The money didn’t matter. There would be thousands coming in and the same thousands going out. That money wasn’t really his, anyway.
He knew what he needed to do, which was, somehow, also what he wanted to do.
He would contact those long-standing customers so Hysham would continue, with the feed and grain as the cornerstone of the community, just like so many people here had told him. They would be delighted to hear that Morgan wouldn’t be selling in spring, after all.
And then there was Jack. He needed to let Jack know his plans, and to hear Jack agree to what he wanted to do, because without Jack in his life, none of this would be worth it.
Morgan sucked in a lungful of the cold, growing-colder air and blew it out, imagining frost sparkling around the edges of a circle made from his breath. Then he went back inside and headed up the stairs, one thump at a time, and into the kitchen. Where Jack was humming as he sipped his coffee and looked out the window.
Jack put the cup down and turned to Morgan. “Your phone’s been ringing.”
“Thank you.” Morgan picked up his cell phone and leaned against the counter so he could be close to Jack while he talked.
The number was Bradley’s, and the history showed no message left. Morgan hit the callback button, and his stomach sank a little when it connected.
“This is Bradley,” came the voice he knew, sounding guarded, which was understandable, given the way things ended between them.
“This is Morgan,” Morgan said in kind. “You called? Is everything okay?”
“Hey,” Bradley said, more warm and casual. “Where are you?”
“Montana.”
“Still?” Bradley’s voice went up in surprise. “I thought you’d be long done with that place, the way you complained about going.”
“Well, I’ve had to take care of the feed and grain.”
“Oh?” Bradley asked, and if Morgan sensed a hint of I-don’t-care in Bradley’s voice, now was not the time to bring it up. Now or ever.
“It’s more complicated than I had anticipated.” Morgan looked at Jack, who was standing close, attentive, as though he knew Morgan needed him there. “And more important.”
He didn’t plan on telling Bradley any more than that. But complicated was a word Bradley surely understood, as that had been his excuse for leaving. Because Morgan, and what Morgan had needed help with, were too complicated for Bradley.
But maybe he needed to at least say something.
“Listen, Bradley,” he said. “I’m sorry for what I put you through. It wasn’t right to?—”
“You needed help,” Bradley said. “But I couldn’t do it. Maybe we were already—I don’t know. Falling apart. Your accident felt like the last straw, sure, but I shouldn’t have just. Left. I’m sorry about that.”
Morgan heard Bradley draw a deep breath and thought about fighting his reaction to the apology as memories of their time together, good and bad, flooded through him. Except he didn’t need to hide who he was or how he felt, not with Jack standing right there. Close enough to touch for comfort.
Morgan did just that, reaching out to brush the back of Jack’s hand with his fingers, and when he did, Jack’s smile was brightand quick. And Morgan remembered what Jack had said about not minding being needed.
“Thank you for that, Bradley,” he said sincerely. It was nice to mean things just as they were said. “I’m sorry it ended the way it did. So roughly.”
“Me, too,” Bradley said with a sigh. “There’s some mail here for you. Do you have an address I can send it to?”
Morgan gave him the address, then said goodbye and stood there for a minute, in the warm kitchen as the sky outside the windows seemed to sparkle with bright frost.
If the wind picked up and sounded a little like a train whistle, that was to be expected. Hysham was all by its lonesome on the high prairie of southern Montana, and that ghostly wail swept along the tracks like a cry for help.
He was going to answer that call, oh yes, he was.
“Jack,” Morgan said. “I have something to tell you. To ask you.”
“Okay.”
“I want to stay and help these people,” he said. “I don’t want to sell in the spring. I know I said before that it was an option, but I don’t want it to be. Are you okay with staying here with me forever?”
