Rodeo Family

“The story? Of course not, Lee. That was just the first interview. I can’t jump into the nitty-gritty without gaining his trust first.”

“Trust. Yeah. I guess so.”

He guessed so? Lee knew how to conduct an interview and how to handle a subject. He’d been a good journalist in his time, but these days he seemed desperate. What was going on with him?

“Lee, if your mother has a memory of something fishy in the Brandt family, why don’t you just ask her about it? Why send me to do your dirty work?”

“Because she isn’t telling me. She said she needs to talk to Richard Brandt.”

“Rick? Zach’s father?”

“No. Richard—Zach’s grandfather.”

Dread settled into Nadine’s stomach. “His grandfather who’s been dead for decades? Does your mother not understand that he’s gone?”

“Sometimes she’s lucid and sometimes she isn’t.”

“So how can you trust anything she has to say? Maybe all her memories are suspect.”

“Naw. When’s she lucid, she’ll remember the dress she wore on her first date and what they had for dinner that night.”

“But that must have been one of the most significant nights of her life,” Nadine ventured. “It makes sense she’d remember those details, but how can we trust that her memory of a secret about the Brandts is accurate, even if she tells you about it when she’s lucid?”

“My mother and Zach’s grandmother were best friends.”

“I see.”

Light through the window haloed Lee’s head, the wisps of his remaining hair highlighted like cilia.

He wasn’t taking care of himself these days. He used to be a nice-looking man with kind eyes, but he no longer seemed to care about his appearance. His old cardigan had a hole in it. A blob on his shirt that resembled Italy in the Rorschach test of food stains might have been made by spilled coffee. Some days, Nadine was certain he had forgotten to bathe.

Today wasn’t one of those, thank goodness. The office wasn’t large enough for her to avoid him when he smelled ripe.

At first she’d been concerned for his sake, for the loss of an old friend, but this morning he’d gone so far she was almost past caring. Almost.

On the drive back into town, she’d done a lot of thinking. “Why do you need me, Lee? Why not wait until your mom has a lucid moment and just listen to what she has to say about the past?”

Lee bristled. “I’m paying you good money to do a job, girl, and you’ll do it.”

Good money? Not by a long shot. And girl? What kind of way was that to speak to an employee? Lee didn’t used to be rude.

“My mother won’t confide in me. She rarely talks to me anymore. When she does, it’s by accident.” His gaze slid away from hers. “A year or so ago, we had a fight.”

A falling-out with Zach. A fight with his mother. She remembered them as being close. “Why not wait until a day when maybe she’s forgotten about that?”

“She’s never forgiven me for the things I said.” He added bitterly, “Her dementia has destroyed more memories than I’ve probably ever had in my lifetime, but she knows every word of that conversation by heart.” He turned away from Main Street and said, “That’s why I need you. She always liked you. She would talk to you.”

“I’m not sure she would. You said first she would talk to only Zach and then only to Richard, his grandfather.”

“Then get the secret from Zach,” he snapped.

“Do you honestly think Zach will just give up a family secret that’s so titillating you think it will sell extra issues of your paper?”

“No, he won’t just give it up.” Sarcasm. Another new feature with Lee. “Use your skills. Use whatever you have in your arsenal to get it out of him.”

“But—”

“Where else do you think you could get a job in town? This is the only newspaper for miles around. If you want to continue to live in Rodeo and keep this job, then you’ll do whatever you have to do to get me that article.”

Something was making him desperate, and he was dead serious.

Sure, there were laws against this kind of workplace harassment and coercion, but she couldn’t afford a lawyer.

He was right. If he fired her, she would have to move away from her friends to find another job in reporting. She’d come back home because of a mistake she had made, only one, but it had been a doozy.

She’d come back to the only home she knew, not because of the town or the geography, but because of her friends. They were her only family. Without them she was alone. That thought caused an ache so deep inside of her it felt like fire ate at her belly.

Her aunt had been her sole remaining blood relative. She had died four years ago and had decided to ignore Nadine in death. She’d left nothing to Nadine, not a single penny or knickknack, as though every speck of resentment she’d felt toward her niece had followed her into the afterlife.

So Nadine’s family was Rachel, Violet, Honey and Max, all of them tied together by common experiences and similar heartbreaks. They were the town fair’s Revival Committee, but also the best of friends, and now Rachel’s new sister-in-law, Samantha, had been added to the mix.

Nadine liked Rodeo. She liked the people here. She respected them.

Then Lee had told her the newspaper could be hers someday, a dream come true for her in Rodeo.

When she’d left town the first time, it had been her choice. She didn’t want to be pushed out by someone else now, by Lee’s need for a dirty article. Unfortunately, she couldn’t live without the measly paycheck he paid her. Rodeo wasn’t exactly a bustling town. Nadine wasn’t even certain Vy could give her job at the diner, friend or not.

But even more important than losing a paycheck, she couldn’t possibly lose her friendships. She’d lost a lot in New York City. Losing her friends would be far worse.

Nadine stared at her boss. “Lee, what’s wrong?” She might be angry with him, but he had given her her first job and had encouraged her in her choice of career. He’d had enough faith in her skills to tell her that she could someday run this office. The small part of her that still cared worried about him.

“What’s wrong?” she repeated.

He rubbed his stomach as though it ached. “Nothing.”

Then he scrubbed his hands over his face. “I—I can’t tell you.”

He sounded more like the old Lee, as though he lurked inside of this new harder person.

“What can I do?” Nadine asked.

“Can you just get the story? Please?” Desperation again. “I meant what I said this morning, Nadine. Get me that story.”

His tone might be softer and less mean, but the new Lee was determined, leaving Nadine with no choice but to do what he wanted.

He glanced at her then away. “Take the afternoon off. Tomorrow will be soon enough to get back at it.”

A peace offering, just when she was prepared to hate him.