19. Cara
Chapter nineteen
Cara
Three days had passed, but my son was still not speaking to me. I’d tried to explain things to him although that was difficult without giving away too much. I’d made his favorite food and put on his favorite movie, but all my attempts to make amends were greeted with icy silence.
“How much longer are you going to keep this up?” I asked him Wednesday evening after offering him some ice cream he’d just refused.
“Until I can have my presents back,” he said, crossing his arms defiantly. “And you apologize to Ellis.”
“It’s not that simple.”
He looked at me with a scowl and shook his head. “I have no idea what’s going on with you, Mom.”
“With me? I’m not the one dishing out the silent treatment here.”
“You don’t act anything like yourself lately,” he said. “You never yell at me unless I do something really bad. And you never yell at other grown-ups. And by the way, I know you’re keeping something secret from me. I’m not a dumb kid anymore.”
I huffed. “You don’t know what you are talking about, Riley.”
“I don’t like this new version of you very much.”
With these words, he stomped into his bedroom and shut the door behind himself.
His words stung. They stung because I knew he was right. I was keeping a secret from him, a massive, life-changing secret. And I’d completely lost the plot when I found Ellis sitting on my couch on Monday. Maybe I’d overreacted, but my first thought was that he’d told Riley everything, and that had scared me to death.
I didn’t want things to be that way between Ellis and me, but if he wouldn’t honor my wish to stay away from us, I had to push him away. Even if it broke my own heart.
And as for Riley? I knew I needed to extend an olive branch. He was upset I was treating him like a child, and maybe he was right about that, so I decided to tell him the truth, at least in one regard. And maybe sharing the burden would make me feel better too.
The next day, I picked up Riley after school and drove right past the Sunset Apartments.
“We’re not going home?” he asked, surprised.
“No, I’m taking you out for lunch.”
He looked at me, intrigued but suspicious. “Where to?”
“Liberty Diner.”
He was trying to hide it, but I could see a grin tugging on the corners of his mouth. “Can I have a burger?”
“And as many french fries as you want.”
“Okay. But that doesn’t mean I’m not angry with you anymore. I’m going to be angry until you give me back my PocketQuest. I’m not budging on that one, Mom.”
I sighed. “Just wait till we get there, okay?”
If you were looking for the best burgers in town—hell, in the county—the Liberty Diner was the place to go. Like every junk food loving kid, Riley loved burgers and would’ve eaten there every day of the week if I allowed it.
I led Riley to a table in the back of the diner, hoping for a bit of privacy, because I wasn’t sure how Riley would take what I wanted to tell him. At the moment, he was still oblivious to the bad news awaiting him and entirely focused on the prospect of a juicy piece of ground beef and a plate full of crispy french fries.
Our neighbor Kelsey was on shift, so we didn’t have to wait for our food for long. I watched Riley eat for a while before I worked up enough courage to breech the topic I wanted to talk about.
After clearing my throat to get his attention, I said, “Do you want to talk about why I don’t want you to hang out with Ellis?”
He looked up at me with raised eyebrows. “Do you want to talk about that?”
“I tried to keep it away from you because I didn’t want to make you sad, but maybe it’s time you find out.”
He frowned. “That sounds bad.”
“It is bad. The ranch…” I broke off, struggling to find the right words.
“Ranch? What? Cedar Creek? What about it?”
I took a deep breath. “Terry and Annette might have to sell the ranch.”
Riley dropped his french fry halfway to his mouth and sat up straight. “No!”
“And Ellis works for the company that wants to buy the land.”
“He wants to take the ranch from Terry and Annette?”
“To build a factory there. Some kind of chip factory, I think.”
Riley’s expression was a mix of shock and disgust. “He can’t do that! Mom, he can’t do that, right?”
I exhaled. “I’m afraid he can. I’ve tried convincing him not to do it, but he wouldn’t hear me.”
Riley crossed his arms angrily. “And I thought he was nice. So this whole dating thing was just to stop him from taking the ranch?”
“Um…”
“That was a really smart idea, Mom.”
“But it didn’t work. I’m afraid it’s inevitable. Terry and Annette will lose the ranch. They don’t have the money to run it anymore.”
Riley’s face went from outrage to sadness quickly. “There’s really nothing that can be done? Can’t they get more money from the bank? A loan?”
“I don’t think so, honey. Wyatt said he has a plan, but time is running out. Ellis is pushing hard to get Terry to sign the contract, and once he does…” I paused to gather myself. “The ranch will be torn down to make room for the factory.”
“Wow…” Riley hung his head low. “That’s just… Man, that really sucks.” His voice sounded a little choked up.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I didn’t know how. I knew it would break your heart.”
“Mm-hmm,” he said, staring at his plate, his eyes looking very watery.
“But I hope you now understand why I’m not the biggest fan of Ellis Benton.”
Riley huffed. “I hate that guy.”
. I just hoped that wouldn’t backfire on me. Riley was silent for a long time, shoving his food around on his plate with a scowl, only occasionally nibbling on the french fries.
Finally, he sat up straight. “Can we go to the ranch?”
“What? right now?”
He nodded. “If… if it’s going to be gone soon, I want to spend as much time there as possible.”
“Are you sure? Will it make you feel better or worse?”
“I don’t know, but I feel like I need to be there. Even if it hurts a little.”
“I understand.” I reached across the table to pat his arm. “Finish your food and then we will head over there right away, okay?”
Riley had seemed to lose his appetite, because he announced he was full with his burger half-eaten, but I didn’t push it. He had a lot to stomach, so I paid the bill and drove us over to Cedar Creek Ranch. A sharp pain tugged at my heart when the snow dusted stable roofs appeared in the distance. Somehow, telling Riley about what was about to happen to the ranch made it a lot more real for me too.
When I pulled onto the private road that led to the ranch house, I noticed Terry’s pickup truck behind us.
He parked his truck next to us. Riley jumped out of the car to greet him right away, but froze when Wyatt climbed out of the passenger seat, with a gloomy expression and a cast from his left hand all the way up to his shoulder.
Riley’s eyes went wide. “Oh my god, Wyatt. What happened?”
Terry appeared behind the car, looking almost as upset as Wyatt. “He paid the price for stupidity, that’s what happened.” His tone was unusually gruff and earned him an angry glare from his son.
“Did you fall off a horse?” I asked gently. Wyatt was pale and his hair was disheveled, like he’d been through the wringer.
Terry scoffed. “Go ahead, tell them what happened.”
“Rodeo,” Wyatt said through gritted teeth, avoiding to look at us.
“Rodeo?” both Riley and I repeated in shock.
Wyatt turned around and stomped away without explaining anything else.
“I’ll go after him,” Riley said, but Terry put his hand on his should and gently held him back.
“Let him be. He needs to stew in his own misery for a bit. His ego shattered even worse than his forearm.”
I looked after Wyatt for a moment and a terrible realization set in.
“Rodeo?” I asked again, meekly.
Terry shook his head. “Apparently, he has been doing it for a while. He thought he could win big and pay our debts with the prize money.”
“Wow,” I said flatly. So that has been Wyatt's plan to get the money his family needed? Risking his neck on bucking bulls? Out-of-the-box thinking for sure, but incredibly dangerous. Rodeo riders got injured often and badly. He could have ended up paralyzed or even dead. No surprise Terry looked so grim.
“Rodeo, that’s so cool,” Riley said in awe.
“No, it’s not, Riley,” Terry said sternly. “It was incredibly stupid to risk his health that way. He got lucky he only fractured his forearm and not his skull. No amount of money is worth risking your life over, you hear me?” He clenched his fists and took a shuddering breath. “I would rather sell every last speck of dirt off Cedar Creek Ranch than lose my son.”
He turned around and stomped away in the opposite direction as Wyatt went.
Riley looked a bit taken aback, and I had the distinct feeling that Terry’s last sentence was directed at his own son, not mine.
I put a hand on Riley’s shoulder and pressed it gently. “Come on, let’s go inside and check on Annette. I bet she’s worried sick about Wyatt.”