Harper

The next morning started at sunrise. Since I had been in the middle of seeking my master’s when my father had passed, I had grown so accustomed to waking up early for classes that I had awoken far before the rooster crowed. I took a long, much-needed shower to unwind the muscles that had tensed as I’d slept in awkward contours the previous night. While in the shower, I thought about the tasks I had to look forward to for the day. Since there were only horses, chickens, and two dogs on the farm, I knew I’d have to spend more time tending to the horses. I was going to have to look over the family finances as well and contact the lawyer to set up a meeting. I felt ashamed that I wasn’t giving myself the proper time to mourn, but time never stood still to allow wounds to heal. Besides, I always worked best when I was under stress.

I got out of the hot shower and spent my time in the steam planning. After I had set my mental to-do list, I walked out of my parents’ bathroom and into my old bedroom where my bags were. I dressed in a pair of old jeans, an old, worn T-shirt, and a pair of work boots. As I walked to the kitchen to cook breakfast and feed the dogs, I tied my long, damp blond hair into a messy ponytail to keep it off my neck. The dogs, two very large, very black, and very old Dalmatians named Jack and Gin, followed me closely once they realized where I was going.

“I swear, you two greedy grumps are always hungry.” I teased them hoarsely as I gathered their dog food into the scooper and poured it into their bowls.

In response, they simply walked over to their breakfast and began chowing down. With a small smile, I shook my head and turned my attention to the growling in my own belly. I searched the fridge and was sorely disappointed when I found nothing but nearly expired milk and a few eggs. Too lazy and far too tired to go to the grocery store, I decided on that for my lousy breakfast. After cooking, I ate in silence, staring out at the quiet farm that had once been full of life. I silently promised that I was going to bring the life and business back.

After breakfast, I made my way to the chicken coop to feed the rowdy chickens. Jack followed my closely, as curious as he’d ever been, and Gin went off to do her own thing in the massive space she was provided. I thought back to how often I would explore the family land as a child. I would chase Gin off into the distance to see how far I could get in a few minutes. A soft smile made its way onto my face as I thought it over. Childhood had been so full of blissful ignorance, and I so badly wanted to return to a time when there were no worries or sorrows.

After feeding the chickens, I made my way over to the stables where the family of three horses was. As I walked, I couldn’t help but acknowledge how quiet the farmland was. Usually, there was my father’s whistling and a little bit of life from my mom’s positive energy. However, there was nothing to fill the void with them gone. There was a fog looming over the morning, as if even the skies were mourning the absence of two beautiful and brilliant souls. Tears brimmed my eyes, but I shook them away and started whistling to drown out the screaming silence surrounding me.

The horses were wide awake and extremely happy to see me. I couldn’t stay sad looking at the three other loves of my life. They were the only ones my family had kept, because each individual family member had had a favorite, and neither of my parents had been able to bear letting them go. First, of course, I greeted my favorite. She wasn’t the prettiest of horses, but she’d stolen my heart the moment I had laid eyes on her. She had white hooves and legs, but the white transitioned to gray on her upper body. She also had black spots over her body and a black mane and tail. Due to this, I’d named her Ash.

I nuzzled Ash and opened the gate to her cot. After untying her, I led her over to the food and water I had put out for them. Once she was eating, I walked over to my mother’s favorite horse. He was brilliant and beautiful, but old. His coat was platinum blond, and it shined even if he hadn’t been brushed in a while. His name was, oddly enough, Lady, and he was loved so that he gave nothing but love in turn. I patted him affectionately before letting him walk over to the food. Finally, I stopped in front of the final gate and came face to face with my pa’s horse. She was white with brown spots, like a cow. My dad had thought it was clever to name her Cow, and he’d spoiled her rotten. As I looked at her, she looked back with a familiar gaze that I was so accustomed to. Out of all the horses, I had ridden Cow the most. We had bonded almost as much as I had bonded with Ash. While Cow looked at me, a long tongue licked my cheek, and, maybe due to the shock or the randomness, I couldn’t contain the fit of laughter that bubbled from my stomach.

The irrational part of me thought she could feel my pain, but I figured she was greeting a loved one she hadn’t seen in a long while. I opened her gate and let her go over to the food before the others ate most of it. As Cow walked away, Ash walked over. I figured she wanted to be brushed, so I gathered everything I needed and got to work. Of all the horses, Lady included, Ash adored getting brushed and groomed the most. She would stand for hours, enjoying getting pampered and showered with attention. When the family business had been doing well, everyone had loved all our horses, but Ash and Lady were so unique that they were always the ones admired and ridden most. So many people had offered countless money for the two of them, but my parents had always refused to budge because they had a place in our family.

As I lost myself in memories and brush strokes, I didn’t hear my name getting called in the distance. I didn’t hear the gate opening and closing nearby. I didn’t hear the footsteps approaching me. I was so lost in my thoughts that I was scared almost shitless when a hand touched my shoulder. I jolted back to reality and jumped away from the person behind me. Quickly, I turned around and came face to face with my family’s lawyer. My heart was racing so fast that I had to place my hand over my chest to soothe it.

“Jesus, you scared the shit out of me,” I said, shaking my head as I realized how ridiculous I seemed.

“I’m sorry, Harper,” the silent startler said quickly.

Howard Mitchell was a middle-aged man of average height, and he had a bald spot in the center of his head almost as big as his beer gut of a belly. My pa had often tried to set us up with one another, but I was a country girl who didn’t just want a man who had money. As kind as Howard was, he was far from my type and closer to someone I would consider just a good family friend. I knew he had a soft spot for me, but I also knew he had recently gotten quite serious with another old friend of mine, and things were better off that way.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him in hopes that he had good news to bring to me.

He shuffled and sighed, obviously wracking his brain for the words that should have come easily. It was a simple question, and his inability to break bad news was something that he, as a lawyer, needed to work on.

“Come on, Howard,” I muttered, “it can’t be all that bad.”

“Well, I was trying to negotiate with the bank, but they’re not budging, Harper,” he finally said.

My heart sank a bit, but the news wasn’t all that new. It was a fear my father had had before dying, and it had been on my mind when I’d been arranging his funeral. The family was so far behind on all the bills, and I had to figure out something to do fast. The logic, however, didn’t curb the anxiety I was feeling about it all. I supposed he noticed the slight panic, because he reached forward and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Look, let’s go inside and sit down to look over all of the paperwork,” he said. “I have an idea that I was going to run by you anyway, and it might help everything.”

Of course, that caught my attention. I looked up and tilted my head to the side. “What do you mean?”

He nodded for us to go inside, and, almost reluctantly, I followed. The sound of our footsteps and breathing were the only things filling the air as we walked toward the warm comfort of my home. I opened the door for him and let him in before making my way to the kitchen. My mother had instilled hospitality into me, and I wanted to make Howard feel welcome as we chatted about the business and financial matters that we had to take care of. I walked over to the coffee maker and started a new brew.

“Are you hungry?” I asked him as he set out the paperwork and information on the table.

“No. Coffee will be fine enough,” he said while sitting down.

I nodded and walked over, sitting across from him. I looked at the papers that were in front of me and read over them as I waited for the coffee. The papers were daunting because of how serious everything was. I was either going to have to take care of the financial matters, or at least some of them, or the bank was going to foreclose on the family ranch in less than thirty days. I was shit out of luck, and it felt like I was going to need to turn to other means of bringing money in.

I sighed heavily after spending a few minutes reading over the papers Howard had brought over. “This doesn’t look good at all,” I said. I pushed the papers away and walked over to the coffee maker. I poured both Howard and me large cups of coffee. I doctored mine to be a little sweeter for my taste buds, but Howard always liked his black and bitter. I set the cups down on the table and sat down once more. “What am I going to do? I can’t make that kind of money in thirty days, Howard.”

“If you keep going like your family did, no,” he said before taking a long sip of his coffee.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked him curiously.

“Well, this is still a bed and breakfast, meaning you can still house people and provide a service to make enough money to pay the mortgage,” he said.

I nodded slowly. “That may be true, but we haven’t had anyone interested in staying here in months—nearing a year, Howard.”

“You can lease some of the land and offer some barn space,” he said, “and the person who leases out this land can pay for lodging and hospitality as well.”

The more he clarified, the more I understood what he was beating around the bush to actually say.

“So you want me to start leasing out my family property to a stranger while acting as a doting housemaid? Oh no, Howard. I’m sorry. I would be fine with providing the boarding, but you know I can’t let someone else have my family property. That’s like slapping my parents in the face,” I said, shaking my head.

“But it can help with the payments,” he said. “You won’t have to risk losing your family land at all.”

“No. Instead, I’ll be selling parts of what my family worked so hard to build,” I said. “My pa died less than a week ago and my mom’s grave is nearly as fresh. I’m not selling this business out so quickly.”

“Harper, you are as stubborn as your parents, I swear.” Howard sighed. “You would rather lose everything than try to save what you can?”

I bit my lip and allowed his words to register. He was right, as pissed as that fact made me. I was either going to lose everything by trying to do it all on my own, or I was going to take the advice of the man who had tried so hard to help my family stay afloat. My pa’s inability to ask for help was the main reason we were buried so deep.

“This will just be temporary, right?” I said.

Howard visibly relaxed and he nodded. “Only until we are back on good footing and in the bank’s good graces.”

I thought it over for several minutes longer before nodding. “Fine. We can lease a small bit of the space, but only for a little while.”

“I’ll get everything in order,” Howard said with a wide grin. “This was the best decision you could make, Harper.”

“I hope you’re right,” I muttered, sipping the coffee in front of me while I silently prayed for my late parents’ forgiveness.