by Cassie Cole
“Cryptocurrency?”
“Yeah. What’s that?”
I pushed myself into a sitting position so I could look down at him. “Are you serious? You’re serious, aren’t you.”
His face was an adorable picture of confusion.
“Cryptocurrency is digital money. Have you heard of Bitcoin?”
“Oh, yeah. That internet money people use for drugs.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, that’s kind of how it started. Bitcoin is just one cryptocurrency. There are thousands of others, some on blockchains, others which are used as token systems to…”
I trailed off as his eyes glazed over.
“Yeah, none of that means anything to me,” he said. “Sorry.”
I sighed and rolled off him to get my jeans. “Don’t be. You’re hardly the first person I’ve met who doesn’t get crypto.”
His lips touched the back of my neck. Softly, like he was afraid he would spook me. “Am I the first person you’ve fucked who doesn’t get crypto?”
“Actually, you might be. All my exes were crypto geeks.”
He clapped his hands together. “Score one for the simple folk.”
I was normally a shy person when it came to nudity. After sex I liked to wait for the guy to roll over so I could tip-toe to the bathroom in privacy, and put pajamas on before he could watch me come back. But as I rose from the kitchen floor, I didn’t feel timid about my nudity. If anything, I felt a little rush as I bent over to pick up my jeans and panties, giving him a view of my ass.
Maybe it was the way he looked at me. Like I was the juiciest steak he’d ever ordered and couldn’t wait to dig in.
I shimmied into my clothes and said, “You’ve been holding out on me.”
“How’s that?”
“Walking around with all of that under your shirt.” I gestured with my outstretched fingers. “You ought to warn a girl. Wear a sign or something.”
Landon rose and picked up his own jeans, carefully covering his junk. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
And then he did something that almost made me burst out laughing: he awkwardly walked to the bathroom while using his clothes to cover his nudity. I caught one last glimpse of his tight butt before he disappeared around the corner.
I took a deep breath. So that had happened.
I didn’t feel weird about sex the way some girls did. I hated how sex got wrapped up in the same package as a dozen other things: friendship, and dating, and romance, and courtship. Not that I didn’t want all those things, but sometimes a girl just wanted some physical release. Tinder coming along was like finding out Santa was real.
So I didn’t feel weird about banging the hot ranch hand in the kitchen of my soon-to-be-foreclosed house. If anything, it was a simpler transaction than Tinder: I was going back to Austin as soon as I was done here, and I wouldn’t see Landon or his brothers again. A built-in shot clock. That was better than Tinder, where some guys had an expectation of continuity.
I picked the phone off the ground and put it back on the receiver. I wished my high school self could see me now, getting screwed by gorgeous hunks in the kitchen. I gave her a mental high-five from across the space-time continuum.
“Hello?” Chase called from the front door. A few seconds later he appeared in the kitchen door. “Where’s—”
Landon came running out of the bathroom like the house was on fire. “Oh, hey Chase.”
Chase stared at us, suspicious growing on his face. I wondered if it smelled like sex in here, or if it was obvious on our faces. I wondered how we should handle this whole thing: did Landon want to tell his brothers?
Did I?
Chase crossed his muscular arms over his chest. “Well?”
“Uhh, well what?” Landon said.
Chase gave him an annoyed look. “Who was in the car? When you didn’t come back I got worried that it might be the sheriff.”
I could feel Landon sigh with relief behind me, which told me everything I needed to know about what just happened. He didn’t want his brother to know.
Damn. And I had a really good joke to break the ice on the whole situation.
“An insurance agent,” I said. “Here to screw me out of my dad’s life insurance. Your brother punched him.”
Chase’s eyes widened. “Holy shit, seriously? Landon actually hit someone? No wonder you look embarrassed.”
He held up his hand and smiled weakly. “You never told me it hurts like a bitch.”
“Well yeah, it hurts. That’s what makes it worth it.” Chase picked up the bag of peas from the counter and frowned. “Daniel must’ve pulled these out to thaw. Let’s get you something else to put on that hand. Icing is critical. If you don’t get ice on the hand it’ll swell up like a dead pig…”
Landon nodded along with his brother’s advice, all the while stealing glances at me.
20
Daniel
“Good?” I asked. “It’s damn great.”
I grinned as the stocker at the supply store wrote down the quote and signed it for official purposes. Since they were close to going out of business, they were desperate to get rid of as much inventory as they could. Even if it meant selling well below cost.
“How soon do ya think you’ll be back?” he asked.
I took the slip from him. “Depends on the owner. She gets final say, but I know she’ll like this price.”
“Need the accessories to go with it, or you only interested in the lumber?”
“Yeah, gimme some quotes on that too.”
It felt good to focus on the numbers. Numbers were simple. They added up to a total, which was much lower than it otherwise might be. Lots of money I was helping Cindy save.
Focusing on the numbers helped distract me from thinking about what happened.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Cindy. Not just our kiss: everything about her. The way she purred when she had her first sip of coffee in the morning. The eyebrow raise she gave me when she was skeptical about a repair. The way her jeans fit tight around her thighs and waist.
It was like she’d dug a hole into my head and had made herself comfortable.
My next stop was the liquor store, whose parking lot held six cars. This was one of the few places in town where business was booming. As long as men and women lived, they would drown their sorrows in a good bottle.
I eyed the bottles of whiskey. Firestone & Robertson was the brand I needed, but I wasn’t sure whether to get the single malt, or blend. After a few minutes of deliberation I chose the more expensive version of the single malt, and paid at the register with my own cash.
I felt guilty about it. About Cindy, I mean. We were working her ranch for a reason beyond the paycheck, which we didn’t need. A lot was on the line. Kissing her was selfish. Chase was prone to impulsive actions, but not me. I was letting my brothers down.
And on the other side of the saddle, I felt guilty for keeping everything from Cindy. It was a weaselly thing to ask about her finances, trying to figure out just how much debt she had. Sneaking around the subject like Landon had asked me to do. If she was keeping it to herself, we had no right to pry—no matter what our overall intentions.
I wished we could just come right out and tell her. Everything was easier when it was out in the open.
The plumbing supply store was a mile outside of town, next to the tall pale water tower that only had four letters of the town name still visible in paint. I circled the parking lot once to make sure the manager’s car was gone, then drove around back to the warehouse.
Jimmy was bent over a pallet of boxes, using a knife to cut away the shrink wrap. He straightened when he saw me, a wide smile spreading on his face.
“Danny Hughes, in the flesh,” he said, tucking his thumbs underneath his worker’s overalls. When he saw the brown paper bag in my hand he said, “Coming with gifts means coming for favors.”
“And to say howdy,” I protested. “How’s your sister?”
“Same as always,” he muttered. “Well. Spit it out. Whatchya need?”
I pulled out my pocket notebook. “Need some supplies. New toilet, nothing fancy—whatever you can give me. Maybe the pipe and putty to go with it. Floor tiles, 150 square feet worth, plus white grout. Hoping to get it all at cost.”
Jimmy looked around nervously, then took a closer step to lower his voice. “That’s a lot to ask, Danny.”
“It’s only three things.”
“Three things is a lot right now. Business ain’t exactly good.”
“I wouldn’t be askin’ if I wasn’t in a bind.”
Jimmy turned around and scratched his head, scanning the area. Thinking. “Whatchya need it for, anyhow?”
“We’re working on a new ranch. Might be a permanent gig. If we can swing some things. Money’s tight.”
He squinted at me. “Ya know, I heard a rumor you was working the Jameson Ranch, out by the highway.”
“You heard true.”
“I also heard the rancher’s dead.”
“Also true.”
“Now, I can’t help but wonder why you’d jump on a place like that.”
I pulled the bottle out of the bag. Jimmy accepted it with all the care of someone handling a newborn child, turning it over and reading the label while licking his lips.
“Not that I ain’t grateful,” he said, “but you didn’t exactly answer my question.”
“The owner’s daughter inherited the ranch. She needs our help fixin’ it up.”
His eyes lit up. “Ohh. A girl.”
“She’s our boss.”
“Oh, I’ll bet she is.”
“Can you get me the parts at cost, Jimmy, or not?”
He made a show of being conflicted, but I’d known Jimmy long enough to recognize the acceptance in his eyes before he agreed.
I felt immensely satisfied as I got back in my truck, and I couldn’t decide if it was because of the plan my brothers and I had or because I was helping Cindy.
21
Cindy
I hated awkwardness more than anything.
No, seriously. More than anything. I’d rather be dropped into a basement full of spiders than be stuck in an awkward situation: and I hated spiders.
Being around Landon and Chase was beyond uncomfortable. Landon was acting guilty as sin after our romp in the kitchen, and Chase was observant enough to notice, although I’m certain he didn’t know the reason. It almost made me want to get it out in the open. “Chase, can you pass the salt? Oh, by the way, Landon and I fucked the shit out of each other right there on the counter.”
Eventually they finished their quick lunch and returned to their work, leaving me in peace.
The one person who wasn’t awkward was Daniel, surprisingly. He returned with his quotes and an enthusiasm as if nothing had happened with our kiss. Which was good, since after the awkwardness with his brothers I didn’t want to unpack all of that drama.
The next few days passed smoothly. It helped that we were all busy with our tasks. Chase and Landon tended the herd for most of the day while Daniel got started on the repairs. Soon the house was a constant drone of hammering and power tools. I busied myself going through the rest of dad’s things, tossing out what was useless and keeping very little. I wasn’t a sentimental person, and I’d already taken all the things I wanted when momma died.
Even though I knew all of it might not matter in the end, it felt like progress. Doing something was always better than doing nothing. If I had given up on this place and gone back to Austin I wouldn’t have been able to focus; I would have sat around at work, wondering how much longer before the bank came after me and my finances. While I was here I felt like an active participant in my future, grim as it may be.
One afternoon I drove down to the bank and waited for an hour to speak with the manager. He had a kind face and a soft voice, and was sympathetic to my situation.
“We’re amenable to working with you on a new timeline,” he said, spreading his hands behind his desk. “It’s ultimately up to the accountants, but I think we may be able to suspend the judicial foreclosure.”
“That’d be fantastic!” I said.
He held up a hand. “Now, I can’t promise anything. But I have some sway on these matters. Restructuring debt is always preferable to foreclosure. For everyone involved.”
I smiled as I filled out the paperwork to make the official request.
When he wasn’t out tending the herd, Landon kept a respectable distance. I liked that, at first. It showed he didn’t want more from this than there was, especially with me going back to Austin next week or the week after. Because that’s what I was afraid of coming out of all this: loose ends. I was here to finish everything with the estate, hopefully cut a deal with the bank for the remaining losses, and never look back. Couldn’t do that with a lovesick cowboy fawning over me.
But the more I thought about that day in the kitchen, the more I wanted more.
I began fantasizing about him during the day. Riding his horse around the ranch, lassoing a stray cow like a goddamn caricature of a cowboy. Calling me ma’am and tipping his hat and then lifting me into his arms, carrying me into the barn, and bedding me on a pile of straw. It was like every stereotypical romance I’d rolled my eyes at as a teenager had come back with a vengeance.
Yet I couldn’t stop myself from laying awake at night, hoping to hear his footsteps come down the stairs.
Soon Landon’s respectable distance felt like the cold shoulder. He was polite at dinner, and in the morning while we ate breakfast and drank our coffee before the sun rose, but other than that he treated me the way an employee treats a boss. He even declined to share a glass of whiskey with me one night, fleeing upstairs before I could remind him that his father had said never to turn down a drink with a pretty girl.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about all of it.
*
“It looks great,” I told Daniel. “Can I walk on it?”
“Be my guest,” he said.
I stepped into the half-bathroom in the front hall. The toilet looked clean and new, and the white triangle tiles on the floor looked more modern than the previous tile. Even the ring of damaged drywall around the outside was completely gone. The only thing remaining was to replace the cabinet over the toilet.
“Are you sure you aren’t a full-time handyman?” I said. “This work is professional.”
He gave me a small smile. “That’s not what I wanted to show you. Look.”
Daniel slid past me to point at the wall above the toilet where the cabinet had fallen. A few chunks of drywall were missing, showing the dark space between the walls. He stuck a screwdriver into the hole, using it to pull out a section of a pink fibrous material.
“This here’s asbestos insulation,” he said.
I didn’t know much about asbestos beyond that it was in most homes, and that it was bad. “Are you about to give me very bad news?”
He made a waffling gesture. “Maybe, maybe not. When asbestos material is found in a home this old, Texas law requires we do a survey to determine the full presence. That’s done by an outside inspector. Once we have the survey, any work on the house must be done by someone licensed for asbestos work.”
“Which you aren’t,” I finished for him.
“Right.”
“Is it dangerous?” I asked.
“Not usually. Only when it stays exposed for a long period of time. So long as it remains in the walls, there’s no worry.” He grimaced. “But once it’s exposed and discovered like this, you’re supposed to report it. Do the full survey, like I said. But that’d take weeks.”
I closed my eyes and took a slow breath. “Do we have any other options?”
“I can pretend I didn’t see this. Drywall it back up and nobody else needs to know.”
“But…” I said.
“But it’ll turn up in any thorough inspection. Now, I dunno how likely that is. Foreclosure auctions are usually sold a
s-is, and a bank tryin’ to get rid of a property isn’t gunna proactively go looking for reasons to lower the sale price. But it’s still a risk ya should be aware of.”
“Add it to the pile,” I grumbled. “You don’t mind covering it up? You won’t get in trouble or anything?”
He shrugged. “The worse they’d do is strip a contractor of their license… Which I don’t have anyway.”
I put a hand on his arm. “Thanks Daniel. Seriously, this all looks great. You should get your license after all this. Assuming nobody finds out you covered up asbestos.”
A blush crept up his neck and cheeks. “I appreciate the compliment, Cindy. I rightly do.”
“It’s the truth,” I said. “The rest of the house is in good hands.”
We lingered there in the bathroom, our bodies forced into close proximity by the small space, before I finally left.
22
Cindy
I would have forgotten about the funeral if not for getting the phone call.
“Yeah, right, of course,” I said into the kitchen phone. “I’ll come an hour early to go over everything. Thanks. See you then.”
I hung up and grimaced. Whether we were close or not, I don’t know if I ever would have forgiven myself for forgetting.
“Are you sure you don’t want us to come?”
Chase and Landon had come in for lunch, and one look at the black dress told them where I was going. Daniel leaned against the wall behind them, finishing his bologna sandwich and listening.
“Positive,” I said. “You didn’t even know my father.”
“But we know you,” Landon said. “We don’t mind going with you.”
“As much as I appreciate the sentiment, I’m fine. Do you three even own suits?” I asked to lighten the mood with a joke.
“Actually, we do!” Chase said excited.
“Suits that fit, or suits you last wore to the high school dance?”
“We bought them four months ago,” Chase said stubbornly. “When we…”
He cut off at a look from Landon. A weird silence followed. Daniel shifted his feet and looked at the ground.
