Chapter 24: The Next Tenth of October

Kat zipped me into the dress with her tongue between her teeth.

"Hold still."

"I am holding still."

"You're vibrating. Breathe."

It was the tenth of October again, a Sunday this time.

A year to the day earlier, I had stood in the pasture and watched my best friend get married.

The dress was ivory and plain, with sleeves to the elbow, because I do not trust anything that slips.

Kat had found it in a shop in Salida and refused to let me pay.

"There," she said, and stepped back, and her face did the thing it had done at my college graduation.

"Don't cry. You'll set me off."

"I'm the maid of honor, I get to cry."

"You're a divorced woman."

"I'm a divorced woman with a very good lawyer."

Kat wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand.

"And the ranch, Annie. I have the ranch, thanks to you."

"Thanks to Abuela."

"Thanks to you and a spiral notebook."

Downstairs the house was loud with people.

My parents had arrived Friday, and my mother had taken over the kitchen with Abuela in a peaceful war over the tortillas.

My father stood on the porch with Ryan's boss from the fire crew, discussing the load capacity of a certain truck.

The old rancher had arrived at eight with both his sons and a sack of apples.

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