Page 88 of Plentywood
“Hopefully the blue lights, and the factSheriffis emblazoned on all sides will keep him calm,” he replied. “And you sure you’re up to this?”
“I am,” I said. “I need to know what it is I own and what I intend to do with the assets.”
“He’s not a nice man,” he stated. “And I haven’t seen him in years.”
Hunter had revealed that there were other reasons beyond his father wanting to sell Triple H Ranch for why he and his father no longer spoke. He reminded me he assumed I’d known about my father selling the ranch when I showed up in Plentywood so suddenly. Besides the town losing so much funding from the trust, and his selfish father going along with the plan to gain some land and a house, Hunt blamed his father for his mother’s move to escape a bad marriage.
Hunter’s father was a legendary womanizer and treated his wife horribly, refusing to change or even consider therapy. His stance was that he ruled the roost as the provider and that she had no vote about what he chose to do. At only eighteen, Hunt was in that mid-spot of being a child still, while legally an adult.For years he grudgingly stayed on at the ranch so he could stay in Plentywood for Mark.
“I’ll do my best to not prejudge your father, but he obviously knew about the plan to cut me out. What I haven’t figured out yet is why my father wanted me here. Wouldn’t he think I’d learn about the ranch?” I asked.
“How involved were you with your family’s businesses?” he asked.
“I never bothered with it,” I admitted. “My father is a control freak, and I just went along. Sadly, he paid my bills, so I didn’t ask the important questions.”
Hunt’s expression was one of concern for me. The corners of his mouth turned down, and he held my hand. “I know we’ve beat this question to death, but why did you even come to Plentywood?”
“Truthfully?” I replied, hoping not to hurt his feelings. Hunt nodded reluctantly. “I thought I had to, or I’d lose my allowance,” I confessed.
“You came here over an allowance squabble?” he asked. “Allowance?For real?”
“Twenty thousand a month,” I muttered, looking at him and feeling like an imposter. “And access to a thirty-million-dollar trust in a few years.”
Hunt exhaled, adding a whistle to his assessment of my admission. “For fuck’s sake, baby. I guess you would’ve moved to Bumfuck, Egypt, for that amount.”
I laughed out loud. “That’s what I thought Plentywood was when I was told I had to come here.”
Hunt also laughed at my honesty concerning my initial thought of his town. “Don’t you think it’s strange that your father forced you to come here?” he asked. “I mean, what if you ended up liking it here?”
“I do like it here,” I replied. “Maybe he assumed I wouldn’t, considering my privileged life before then.”
“But still,” Hunt pondered. “Think about it, Ben,” he began, becoming suddenly animated with his thought train. “You knew nothing about Plentywood, right?” I nodded, agreeing I hadn’t known shit about the town, or Montana, for that matter.
“You’re right. That is true,” I said.
“And if you’d always just signed whatever documents you were presented, why make you come here? You could’ve simply been kept in the dark and he could’ve done whatever he wanted to do with your assets.”
My lips pursed as I let Hunt’s words marinate in my brain. He was correct. My grandmother set up the trusts and my father and his slimy attorney handled them. I had zero clue what happened because I didn’t give a shit about business. I was too busy wanting to be a doctor to the stars in a fancy town of wealthy people.
“My father told me I’d made a promise to my grandmother that I’d spend a year here,” I shared. “He even waved a piece a paper in my face to prove it.”
“Did you read that paper?”
I exhaled sharply and faced him. “What do you think?” I asked. “Of course, I didn’t.”
“And why a year exactly?” Hunt asked. “Even that part sounds fishy. You’d never heard of Plentywood, Montana, for starters. Other than that your ancestors had lived here. And then, he threatens to cut off your money so you’ll come here? None of it makes sense, Ben.”
I held my hand up. “But yet,” I started. “I now know about the one trust, as well as another even bigger trust, and that I’m the actual owner of the most valuable piece of that trust, the vast landholdings,” I ended, still confused. “I just don’t get it?” I said, exhausted at the mindfuck of it all.
“And you think my dad knows? Or better yet, that he’ll want to help you figure it out? I’m not hopeful he will.”
I was quiet for a moment while I stared through the windshield and at the old garage in the parking lot of the clinic. The design was similar to the Victorian style of the house. The distraction of the building did not bring any ideas to the forefront of my mind.
I turned back to Hunt. “You said he thinks he’s getting the house and some land if he helps my father sell the ranch?” Hunt nodded. “Hmmm,” I mused. “What if I threaten to remove him from my land?”
Hunter tilted his head, shaking it like my idea was not a good one. “I don’t know, baby. Then what? Can you manage a ten-thousand-acre ranch? Because I sure as hell can’t.”
“There must be workers or some sort of crew, right?”
