Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 137144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
“Why are you on that horse?” she asked instead. And the moment she said it, she realized how stupid it sounded. There was only one reason that Clem was on the horse.
And the she should have asked was why Clem had a lamb in front of her on the horse.
“Well, I figured I’d fly to the moon on it,” Clem said sarcastically.
Lily sighed. She deserved that. “Sorry, sorry. I just didn’t realize that you rode.”
“Yeah, I can ride. Jaret taught me. Well, to be fair, he started to teach me, but then one of his brothers had to finish off the job. Jaret said I ride like a madwoman, and he couldn’t stand watching it anymore. That it was giving him indigestion. He gets indigestion a lot though, so I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“Is there a reason why you have a lamb in front of you? Oh, were you rescuing it? Was it stuck? Poor little thing.”
“Nah, Lamb Chop wasn’t stuck.”
“Lamb Chop?” she asked. “You named your lamb, Lamb Chop? Well, I suppose that shouldn’t surprise me, since you named that cow of Grandma June’s Rump Roast.”
“Yeah, only he’s not a cow, Lily. He’s a steer.”
“Oh, yeah. I always get that confused.”
Clem actually smirked.
“Wait, you just talked about him like he’s still alive. That’s not him, right?” She pointed over at the evil cow, who was definitely eating the tire on her car.
“Huh? No. That’s not Rump Roast. That’s Chuck Steak. What are you doing, Chuck? Don’t eat that tire. It’ll give you indigestion.”
“Also, I kind of need it to drive my car,” Lily called out to Chuck Steak.
“Yeah, Lily doesn’t want to get stuck here.” Clem stared up at her with a serious look on her face, and Lily swallowed. She deserved that. She deserved anything that Clem wanted to throw her way.
She managed to sit up without feeling like she was going to slide right off the roof of the barn.
The lamb was still sitting in front of Clem, as though it was perfectly content where it was. “Do lambs normally just sit like that?”
“No, but see, Lamb Chop loves a ride on Donkey.”
“Donkey?” she asked. “That’s a donkey?”
“No, this is a horse. Please, Lily, tell me you know the difference between a donkey and a horse.”
Well, she thought she did, but apparently, she didn’t know the difference between a steer and a cow so . . .
Lily rubbed her forehead, feeling a tension headache coming on. She was exhausted after pushing herself to get here as quickly as she could. Once she’d made up her mind to come to Texas, she’d just wanted to get this over and done with. Only things didn’t seem to be going well so far.
“You named your horse Donkey?” she asked.
“Yeah, it seemed to suit him. Hey, Chuck, stop eating the tire, man.” Clem got down off the horse and put the lamb on the ground before she started walking toward the steer.
“Clem, don’t get too close to him. He’s dangerous,” Lily called out, wanting to protect her sister.
Clem turned to look back up at her. “What do you mean he’s dangerous? No, he’s not.”
“Yes, he is. He charged at me. That’s the reason why I’m up here. I flew up a ladder, or at least I think I did. The ladder’s no longer there. And this rooster keeps glaring at me like I’m invading his territory. Also, I think I saw a camel.”
“Yeah, you did. That’s Jessica. And you kind of are invading his territory. That’s also my thinking spot. Umm, not to sound rude, but how come you’re here, Lily?”
Lily tried to find the words, but they didn’t seem to want to come. She and Clem had spoken a few times on the phone since Harvey took off with her. But it had been a bit awkward and about nothing in particular. In person, things felt just as awkward.
“Are you here because you want half the property? Because I don’t have that type of money to buy you out. And Grandma June did leave it to me.”
God, did Clem think that little of her? Maybe there was no repairing this relationship between them. Maybe it was completely broken.
“I don’t want anything from you, Clem,” she said in a quiet voice. “I just came to, well, I guess, to tell you that I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, Clem.”
37
“You’re sorry? What for?”
“Everything,” Lily said with a laugh that quickly turned to a sob. “Our entire lives, I guess. I just . . . I couldn’t figure out how to say this before. I’ve always wanted to please everyone else, but especially Mother. I hated it when she was angry at me, so I did everything I could to ensure that she was never upset at me. But nothing was ever good enough, was it? There was always something I was doing wrong, something that I had to do better.”