A Cowboy's Plan. Mary Sullivan

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      The decision she’d been avoiding for too many months loomed. “Yeah,” she whispered. “You’re right.”

      “I’ll help you in any way I can. Do you want to go to school? Take some college courses?”

      “Hank, I dropped out of high school to have Cheryl.” She’d been fifteen and terrified.

      Hank cursed. “Sorry, Janey, I should have figured that out already.”

      “I was working on my diploma when she died, taking correspondence courses.”

      “You can stay here while you finish getting it.”

      A shout from the children in the field served as an exclamation mark. You’ll still have to deal with us!

      “Maybe not such a good idea.” Hank cracked the knuckles of his right hand. “I’ll pay for you to rent a room in town while you return to high school.”

      “That’s okay, Hank, I still have all the checks you gave me.”

      “What?” Hank’s eyebrows shot toward his hairline. His dusty white Stetson followed the motion. “You haven’t cashed any of them?”

      Janey shrugged and shook her head.

      Hank sighed. “Amy’s gonna have your guts for garters.”

      Janey glanced over his shoulder, but Amy had disappeared.

      “Didn’t I hear her tell you months ago to cash those?” Hank took off his hat, ran his fingers through his hair, then slammed it back onto his head. “They’ll be stale-dated and the bank won’t cash them. Tear them up and throw them out.”

      Janey toed a small branch that had fallen from the willow. She hated disappointing Hank.

      “Why didn’t you cash them?” he asked.

      She shrugged. “I haven’t had to. You and Amy give me everything I need here.”

      Out in the real world, she would need that money.

      Hank pointed a finger at her. “I’m going to write you a check and you’re going to cash it today, young lady.”

      The check she’d received in the mail last week from Maria Fantucci’s lawyer burned a hole in her right pocket. She knew she still had to deal with it. Now Hank, too, was going to give her money.

      “Hank, I don’t want to take anything from you. You and Amy have done so much for me.”

      “You’ve earned your paychecks. Do you think anyone else here works for free?” He frowned. “We’ll miss you. You do great work with the children, ’specially considering how hard it is for you.”

      Hank turned when he heard the screen door close. Amy had brought out a checkbook and a pen. Hank joined her.

      “I heard,” Amy said.

      Janey stood still, clamping her throat around a scream trying to erupt, I don’t want to leave.

      “I’m sorry, honey,” Janey heard Amy say. “Between having the baby and planning the rodeo, I haven’t been keeping up with the books.”

      “You know I’d do them if I could.”

      The love between Hank and Amy was so palpable, Janey felt like an eavesdropper.

      “You okay?” Hank approached with a check in his hand, but Janey didn’t reach for it.

      Holding Michael, Amy watched, her face unlined except for the worried frown that Janey knew she’d put there.

      “Yeah, I’m fine,” Janey finally answered, but the rough croak of her voice gave her away.

      “Aw, hell, no, you aren’t,” Hank said. “It’ll get easier in time.”

      “Did it get easier for you?” Janey asked. “After your little boy died?”

      Hank stared hard at the grass near his feet and nodded. “Took a long time to get over Jamie’s death, but it did get better, eventually.”

      His son had died of leukemia when he was two. At least Janey had had six years with Cheryl.

      “About a year after Jamie died—” Hank placed a hand high on the trunk of the willow “—I started bringing young cancer survivors here. He’s why I do this.” He looked at Janey with sympathy in his hazel eyes. “It helped. A lot. You’ll find something for you that will help.”

      Janey doubted it.

      “Cheryl died a whole year ago,” she said, “but it still hurts so bad.”

      “Losing a child,” Hank murmured, “is a tough thing to get over.”

      Janey sighed. “Yeah, it sure is.”

      “Take your time figuring out what you want to do,” Hank said. “Visit the library to research careers and schools. You got a place to live here as long as you need. But give yourself a break and stay away from the children.”

      He handed her the check, the paper crisp and clean on her palm. “Take this. Amy said you’re going to deposit it today if she has to drag you there.”

      Janey’s laugh felt good. “It’s okay. I’ll go by myself.”

      “You want a ride?” Hank asked.

      “No. I feel like walking.” She glanced at the check. “Twenty thousand dollars?” she exclaimed. “Are you guys nuts?”

      “That’s a year’s salary.”

      “It’s way too much. You gave me free room and board.”

      “Naw, it isn’t enough.” Hank rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “Honest, Janey, I wish I could give you more.”

      Janey closed her eyes for a minute, gathering strength, pulling the butterflies roiling in her stomach under control.

      “Okay,” she said, “I’ll open an account in town and try to figure out what I’ll do next.”

      She turned toward the driveway and started the walk into town.

      “Good luck, darlin’,” Hank called. “See you at dinnertime, okay?”

      Her step faltered. She’d felt safer here on this ranch than anywhere else on earth.

      Cripes, Janey, pull yourself together. This isn’t the end of your life with them.

      No, it wasn’t, but after the first step she took toward town, things would be different.

      Suck it up. Do it.

      She continued down the driveway toward the small highway that would take her to Ordinary, Montana.

      Maybe СКАЧАТЬ