My Husband Exiled Me to the Ranch of My Dreams novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Two of Four

On the first Saturday in October, a dented gray Civic crept up the lane and stopped short of the gate.

Tanner got out of the driver's side in his faded hoodie.

The youngest climbed out of the other door, with a backpack on one shoulder and a plastic bag in her hand.

I was in the yard splitting kindling.

I set down the axe.

"Hi," Tanner said.

"Hi."

"We drove up. Nobody knows. Mom thinks we're at a study group."

"It's a nine-hour drive for a study group."

"I know." He swallowed. "I brought something."

He held out a manila folder.

I opened it on the hood of his car.

It was his scholarship reverification, every box filled in, every line signed, with the tax forms attached in order.

"I did it myself," he said. "It took four hours. I cried in the library."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't know what half of it meant, and you weren't there to ask." He looked at the gravel. "I looked at my shoes on the lawn, Audra. I'm not going to say I didn't. If I'd looked at you, I'd have said something, and Dad would have been angry, and I was scared."

"You were eighteen years old."

"I'm still eighteen. That's not an excuse."

"No," I agreed.

He nodded and took it.

I handed the folder back.

"It's right. Every box. Send it in on Monday."

"That's all?"

"For today, that's all."

The youngest dropped her backpack in the dirt and put both arms around my waist.

I held her until my throat stopped aching.

"Hi, kiddo," I said into her hair.

"I asked you to come get me," she said, muffled. "You said any time."

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