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He didn’t say anything, and the silence felt oppressive.
“So are they going to be just pets for them?”
“Sophia said that she wants to milk one, but I’m thinking they’ll mostly be pets, yeah.”
They were quiet for a minute, and Nova was sad to be driving away from the sinking village. In an attempt to focus on future adventures instead of missed ones, she said, “So I’m now headed to a goat rescue where I’m going to spend the night. Might there be any baby goats at this ranch of yours?” She let her hope ring out loud and clear.
“Only about a dozen.”
She couldn’t help but squeal.
Chapter 5
Gunner jumped when Nova squealed. Wow, this woman was really excited about the prospect of baby goats.
“Can I cuddle them?”
“Sure.”
She clapped her hands. “Man, that is thebestnews. In fact, that’s the only good news I’ve had in a while.”
“I’m sorry,” he said and meant it.
“Thanks.” She went from giddy to sober on a dime. “It’s so much ... I don’t really know what to say about it.”
“That’s okay. I wasn’t asking you to say anything.”
She sighed. “I was with my mom at the end. I’m the one who took care of her, took care of the kids, but I guess the landlord was just itching to kick her out because right after she died they told me that her lease had been up a while ago.”
“Really?” He scratched his beard. That didn’t sound very South Dakota of them.
“Yeah, really. I think she might have been a bit behind on the payments. She was behind on everything near the end because the medical bills were just so much. Anyway, I thought it would be simple, you know? She’d leave us for heaven, and then I could keep living there and just get a job and take care of the kids. I still don’t understand how it got so complicated, but man ... it really did.”
“Where are the kids now?”
“They’re in a temporary foster home, which Ihate.I don’t know these people. I don’t know that my siblings are safe orscared or cold or ...” She got choked up, and he wanted to reach across the cab and comfort her, but he didn’t know how.
“Anyway,” she continued after several seconds, “they are together for now, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll stay that way.”
“CPS just said no? Did they tell you what you needed to change to be able to take care of them?”
“Not really,” she said angrily. “The woman I’m dealing with, she is a real puritan. She hates me. I think she’d throw rocks at me if she could do it without getting arrested.”
His chest grew hot, and he became head-to-toe uncomfortable. Surely she was exaggerating?
“She said that I had to get a job, whichobviously—I knew that. How else would I support three kids? But she said it like it would never have occurred to me, and she acted the same way about finding a place to live.Duh.I know that kids need a place to live, but I had been thinking that we could stay in my mom’s apartment, so I was completely blindsided by the eviction, and she just gave me no time to recover from that. I was trying to plan the funeral and trying to deal with her and still help the kids with their grief, all at the same time. And she also said ...” Her voice cracked again, and she didn’t finish her sentence.
So Kash had been right? How often didthathappen? Nova hadn’t finished her last sentence. Had she been about to say that this woman had also said that she needed to get married? Gunner couldn’t imagine that this would be a qualification in this day and age, but Nova had also said that this woman was a Puritan, so maybe? Gunner had been accused in the past of being naive; maybe he just didn’t understand how these things worked.
“I’m sorry,” she said a minute later when she’d recovered. “I didn’t mean to unload on you. You hardly know me.” She looked at him, and he felt a little squirmy under her gaze. “AndI suppose it’s a little late to ask this since I’ve already vented all over your truck, but would you mind keeping this between us?”
“Of course,” he said quickly.
“Thanks. It’s not that I’m ashamed. I’m not. In my view, I haven’t done anything wrong. They are judging me unfairly. I have lived an awesome life. Just because it’s not a conventional one doesn’t mean that it’s wrong or shameful. But I learned long ago not to trust people in West Hope so I’d rather keep them out of my business.”
InWest Hope?he thought. West Hope was incredibly friendly and helpful. What was she talking about? “What about our church?”
She leveled a hard stare at him. “What about them?”
