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Flashing Mr. Nichols a knowing smile, I turned, headed toward the door, and said, “Have a good rest of your day. Don’t forget I offered to help with the window when the arthritis in your shoulders has you cryin’.”

I let the door slam shut behind me, and I wasn’t even sorry.

* * *

“You got my medicine?” my mama called when she heard me on her porch, struggling to open the screen door with my hands full of groceries and her monthly medications from the pharmacy. The pharmacy bag felt heavier than the shit from the Food Mart.

“Yeah, Mama. Got it right here,” I mumbled. “You could say thanks, but you ain’t gonna, are ya?”

“Put it on the table,” she said when I entered her kitchen.

Her dirty dishes were in a gross pile in the sink, and her trash can was overflowing with no bag. Dammit. She wasn’t gonna clean up the freakin’ mess, not with all her aches and pains.

Since my dad died seven years ago, Mervella Lee, my mama, had been living in the trailer park east of town. My oldest brother took over running the farm we’d grown up on, but Mama’s health and her general crankiness stopped her from working anymore. She hadn’t really wanted anything to do with the farm after my dad passed anyway.

The Lee Family Fleece farm had never been a thriving business. My other brothers and I had tried to convince Bax to sell the land—it was worth a pretty penny—but he could be just as headstrong as our dad, so ten miles down the road from Mama’s trailer, he was currently struggling with the same flailing business my dad had failed to make a success. My other two brothers were no help, and I had my job with the county.

Raising sheep had definitely never been my idea of a career choice, but it didn’t matter anyway because me running the farm had never even been an option since my dad had believed women couldn’t raise sheep. Or run businesses. Had he never heard of Oprah? But I was pretty sure he’d meant gay women. Why he’d thought that had anything to do with farming, I had no idea.

Bax wasn’t an intolerant dick, though, so at least there was that. Mama still maintained that she didn’t care about any of it. But if he did sell, the money could set her and Bax up for the rest of their lives, could put my niece Athena through college. I had to give my brother credit though. He’d done his best to continue the Lee family legacy, whatever that was. Our dad had left us without much to be proud of. Besides, if Bax sold, we all knew our brother Dixon would piss away any money he got from the sale.

Bax had offered for Mama to live with him, Athena, and Candy before she passed, but Mama had said no. She didn’t want to “be in the way.” Instead, she’d used her part of my dad’s life insurance payout to buy this trailer.

If I never had to have another conversation about any of it, that would suit me just fine, but if Bax ever did sell, I’d miss the land. I’d miss riding it. I’d miss all the memories of me and my three brothers exploring it as kids.

Those memories were all I had left of our dad before he basically disowned me. Before who I was made him hate me.

“Mama, why ain’t there a bag in the bin?”

“I ran out.”

“Why didn’t you text me so I could add it to the list? I just came from the damn store. You knew I was goin’.”

“Don’t get smart with me, young lady,” she griped.

“I’m thirty-two freakin’ years old, Mama.”

“You’re still younger than me, and I’m your mother, so you should treat me with respect.”

“Oh.” I laughed. “You mean like how you treat me with respect?”

In her hoarse smoker’s voice, she grumbled, “Watch it.”

“Whatever. Make sure all the meds are right, ’cause I gotta work second shift today. I need to get back.”

Swiping the bag from the table where I’d set it, she dug through it. “Why’s Carey makin’ you work such long hours?”

“He’s not makin’ me do anything. I offered. We’ve got two new deputies comin’ to Wisper, and they’re gonna need trainin’. I gotta show ’em how we do things, but before they get here, I need to get some stuff sorted.”

“You see?” she said. “I told you a woman don’t belong in a position of power like that, and now he has to go and hire more people to cover your behind.”

Oh my God. Lord, I’m begging here. Give. Me. Strength.

You know what? No.

“Well, Mama, you were wrong. He hired more deputies ’cause he plans to spend more time at the main station, so he’s puttin’ me in charge of Wisper. How you like them apples?”

“Now why’d he go and do a thing like that?”