“Why didn’t you answer the phone, huh? You and Lemon sucking face?” I could feel his eyebrows wiggling through the phone. “Got the Do Not Disturb sign up?”
“No, moron.” I snorted. “I’m at the stock office waiting on your butt to get here.”
“Aw, is poor Si baby so sad because he had to leave his woman and do some real work?” he asked, like he was talking to a newborn.
I suppressed a laugh. He didn’t need encouragement. “Do you want me to hang up on you? Why aren’t you here yet?”
“Just waiting on Dad. He had to run to the feed store and grab a bag of grain.” His voice dropped low. “Dude. Did you hear what happened at the high school this morning?”
I punched the code to unlock the office door. 1994. The year my parents were married. While I waited, I might as well get the computer on and pull out the needles and dewormer. “What high school?”
“Seddledowne.” His tone was exasperated. “Dude, you’ve got to start checking the news. Or at least Facebook.”
“Why do I need to do that when you’ll just tell me?” I’d stopped watching the news years ago. It was depressing. And Facebook offered nothing but a temptation to stalk Clem. I’d learned long ago that being okay without Clem meant cutting her out of my life completely. Even on the internet.
“Ridiculous. Fine. Whatever.” He grumbled. “You are not going to believe this. Apparently, the principal and the assistant principal were having an affair. They embezzled $250,000 in overtime pay from their teachers, maintenance funds, and from the student activities fund. Then they took off for Europe.”
My jaw went slack. But then I snapped it shut. “You actually had me for a minute. Good one, Holdie. I think you needto hand in your library card.” He’d been reading too much fiction.
“Okay, little boy. Don’t believe me?” He sounded insulted, and I thought for a second he might be telling the truth. But, nah. It was too fantastical. Stuff like that didn’t happen in Seddledowne.
Just then, a text dinged on my phone. He’d sent me an article inThe Washington Post.
“Principal and Assistant Principal Charged With Embezzlement In Small Virginia Town. Manhunt Ongoing.”
“Whoa.” I sat down and propped my boots up on the desk.
“Yeah. You go ahead and let me know if you think it’s real now.”
“Shhh. I’m reading.” It was only four sentences long because what Holden had told me was about all the info they had so far. “That is actually insane,” I said when I finished. “That might be the first time we’ve made the Washington Post.”
“Bro. You know what this means, don’t you?” Holden’s voice was over-the-top excited, like he was about to tell me we'd won tickets to the SuperBowl.
“No?”
“Seddledowne School District is going to be hiring.”
“Um. Obviously.”
“Si, you can live happily ever after with Lemonandhave your dream job. You could stay in Seddledowne, and the three of you could be a family. Just think what this could mean for Anna.” Holden was always looking for a way to capitalize on a situation. I couldn’t believe he’d somehow thought this was going to benefit me or Anna. “Mom will be so happyyou’re living here, she won’t know what to do. And you could help Dad with the ranch. And Firefly Fields would be yours and Clem’s. Your own land, man. Think about it. You could get your own herd like you’ve always wanted.”
Dad didn’t need my help. He had Uncle Troy and two ranch hands. And I wasn’t going to begin lusting over Firefly Fields. That would lead nowhere good.
I shook my head. “Earth to Holden. Life never works out that easily. This isn’t a freaking Disney movie.”
“Lifeislike that.” I could hear the shrug in his voice. “If you’re on the right path.”
I snorted. “Then I haven’t been on the right path my entire twenty-eight years.”
“Exactly,” he said in a Napoleon Dynamite voice. “And now you are. I’m telling you, our sister was a freaking genius.”
If I could’ve rolled my eyes harder, I would’ve. But I still had a dull headache from the concussion. And this conversation was getting on my nerves.
“Clem and Billy are probably getting back together,” I said, hoping to shut Holden up.
Yeah, I’d seen the texts Billy sent to Clem this morning. They were right there in my face when I grabbed a cup of coffee. And she hadn’t shut him down in any way. Seemed like she wanted him to keep texting her. It was just a matter of time before he wormed his way back in.
“Uh, I know Lemon,” Holden said, like I didn’t. “She’d never go back with someone who cheated on her.”
