Chapter 10
CHAPTER 10
“Well, shit,” Erin laughed along with the others. “I guess I better offer you the job then. Julie Truman, would you take the position of my PA to help me in the office, starting in one month? Will that give you enough time to pack and move?”
“It should, as long as I can get a storage unit here, I should be fine. I’ll have to buy a truck, then rent a U-Haul.” Julie saw Erin’s expression and chuckled. “Yes, Erin, I will accept your invitation to work as your PA.”
They stood, walked down the table and sealed the deal with a handshake. When they settled back down, Erin looked at Sara. “Sara, would you like to come and work at Broken Two when you are done with your schooling?”
“Yes.”
“I only have one question.”
“What’s that?”
“I heard Scott say you had to turn in a dissertation, does that mean that you would be Dr. Sara Truman, and you would be a psychiatrist? Would you be able to prescribe medication?”
“Oh my god, yes, yes I would.” She looked around and ended up looking at her sister in shock. “Holy shit, I’m going to be a doctor.”
Julie laughed and hugged her sister. They broke apart and with her hand over Julie’s Sara wiped a tear. “We can thank Aunt Lydia for it all.”
“Why?” Scott asked.
“See, after the funeral, and the reading of the will, Aunt Lydia sat us down and talked to us like real people. Just like I mentioned earlier. She told us to tell her what we wanted out of life, not to think of how our parents were gone, but what our plans were before they were taken from us. I told her about my wish to join the Navy, but told her that wasn’t feasible now that there was no one to take care of Sara. She listened to me, but didn’t comment, then asked Sara the same thing.”
“A week later, she came to me and told me that we needed to go to my recruiter. In that time, she’d been able to go through Mom and Dad’s records and learned the house only needed a few more payments before it was paid in full, what the taxes were, what I had to do in order to start my Navy career, and what needed to be done with Sara and the house.”
“What did the recruiter say?” Denver asked.
“Aunt Lydia went with me, and together we explained the entire situation. I told him what I wanted, and what I could do. He said he’d get back to me. Two days later, he showed up at the house. The four of us, I never excluded Sara from anything, sat down and talked. He told me if I could still go to boot camp, and the training and schooling directly after that, I could return home and be a reservist. Once Sara was ready for college, or eighteen, I could go back to him, and change my status to active duty. The only thing I would have to do was go through a two-week mini boot camp, and about a week of schooling.”
“Wow, I didn’t know you could do that,” Perry said.
“I didn’t know I could return to active duty after I lost my leg,” Reid spoke for the first time. He looked at Julie. “I’m surprised they didn’t offer you the same chance.”
“I was two months away from re-enlistment when the accident happened.”
“Ah, I had just re-enlisted the previous year, and had five more years on my term.”
“Does that make a difference?” Sara asked.
“It could, personally I think it all depends on the individual. I hate to admit this, but I was getting burned out. I know I joined the Navy, but my entire six years on active duty was spent aboard a ship.”
“I pushed my return,” Reid admitted. “In my mind I had to make fifteen years. Don’t ask me where that number came from, but that is what I pushed for. It was my physical therapist at the rehabilitation center that told me I could get back on the SEAL team.”
“What did you do on the ship?” Perry asked.
“I was the Chief Communications Officer.”
“Holy shit,” several of the men said, and Julie saw them all look at her with respect.
Erin laughed. “That’s why I’m hiring her as my assistant. She will be mainly running Riceman Stallions, but also fielding any calls, or things that I’m starting to put off because I don’t have the time. I’ll still be available to answer any questions for the construction going on, but I wouldn’t say I’ve been slacking off on Riceman Stallions, but I’m not keeping on top of it like I should. When Julie comes back here to live permanently, then that will be her primary job, but I will slowly introduce her into the other branches of what we do. The kicker would be if she gets along with Tom.”
“Is he a bad person?”
“No, but he’s our veterinarian, and he’s just as busy as we are.” Erin held up her stump and shook her head at Julie. “You don’t have to worry about him hitting on you, he’s about fifteen years older than all of us. He’s not married, but he’s not creepy either.”
“Got it.”
“Can you tell us what happened after you left for boot camp?” Adele asked. “What happened with Sara?”
“Oh,” Julie said on a laugh as she looked at her sister. “Do you want to tell them?”
“Sure. What Julie didn’t say was that Uncle Darren was with us when we went to the recruiter for her. After we learned that Julie’s life didn’t have to be put on hold because of me, our Aunt and Uncle went home for a couple of weeks and made changes in their lives for us. They never had any children of their own, and Aunt Lydia was able to talk with her job and could work remotely. She returned a couple of days before Julie had to leave, and while Julie was gone, which turned out to be about eight months, Aunt Lydia stayed with me. Life went on as usual for me, and if he could, Uncle Darren came there on Friday night and left on Sunday. If he couldn’t make it, and if I didn’t have anything for school happening for the weekend, we went to her place. They lived one to two hours away. Oh, and if the house needed any maintenance on it, Uncle Darren would do it on his weekends there. There were somethings that he made sure that Julie and I knew how to do on a regular basis. Changing the filters in the furnace was one of them.” She looked at her sister with a grin.
“When I returned and was set up with my reservist status, Aunt Lydia went back home and only checked in on us via phone. They would come over for a weekend about every three months and Uncle Darren would make sure the house was up to par,” Julie had taken up the story by then.
“One of the great things about having Aunt Lydia there for those eight months was that she taught me how to cook. Mom had started doing it, but then the accident happened. I know this might sound corny, but she also taught me how to budget my money, what was important to pay on the house, like the taxes, and not to forget them. When Julie got home, she did the same for her.”
“Yes, because it was only like four weeks from the funerals to when I had to leave for boot camp, I didn’t really know what was going on. When I returned, she told me everything. I was Sara’s legal guardian, Aunt Lydia was only granted temporary guardianship while I was away, and with her staying in our house, Sara didn’t have to worry about moving, or changing schools, or anything like that.”
“Do you see them any longer?” Scott asked.
“Unfortunately, we lost them both in the last year and a half. Uncle Darren had a massive stroke that he didn’t survive, and we think Aunt Lydia gave up after that. She passed away four months later. The doctors couldn’t tell us why, because there was nothing wrong with her.” Sara shook her head sadly.
“I think she died of a broken heart,” Julie said just as sadly. “See, they were both older than Mom by ten years. They met in the second grade and they first became fast friends, then in junior high, they became boyfriend and girlfriend. They married at eighteen, and they were married for almost fifty years. They were almost seventy when they passed.”
“Wow,” Scott said. He reached out and took Julie’s hand in his. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. The only downside of it all was that they never changed their wills after our parents died. They had left everything to Mom, but they had a one-line statement in there that said if Mom was gone before her, then everything would revert to us if we were of legal age at the time of their deaths.”
“While we were going through their things, we found a folder in Uncle Darren’s desk that contained a list of charities he wanted to donate to if he had the spare money. Oh, don’t get us wrong, they weren’t poor, but then they weren’t well-off either. They both had good paying jobs, and their bills were paid. The house was paid for, just like ours had been, and after discussing it with Sara, we decided to divide up their savings and most of the money from the sale of their house, and gave it to those charities in their name. We didn’t need the money, but we kept enough just to have a good chunk of emergency money in case something in the house broke.” She turned to look at Erin. “If you need us to, we can pay you rent.”
“You will not,” Erin said firmly, and when everyone bent their heads, Julie took that as a sign to not argue with the other woman. After that, everyone started cleaning up, and shortly after everything was done, the party broke up.
Julie looked up when Scott sat down next to her. “Can you stay out here and talk for a few minutes?”
“I can.” The area they were in was a space between the two large cabins, Manny, Ann, and Scott stayed in one, while Erin had offered Julie and Sara to stay in the other one. Julie had yet to unpack. She’d only laid her overnight bag on the bed before going down to join the others.
Scott stoked the small fire they had going in the pit before he pulled a chair over to sit beside her. They both stared into the flames until he reached over and took her hands in his. He adjusted himself in the seat so he faced her. With her hand still in his, he sighed heavily, then started to talk, “I like you Julie, like, really like you. I’ve never done anything like this before, so please bear with me here.”
“Okay, but what are you doing that is new?”
“Telling you I like you before we even start anything. I know you’re leaving here in a couple of days to go to Denver with Sara, then if I remember correctly, you’ll be flying out of Denver to go back home. Once there, you’ll finish your life there and move here.”
“So far, you are correct.”
“Good, now I’m telling you that I like you because I want to get to know you more when you are here permanently.” He shook his head and held up his hand when she started to say something. “No, let me finish please. I’m not going to put any pressure on you, I’m not that type of guy. I’m just letting you know that I like you, and once we are done with our work for the day, I will be looking forward to spending time with you. We can share a meal, talk, get to know each other to see if this will go anywhere.” He paused and watched the emotions crossing her face, and waited until she had her thoughts together, then smiled when she looked at him.
“Okay, since you were honest with me, I’ll be honest with you. Scott, I like you too, I really do, and yes, once I move here, I would like to see what can develop between us. However, just as you said, there’s a lot for me to do when I get back home.”
“What’s with the scowl?”
“I have a feeling that once I put the house on the market, I’m going to get hassled by the Garrisons.”
“Why would they hassle you?” Scott was genuinely confused as to why something like that would happen.
“You saw my house, right?”
“Yes, it’s a beautiful house.”
“Thank you, as I mentioned earlier, Sara and I inherited it from our parents. What I didn’t tell anyone was that back in the day, back when Mom and Dad were dating, Mrs. Garrison’s family hit hard times. See, her family were the richest people in that town, and they lorded it over everyone. I don’t know exactly what happened, no one will tell me all the details, but there was a scandal, and the home went up for sale around the same time. With help from both sets of parents, Mom and Dad bought the house at auction. Or so the story goes.”
“Oh, shit. Does she think your parents stole it from her family?”
“I have no clue. All I was told was that there was a scandal, everything had to be sold, and the family disappeared overnight. I know it wasn’t that fast, but you know how stories go, once everything was sold, they were gone. Years later, Mrs. Garrison returned with her husband on her arm. He’s not as rich as her family had been, but they were able to live comfortably. I hate using these words, but it’s the only way I can explain things. They were considered middle-class while my family was considered upper middle-class. Neither family wanted for anything, and when my grandparents passed, there was some money inherited from both sets. Aunt Lydia said that was how Mom and Dad were able to pay off the mortgage in ten years instead of the thirty years they had borrowed for. I think they left the last little bit at such a low amount that it was like pennies on the dollar, just so that the mortgage would pay the taxes.” She shook her head, tightened her grip on his hand, and stared into the flames as she continued to tell him about her past.
“Violet Garrison always, always had her nose up in the air when it came to my family. She never came right out and confronted us, but she would make veiled, snotty comments about us not deserving the house, or that we stole it from her family, or my parents got it using unsavory tactics, shit like that. Sara and I learned at an early age to ignore them.” She turned to look at him with a sad smile. “One of the biggest things she would be snotty about is how we could afford not only the house, but our lifestyle because she considered what Mom and Dad did for a living as blue collar, and according to her, no one who worked the jobs they did could ever afford the house, the vehicles, pay for whatever sport Sara or I joined, and still paid the bills and kept the roof over our heads.”
“I know I shouldn’t ask, but what did you parents do for a living?”
“Mom was a nurse, and Dad was a welder. What Violet didn’t know was that her family lost their fortune and their home because her grandfather, was a gambler and he lost it all at the craps table. HE was an investment banker and MY grandfather was his boss the entire time her grandfather worked there.”
“Oh my, so you’re saying that she’s lording it over you that your parents worked blue collar jobs, while her grandfather was the one to cause the family’s demise? Yet, your family thrived, while hers left town with their tails tucked between their legs?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. That’s why she is going to want my house when I put it up for sale. Oh, and I don’t know if this is important or not, but Grandpa Truman taught Dad everything he knew about investing. Yes, Dad was a commercial welder, however, he made the big bucks. He would set aside a certain amount of money each pay check and Grandpa would tell him how to invest. With his investments, he put that money aside for both of Sara and me to go to college with. He and Mom encouraged us that we could do anything we wanted. I wanted to join the Navy, Sara wanted to be a psychiatrist. My college fund is still sitting in the bank, Sara paid for everything in cash, and still has half of her fund left.” She leaned closer to whisper. “Don’t tell Sara this, but she thinks I used my college fund to help her so she didn’t have to take out loans, I didn’t. I just never corrected her about her assumption.”
“Holy shit, did you learn how to invest like your father?” Scott asked in shock, then felt his eyes bug when she looked at him with a sly grin.
“I may have.”
“Damn.” Scott shook his head as he chuckled, “Yeah, you’re going to have to teach me when you move here permanently. You probably don’t know, but I have to ask, how did Ass-Boom-Boom-hole get to college?”
Julie couldn’t help it, she threw her head back and laughed when Scott used her sister’s name for Alex. “First his name is Alex Garrison, and he is three years older than I am. It was all the rage at school when he was a senior and he got a full-ride scholarship to Texas A&M.” She looked at him with a grin, and Scott felt a shiver go down his spine at the look she gave him.
“What happened?”
“As I said, Alex is three years older than I am. If you do the math, he should have been entering his Senior year the fall I entered the Navy. I was gone for eight months, then came home and did two years at the local community college. I was still a reservist, and didn’t really want to do anything except be in the Navy, those two years afforded me a degree in communications, and coding, along with other computer stuff. It helped me tremendously when I was finally able to go full on active duty. When I became active, I was able to use that, and it only took me a year to work my way up to Chief Communications Officer.”
“Okay, so it sounds like you utilized your time while you waited for Sara to reach eighteen and did good with that time by getting a degree, working as a reservist, and doing what you loved to further your career.”
“Correct, however, as I said, Alex should have been entering his senior year of college as I was going off to boot camp. Now remember, Sara is three years younger than me, so when I went to boot camp, she was entering her sophomore year of high school.”
“What does all this have to do with Alex?”
She looked at him with that grin again, which caused him to not only shiver, but the hair stood up on the back of his neck.
“He graduated college, the same year Sara graduated high school.”
Scott felt like his eyes popped out of his head, and his jaw hit the patio at her statement. It took him several moments to wrap his head around what she said. “Wait, he was in college for six years before he got his degree? Did he go for his Master’s?”
“Nope, only a Bachelor’s. To top it all off, the degree was in General Studies. He never committed to any particular major, and for two years he was in and out of probation. For some reason, they still kept him on the football team. Word around town is that his parents kept donating large amounts of money to the school in order for them to keep him on the team. I think there might be some truth to that statement because the entire time he was away at school, he never came home for the summer or any breaks, Violet and Alex, Sr. never entertained like they had in the past. They never went out to eat, and never bought another new vehicle every two years.”
“They lived like paupers in order to basically buy their son’s education? That sounded bad, and not what I meant. I meant they lived like paupers in order to bribe the school to keep him enrolled.”
“That’s the rumors. Then he did what he did at the game where all the recruiters were there. Now, years later, to hear him talk about it, he broke his ankle so severely that he had to have surgery, and was in a wheelchair for months. That’s not what happened, he twisted his ankle and played it up. This is just my opinion, but he could have walked it off, and kept playing, but his faking held up the game for at least forty-five minutes, he lost any chance of joining any NFL team, and he still came home as a hero. Again, this is just my opinion, but he’s nothing but a big, walking bag of wasted skin.”
Scott smirked then shook his head. “Why does Sara call him Ass-Boom-Boom-hole?”
Julie laughed. “One, because he is an asshole. Two, because he thinks because he went to college on a full scholarship, he’s all that since sliced bread. He acts like he’s the only one that has ever achieved that. Three, his nickname in high school was Boom-Boom.” Julie looked at him with a giggle. “ He thought it was because he would yell Boom on the football field whenever he scored a touchdown, or made a goal in soccer, or a basket in basketball.” She held out fisted hand and then opened it. “He would mimic dropping a mic as he yelled ‘Boom’. The guys cheered, the girls shook their heads and tittered behind their hands.”
“Why?”
“Because he actually got the name of Boom-Boom from the girls. They would get together and compare notes. Alex played the field and never dated anyone seriously. And I guess the girls gave him the moniker of Boom-Boom because they described him as he made two strokes, Boom-Boom, then he was done.”
Scott started to chuckle, then ended up with a full belly laugh as he bent forward with his arms wrapped around his middle. It took several moments to get himself under control, and he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye when he sat back up.
“Damn, did he ever find out?”
“Not that I know of. I told you all this because I have a feeling that I will be running into some trouble back home when I put the house up for sale. Sara and I already agreed not to sell it to the Garrisons, and we don’t think they will be able to afford it anyway.” They were silent for a long time, then Scott tightened his grip on her hand.
“Why don’t I talk it over with Erin, and when you get home, give me a call, I can come down and help you load up the U-Haul, and if you haven’t, then to help you buy a truck. When you put the house up for sale, I’m not saying you can’t do it, but you’re going to be extremely busy with everything else, especially with Sara in Denver, but why don’t I run the potential buyers names through Jake and have him do a background check on them. He should be able to tell us if the Garrisons are having someone else buy it for them.”
Julie looked at him in shock. “He can do that?”
“Yes, and he’s the one that ran the background check on you and your sister. They work for Brotherhood Protectors and they’re good at their job. You were in the Navy, do you recall a man by the name of Hank Patterson?”
“Not personally, but some of my superior officers talked about him. He was a SEAL and when he got out, he started a protection agency? Didn’t he marry someone from Hollywood?”
“Yes, and yes. He started his branch over in Montana, but there is another one in Yellowstone, they helped Naomi with moving her ranch here. That’s where Ann came from. Then they have the one here in Fool’s Gold. Another branch opened down in Louisiana, and another over in Hawaii.”
“Wow, yes, I won’t even have to talk to Sara about it. I’m making the decision to have the buyers investigated privately.” They sat there in silence and watched as the flames burned to nothing but coals, and then Scott helped her to her feet and walked her to the cabin where Sara was. He leaned in and kissed her on the side of the mouth, then quickly raised his head.
“As much as I want to do more, I think we need to get to know each other better before we introduce sex into our relationship.”
Julie sighed and felt her heart flutter. She felt that was the moment she fell in love with him. She only laid a hand on his face, nodded, then turned and walked into the cabin.