Page 58 of The Banker and the Blue Collar Man

I heard him handling the sheets of paper.

Since I inherited the twenty acres in Nebraska last December, of course the taxes on it would come to me. I’d probably be able to pay out of the five thousand I inherited, but this reminder of being so unimportant to my parents made me close my eyes.

Jake was right there, naked at my side as I sat on the edge of the bed with only a sheet draped over me. I opened my eyes again.

Jake could probably just about hear Cadmar, so I turned the speaker on but didn’t tell my brother that I had.

“You owe taxes on the property.” Cadmar’s voice was clear in the bunkhouse. “There was an account Mom and Dad used to use to pay them, but that went to Ansley and me.”

Of course it had.

“How much?” I asked.

“Look,” Cadmar said, “we’re all about to go out, and I don’t have time to go over this. Can you just come by and get the papers?”

“Um,” I said.

The weight of my regular world landed on me like bricks sliding off a girder. That life had felt faraway almost from themoment I’d set foot on the ranch. And now it was all too real and urgent and just plain awful.

“I’m still at the ranch. The one Lucas now owns. I’m doing an audit for him.”

“For free, I bet,” Cadmar said. “What a waste of time. If he’s stupid enough to give up a lucrative career, that doesn’t mean you have to follow his example.”

“I didn’t give up my career,” I said, though why I was bothering to explain was beyond me. It never made any difference. “I’m on vacation.”

“You’ve been there a while,” he said, almost spitting the words. “Aren’t you out of PTO yet?”

Jake was looking at me, his eyebrows raised. His hand was on my thigh, stroking up and down. Raising the small hairs. Giving my cock something to think about.

My toes curled and uncurled as I struggled to find a way to end the call and get back to focusing on Jake.

“Can you forward the documents here?” I asked. “Or to my apartment?”

“You want me to stand in line at the post office?” Cadmar asked. “I’ve got better things to do.”

There was a whole host of things that Cadmar had been unwilling to do for me over the years, even though he and Ansley expected me to jump and fetch and carry for them.

It was too much to think about, and I pressed my fingers to my eyes and imagined that I wasn’t getting a headache, though I most surely was.

I looked down at Jake’s bare feet. He had big feet, white and pale from being in boots all the time. There was hair, dark and straight and long, on his big toes. They were adorable feet, and in that moment, all I wanted to do was buy him some new socks. Surely that was more important than dealing with Cadmar.

Besides, I could go online and download the tax paperwork. That was how it was done these days.

“Can you tell me how much, at least?” I asked. “I can come by and get the papers when I get back to Denver.” Which was a lie. If I downloaded the information, I’d have what I needed. Not that I’d tell him that.

“It’s $2,033,” he said. “Guess you’ll have to stop buying your stupid iced lattes.”

“Guess so,” I said. Not agreeing. Just saying it so he’d shut the fuck up. “Listen, I’ve got to go. The hogs are getting out.” There were no hogs on Snow Creek Ranch, but Cadmar wouldn’t know that. I hung up, feeling rather bold.

“Your family’s a piece of work.” Jake looked at me with serious eyes. “That’s what Lucas told me.”

“He did?” I was surprised. Lucas usually played it close to the vest with information like that.

“He also told me to be nice to you,” Jake said.

“Oh, he did, did he.”

“Yes, he did.”