Page 91 of Quietly Falling
Jude had come back inside, his face flushed and wearing an expression I couldn’t quite read. We told him we’d reschedule, but he just shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck before seeming to push all of it away.
At least for the moment.
“Is everything all right?”
“It’s fine. Where is everyone?” I ask, looking around as the front door opens and Montana and Archer walk down the porch steps toward us.
What the…
I’d been so focused on Ella I hadn’t seen Montana’s truck off to the side.
“What are they doin’ here?” Ella whispers, but I shake my head as they stop in front of us.
“Afternoon, y’all,” Montana says with a beaming smile. “Ready to tour the property?”
“Since when do you do inspections?” I ask, positive I’m missing something.
“Since we own Sundown Realty,” Archer says evenly as he looks at the house.
“You…” My words trail off as I try to make sense of what he’s saying—whatthey’resaying. But if they own Sundown Realty that means… “You sent me a house listing for a house you own?”
“Do you wanna tell the story, Archer?” Montana says, the other man shaking his head with a laugh.
“Nah, man, you tell it better.”
“Someone better start tellin’ us something,” Ella huffs and I squeeze her hand even though I can feel my frustration rising too.
“Everyone likes an underdog,” Montana says, his expression serious as his gaze locks on mine. “You look at guys like us,”—he motions to Archer—“and you’d never believe we’re running a multimillion dollar empire in nowhere Tennessee.”
My eyes widen as he shoves his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.
“Our farms—the land—have been in our family for generations,” Archer says. “We needed a way to ensure that one bad season wouldn’t wipe us off the map.”
“So we took a chance, bought a few properties, and operated them under the guise that we’d been hired to do the maintenance. And then we bought some more and we kept expanding, which means…” He throws something at me, and it’s only after the metal bites into my palm that I realizethey’re keys.
“What is this?”
“A gift,” Montana replies.
“And an opportunity,” Archer adds as I gape at them. “Jensen and Mason—we’re all equal partners and now, you.”
“I—what? I mean I can’t, Idon’t, this is…”
“We have too much,” Archer says simply. “We have more than either of us will ever need—more than our children and theirs will need. We didn’t start this to get rich, Bodhi. We started this so that the land we love would always be ours. I mean, look around you. We’re a farming community. That means that people here work sunup till sundown all year long. It means that we don’t always have the money for repairs, so we’ll exchange food and labor for the things we need.”
“It pays for the damn zoo my wife brought home too,” Montana grouses even though he can’t hide his smile. “But we’re family.You’refamily. And we take care of our family.”
“How does no one know?” Ella asks, her gaze ping-ponging between each of us.
“Because it’s important. It started out with only Archer and me and then we added Bea and Ellison, Jensen and Nessa, Mason and Lana, and man, that guy has been itchin’ something fierce to tell you.”
“I could have done without that visual,” Ella mumbles and I have to laugh, squeezing the keys again, the bite of the teeth grounding me as I bring my focus back to Archer and Montana.
“So you give us a house and then what?”
“We’ll work out where you want to be involved. Everyone has something they do behind the scenes, but we thought you might be interested in something a little different.” Montana’s smile is back as he continues. “We’ve been thinking about your story—yours and Mason’s—and we want to figure out how to provide support for kids aging out of the system. I know the state provides some assistance and resources, but we thought you might have some of your own ideas.”
“Yeah,” I rasp, tears blurring my eyes as I let this moment sink in—the magnitude of this opportunity.
