Chapter Eight
Kelsi
“So, did you fall madly in love with him, again?” Kendall asked later that week as we drove into town for supplies.
“Like I told you before, I’m not falling for anyone. Not Tyler or anyone else.”
“Ever? You’re just going to stay a lonely, single mom for the rest of your life? That doesn’t seem like the best idea you’ve ever had.”
“Kendall, I need to concentrate on my own life and Clyde, I don’t have time for self-absorbed men who think their lives are so much better than everyone else’s.”
“Can I play the devil’s advocate here?” Kendall asked but then didn’t wait for me to answer. “What if you dated a guy who turned out to be awesome? What if he loved how hard you worked and loved Clyde like he was his own? What if your relationship with this person made everything else in your life easier?”
I started to laugh at the fairytale ideas that Kendall was spouting off. Did she actually believe all the love nonsense she was spouting? Guys weren’t like that. They didn’t want to date a woman who already had a kid, and certainly they wouldn’t want to be a father figure to someone else’s child. I was just fine being single for a while and I could always find a man when Clyde was older or after he went off to college.
“Kendall, so in this imaginary world of yours, have I married a billionaire or just some regular guy from the neighborhood?”
“Why does everything have to come back to marrying someone for you? Like we talked about before, you can sleep with someone without having a big relationship, but yes, I was talking about a millionaire or billionaire or whatever. You’re on that app now; why not just go on a date with one of the guys? There have to be men who have contacted you.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because you’re cute and funny and they are surely going to want to take you out.”
“Kendall, just because I’m decent looking doesn’t mean some rich guy would ask me out,” I said and then trailed off as I remembered Tyler had, in fact, asked me out, and I had logged into my Dating the Rich account and seen a few messages from guys the other night. “It doesn’t matter, I’m not interested.”
“Let me see your app. I’ll help you decide if you’re interested,” Kendall said as she reached for my phone.
“You’re driving! No.”
“Fine, when we get there, I’m looking at your phone.”
Kendall was younger than me, but she was just as pushy as any sister could possibly be when it came to my love life. She always had an opinion, and there was no telling her she was wrong. Sometimes I really felt bad for her boyfriend Robert and all he had to deal with, but he certainly seemed to love Kendall, so that was all I could hope for.
“I’ll look at it now. Geesh, you’re so pushy.”
“Yes, I’m a horrible sister because I am trying to help you find a decent man to love you. It’s horrible, you should disown me. Go find one of those sisters who doesn’t care at all about your happiness or if you die an old, lonely spinster.”
“Yeah, where can I find one of those sisters?” I laughed.
When we pulled into the store parking lot, Kendall grabbed my phone just as I finished typing my password into the Dating the Rich app. It was exhausting having her as my sister, but I loved her.
“You told all these guys no?” Kendal said as she scrolled through my messages.
“I wasn’t interested.”
“This is ridiculous,” Kendall complained as I went and grabbed the things we needed.
It wasn’t ridiculous; I genuinely had not been interested in any of the men who sent me messages. Money wasn’t all that important to me, and I definitely didn’t have time to go flying around the country to meet men for dates. My profile had been set up so anyone could find me and message me, so I had guys from California to New York sending me messages.
“Are you ready to go?” I asked as I pushed the cart toward our truck. “Please don’t message any of the guys back.”
“I’m just looking at their profiles. Why don’t you drive? I’m reading an interesting one,” she said as she climbed into the truck and let me finish loading our supplies.
“No worries, I’ll just lift all this heavy mulch and supplies by myself. Don’t mind me. Why don’t you just take it easy?”
“Okay.” She laughed.
“You can stop gawking at all those guys and put my phone away; I’m not going out with any of them.”
“Did you see you got a blind date invitation on here?”
“What’s that?”
“Come on, Kelsi, I know you’ve been out of the dating market for a while, but even you know what a blind date is.”
“I’m not stupid; I just meant what is it through the Dating the Rich app? I mean you can’t really go on a blind date if you know what the guy looks like and they all have profiles.”
“I know, I was just teasing. His profile shows his description but no pictures. He’s located in Fort Worth; that’s not too far away.”
“How old is he?”
“It doesn’t say, just gives an age range of 30 to 40.”
“What does he do for work?” I asked, not because I was actually considering going out with the guy, but just to keep Kendall occupied so she wasn’t replying to any of the messages that I had in my inbox.
“It doesn’t say.”
“Wow, why would anyone agree to go on a blind date? It doesn’t show you a picture or say anything about the guy.”
Kendall clicked around on the app as I drove us home. I was getting nervous as I tried to watch her out of the corner of my eye. She really wasn’t that good at listening when I told her not to do things.
When we arrived back at the ranch, there was a big F150 sitting in our driveway that wasn’t ours. It was brand new and shiny as hell. We didn’t know anyone who went around buying their ranch trucks new, they were just too expensive.
“Who do you think it is?” I asked.
“No idea. Maybe someone from Everett’s came to visit with Dad?”
“Yeah, maybe,” I said although I had a sick feeling in my stomach that there was something else going on that we didn’t know about. “Why would Dad be visiting with Everett’s ranch? He hates them,” I added.
“I don’t know. Maybe they need his help with something?” Kendall said unconvincingly.
Hannah came running up to us and pulled us into the barn before we could even unload our supplies. Something was going on, and by the fear in Hannah’s face, it wasn’t something good.
“It’s a man from the bank, I overheard him saying he was the loan manager and we are several months late. Oh no, I need this job. I’m not meant to work in an office. I can’t live with that kind of confinement. I don’t want to lose my job.”
“Calm down, Hannah. What exactly did you hear?” I asked.
“The man said that your dad should consider the buyout offer. He said we were behind several months and it was getting to the point that the bank would have to foreclose soon.”
My stomach sank as I listened to Hannah relay the information she heard. My parents had never even mentioned that things were tough for us. Sure, we had cut down on the number of ranch workers we had, but that wasn’t unusual; many other farms were doing the same thing. Plus, Kendall, Hannah, and I were really efficient and could get almost everything done on our own. It was crazy to think that we owed so much money to the bank that they were actually considering foreclosure. I had to assume Hannah had misheard something; there just wasn’t a way I thought it could be true.
We waited patiently for the man to leave the house, but he was in there forever. It was torture to sit in the barn and not know what was going on.
“Hannah, don’t you think Kelsi should go on this blind date with a millionaire from Fort Worth?” Kendall said to break the silence.
“Kendall, our family’s livelihood is at stake here; we don’t need to be talking about my love life at a time like this.”
“Actually, yes, I do think she should go,” Hannah said without even looking at the profile that Kendall held out. “Even more so with the uncertainty of the ranch. Kelsi, you need to make your own life. What would you do if your parents decided to sell the ranch and just retire?”
The thought had seriously never crossed my mind. I always thought they would just hand the ranch down to me when they were ready to retire. I knew Kendall didn’t want to stick around town forever and I was going to be the one to live and work on the ranch.
“Um, I’m not going to date some rich guy just because I might need a job,” I snorted back at her.
“She won’t date anyone,” Kendall added. “She’s afraid of men.”
“I’m not afraid of men! I just don’t want to waste my time.”
“So, you’re afraid of dating? Okay, now I understand,” Kendall said as she handed me back my phone.
“I’m not afraid of dating. Stop trying to twist everything I say. Aren’t you worried at all that Mom and Dad might be losing the ranch? You work here too, you know.”
“It would be just the thing I needed to motivate myself to move to New York. I’m only staying here to save up enough to move and help them out. I’d just move if I didn’t have to worry about you guys being mad at me for leaving you without enough help.”
“How does Robert feel about this plan?” I snarled back at her.
“Robert was ready to move last Christmas. I was the one who convinced him we should stay. We have almost $5,000 saved up. We could leave right now and get a room to rent and find some jobs. I’m not worried.”
Listening to the confidence in Kendall’s voice was annoying me. How could she not be worried at all about our family losing our ranch? We were raised here, we grew up working this land, and our parents might lose it all.
“I can’t even talk to you,” I screamed.
I started to pace the barn floor as we waited for the man from the bank to leave. It was crazy that my parents had kept such a secret, but it was over now. The second that bank employee left, I was going to storm in there and demand to know what had happened. We worked hard, we brought in the same amount of money each year, how could we not be making ends meet? I didn’t see it, and I really needed them to explain it to me.
“Sit down already,” Kendall said after I had been pacing for a good 10 minutes. “You walking back and forth isn’t going to make the man leave any sooner.”
“Kelsi, so why don’t you want to go out with one of the guys from the dating site?” Hannah asked.
“I just don’t want to,” I said as we sat there.
“Are you afraid you might find a man you like and Clyde will have to adjust to a man in your life?”
“No! Well, I just don’t want to have to deal with it all. I don’t want him to have to meet a strange guy, and I don’t want that guy to have to meet him. My dating life just isn’t possible anymore, and I’ve accepted it. It’s time for me to just be a mother.”
“Maybe you could be an even happier mother if you went on a few dates and took some time for yourself,” Hannah added.
“I’m happy. Don’t you think I’m happy?” I said as I anxiously watched the house.
“Oh, yeah, you look like the picture of happiness,” Kendall said sarcastically.
“Will you two just leave me alone already? Fine, there,” I said as I clicked the accept to the blind date option on my app. “Are you happy? I just agreed to connect with a total stranger who probably isn’t even a millionaire and is going to murder me on our first date. I hope you two are happy.”
“Actually, I read the rules about the blind date section. Only men who had verified identities, platinum status, and had completed a full background check were allowed to pick that option. So, he should be a decent guy,” Kendall added and then saw my darting look at her and she quickly looked away.
“So, a guy with a background check can’t be a serial killer. Good to know.”
“Come on, Kelsi, you had fun at the reunion, right? Maybe you could just go on a date to have a fun night out. You don’t have to marry anyone, and you don’t even have to go on a second date. Just go on one date. This is more about you than it is about this guy. Just talk to him, set up a meeting, and go on one date. I think it would be good for you to have a little excitement in your life,” Hannah said sweetly as she stood with me watching the house.
“I’ll talk to the guy; it’s fine. But I just don’t connect with men like I used to. I’ve got a busy life, I’ve got Clyde, I’ve got the ranch which is now in desperate need of my help. It’s a lot to deal with.”
“You also spend Friday nights watching Netflix and eating popcorn by yourself because Clyde is sleeping by eight o’clock. There’s no reason you couldn’t go on a date. It’s fear, I get it, but you can give yourself the right to have a little fun.”
“I still think you should have gone out with Tyler,” Kendall added.
“Stop. I’m not dating him. He lives halfway across the country and there’s just too much history there. Plus, we don’t really have anything in common anymore. He’s all about the superficial stuff and building his empire now.”
“Fine, but I’m still holding out hope for the guy,” Kendall said under her breath.
I just rolled my eyes as I continued to watch the house. My heart was breaking for my parents and what they must have been going through the last few months as they kept this secret from us. We were adults, though, and we could handle it. I would do everything in my power to make sure our ranch stayed running, and they didn’t lose what they had worked so hard for.
“He’s leaving,” Hannah whispered as we saw the front door open. “Your dad doesn’t even look mad. Look he’s shaking the guy's hand and smiling.”
Seeing how my father was interacting with the loan manager didn’t surprise me, though. My father was kind to everyone, even a man who was clearly trying to take away the life my father had worked for since he was a kid.
The three of us marched right past the black shiny truck and up the front steps to where my father was standing. He just waved and smiled at the man as he drove away and then looked to us as if he didn’t have a thing to hide.
“So,” I said as I waved at the truck leaving. “Is there anything you’d like to tell me?”
I was trying not to be angry with my father, but the frustration of the moment was getting the better of me. How could he have kept this all such a secret for so long? How could he not have trusted me enough to tell me what was going on? I was the responsible one, I was the one who would have helped him figure out our next best approach. He should have trusted me.
“Let’s talk,” he said calmly as we all made our way to the kitchen table.
“I’ll go finish in the barn,” Hannah said as she backed down the steps of the porch.
“No, come in, Hannah; you should know what’s going on, too,” my mother added. “You are all affected by this, and it’s time we shared what is going on.”
The calm resignation in my mother’s voice sent a shiver down my spine. She didn’t even look like she was going to fight for the ranch and she always fought for what was important to her. I didn’t know what all was going on, but I absolutely didn’t like the idea of my mother giving up on anything.
“Are you selling the ranch, Daddy?” Kendall asked.
“Maybe. It’s too much for us to keep running and we are losing money each year. It might be the best option.”
“No,” I said louder than I had expected. “I’ll run it for you. I’ll do everything if I have to. You two deserve to keep the ranch.”
“Kelsi, we are getting old, darling, and it’s more work than it’s worth to us. If we sell it now, we can get a decent offer and have plenty of money to retire with and not have to worry. And as much as we would love to have you run the ranch, you can’t do it alone, and even if we gave it to you, there’s so much money that needs to be invested in the infrastructure.”
Dad was right about the infrastructure, and I knew it. As much as I wanted to scream and yell about them selling the ranch, if we really weren’t making money, I knew there was no way I could take over things. I didn’t have a huge savings account. I didn’t have the ability to buy the ranch from them unless I took out a loan. But what bank would loan me money if the business wasn’t cash positive? The answer was no banks would do that, and I knew it.
“So, what’s going to happen? Are you selling?” I managed to mumble.
“Your mother and I are strongly considering offers. But please don’t think of this as a defeat. We want to retire; we are old. This business is for the young or at least the people rich enough to hire the young. But Kelsi and Kendall, if you want to take over, we will support that. We will co-sign a loan for both of you or either one of you to take over the ranch,” my father said and then paused as he started to get misty eyed.
“This isn’t about the money to us, and if either of you are passionate enough about this, we think you should take over. Our only concern is saddling you with a huge amount of debt at such a young age,” my mother added.
“Well, I don’t want it,” Kendall blurted out.
“Rude much,” I said under my breath.
“What? I don’t want to run the ranch, and I think everyone already knows that. I was just putting it out there so no one was confused.”
“Oh, we all know that you wouldn’t want to take on anything that had responsibilities associated with it.”
“You’re a jerk, Kelsi. I’m responsible.”
“Sure you are,” I said as I continued to be snide and petty.
I wanted to stop. It wasn’t like me to be so rude, but I felt this anger building up inside of me that just had to get out. The more Kendall talked, the more I just wanted to punch her. She was being insensitive, or at least I felt like she was and it was really agitating me.
Our parents had just told us they were done with their dream of ranching. They had just dropped a huge bomb on us, and Kendall didn’t seem to see the significance at all. I’d built my life around someday running this ranch. I didn’t earn money and the small salary our parents paid me had all gone right back into the ranch. I had no savings, I had no future if they sold the ranch. I’d basically be homeless with my five-year-old son. Well, I was sure they’d let me stay living with them, but it sounded like they had big plans for traveling the country and vacationing. There was just so much to take in that I couldn’t sit at the table any longer.
“Do you want to buy the ranch?” my father asked.
“I don’t know. How am I supposed to know something like that right away? I already felt like the ranch was mine. This is all too much,” I said as tears rolled down my cheeks and I stormed out of the housed toward the barn.
Up until an hour before, I had owned the ranch with my parents. Sure, I didn’t have my name on a piece of paper saying I was an owner, but I ran the place, and I was the one who made most of the decisions. It was me who stayed up late thinking of new ways for us to bring in revenue. The ranch was mine, at least in my mind. But with one quick conversation, my parents wiped away my ownership and set out the realization that I’d have to get a bank loan if I really wanted to own the ranch. I’d never considered I’d have to buy my own family ranch.
Tears weren’t really my thing. I was the strong one. I was the oldest daughter and the person who took care of things most of the time. Things really were out of control if I was sobbing in the corner of a barn, looking on my phone for how to apply for a loan to buy a ranch.
As I clicked through the local bank’s website, I noticed a message pop up from Dating the Rich. I wasn’t normally online when one of those messages popped up, so I glanced at the app to see what it was all about.
Mr. Blind Date: Thanks for accepting my blind date request. I know it’s really weird.
Me: Yeah, it is weird.
I wasn’t going to lie to the guy; it was a little creepy and really weird that he couldn’t even say who he was. I certainly wasn’t in the mood for playing some weird hide-and-seek game with a rich guy who didn’t have something better to do with his time.
Mr. Blind Date: I appreciate you taking the leap. Would you like to talk here for a little bit and then meet up for a date?
I froze as I read his message. Did I want to meet this guy for a date at all?