Chapter 28
ROB HAD A new appreciation for his brother’s problems. The people at the bar hadn’t been local rednecks looking for a fight. Best-case scenario, someone had sent them into Hilde-brand’s to kick Gary’s ass.
Rob knew he had to meet this mysterious buyer from Los Angeles as soon as possible.
At the moment, he sat silently in the passenger seat of the van, with Fido, the llama, once again in the back.
He’d never really felt homesick while living in New York.
But as he watched the scenery go by now, Rob recognized how much he’d given up to move to the big city.
He gazed out the window at the wide-open plains and the snow-covered mountains in the distance.
There was barely any traffic compared to Manhattan. But that was true of most places.
Rob said, “It’s nice to see not much has changed out here.”
Gary laughed. “I need to take you down to Gardiner or any of those other towns by the entrance to Yellowstone. Real estate has gone absolutely crazy. The influx of Californians has pushed up the price of everything. I heard the principal at the high school in Gardiner sleeps in a tent during the summer so he can use his house as an Airbnb. Makes enough to cover his mortgage for the year.”
“That doesn’t sound right. There can’t be a thousand people in Gardiner.”
“In the winter, maybe. In the summer, people flood in to go to Yellowstone. You can see the difference in Bozeman. Did you know we’ve got almost sixty thousand people living there now?
It’s not like it was when we were growing up.
I used to know everyone in that town. Now I’m lucky if I recognize anyone at one of the trendy new restaurants. ”
“How does Pops feel about it?”
Gary took a few moments to answer. “I hate to say it, but I don’t think Pops even notices. He’s kind of in his own little world more and more.”
Rob swallowed hard. It hurt his heart to hear someone say it out loud.
He knew his grandfather, who’d helped raise him and loved him, was not going to recover.
It was clear that Pops had deteriorated further, even since Rob had seen him recently, when Chet and Mona, Rob’s mom, had come out east to spend a few months with Rob’s sister, who lived an hour or so north of New York City.
In retrospect, he was amazed Pops had managed that trip. No matter what happened with the car lot, Rob was glad to be out here now.
After a quick stop at the grocery store, the brothers rolled up to where Gary’s house sat, a few hundred yards from their mother’s house. Between the two of them, Gary and Mona took care of Pops. The closest neighbor was almost a mile away.
They parked in front of Gary’s house and then Gary led Fido into his pen on the side of the house, which contained a three-walled shed with a tall metal gate for shelter against the elements.
The houses were nestled in a small valley with hills and trees all around them.
Rob took a moment to breathe the fresh air and recognize that he wasn’t hearing car horns or people shouting from the street corner like in Manhattan.
As Gary made sure there was food and water in Fido’s enclosure, Rob asked, “Where did you find a llama in Montana?”
“He was at an animal rescue ranch outside of Livingston. The little ranch couldn’t support itself anymore and sold the property to real-estate developers.
There was something about the way Fido looked at me that made me think I should bring him home.
Turned out he was a good marketing idea for the car lot.
But more than that, he seems to keep me centered and calm. ”
As they walked the path to Mona’s house to say hello, Rob turned to Gary and asked, “So why do you think this Los Angeles buyer is so interested in your lot, specifically?”
Gary shook his head. “I wondered that too. The plot of land is large, and much of it we don’t use.
Almost a full block all the way to the town line.
Maybe it has something to do with the town being incorporated?
The guy made offers on at least three businesses, probably more.
Two have already accepted his money, the tire store at the end of the block and the salvage yard, which covers everything behind us.
That alone adds up to about twenty-five acres. ”
“That’s an answer we need to get before we do anything else. What is he looking to do with the property?”
Before they even reached their mother’s house, the side door burst open and Mona Trilling came jogging out to give her younger son a welcome-home hug.