One Last Sunset (The Long Ranch Series Book 1) by Michel Prince Page A

asked.
    “As much as I want to know why dad’s here and not with the rest of the guys.”
    “Let’s just call it null and void then.”
    “Sounds good,” Mel said and pulled her friend to her bedroom. “I’ll give you ten minutes and I’m coming back out, so I can get back to work.”
    “Ten minutes.” Her mother laughed. “No wonder you don’t have a man.”
     
     

 
    Chapter Four
     
    Sunny wanted to check in to the motel down the street, but his mother wouldn’t hear of it. He took his bag and they walked home. Carolyn said he could come back and she’d let him barback with Mike to see if he could handle the lifting.
    “Sunshine, if you’re staying here I need three hundred dollars.” The greeting as Sunny walked in the door from his father wasn’t the worst by far. “And I need it now.”
    “I don’t carry that kind of cash with me. I can go to an ATM if you want.”
    “Race,” his mother began. “He’s our son. He can stay here for free.”
    “No,” Sunny said in agreement. “He’s right. I’m not a child. I can pay some rent.”
    “He’ll just drink it away in a week,” she said under her breath.
    “I got a job. I need to fix the truck,” Race snarled at his wife. “Even with the Long’s trying to destroy my reputation I got a job.”
    “With who?” his mother asked.
    “Federated Gas.” His father beamed a bit. What a strange occurrence.
    “The biggest thing is I need to get a tire. So, Sunny, cash now.”
    “I’ll go with you to the store,” Sunny suggested as a way to not only pay the right amount for the tires, but avoid giving his father cash that would, as his mother put it, be drunk away. “Then you can tell me what you’re gonna be doing for them.”
    “You don’t trust me?”
    “No.” Sunny shook his head. “It’s just if I walk to get the money, then come back, by the time you get to the shop it’ll be closed. It’s already eight.”
    “Fine,” he conceded.
    When they went outside Sunny double checked the truck.
    He got barked at for his trouble. “What? You think I’m lying about needing a tire.”
    “No, I think you need three,” he said, kicking an almost bald tire. “Hopefully they’ll have a sale. We can get four so you have a spare.”
    “You know how much tires cost for a truck that size?”
    “Yes, I’ve got it.”
    “Oh, mister rollin’ in dough. Well, you walked your ass into my trailer begging for a room in boots that need to be shod, so don’t act like you have it all together.” His dad kicked at the rocks on the road as they made their way out of the trailer park. “I’ll be making a pretty penny at that gas company. Don’t you worry.”
    “I just wished you or mom would have told me about you losing your job. I could have sent the money for the tires months ago.”
    “Don’t bullshit me, Sunny. You wouldn’t spit on me if I were on fire.”
    “You’re right there,” Sunny said with all certainty. “But there’s no way in hell I’d let mom starve.”
    “And I would?” he snarled.
    “I didn’t say that.”
    “You implied it. I don’t know what JT told you—”
    “JT didn’t tell me shit. He doesn’t know what goes on down here. He sold his stake in the ranch to his family almost a year ago.” He turned a sidelong glance at his dad. “What did you do?”
    “I didn’t do shit.”
    “You’ve never been lazy, that I’ll give you. But you fucked up and my mom’s working at the Hard Root when you said she wasn’t going to work a day in her life. Even when I was wearing jeans three years and five sizes too small. Your damn pride wouldn’t let her.”
    “The Long’s stole my pride. If you had any you wouldn’t go running after them like a damn lap dog.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “I saw who dropped you off last night. That girl will get you killed. It ain’t right.”
    “What isn’t?”
    “She’s a spoiled kid that never had to do a day’s labor. Rich, getting money from a ranch