Page 2 of Reuniting with the Rancher

Funtime Auntie Lily was the one who always fell asleep when the car started moving because Marigold or someone from her team would take care of the important things. Responsible guardian Lily should have known better than to fall asleep in anUber in the middle of South Dakota as a single woman with a thirteen-year-old keeping watch.

“You were having another nightmare,” he accused.

Sighing, she gripped his hand, now bigger than hers. “Sorry Boogie Bear, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“Stop calling me that,” he grumbled as he pulled away from her hold and got out of the car.

He was so quick to anger, and she didn’t blame him. Marigold’s death was a blow neither one of them had quite come to grips with yet. He’d lost his mother, she’d lost her sister and now they both were drifting, tossed about in the shit storm that followed the accident. This move was her attempt at finding a safe harbor for them both.

Lily carefully climbed out the back of the car, ignoring the cane beside her, and took in land that stretched out as far as the eye could see with a big, open blue sky stretched over the top. It was beautiful, peaceful, and as far away from the concert stages and paparazzi as she could manage.

“Can I have my phone back?”

“No, Boog–Caleb, you can’t. We’ve already discussed this. You need some time off from the phone, from social media and everything…”

Including those jerks you call friends.

“This ain’t fair, Mom would’ve–”

“Caleb Belmont, the only reason you were allowed to have a phone in the first place is because I advocated for you. Leave it to Marigold and you would’ve had a flip phone from ’95.” She leveled a semi-stern look over her glasses at him before she winked.

“You just wanted someone to play Tetris with,” he grumbled with a slight smile. “We don’t even do that anymore…”

“I–” Before she could muster up some words of comfort or even luxuriate in the first piece of a smile she’d seen in weeksfrom Caleb, a tall, thin woman about twenty years her senior wrapped her up in a tight hug and started speaking a mile a minute as she bounced on her toes.

“Howdy! You must be Dr. Belmont! I’m so excited to welcome you to Crystal Fountain Ranch! I still can’t believe my luck in landing you. Not to scare you away, but none of the candidates withhalfyour experience would take the job for such a small salary, but I threw asilver dollarinto the fountain and the next day BOOM! Your resume landed in my inbox! I told the boss, you’re gonna have to up the salary if you want quality, but he just said to ‘figure it out.’ And I thought, well Raina if you don’t you might as well brush upyourresume because he’s going to throw you out on your rear end. You must be Caleb! Boy, what a handsome one you are! I hear you’re a talented musician yourself. Well, you’ll have plenty of time to practice around here because after your schoolin’ and chores, there’s nothing left to do out here but shoot skeet, swim in the lake at your own risk, or watch the clouds go by.”

Lily waited for Raina to run out of breath and her ponytail to stop swinging before she spoke. It took a minute. The woman was all kinetic energy. “Thank you for having me. This is a great opportunity to step back into practice full time. Looks like this was perfect for the both of us.”

“What fountain?” Caleb asked as he looked around.

“Crystal Fountain. It’s up the road a bit, past all the stables and your cottage, but before you get to the gazebo. Legend has it, if you throw in a coin and your heart’s desire is pure, your wish will come true. I fought to keep the boss from tearing it down. It’s a little wonky, and the water doesn’t always spray right, but it’s beautiful and has been here since the original owner made their homestead here.”

Caleb’s eyes showed a keen interest she hadn’t seen out of him since the accident. A hint of a smile and a bit of curiosity, allin the first five minutes of arriving. Maybe this really was a good idea. Maybe she really was getting the hang of being Guardian Auntie. Maybe…

This was,in fact, not a good idea.

Lily’s back was stiff, her leg ached, and her patience was thin. The quaint cottage that came as part of the job package hadn’t been cleaned since the mid-nineties at least. Caleb complained about everything from the dirt to the lack of Wi-Fi signal to the boredom. It had been six hours since they arrived, and they were both exhausted and sniping at each other - something they’d never done before. Usually, he tested her sister’s patience, and she would break the tension with a laugh, game, or compromise.

Was she supposed to play both roles? No, that wouldn’t work. She’d have to be the disciplinarian first. Fun second. Shit, that seemed boring as hell. How did Marigold do this?

“I’m–”

“Bored. Got it, Caleb. You’ve been bored for the last six hours. Give me a break, shit. I don’t know how to make this more entertaining for you, but I wish you’d realize no one thinks cleaning for hours is fun. Though it would take less time if you took the same energy you put into complaining into those baseboards.”

Caleb looked stricken, and she immediately felt like shit. “Listen Boogie?—”

“I was going to say I was hungry,” he mumbled, his eyes on the floor as his chest heaved.

“Shit. Food. Right.”

Marigold always made sure Caleb ate on a regular schedule no matter where they were in the world. And here she couldn’teven remember that. She wiped her hands on her jeans before she leaned in and put her hands on his shoulders. “I’m sorry Caleb, I shouldn’t have snapped. This is a big change for you, and I need to be more mindful of that. Why don’t I see which restaurants are close and order something to go, and you go out and explore the ranch. Just don’t go too far and keep an eye for anything that might eat you.”

“Wait… is that… is that a thing?”

“It’s a ranch in the middle of South Dakota,” she shrugged. “I’m making an educated assumption.”

“Right…” Caleb looked around for a second, snatched up the cane she never used and threw it over his shoulder baseball bat style. He gave her a half-hearted wave and walked out, letting the porch screen slam behind him.

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