Page 14 of The Surprise
“Well, the Aiden stuff is still true.”
Her already sleeping son needs to go to bed, so she can’t tell me things now? Or she needs more time to come up with a lie to cover for what she’s really doing? She really does think I’m an idiot. “Whatever. You’re as bad as Dad.”
Looks like that insult landed. Aunt Donna looks ill. “Look, that ranch has been in the Brooks family for a long time.”
Huh? “What does that have to do with us?”
“When Jed died, he left the ranch to them,” she says.
“I know.” I’d heard that much.
“Except he had a stipulation, probably because they’re outsiders. He said that it had to be worked by them for a year before they could inherit it.”
“Right, Ethan mentioned it.” Why did I say his name? Why didn’t I say the kids told me?
“Well, anyway, I’m not sure they’ll really want to hang out with us, since they’re not from here.”
“Nice try.” She had a hunch. That means there’s more than a general guess. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Aunt Donna looks like her foot’s caught in a rat trap. “Here’s the deal. As part of my divorce settlement, I’ll be coming into quite a bit of money, but that money’s coming from the sale of real estate, and I’ll have to buy more real estate with it as part of the terms of the deal. It’s called a 1031 exchange.”
“I still don’t get—”
“I’d like to stay here, close to family, and the obvious place for me to buy is—”
Oh. She wants to buy the ranch, which means they’ll be leaving. So she doesn’t want me to get my hopes up that we’ll be great friends, because she thinks they’ll be gone soon. “Jedediah Brooks’ ranch. Which means, they’d need to not keep it.”
I can’t believe that someone finally moves here, someone her kid likes, too, someone who she seemed to like, and she wants them to sell up and leave, just like that. “You want them to sell to you? But Ethan wants to stay. He wants to keep the ranch.”
“Something like that.” Why does Aunt Donna look so sick about it? Maybe she feels guilty about buying out the new people, too.
“I hate this crap.” I fold my arms. “You took me over there, knowing you wanted to kick them out.” I can’t keep sitting in this car with her. I’m too mad.
Ethan’s mother isn’t too happy he’s working as a rancher. She wants to go back home. That much is completely clear. I imagine that, as soon as they get a decent offer, they’ll be gone. I might slam the door a bit too hard when I exit, but as I run up the path to my house, I just keep thinking about Ethan and I get more and more upset.
He’s the first guy I’ve really liked. . .maybe ever. Which is pathetic, but nevertheless true. And the only thing worse than losing someone you like is losing someone youlove.
That’s why, when he texts me the next day and calls me the same night, I blow him off. In fact, every time he texts me for the next week, I either ignore his text or I respond with something noncommittal. If I like him this much after one single family dinner? How bad will it be when he blames me for losing the ranch and leaves forever?
But I can’t help looking at the shiny, warm photo I took of their family every night before I go to sleep and wishing I had a life like that instead of the one I have.
4
Ethan
Ineed a car.
After my dad died, Mom let me drive his, and that was pretty cool. It was a four-door BMW—a few years old, but really nice. I mean, it was an older guy’s car, but I didn’t complain.
But when we moved out here, she understandably felt that it wasn’t really a “ranch” car, and she sold it.
Now we share her Tahoe, and it’s pretty annoying, to be honest.
Mom’s all into the “earn your own way” thing, and I don’t mind. I’ve seen lots of my friends get into trouble by having their parents hand them everything, but I’m running a ranch right now so I can’t really pick up part-time work. And unfortunately, it’s pretty unclear where the money from the cattle will go when all is said and done. Mom probably knows what the will says, but when I try to read it, it’s like my French final exam.
Unintelligible.
Which means in addition to not having a car, I have no plan to get a car in the foreseeable future. So when I tell Mom I need the Tahoe to grab some supplies for fence repairs, she hands me a shopping list and tells me to stop at the True Value to pick up groceries.
