“Maybe if you explain what you’re thinking,” Mama Louise says gently.
I swallow, feeling like I’m stepping onstage for the first time—those nerves, the questions of whether I’m good enough, and the excitement that I could make something happen. “We’d make a down payment now and work out monthly payments, like I said. You’d essentially be the mortgage company, Mama Louise. And when we’ve paid off the loan, it’ll be ours again, free and clear.”
“That sounds good,” Mama Louise agrees easily.
Mark isn’t such an easy sell, following Brody’s refusal but for a different reason.
“Land aside, how’re we supposed to figure out the rest of the ranch? We didn’t just buy your acres. We bought the whole operation—animals, crops, and equipment. They’re all Bennett assets now.”
I shrug heavily. “I’m not sure, but I figure between all of us, we can work it out. A co-op, working together? Or we can buy cattle back for a price per head? Ranching and farming have been going well so far, so maybe there’s a way to keep things how they are, sharing the profits and the work. We’ll still be family, all of us. I don’t want that to change. We’ll just have our own land, our own legacy back, but a shared future between the Tannens and Bennetts.”
I don’t have all the details worked out. That is Brody’s area of expertise, and I trust him to work with Mark to figure it out, and Allyson can do whatever legal contract work we need. But first, they have to agree to let me buy the farm back.
Mama Louise sets her fork down and interlaces her fingers. “Sounds good to me if it’s okay with the boys.” She looks at James, who nods, Luke, who holds his hands out, and Mark, who grunts but looks at Brody.
The ball’s in his court.
“It’s yours, Brody,” I tell my brother, sharing business I know he’d rather keep private, but if I don’t lay everything out now, we’ll all pay the price of his stubborn pride. “I know you need it. But it’s ours.”
Rix lays her hand over Brody’s. I don’t know what conversations they’ve had about our family and our farm, but she seems to know how much this means and how difficult it is for him to agree. I need to give him a way to save face, a reason to say yes. Lighter, I joke, “Besides, I’m gonna need a place to come home to after my concert tours. Roughing it in one of those fancy RV buses with my name on the outside is gonna be hard. Actually, I might just buy one and park it where your truck is now.”
He chuckles, rolling his eyes to the ceiling. “You’re such a shit. Had to rub my nose in that, didn’t you?”
To her credit, Mama Louise still doesn’t interrupt to correct his language, though I think she’s literally biting her tongue not to do so. I’m sure she can sense that we’re on the verge of something major.
“I could probably get you tickets next to Shay’s if you want? Probably not free, but at a discount, at least.”
Brody throws a solid punch at my shoulder, and I rub at the bright spot of pain. For a moment, I think he’s going to agree that easily. But he sobers and shakes his head. “Bobby—”
Willow interrupts his sad tone, musing aloud, “Sometimes, you love by doing things for people. I get that, believe me, I do.” Her eyes pin Brody. “You get that. Maybe we do things differently, but you take care of them.” She doesn’t have to explain who she means. We all know what Brody has done for us, how much he’s given up to handle everything when Dad went off the rails. And they all understand why Willow did what she did too. “But I’ve learned that doing things for others sometimes means letting them do stuff for you.”
Brody looks at Shayanne, who’s smiling wide enough to see nearly every tooth in her head. Then Brutal, who grunts.
Finally, we’re eye to eye.
“It’ll be rough out here without you, but I reckon we can make it work while you’re on the road in that fancy tour bus with people chanting your name. Can’t say I understand it.” He scratches at his lip with his thumb. “But I can’t fault people for their poor taste if it’s buying the family farm, now can I?” The sarcasm runs deep through every syllable. If he’s back to