“No. Chat tomorrow?”
“Chat now?”
“Tomorrow.”
Finally he stripped for bed and stretched out on top of the cool sheets. But sleep evaded him. Rolling on his side, he pressed his face into his pillow, realizing he missed the scent of hay beneath his head and the lullaby sounds of squeaky puppies.
He missed Gemma.
At 4:00 a.m., when he’d rolled over for the thousandth time, he grabbed his phone.
“You awake?”
“What are you doing awake? It’s only 10:00 p.m. here.”
“Can’t sleep.”
“What’s up?”
“I miss the barn.”
“My palace for yours?”
“Deal.”
“How’s the queen?”
“Good. To be honest, struggling, but the doctors are hopeful. Please don’t speak of it to anyone. I shouldn’t have told you, put you under that pressure.”
“Prince, trust me, I’m a vault. I’m sorry she’s not doing well.”
“Not sure exactly what’s going on. Maybe autoimmune disorder.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“How’s the herd? Are you looking after my Chandler? I’m coming for him, I promise.”
“He’s getting fat. Last night Ross challenged him in a wrestling match and Chandler almost won.”
“That’s my boy!!!!!”
“By the way, I think Blue and Tweedy are engaged.”
“At last!”
“Want me to sing you a lullaby so you can go back to sleep? Do you have a full day tomorrow?”
“Meetings. But other things are going on.”
“Wanna talk?”
“I wish you were here, Gemma, so I could tell you face to face.”
“I wish I could talk to you face to face. Some stuff has happened here too.”
“Like what? Shall I ring?”
“Easier to text. I might cry if I say it out loud. Basically, shew, here goes. I lost the property. Apparently if a deal is too good to be true, it is TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. I was swindled, Prince. The property did not belong to the crooked people who sold it to me. I’m out $150k with no more money and no place to live.”
