For the first time in ages, Nora felt optimistic. She didn’t wait until after her lunch. She made the call where she was sitting.
It rang three times, and then Maggie Bluejacket answered.
“Hello. Nora? It’s so kind of you to call. I hope this isn’t interrupting your lunch.”
“Not at all. It’s still a bit hot and needs to cool. So, you’re interested in my family home as a residence for your foreman?”
“Yes. We would love to see it. Has a price been set?” Maggie asked.
“It’s been set with the house and land. But the furnishings are available to be left with the property if the buyer so wishes, otherwise, I plan to give them away. I have all of the information at the house, and as soon as I finish lunch, I’m going home.”
“Would you be there in about an hour and a half?” Maggie asked.
“For sure,” Nora said. “It’s the only house on Bluebell Street that has a For Sale sign in the front yard.”
“Wonderful. We’ll see you soon,” Maggie said.
Nora was smiling as she put the phone back in her pocket, then picked up her soup spoon and took her first bite. It was warm, and savory, with light-as-air dumplings, and tender bites of stewed chicken.
She ate all the way to the bottom of the bowl and took a piece of coconut cream pie home for dessert. As soon as she was home, she put her pie in the fridge, and for ambiance, turned on the gas log fireplace at the end of the living room, and all the lights in the house. It was her gift to the old girl, making her look as pretty as possible for the prospective buyers.
Without anything to do but wait, she googled the address of Asher’s home in Austin. Even though it wasn’t for sale, the exterior and interior pictures were still on Zillow.
What she hadn’t expected was the size of it, or the Spanish architecture. It was big and it was gorgeous. With a four-bedroom home, she was fairly certain that she could claim one of them for an office. That was her future, and she was sitting in her past. It was time to let it go.
* * *
Maggie and Sonny were changing clothes, getting ready to go into town when Sonny stopped, and turned around.
“Maggie, honey, I think we need to talk to Chris and Ellen about this. They are the ones who need to okay the house. I wouldn’t want them to feel obligated to agree to living there, if they didn’t like it,” Sonny said.
Maggie sighed. “As usual, you’re right. You know me, always wanting to fix the world. Definitely talk to Chris. See if he and Ellen will go with us.”
“He’s unloading feed. I’ll go talk to him now,” Sonny said, and then stopped and kissed her. “Don’t ever stop caring for the world. I’ll be happy with whatever you have left,” then he put on his last boot and went to find Chris.
* * *
Chris Jackson wasn’t as skinny as he’d been when he came to work for the Sunset Ranch. Good food and a place to call home had turned the tide. His hair was always about a month past needing a haircut. He’d broken his nose twice in his life, and the last time, it healed just the tiniest bit crooked. His skin was perennially bronzed for all his years in the sun, but when he smiled, his whole face lit up, and that’s what had attracted Ellen Hardy to the man she’d married.
Chris had been thanking his lucky stars ever since that day at the Crossroads gas station when he stood at the pumps counting his money to see if he had enough to pay for fuel. He was wondering where he was next going to lay his head, when Maggie Bluejacket walked up to him, said her husband wanted to hire him, and then handed him her phone.
The years since felt nothing short of a miracle, and meeting his Ellen and then marrying her felt like he’d won the lottery. He was unloading the last few bags of cubes for the horses when he heard Sonny calling.
“In here, boss!” Chris said, and stepped out of the breezeway to wave Sonny down, then took the last two bags into a granary and fastened the door on the way out as Sonny walked in. “What’s up?”
“You know I don’t meddle in your business, don’t you?” Sonny said.
Chris frowned. “Of course, I know that. Why?”
Sonny sighed. “Unfortunately, I do not speak for my wife, nor am I ever able to change her mind when she’s got a plan, and a grand plan it is, this time. We think the world of you and Ellen. And we knew you were trying to get a bank loan to buy a house, but didn’t qualify. And we also know that two people living in Pearl’s little house has to be hard.”
Chris shrugged. “It’s okay. We’re managing.”
“What if Maggie and I could manage something a little better for you?”
He frowned. “Like what?”
“A really nice house just came up for sale in Crossroads. And Maggie had this idea that if we bought it, then you and Ellen could move in there and start a home of your own. Your rent would be interest free and would go toward ownership of the property. Technically, we’re just doing what the bank wouldn’t do, without all the fuss.”
