“Your brother needs braces,” he continued. “And then he’ll want to go to college, and I—I would like to get some small cottages or cabins built on the land. They would be great money in; we could turn this place into a retreat.”
This was new, although maybe not quite as new because Olivia was right behind him in her sweats, rolling her eyes. Her laptop in her arms and an empty coffee mug clung to with one hand. “You’re not talking about turning this place into a resort again,” she grumbled.
The timer on the microwave beeped, and all I wanted was to eat.
“We’ve got the land,” he said. “We just need the cash flow to get things started.”
She cooed, a smile on her face. “Does he know what you plan on doing to get that?”
“No, what?” I asked as the microwave beeped again. “You’re not selling the alpacas. People love them. I love them.”
“Jace, I don’t know how profitable they are in the long term,” he said. “We only get to harvest their wool or whatever once a year. Other than that, they’re not all that great.”
“Did you just come in here to annoy me?” I asked.
“That’s not even the part I was thinking,” Olivia said with that smile still on her face, so annoying to look back at me. “If the horses don’t make good studs, he’s thinking of putting them up for auction at the Saddle Up event.”
That was news. I knew he wanted to try and breed them and what-not, but to sell them, to get rid of all of them, and—and Lorenzo, that was news, and I didn’t like it, even though the horses weren’t something I particularly liked. I was beginning to form attachments… to Lorenzo, and he was attached to the horses.
“It’s not a done deal,” he said. “But it’s going to cost a small fortune for us to get the horses down there in the first place. And then, we need to be making money somehow. It’ll be nothing short of a miracle if we don’t go bankrupt before then.”
Olivia scoffed. “And now you’re just being dramatic.”
“Did you just follow me in to argue again?” he said to her.
The microwave beeped a third time, and that was my cue. I took the pot of gravy out with a kitchen towel and replaced it with the plate of food. I was getting out of this kitchen as soon as possible. “I’m gonna eat in my room,” I said, but it didn’t stop them from trying to bring me into their argument with those leading questions ofwhat do you think, Jace?
My room was my safe space. It was where I could unwind and put on a cute onesie, plug in my earphones, listen to some Britney Spears and color, or play, it was all I needed after a long day. I was already being tested around the horses, and around Lorenzo, being tested at home was like one of the rings of Hell, and I didn’t know which, but I didn’t like it.
I didn’t stay up long after eating, passing out with my stuffies around me, and one of them trying it’s best to get me acting like my dad with a sore back from a long night of digging me in the spine.
My routine was out of whack, and I needed to get it back on track. I started my morning by assessing my sticker chart. I now had more than enough to get my play farm of animals, but with all the talk about money troubles, I didn’t want to buy anything new right now.
After rewarding myself for yesterday, I was beginning to fill out a new column I’d labeled,horse stuff, and it would soon be replaced with its own star chart that Lorenzo was going to take control of. It had me giddy, even though he wouldn’t have prepared anything overnight, it was still his suggestion, and that was more than I thought he would’ve ever done.
I didn’t want to jinx it, but it was Daddy behavior.
Showering and getting ready for the day, I’d excited myself to the point of nearly forgetting that coffee was supposed to be the morning adrenaline rush. I pocketed some gold stars from a fresh sheet of stickers, and I emptied out a fresh pot of coffee into two thermoses to take to Lorenzo.
The morning air carried with it a bitter wind that rattled some of the wood slat window covers. They were all hooked in place, and you couldn’t hear the rustle or bangs from them in the house, but outside, it sounded like someone was bashing pots and pans together. I hugged the two thermoses against my chestand zipped a fleece jacket up around them, keeping me toasty warm on my short walk to the stables.
The door was slightly open when I arrived. I headed inside to the darkened stables where I saw a small lamp on a table and the sleeping bag on the ground, but Lorenzo wasn’t in it, or there at all. I called out and even went as far as to look in each of the stalls, disturbing the horses in the process which scared me to hear them seemingly communicate and what I could only assume was them talking about me.
Offloading the thermoses from under my jacket by the small table, I almost poured myself a cup before beginning to worry that something might’ve happened to Lorenzo. Maybe he’d heard about what my dad was planning and realized that it wasn’t worth the work he was putting in for them to be sold off. At least, that’s what I was thinking.
“Lorenzo? Are you hiding?” I called out again, but he clearly wasn’t in here.
I zipped my fleece jacket all the way up to my neck and went back out. It wasn’t until I walked halfway around the stable that I saw a figure stood a little further away. With it’s back to me, I knew it was Lorenzo, staring off into the mountains in the very early dawn light.
“Hey,” I called out to him.
He turned, flinching, his cock in hand, pissing. “Crap,” he grumbled, turning back.
I froze, telling myself to turn away, but I’d seen it. Damn.
“I didn’t want to go too far,” he called out, stuffing his cock back inside his trousers. “It was only a number one.”
With the cold air nipping at my face, I was already turning pink. “It’s fine,” I said. “I didn’t see anything.” That was a lie, I’d seen it all, even the way he pulled his shirt up like he was letting his bush air out in the breeze.
