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“No. Jules has taken care of me since I was born. I’m an adult too, dad. We take care of each other.”
“Talk to your mom.” Some things get mumbled in Tagalog, and a gentler voice comes on the line.
“His bark is louder than his bite, girls. You know that. He’s just not used to you girls being adults yet. I’ll talk to him. But Justine,” their mom says.
“Yes, mom?”
“I think you’re right. You staying with Jules does make more sense. But you should have asked Jules first. We love you girls. Take care of each other.”
“Love you too.”
They hang up and my phone beeps with a text message. Shit.
“Adriel?” Jules calls out.
I come around the corner with the mug of coffee for Jules, “Sorry. I noticed Justine only grabbed one cup, so I wanted to bring you yours.” I look down and see Jules already holding a mug.
“I’ll take that,” Justine says with a wink. “Thank you. How’s our adobo doing?”
“I turned the chicken over and it smells great.”
It just dawned on me what Justine is doing. She’s not trying to scare me off, she’s trying to help me out.
Just like I helped her out earlier, she’s helping me now by ushering me back down the hallway towards the kitchen. I think we both know Jules needs a minute to decompress after that call.
As effervescent as Justine is, there’s clearly a lot of depth to her character. As much as Jules takes care of her, it’s obvious that Justine is trying to do the same for her.
“Try this chicken.” Justine holds up a fork towards me with some chicken on it.
I take it, and it’s the most appetizing bite of chicken I’ve ever had. There’s a hint of sweetness, too. “That’s phenomenal.”
“You’ll like it even more with rice,” Jules says coming up from behind us.
“Doing okay?” I ask her.
“No use denying that that was a shitty call. But they did give me an idea for your ranch.”
Always looking for ways to take care of everyone around her.
“I’m eager to hear it.”
Bracing the counter in front of her, Justine sets the table behind us.
“My parents went home to sell some of their family property in the Philippines. They haven’t been back in a while, so they were shocked to see that the area around their old home has really developed. Instead of going along with the sale, they decided to convert the space into apartments and rent it out. It’ll give them a steady stream of rent, and a business reason to travel home more often.”
“That’s great. How does that work for my ranch?” I ask.
“What did you say is the most valuable thing about your ranch?”
“The land.”
“But you don’t want to sell it,” she says.
“Exactly.”
“Instead of selling it, how about you convert some of the land in the back into a rentable property? Our small town has been growing with hotels, and there’s never any vacancies during the summer or winter.”
Catching on, I say, “So, between now and summer, I could build some homes in the back corner and keep our property private on the side. If I start now, I could probably get a cabin up by myself before winter is over. That’s perfect!”
