The Bequest

"Don't be stupid," Ethan says. "Mom made us cake last Sunday. She made brownies last week. And a few nights ago, she made an apple pie."

"Alright." Izzy's still frowning.

"You don't like Mr. Archer?" Whitney asks.

"I like him to teach me about horses," Izzy asks, "but what happens if he and Mom don't like spending time together? What if he doesn't buy her ice cream and she never wants to see him again? I doubt there are a lot of great people here who teach horseback lessons."

All the kids' faces turn toward me, because it's not a bad question. "I promise that even if Mr. Archer and I don't have a great date, he will still come teach you lessons."

"How can you promise us something that he would have to do?" Whitney raises one eyebrow. "I think you should ask him."

This is awkward. I pull out my phone and type up a text. TOLD THE KIDS ABOUT OUR DATE. THEY'RE WORRIED THAT IF IT GOES BADLY, YOU'LL STOP TEACHING THEM HORSEBACK LESSONS. "What did he say?" Gabe asks.

"It takes time for people to text back," Ethan says.

"And he's at work," I say. "He may be really busy."

"Helping fix people's ears," Gabe says.

"Or their arms," Whitney says.

"It would be cool to have a doctor around more," Ethan says. "Especially since our family is apparently accident prone."

-TELL THEM IF IT GOES BADLY, AS MY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE, I'LL TEACH THE SAME LESSONS AS I ALWAYS WOULD HAVE... FOR FREE.

That makes Izzy laugh. "He must really like you."

"Or maybe he likes you guys," I say. "Maybe he was worried about the same thing."

"We are pretty great," Ethan says.

He's not wrong.

When my phone rings, I answer without thinking. "Hey, Steve," I say.

"How's life in the boondocks?" Robert asks.

I cringe. What do I say, now? Calm down, Abby. It's not the end of the world-he knows Steve is someone I know. Just keep talking as if nothing's wrong and this isn't awkward at all. "We're all surviving."

"How was it cutting hay?"

"The cutting was boring," I say. "But the baling was sort of interesting. They have machines for all that stuff, and you know how good Ethan is with mechanical stuff."

"I didn't, actually. I knew he liked dirt bikes."

"He fixed their baler, and he's working on a design for a kind of flow valve that will make watering the meadows much easier and less time consuming."

"Sounds like he's learning, at least, even if it's not really in the cards. Have you heard anything from Gus, yet?"

"No." I turn away from the table and drop my voice. "I'm a little worried. Shouldn't people be dropping off the waitlist by now?"

"Eh, they may still be stringing other schools along."

In July? It feels like wishful thinking.

"And if Ethan doesn't get in, he'll survive. So he goes to community college? That's not a big deal."

"But I'm not sure I can justify refusing him the chance at the ranch so that he can do a year of community college." The kids are so quiet that I know they're listening. "But speaking of the case, I wanted to mention that the brief we talked about is done. I emailed the draft to you."

"Kids are listening, huh?" Robert laughs. "Nice work on that nonexistent brief. Really some exceptional analysis."

"Hush," I whisper.

"Any chance you can fly back for the weekend? It's the Fourth of July."

"It would be fun to go home for a few days, but there's a big barbecue here," I say. "And fireworks."

"There's no way their fireworks will compare to ours. Did I mention I bought a bigger boat? The kids might like to go out on the lake-we could watch the fireworks from there."

"You have a bigger boat, now? It would be fun to go out on the lake. What did you buy?"

"We can't fly back," Whitney yells. "Mom has a date on the Fourth of July."

The other end of the line goes dead.

"Robert?"

"Who was that?"

If you're loving the book, nel5s.com is where the adventure continues. Join us for the complete experience all for free. The next chapter is eagerly waiting for you! So he did hear her.

"It was Whitney. Sorry, we're around the dinner table, just about to have dessert."

"Did she say you have a date?"

I sigh. "It's just the kids' horse trainer. He asked me to be his date for the barbecue and dance after the rodeo. It's really no big deal, truly."

"I bet the weather there is perfect," Robert says. "Probably the perfect time on the ranch."

"It is pretty gorgeous, especially compared to the sweltering heat of Houston."

He spends the rest of the call asking about the ranch and how things are going, and what our days look like, thankfully. I was worried he would freak out for a minute.

The rest of the evening, and even the next day, are completely normal. None of the kids seem worried or stressed about the upcoming date, not even Gabe. Friday morning rains, which means we're set back again on cutting the second alfalfa field. But the weather says it'll stay dry for a week. That should give it time to dry enough to be cut, and then dry on the ground and be baled. I hope. Although, worst case, the alien fund will have a little less money because the estate will need to buy some hay.

As Amanda pointed out before, not my problem.

Sometimes I forget all of that, probably because Ethan is still holding out hope. I manage to finish all the urgent things on my to do list for work by lunch, and the kids have done their chores, too, all except Ethan. He's out working on something that went wrong with a tractor.

"Who wants to play a game?" I ask.

Everyone's arguing about which game we should play, Emery and Whitney pushing for Monopoly, while Izzy and Maren push for Dominion, when there's a knock at the door. Steve's working, Amanda wouldn't knock, and neither would Ethan. It's a little pathetic that we don't really know anyone else.

I open the door.

Robert beams at me, a bouquet of lilies and a saran-wrapped pie in his hands. "Surprise!"

"Who is it?" Whitney asks.

Gabe appears at my side, shoving his way around my legs to see. "It's Uncle Robert!"

Robert cringes at the name, but true or not, they've called him that all their lives. "Right. It's me, Uncle Robert." He leans toward the doorway. "Is it okay if I come inside?"

I think about closing the door in his face. He didn't ask if he could come he simply flew out. But then I think about all the things he's done for me. The way he's supported me at work, and come around the house for the past year plus, fixing things that broke, power washing the driveway, replacing light bulbs and changing air filters. All the things Nate did that I never remembered to do. "Come in." I step backward, opening the door.

"Hey, do you want to play Monopoly?" Whitney asks.

"Or would you rather play Dominion?" Izzy throws him a double thumbs up.

"Uh, maybe I better talk to your mom for a minute first," he says.

"Here, kids." I take the pie. "Why don't you have some cherry pie, and you can play rock paper scissors to pick the game while we chat outside."

I set the flowers on the table and head for the front door, Robert trailing behind me. He looks a little like a puppy that just peed on the floor. Once we get outside, I'm not sure where to go. My porch swing came, but I haven't assembled it yet, so there's just a big box sitting on the front porch. In the end, I perch on the railing. At least it's solid, since Ethan replaced the rotting boards and painted it navy, like I said I wanted. "Robert."

"Abigail." He smiles.

"What on Earth are you doing here?"

"You don't have to furrow your brow and scowl like that."

"I'm not scowling." I make sure my face is smooth.

"With all the things you said about the ranch, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I wanted to see it. Are you upset?"

"I have a date tomorrow, Robert. Are you sure that's not why you're here?"

He rolls his eyes. "You said it was nothing, just you being nice to the horse trainer."

I mean, I did say that. "But you didn't even ask if you could come visit."

"We're like family-the kids call me Uncle. Do I have to ask?" His eyes are hurt.

He's probably my oldest friend. I may not trust his motivations, but he's right that I can't really ever be mad at him for coming to visit us somewhere. I exhale. "Do not make this stressful for me. Do not make me regret welcoming you inside." He beams.

"And one more thing." This time I am frowning.

"Yeah?"

"You're sleeping on the couch."

"Wouldn't dream of sleeping anywhere else."