as you want, and you won’t have to rush home at three o’clock to meet me here, and I’ll get to study.”
“Mm hm,” Montana said, trying to decide how to phrase the question she wanted to ask. She took a few more bites of her apple while she popped the top on her soda and took a drink.
“And Ollie’s just a…friend? Or we think he’s super cute too?”
“Oh, he’s super cute,” Aurora said, squealing a little bit. “And, Mom, he’s tall. And dark, and you’re always telling me I need some height and some color so my kids aren’t pale dwarves.”
Montana laughed with her daughter, finished her apple, and drew her into a hug. “I love you, bug.”
“I love you too, Mom.”
“I’m….” Montana didn’t know how to tell Aurora about Bishop. “I have a business meeting tonight,” she said, the words only a little false. “I might have found another job that could help us get a place of our own.”
“I like living with Aunt Jackie and Uncle Bob,” Aurora said. “I have my own room, and the yard is big enough for a dog….” She lifted her eyebrows, such hope in her eyes.
Montana shook her head, but she kept a smile on her face. “We’re not around enough for a dog, sissy.”
“I know.” Aurora left her can of soda on the counter, where Montana would likely pick it up, dump whatever she hadn’t drunk down the drain, and put the can in the recycle bin. “So, what’s the new job?”
“Oh, it’s this ranch south of town,” she said. “They need a full-time carpenter for a while.” She hoped. She should probably pray, but she didn’t want to hitch everything to hope and prayer.
“South of town is perfect for me to go to Ollie’s after school….” Aurora said.
Montana shook her head. “You can go tomorrow,” she said. “But you’re not going every day.”
“Maybe I could, though.”
“Aurora.” Montana shook her head again, stronger this time. “His parents are going to be home tomorrow afternoon?”
“Yes,” she said.
“And you know we don’t go in a boy’s bedroom.”
“I know.”
“If he sends you pictures of himself, you….”
“Mom, I know.”
“Tell me as if I don’t know.” Montana sometimes felt uncomfortable talking to her teenager about boys and hormones and sex, but it had to be done.
“I show you the picture, and then I tell him not to send me things like that, and then I block him.”
“Good,” Montana said. “But before that, you tell him your mother is coming over with an assortment of hammers.”
“Mom.” Aurora laughed and rolled her eyes. “Okay, I’m going to go do that English essay that’s due tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Montana said, not really registering what her daughter had said until she was halfway down the hall. “Wait,” she called. “I thought you finished that.”
“Almost done,” Aurora said, and the next thing Montana knew, her bedroom door clicked closed.
“That girl is going to be the death of me,” Montana muttered. She looked up to the ceiling. “It would be nice if I could get some help with her.”
Montana had prayed for help in every stage of Aurora’s life. When she’d come home from her apprenticeship one day and found her husband had brought someone else home, Aurora had been four years old.
She’d finally packed their bags, and it had just been the two of them for the past decade. Most of the time, Montana was just fumbling her way through the darkness.
She turned to the fridge too, because as part of her rent, she made dinner every night. She’d gotten a package of chicken breasts out of the freezer that morning, and she set them on the counter so she could put a stock pot on the stove with plenty of salted water.
Once she had the pasta boiling, she got to work butterflying the chicken breasts and dredging them in flour and then panko breadcrumbs. They sizzled in the hot butter and oil, and once they were crispy and brown, she put them on a plate and added flour to the fat in the pan.
She’d just whisked in cream, cream cheese, and parmesan cheese when her phone rang.
Aunt Jackie’s name sat on the screen, and Montana tapped with a clean knuckle to connect the call. “Hello,” she said. “Dinner’s almost done.”
“I’m getting the bread,” Aunt Jackie said. “And you’re fine to go to your meeting tonight.”
“Okay,” Montana said. “Thanks.”
“Bob should be there any minute. Remember he’s got that boy with him.”
Montana’s mind blanked for a moment, and then she remembered that Uncle Bob