“Are you sure that’s right, Dad? It seems like an awful lot of money just to have a film crew here for a few weeks.”
“A few weeks? No son, they’ll be here for almost a year. There’ll be a lot of extra work going into having them here, no doubt about it, but with a figure like that and with how the ranch is financially, we can’t afford for them to go somewhere else. We need this. Here, look at these books. Without Mr. Hargrave and his crew we won’t last the year. It’s either this, Ben, or sell. And I don’t want to sell. This place has been in our family too long to see it go to that greedy son of a bitch down the road.”
Ben stilled and looked at his dad in confusion.
“What son of a bitch?” he asked slowly.
“Franklin.”
“Franklin? Jenna’s dad? What does he want with our ranch?”
“Oh boy, you don’t know, do you?” His dad sighed and ran his fingers through what was left of his hair. “Donald Franklin has been after this piece of dirt since he moved here. He thought he had his hands on it too when you and Jenna were engaged. Lucky for all of us she pulled out of that one.”
“Lucky?” Ben leapt from his seat. “You call it lucky she left me the week my sister died? What kind of luck is that?” Ben picked up the rock masquerading as a paperweight on his dad’s desk, weighed it in his hand and considered throwing it through the window, but by the look of the accounts they won’t be able to afford to replace it.
“No, I suppose you wouldn’t call that any kind of luck, son, but consider it a blessing she left you then and not after you got married and she’d taken half the ranch. That was all I meant.” Lance ran his hand over his head again and settled back into his chair. With his elbows resting on his desk he leaned towards his son and said, “I don’t believe she was ever after this place though. But I do wonder if Donald put her up to marrying you.”
“What, you think it was his idea we get married? It was me who asked her.”
This conversation was going nowhere. Jenna and him were old news. Last he’d heard she’d married some grain farmer from the next town. Her rejection still stung like an open wound. He didn’t allow himself to think about her, much less talk about his almost wedding. Looking back now he knew he was naive to think she would have been happy married to some poor cowboy like him. Beth told him her new husband was a rich farmer set to inherit his family’s farm. Funny, not once while they were together did he ever think of Jenna as a gold digger.
He sighed and pushed thoughts of Jenna into the far reaches of his mind.
“Dad, why is the ranch in such a mess? What happened? I thought this place more than paid for itself before. What’s going on?”
“As I said, having your sister in and out of hospital for so long piled up the bills. The cost of having to stay in a hotel to be near her was enough of a strain, let alone the food, extra hands on the ranch and travel back and forth. At least the treatment was covered. But we survived all that. I made some bad business decisions these last few years and I guess you could say I’ve never had a good head for business. Not like you. I need your brains, Ben, and your muscle. This place is falling apart and I’m afraid without your help we won’t make it. That’s why I asked you to come back home. Besides,” he said, leaning back in his chair, “this is where you belong. Not in some city working behind a desk.”
“I was working at a farm supply store, Dad, not at a desk,” Ben muttered.
“Did you like it?” his dad asked, leaning closer to Ben.
“No, not really,” Ben admitted.
“You would have been wasted there. You were born a rancher, you need to be a rancher. What do you say? Will you stay and help us get ready for this film crew?”
Ben sighed and sat back down in his chair.
“What do you need me to do?”
Helga threw her keys in the bowl on the side table by her door. Sometimes she wasn’t even sure why she’d bought this apartment; she was never here. She pushed the button on the wall and the blinds wound open. The late afternoon sun streamed into the windows. She walked over to the glass and looked over the New York landscape. Ah yes, this was why she’d bought this place.
Below she could see the park and the tiny figures scurrying from place to place. She loved New York. The atmosphere was electric. The art was fantastic and the theatre, oh the theatre was the best in the world. When she wasn’t working she’d spend her time soaking in the performances on Broadway.
She could still remember the first show she saw not long after she moved here: Annie. It had been magnificent: the crowds, the lights, the music. It was the best New York moment of her life. She loved Broadway and hoped it was something she’d do later in her life.
She sighed, turning her back on the view and went to her fridge to grab an iced tea. A smile played across her lips as she thought of the faces her girlfriends would make if they saw her beverage choice. They preferred manhattans and vodka sliders but she always went for the non-alcoholic variety. She knew too many stars that had gone down the drug and alcohol track and had no wish to follow them.
She was taking the last sip from her glass when her phone rang. For a moment she was tempted to let it ring and then she saw who it was. If she didn’t answer now, she knew he’d just call back.
“Hi Dad. How’s Mom?” Why did she always sound so weary when she talked to him? She could even hear it in her own voice, it sounded as though she hadn’t slept for weeks.
“She’s fine, honey, but that’s not why I’m calling. It’s you I’m worried about.” His gruff voice echoed down the line. A knot grew in her stomach.
“Me? I’m fine, Dad.” Here we go again. She went back to her window and stared down at the park below.
“How can you be with what I’ve read in the papers?” Concern filled his voice, but it didn’t make her feel any better.
“Dad, I’m fine. Really I am. You know you can’t believe everything you read in those magazines.” Helga held back a sigh. Would this day never end? All she wanted was to curl up on the couch and watch a movie. It was either that or cry herself to sleep…again. Oh, who was she kidding? She was going to do that anyway. Tears pricking the back of her eyes she cleared her throat to hold them back.
“Oh…so Myles didn’t cheat on you?” His voice rose at the end of the question in hope. Her dad had really liked Myles.
“Well, yes, Dad he did, but…” The knife twisted in her gut again.
“Why don’t you give it up, Helga? And get a real job? One that doesn’t splash you all over the papers? One that pays well.”
“Dad, this one pays pretty well.” The glass of the window was cool against her forehead. If she just closed her eyes, maybe this would just be a dream when she opened them again.
“No, no, no, I mean one that pays really well. You could be a lawyer like your brother. Or a doctor. You’re smart enough for that.”
His confidence in her was heartening, but she’d had this discussion or one very similar to it too many times to feel anything but betrayed. Why couldn’t he understand that this is what she loved? Okay, so she didn’t love forfeiting her privacy, but she loved acting. And she was good at it, Goddamn it!
“Thanks, Dad. I appreciate your suggestions, but you do realize I make $19 million a film, right? Even my dear brother can’t beat that.”
“Yes but, honey, his name isn’t splashed all over the papers on a weekly basis. And he is happily married, I might add. Your mother and I want grandchildren someday, you know. If you can’t