Plowed by My Stepfather novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: Five Hundred Thousand

Dean's POV

Orrin Lindqvist's office smelled of coffee and grain dust, and he had set out a plate of lemon bars.

I didn't sit.

He sat behind his desk in his pressed plaid shirt, and he looked glad to see me.

"Dean. Thank you for coming."

"You said to come alone."

"I did. I like to keep these things between men."

He slid an envelope across the blotter.

I didn't pick it up.

"Open it," Orrin said kindly.

I opened it.

It was a cashier's check made out to me, for five hundred thousand dollars.

I read the number twice.

It was more money than I had earned in all my years on that farm.

"That's yours," Orrin said. "No strings but one. You leave the county by Friday."

"There's a man at a cooperative in Nebraska who needs a farm manager. He'd give you a house."

"That's good money for a hired hand."

"It is."

"It's more than you'll ever make on that girl's land, and you'd have your own place."

I looked at the check.

"What did Kent tell you he did?" I said.

"My son made a mistake."

"He blocked nine calls from a dying woman's husband."

"He was trying to protect her."

"From her mother."

Orrin's face stayed gentle.

"I'm sorry for what happened to Brenda," he said. "I carried pie to that hospital for months. You know I did."

"I know you did."

"Then you know I'm not a cruel man. I'm offering you a way out that costs nobody anything."

"It costs her."

"She'll be fine. She's twenty-seven. She'll cry for a month, and then she'll marry someone her own age."

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