Lincoln

I was not known for being spontaneous. In fact, every move I made had been calculated. With that in mind, when I found out about Harper leasing out some of her land, I acted on a whim. Without even thinking, I contacted the number that was on the sign and offered double whatever the highest offer was. I figured it would be perfect for business, or so I convinced myself. If I could update Harper’s family farm and allow it to reach its full potential, there were endless possibilities when it came to me advertising it. I could use my company to even build other businesses to promote the Callahan Family Ranch. Once I got people to see the little town surrounding the ranch, I would be able to expand my real estate company out of major cities and into rural areas with potential to become the next vacation hot spots for people so rich the thought of visiting areas with shitty reception sounded enchanting. It was the perfect plan.

Something needed to be said about the nerves that hit me when I realized exactly what I was doing, though. I took quite a few cigarette breaks when the thought of living with Harper crossed my mind. My heart began to beat awkwardly, and my stomach turned. I hadn’t contacted Harper in years. I didn’t know what she looked like, who she was, or how she would treat me. I was certain she hadn’t forgotten me—there was no way she could forget her first love. I just hoped she hadn’t held a grudge for so long. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, so I knew the grounds would be rocky once I was settled into her place. I had to keep reminding myself that it was a great business opportunity for me. When I’d been younger, I’d always envied the Callahan family for their property and home. It was fate, I figured, that I had decided to finally cave into my mom’s requests as soon as Harper placed some of the property up for lease.

As I waited for everything to clear with the bank, I begrudgingly spent time with my family. While my parents had moved into a much better house than the one I’d grown up in, things were just as I remembered. My father wasted his time away off at the casino, and my mom smiled as if nothing was wrong in their marriage. The few siblings who had remained in town had families of their own, most of whom I hadn’t met before. It was odd seeing my flesh and blood yet knowing nothing about them. Time went by and everyone, aside from my parents, changed. The distance between my siblings and me was odd, especially because we had once been so close.

“That’s what happens when you let money change you,” my eldest brother, Andrew, said when I voiced how weird it was being home and seeing everyone.

“Money hasn’t changed me,” I had to remind him. “It’s just opened my eyes to how much better life is when you can actually afford to live it.”

The look in his eyes was enough to show me that he didn’t agree with me.

“Do you even hear yourself anymore? Do you understand how insulting that is to our mother?” Andrew spat at me with narrowed eyes.

“Stating a matter of truth isn’t insulting. Not having to worry about my next meal or whether or not I have hot water makes my life better. A high quantity of money gives a higher quality of life, and that’s a fact,” I said calmly.

“Ma busted her ass to make sure we ate, even if she didn’t. She worked three damn jobs to make sure your ungrateful ass had a home, food, and decent livin’.” His voice was getting sharper and harder, much like our father’s did when he was in a bad mood. Hearing it made me shift in my seat and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Andrew continued. “I don’t know what kinda shit you’re feedin’ your friends in that fuckin’ city you love so much, but you made yourself believe it. We didn’t have the best life, but goddamn, we didn’t have it bad.”

“Is it a life you’d want your kids to live?” I inquired, crossing my arms.

“Having me struggle to make sure they don’t end up on the street or go hungry, hell yeah,” Andrew said at once. “At least I’d be the one suffering and not them. Hopefully they wind up grateful instead as ass backwards like you.”

We argued back and forth for a while, and it got so heated that two of my older sisters had to step in and separate us. I didn’t understand why he couldn’t see that money wasn’t such a bad thing and that I hadn’t changed. I’d grown up poor, and I was still the boy who resented that lifestyle. All my hard work was to ensure I never had to feel that way again, and I was damn proud of where I’d ended up. Sure, my siblings had husbands, wives, children, or long lists of exes under their belts, but I didn’t want to sacrifice my business and success for people who would clash with my lifestyle. Happiness was relative, and I was my happiest self when living alone without a care in the world.

Or so I told myself often.

Five days had passed since I’d arrived in town, and four days had passed since I’d put in my bid for the lease. I was playing a waiting game, but I wasn’t a patient man, so it was taking everything in me to not call a few of my close friends and get them to pull strings to move things along. Instead, I focused on learning about the new family members I hadn’t met before. I had nearly a dozen nieces and nephews to get accustomed to. Two had been born before I’d left town, but they had barely been out of diapers then. The others were brand new faces and names I had only read on Christmas cards.

I had five siblings, three brothers and two sisters, and all but two of my brothers were in town. One of them was in Washington working a typical nine-to-five; he had come out to the family a year before I had left, and my father had beaten him pretty badly before disowning him. He didn’t speak to the family much after that, not that I blamed him, but I often wondered if he would ever be comfortable with his siblings again. The other lived in Georgia where he was actually well off with his own car shop and a doting wife. My eldest brother was visiting the family from Texas, where he was a retired rodeo star turned couch potato with a wife who was the typical Southern belle—long blond hair, great tits, and a sweet-as-pie grin. Their marriage had died years before, but the facade they kept up was glorious. My two sisters had never left town. One ended up marrying a deadbeat right out of high school; she was fifteen years my senior with four divorces under her belt and a brand-new wedding ring. My last sister was the smart one. She had married the town doctor, and she never had to work a day in her life aside from taking care of her own children.

As dysfunctional as they were, my family was consistent. It made me both bitter and charmed when I realized I had missed out on so much yet so little.

As I admired my family and mused over how they had turned out, I couldn’t help but think about Harper. I wondered what she was doing and how things had turned out for her. My mother told me the whole story about she had moved away for college but ended up coming back to take care of her folks, and I felt bad for her, because she had never deserved to feel such pain. She had always been a sweet woman who had gone out of her way to help people in need. I knew I would have married her and been content in the shitty, Podunk hick town I’d grown up in, and that was the main reason I’d left her behind. I couldn’t have let her hold me back from success.

I couldn’t allow anyone to hold me back from my success.

After the argument with Andrew, I wound up on the back porch with a cigarette in my mouth and my hair disheveled. There was nothing I could do change the minds that were so set in small towns. They couldn’t see the world for what it was. It was huge, with endless possibilities. It was a place where anything and everything could happen as long as compromises were made. There was no such thing as losing oneself when the world was filled with experiences that enhanced life. I had to admit that my career and net worth were matters of luck, but I would never complain. I knew I deserved exactly everything I’d gotten. I’d struggled enough as a child; there was no need to do so as an adult.

As I sat on the porch, I couldn’t help but wonder how Harper was. I knew her parents, especially her father, had been very important to her. She was an only child and a total daddy’s girl, but she had always talked about getting out of Wyoming and making something of herself. Her dreams were what had inspired me to dream big. I hoped she hadn’t ended up stuck, but, knowing our town, she could have gotten caught up and time could have passed her by. She deserved nothing but good things to happen. If karma was real, Harper would have been exactly where I was. I often wondered where we’d be if I had taken her with me. Every time I thought about it, my stomach got heavy.

I put out my cigarette and walked back inside. My brother didn’t even acknowledge me as I walked passed him, but I wasn’t worried. He was slowly turning into my father; I could feel it, and I knew he felt it to. I couldn’t be around that, especially with my father already lazing around in the house and making snide comments. I was thankful when he’d left for the casino that morning, even though I knew he was gambling away the money I sent my mother every month to handle bills and necessities. As long as he was away from me, I was a happy man.

I walked to the room I was sleeping in and collapsed back against the bed. I knew I needed to meet up with Harper eventually to talk about what was going to happen. I remained hopeful that things would stay civil, but the more rational side of me knew there was going to be tension and an awkward conversation. The thought alone filled me with anxiety and made my heart beat a little bit faster. I assured myself that it was going to work out, even if things were a bit off-kilter at the start.