supplies were located, when her cell buzzed. Thinking it might be her father remembering something he’d forgotten, she pulled it out.
“Hey, Sis.”
She gripped the phone tightly. “Miguel?”
“Yeah, what’s up?”
For a moment her brain filled with so many words that the idea of sorting them into coherent sentences seemed impossible. She already knew that if she started off by complaining about how hard he was to get hold of, he’d simply end the call. She settled on the most important thing.
“Dad’s not been well.”
“Yeah?”
His indifferent tone implied that was old news and nothing to do with him.
“His MS has gotten worse, and he’s having to use his wheelchair to get around most of the time. He isn’t able to get out on the ranch.”
There was a long silence as Miguel obviously digested that.
“Are you with him?”
“Yes, I am at the moment. I’m sorting out the remodel of the house and trying to set up some everyday care for him.”
“I don’t have any more money to send him.”
Julia suppressed a sigh. “I didn’t ask you for any. I can handle the bill for the renovations.”
She waited, but he made no effort to ask what else he could do to help, leaving the burden of the conversation entirely on her. Not for the first time, Julia wondered what had happened to her brother to make him so uninterested in her and his family. He’d changed when their mother had left, and nothing had ever been the same since.
“Dad would really like to see you, Miguel.”
The silence was so long this time that she thought he’d cut the connection so she talked into it.
“He’s worried about the future of the ranch. You know he wants you to be the fifth generation of the family to run it.”
“I can’t come back.”
Julia’s patience grew ragged at the edges.
“Can’t or won’t, Miguel?”
“Does it matter?” He sighed. “Look, Julia, tell the old man that I don’t want the place, okay?”
Even though there was no one in the store, Julia straightened her back. “No, you need to come back and tell him yourself.”
“Why? What difference does it make?”
“Miguel, you owe him that at least. You know it will break his heart.”
“I already told him years ago.”
“And he didn’t believe you.”
“So, why would he believe me now? Better to leave it as it is and wait for the inevitable. Listen, Sis—”
“No, you listen to me.” Julia struggled to contain the shake in her voice. “Are you saying you’d rather wait until he’s dead, Miguel? That you’ll only come back when he’s gone, and you can take what’s yours? If that’s your plan, then you should know that there might not be anything worth having if you even bother to turn up for his funeral.”
He abruptly terminated the connection leaving her staring at the poster on the back wall of the shop of a grinning PBR world champion who looked about twelve years old. She shouldn’t have lost her temper, but his callous disregard for their father had enraged her.
Yet again, Miguel expected her to pick up the pieces, to make everything right. For the first time in her life she wasn’t sure if she was willing to do it. She knew he’d been through a lot—that his military career in covert ops had hardened him into an even tougher version of the boy who had left home. But hadn’t it instilled a sense of responsibility in him too?
She put her phone away and walked over to the veritable wall of denim that covered the back wall of the shop. She’d buy herself and her dad some new jeans and shirts. Shopping always calmed her down. Working her way through the sizes would keep her occupied until she regained control of her emotions and could face Maureen, who was almost as good at ferreting out gossip as her daughter Nancy.
* * *
“That man.” Rae stormed into the kitchen, her hands on her hips, and her cheeks flushed. “Is impossible.”
Kaiden, who had been about