At first, Victoria was devastated, but after a few weeks, she realized how little her mother had done to make wherever they landed feel like home.Any companionship she might have received from her mother was usually critical, or she whined about something.
Her mother never cleaned, cooked, or bought groceries.Victoria had bought the groceries as soon as she could get a job at fourteen.Her mom had called it her part of the rent.Victoria had called it ridiculous.
Her mother had always been selfish and lazy as long as she could remember.But Victoria was determined to do things the right way, and the first order of business was the ranch—finally, a home to call her own and people around who were helpful instead of selfish.
Even as a small child, Victoria would get herself up in the morning and go to school.When she’d gotten older, and after school, she’d work several hours before going home, sometimes stopping at the grocery store on her way.At home, she’d clean whatever mess her mother had made and make a quick, simple dinner.
It was close to midnight when she got to sit down and do her homework.Some nights she would only get four hours of sleep.She would try to take a nap in the study hall, but that didn’t always happen.
Her uncle had given her more than anyone else ever had, and Victoria was going to make him proud.Victoria had felt such guilt that she hadn’t been with her uncle when he died, hadn’t gone to him when he needed her.In her defense, she hadn’t known of his cancer.He never told her about it when she called or asked her to come visit him.She would have been there to take care of him in a second.He was the only person in her life she’d felt safe with and cared for.
Victoria pulled a ladder and a pair of pliers from the garage attached to the house in the back and set to work.
“Miss Victoria, what are you doing up there?Get down and let one of the guys do that.”
Victoria grabbed hold of the chain when her balance wiggled at being startled.
“Tomas, how many times have I asked you to call me Victoria?”
Tomas held onto the ladder.
“I don’t know, ma’am.Get down.”
Victoria rolled her eyes.She’d known this man just about as long as she had her uncle.Tomas had been a part of the ranch for as long as she could remember.
“I’m just fine.You guys are busy doing the ranch work.I’m not taking you from that to help me when I can do this myself.”
Tomas breathed a sigh of relief when she finished and climbed down from the ladder.
Victoria slapped her hands together and smiled.
“See, easy-peasy.”
Tomas sent her a confused look as he folded the ladder.“I’ll just take this back to the garage for you.”
She knew he didn’t know half the things she said, and everything she did confused him most of the time.“Thank you.”
“Are you coming to the chow barn tonight?Benny made his chili and corn bread.”
As good as that sounded, she didn’t want to invade the guy’s downtime.It was hard enough for them that she was even here and was the boss, although she was smart enough to let Tomas, the foreman, make the decisions and deal with the ranch hands.She’d been blessed to have Tomas there to guide her and take over the operation of the ranch, because she knew next to nothing about how things worked.
“No, thank you, Tomas, but I’ve got a lot of paperwork to do.”
Tomas tipped his hat.“Okay, Miss.Have a good night.”
“You too, Tomas.”
Since it was late afternoon, Victoria decided to start cleaning the living room before she tackled the office.Both had a thick layer of dust, and every corner seemed to be covered in cobwebs.She could tell her uncle hadn’t cleaned in months, if not years.She’d tackled the kitchen and bathroom the first day because she wouldn’t have stood the grime and been able to shower or eat.
The kitchen floor was the worst.Not only did it have dust, dirt, and cobwebs, but there was also a thick layer of grease mixed in, along with things growing in weird places around the fridge.
Victoria had spent a whole day on the kitchen alone.She’d thought the floor was a brown Formica and the cabinets a light tan color.After a good cleaning, they turned into a decent cream-colored vinyl floor with specks of color, and the cabinets turned out to be creamy white that she remembered from childhood.
A few hours later that day, Victoria sat on the floor, Indian-style, and spread all the receipts out to organize them before putting them into the computer.
“What are you doing?”
Victoria screamed, and when she jerked in reaction, the receipts she’d organized into nice little piles flew in different directions.She put her hand on her chest and looked over at the door.
