Chapter 1
“Josh! Get down here and eat some breakfast! You’re gonna miss the bus!” I run around the kitchen as I finish packing everyone's lunches and tossing them into their backpacks.
Katie, Ryan and Austin are all sitting at the table eating. Austin hurries and finishes his breakfast and starts to move around and helps clean the kitchen. One by one the three wait by the door for Josh who comes downstairs with a bedhead and half dressed decently.
“There’s no breakfast left and the bus will be here soon. Get up earlier tomorrow, now go.” I toss him his backpack and push the four out the door. I grab the keys to the truck and we start the long drive down our dirt driveway.
I’m the oldest of five kids. After me is Austin, then Ryan, then Josh and then Katie. Dad was a deadbeat who would come in and out of our lives. After Katie was born he left for the last time and this time, he didn’t come back. It’s not like we needed him anyways. Only a couple months after Katie was born mom took drugs back up and eventually ran off with some heroin addict, leaving me to raise my siblings.
I’m 28 and have been taking care of these kids since they were babies. Mom was too busy getting high and dad was too busy getting drunk in a bar. As soon as mom left I went to our local courthouse and requested custody of my siblings which was quickly granted due to obvious reasons.
We live on six thousand acres of land which is occupied by cattle, chickens and horses. When we get too many eggs we’ll sell them to the town folk. We sell our steers and sometimes heifers to other ranches. Of course we use our cattle for beef sometimes too.
Austin helps me the most since he’s the second oldest. He’s now a senior in high school. He wakes up early in the morning and works late into the night with me. Ryan helps too but he’s only a sophomore in high school and I’d rather him focus on school then the ranch. Josh is only in 7th grade so the most he does is tend the horses every now and then. Katies is now in second grade and all I allow her to do is collect the eggs.
As much as I love our family ranch, sometimes it gets to be a little much. Constant work, constantly spending money and barely having time for family outings. The most we do is go fishing out on the river that runs through the back of our property.
The good part about owning so much land is that we’re far from everyone. Going into town is a couple miles west and takes a good amount of time. People don’t wanna always come out this far nor do they wanna drive down our driveway. This allows us the kind of peace most people don’t get. No one can see us, no one can hear us and that’s how we like it. We don’t like the stares, the whispers, the gossip.
With the amount of land we have that also means we have enough room for a gun range. Austin, Ryan and I frequent the range but Josh uses it every now and then but only if he’s supervised. Austin and I are the only ones that carry on the property too. Everyone in town carries but it’s to protect ourselves and our town.
It’s Friday so that means Josh, Katie and Ryan are spending the night with some friends while Austin and I finish up at the farm. After I cleared the table I walked into the family room where Austin’s sitting on the couch looking at some trucks.
“Which one’s got your eye?” I pass him a cup of fresh tea and sit down next to him.
“A nice 1996 F-250 for a pretty good price. Seems to be in mint condition so that means it’d last a while. I might go and check it out tomorrow if you don’t mind as I head over to Lisa’s.” Lisa’s Austin's girlfriend who lives a town over. He stays with her every other weekend and visits her when he can during the week. Most of the time she comes and visits us since she’s less busy with her retail job.
“Yea. Take your money just in case.” Austin’s been saving for a truck since middle school. With the money we spend on the animals and grounds we’d never have enough money to get him a truck. With the money I can spare from the diner I slip into his envelope when he’s not around.
“Do you ever wonder where mom and dad are?” Austin asks in such a hushed tone it takes me a minute to realize what he said. He gently shuts his laptop and sets it on the coffee table before facing me.
“No. No I don’t. Dad had always been a deadbeat. He was never there for me growing up or for any of you guys. He lost the right to be y’alls father the first time he stepped out that door.” I set my tea mug down on the table beside the couch and fold my hands in my lap.
“Mom was never a mom. She tried, but her addiction got the better of her. She chose drugs over rehab and her kids. So no, I don’t wonder nor do I even care where they are.”
A minute of silence dances between us as the atmosphere becomes heavy. Austin hasn’t asked about mom and dad since middle school where he soon realized they weren’t coming back.
“Yea. I wonder sometimes how they could just leave their five kids. Five kids and a whole ass farm. Kind of selfish if you ask me.”
“Well. We’re running this farm pretty damn well and you guys have turned out to be some pretty damn cool kids.” I nudged him with a small smirk.
“Thank you, Y/N. Thanks for raising me and the little ones. It means to the world to us that you took that step in life and became our mom.”
“Anything for you guys.” I pull Austin into a tight hug, ruffling his hair.
“I’m gonna head over to Lisa’s tonight. That's ok?”
“Of course. Just watch out for deer and make sure to keep my truck full.”
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Word Count: 1072