An Early Christmas Gift

“Jenny, my sweet,” her mother said, “you’ve been able to go with the flow all your life. Nothing ever shakes you.”

“Well, I’m not as young as I used to be.”

Dori laughed and pulled Jenny in for a tighter hug. “Twenty-two is old now, is it?”

“It’s sixty in horse years.”

Her mother grinned. “Have you got a tail hidden in those...pants? Um, you’re not wearing Wranglers? Seriously, Jen, what’s going on?”

“Didn’t get laundry done before I hit the road.”

“Jenny,” her father called out. “We’re gonna call Tex. We can chain ’er up and pull ’er out, but she’s gonna need repairs before you can drive it again. Tex might as well just do the whole job.”

“Whatever you think, Dad.”

“Dori, why don’t you and Jen head on home? You can get the party started. I’ll ride with Mitch.”

“I’ll give you my credit card,” Jenny said, stepping forward.

“The hell you will. Tex’ll be glad to swap for some beef, as always.”

And so it begins.... She would be living at the homestead again, therefore her father would “handle” things for her.

“You’re too quiet,” her mother said as they drove toward the ranch.

Jenny reacted to the seeming criticism. “Well, Mom, in the past two weeks I wrote three papers, took five final exams, graduated, packed and shipped my belongings, then drove home alone from Arizona in two days. I deserve to be tired.”

“And snippy?”

Jenny blew out a breath. She was being unreasonable. “I’m sorry. I really am. It’s just that until now I’ve always known what came next for me. At the moment, my future is one giant question mark.”

“Really? I had the feeling you had big plans in mind. You and Vaughn always had your heads together, talking business.”

“Pipe dreams. The truth is that four years of advanced education, given the job situation here, still means I’ll probably be asking if you want fries with that.”

“I don’t think it’ll be that bad. This is farm country. You’ll find something.”

“Profit margins are too small in the family farms to bring in an outsider.” Jenny was done talking about it. “So, did I mess things up by coming home a day early? We could put off my welcome-home party until tomorrow, you know.”

“We’ll eat an hour later than planned, that’s all.”

They turned onto the road leading to Ryder Ranch—home. Jenny had been back several times a year, most recently on Valentine’s Day for her brother Vaughn’s wedding, but this felt different. This time she wouldn’t be leaving. Her childhood bedroom awaited her, looking the same as the day she left for college. She would have to report where she was going and when she would be back—not because her parents were tyrants, but because it was the courteous thing to do. Still, it felt like an intrusion into her independence.

Then a thought occurred to her. “Is it hard having me come home after all these years empty nesting, Mom?”

“It’s different.”

Which was a vague answer. In her selfishness, she hadn’t considered her parents, only herself. “I’ll find a job and an apartment as soon as I can.” Maybe her sister, Haley, would let her stay with her for a while. She lived in town, which would be more fun, anyway.

“Of course you will,” Dori said, patting her daughter’s knee.

That clinched it. She hadn’t even placated Jenny by saying there’s no hurry or some other motherly thing.

At the ranch, Dori immediately went into party mode. Jenny was a vegetarian, so a portobello mushroom would be grilled along with the steaks. The side dishes would be diverse and plentiful.

For at least a few hours Jenny didn’t have time to fret, especially once her two new sisters-in-law came to help and the conversation got noisy and filled with laughter that didn’t stop.

But the moment she saw her brother Vaughn, everything changed.

“I expected a call from you,” he said, taking her aside.

“They denied the loan.” She held up a hand. “I know. I know. You told me they probably wouldn’t take me on.”

“So will you ask Dad to cosign?”

She shook her head. “Plan B.”

“Which is?”

“When I figure it out, I’ll let you know.”

Her sister-in-law Annie came up to them. “You haven’t announced a job, so I’m wondering if you have one lined up.”

“Not yet.”

Annie laid a hand on her pregnant belly. “I was hoping you might help me out for a while? It’s the start of the summer season for me, and being seven months along as I am, I’m finding some limitations I can’t overcome on my own. Even with all the tall bedding boxes instead of in-the-ground planting, I’m doing too much bending and kneeling, and too much lifting and toting.”

A glimmer of hope touched Jenny’s heart as she waited to hear the rest of what Annie had to say.

“I know that it wouldn’t be using your degree in the way you want to,” Annie said, “but you helped out at Christmas, and we worked well together, and I thought you had fun, too. I’d pay you.”

Hope burst into happiness inside Jenny. “I’d love to!” Annie’s organic farm was ideal in Jenny’s book. Annie had taken the deserted property and turned it into a business that was growing so fast she almost couldn’t keep up with it. “When do I start?”

“Tomorrow?”

Jenny crushed her. “Does this constitute a group hug, with the baby in the middle?” she asked Annie, laughing. “Do you know if you’re having a boy or a girl?”

“Don’t know and don’t care,” her brother Mitch said, coming up beside Annie and sliding his arm around her waist. “Did she say yes?”

“Enthusiastically,” Annie said. “Austin will be happy, too. My eleven-year-old son would rather be working on the ranch than the farm during his summer vacation. Imagine that. And next Monday is the first farmers’ market of the season. If you could help with that, I’d be grateful, maybe even take over for the rest of the season?”

“That would be fun.”

The relief in Mitch’s eyes told Jenny everything. He’d been worried Annie was doing too much. She probably had been.

Jenny’s mood improved after that. She felt wanted and needed. She would have someplace to be every morning and work to do.

Later, after the dishes were done and the company gone, Jenny slipped into her twin bed with the denim bedspread she’d bought while in high school. The photos and posters on the walls were the same. Her yearbooks were stacked on a bookshelf. She’d grown up a lot the summer after graduation, but even that wasn’t reflected in the room, not to mention her years of college.