Page 82 of Opposites (Never) Attract
“Computers don’t eat money,” I explained patiently.
“No, they get hacked!” Gary Feldman shouted.
Gary I knew vaguely from school. Somehow, he’d become a deputy for the sheriff’s department. It wasn’t that he wasn’t a good guy, he was just a perennial bad luck sort of person. Where Gary went, bad things followed, which meant I wasn’t going to let him anywhere near my laptop.
“We’re not going to get hacked. I plan to take every precaution,” I told the room, but I could still feel their disbelief.
“Hold on here. Let me see if I have this straight.” IdaStruck, one of the octogenarian sisters who ran one of the two B&B’s in town, stood up. Only, she wasn’t directing her question to me. Instead, she was pointing at Carter. “She wants to pull real money out of your ranch to buy fake coins, so she canbounceit off …what was that slide again?”
“The South Korean Export Market,” I supplied.
“Yeah, that. And that’s how we’re going to save the Swinging D?” Ida asked. “Carter McGraw, have you lost your goddamn mind?”
“Go back to the city!” someone shouted from the back again.
Immediately, the room broke out into a chant.
Ci-ty Girl! Ci-ty Girl! Ci-ty Girl!
Once again, I got to relive the experience of being universally hated in my home town.
I told myself it didn’t matter, but my heart hurt and tears burned behind my eyes.
A loud, sharp whistle cut through the chants like a sharp knife through paper.
The chanting trailed off, and everyone looked to the back of the auditorium, where Tag was walking down the aisle towards the front of the stage.
“Listen up,” he shouted to the room. “We asked for her help. She left her home and her job to come here and do this for us. Now, I understood about as much of that shit as you all did-”
“Really? Not even a little?” I asked him.
He looked up at me on the stage with a sad smile. “Sorry, darlin.” But, then he turned back to face the crowd. “But, that’s the point. We asked her to come home because she knows this kind of shit better than anyone. Which means we have to trust her to know what she’s doing. If shethinks bouncing computer coins off a South Korean market is going to save the Swinging D, then I’m all in.”
“I’m in, too.” Ethan stood up between Carter and Harmony.
Harmony bounced up immediately. “Me, too. If Sunshine says it will work, it will work.”
Mom, Amity and Bliss also stood up. “I agree. My girl knows what she’s doing. We need to believe in her.”
The support felt incredible, but I had to be completely honest. I pulled the microphone closer to my mouth.
“Everyone, this is not without risk,” I said. “Yes, this kind of move can work, but there are a million unknowns that I won’t know until we begin. Investing in Bitcoin can be unstable. Bad actors are out there, so, yes, hacking does happen. But this is what I do for billionaires, so why can’t I do it for Last Hope Gulch?”
“You think you can do this, Sunshine?” Tag asked, which really was the point of it all. I felt his faith shore me up.
“Yes,” I said, definitively. “I believe I can pull this off.”
Carter stood up and turned to the town. “It’s my ranch. It’s my kids’ future. If we don’t make a big move now, we risk losing the whole operation. Which means the town goes with it. I’m with her.”
The buzzing started again, but this time it wasn’t hostile chants to send me back to the city.
Mrs. Diaz stood. “Fine. Let’s vote. All those in favor of her plan, say aye.”
“AYE!”The room thundered.
They believed in me. They trusted me. The responsibility was real. I needed to save the ranch. Not just for the McGraws, but for everyone else in this town.
I hopped off the stage and Tag was there to catch me. “What if I fail them?” I whispered, needing to tell my fears to someone I could trust.
