Page 78 of The Crush
“I would,” I say simply. “If it’s what you need.”
He cups the side of my face, brushing flour from my cheek with his thumb in much the same way I had with him. “I have what I need.”
Rap. Rap. Rap.
Daniel pulls away with a sigh, walking toward the door as I follow and shout, “Hold on a sec.”
Reaching it first, Daniel grabs the door handle, twisting and pulling it open, and I have to admit that my first thought when I seethreepeople standing on the porch instead of two is that maybe we should’ve gone through the window after all.
Sixty-Four
Daniel
I leave my glass of whiskey untouched even if I’d prefer to down it. Craving the way that one drink and then another might take the edge off while another part of me feels compelled to stay sharp. To stay on alert.
Crack. Crack.
One of the logs from the bonfire splits and falls with a soft burst of embers, illuminating where Isabel rests her head against my shoulder and where Gabe sits as an unspoken buffer between myself and our unplanned guest. One who not only had the nerve to show up in the first place but also to stick around even after Eva said her goodbyes an hour ago.
To be honest, I didn’t really think he had it in him.
“It’s a more frequent rotation schedule,” Eli is saying as he plots out a series of boxes and numbers into a notebook between him and my dad. “Gives the land more time to recover by keeping the cattle moving so they can’t overgraze, which means more food for them in the long run. Lower impact on the land and lower costs, if you do it right.”
“Hm.” My dad squints at the page, continuing to participate in the topic that he himself had started to replace the awkward silence around the fire. “What do you think, Danny?”
Eli’s expression falters as he looks my way, clearly understanding that all is not forgiven just because he came to dinner with his hat in his hands. When I only give a noncommittal shrug, Gabe chimes in instead.
“Is this what you keep trying to talk to Dad about?”
Eli nods, his mouth turning down at the corners. “He likes the old way.”
Crack.
After drawing out a few more lines, Eli hands the notebook over to my dad, and glances at me again before adding, “It is an investment. Mainly time, but if you guys decide you want to try it, I’d be happy to come over and help get things set up. Help keep track of how it’s working…” He slows before muttering, “Only if you’re interested, of course.”
My dad scans over the page before standing and handing it over to me so I have no choice but to look at it. Once I take the book, Isabel sits up, peering over so she can see for herself, and I suppose if she’s willing to forgive Eli, I should try to forget how much I’d still like to punch him for standing with Aarón that day at church.
“What are these?” she asks, immediately picking up on the details on the page. “The areas you marked with ‘D’?”
“Stands for drought,” Eli explains, leaning closer. “Those are areas that could likely benefit from more time in between rotations as well as some additional help. It’s common on ranches that survived the drought in the fifties. Like this one.”
“Wasn’t much choice but to overgraze,” Tadeo chimes in again, his hands folding in his lap as he leans back in his chair. “Remember my uncle lost about half his herd the year after I came here.Barely had enough to keep things going, let alone money to send home, but it was even worse there after the flood.”
“I can’t imagine,” Isabel says, her brow creased with sympathy. “All that time without rain…and then to loose so much in a flood? To have to leave your home…”
“Was hard.” My dad tilts his head, considering before he looks at me. “I ended up where I was supposed to be though.”
“You did,” Isabel agrees, distracting me from the suffocating tightness in my throat when she smiles and lets her head fall against my shoulder again. Her attention switches back to Eli. “I think I gave you copies of everything there was on the drought at the school library. Looking for that was more interesting than my classes.”
“I’ve still got all those papers,” Eli confirms, tentatively returning her smile. “Found some others, too, at some libraries nearby, but…I’d like to get to some farther away.”
Crack.
“Holdon,” Gabe says, suddenly perking up and reentering the conversation with new interest. “When? When are you going to these libraries?”
Eli shrugs, sitting back and reaching for his drink for the first time in a while. “Idoleave the ranch sometimes.”
“Yeah, to go to the bars with Aarón,” Gabe counters. “Are you telling me Aarón goes to the library and sits around while you dig up stuff that happened forty years ago?”
