Page 59 of The Rancher’s One and Only

She took her phone out, and scurried to her bedroom, hitting her parents’ number and holding it out.

“Hello,” she said.

“Hello, Ernestine,” her mom said.

“Good to see you. I hope that you’re well.”

“We’re doing well,” her mom said, before launching into all of the news about the neighborhood that Ernestine genuinely didn’t care about.

“That’s very interesting,” she said. “I think I’ve made a discovery that might actually change things significantly in the scientific world.”

“Oh,” her mom said. “Your dad joined a new committee and—”

“Well, don’t you want to know what it is?”

She got distracted and paced out of her bedroom, not thinking about the fact that Jax was still in the kitchen.

“Honey, I’m sure it’s very interesting, but it means just as much to me to know that you’ve made it. You can tell me what it is, but I’m not going to understand.”

“I know but… You could…look it up.”

“Of course. Of course I can. What is it?”

But it was so clear that she just didn’t care, and it made Ernestine not want to tell her anything. Because what was the point? What was the point if she didn’t care even a little bit? Even at all about what Ernestine had discovered. What was the point if she was on the verge of the most groundbreaking thing that had ever happened in her career and her mother still didn’t care?

“It’s fine. Like you said. It’s just not something that interests you.”

“I didn’t say it didn’t interest me. I said that I wouldn’t understand it.”

“But…” She looked up at Jax, who was staring at her with intensity from his position by the stove. “If you cared you would figure it out.”

Because Jax did. He wasn’t an expert on dinosaurs. And he kept saying things about Jurassic Park, and he still listened to everything that she’d said about the discovery. And then he had slept out in a tent with her. And she had known the man for a week and a half. And still, that was how he acted. That was how he treated it. Like it mattered and so did she. He brought her the exact lemonade that he’d seen her buy, because he understood that it meant something to her. He had listened when she’d said there were certain foods she liked to have.

“I don’t think that’s fair. You don’t know anything about the committee your father is on.”

“Yes, I do. I think it’s boring. It’s desperately boring. I do listen to you, though. You’ve spent most of the conversation talking about yourself. And I tried to trade. I tried. But I guess I kept thinking that if I did that perfectly enough that it would make you care about what I’m doing. About what I’m spending all of my time on, and doing my research on. But I think I was wrong. And there’s nothing that I can do about it. Because you just don’t care. Because we just care about different things and…” She turned, again without thinking, and realized that Jax was behind her. She turned again quickly.

“Is that a man behind you?”

“Yes,” Ernestine said. “It is a man. Oh, maybe you’ll be more interested in that. There’s a man here cooking me dinner because I am sleeping with him. I think you find those sorts of interpersonal things interesting. So there he is.” She turned her phone quickly, showing Jax again, then turned back to herself. “And I’m going to go now, and I’m going to talk to him about my fossils, because he cares about my fossils. And he doesn’t make it feel like that’s hard.” She hung the phone up then.

“Damn, Ernestine,” he said. “Way to use me to get back at your mom.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, her face hideously scarlet, and embarrassment building in her chest.

“No. Don’t apologize. I really meant I’m glad you did that. Go ahead and use me. That was rough.”

“I’m never going to be interesting to them. I’m never going to do anything that makes me part of them. And that sucks. Because I think I kept thinking that if I did the right things, and learned the right script that I could find the balance. And I would unlock something in my mom, and my dad. We talk every week, and… About something like that. Your mom is gone. And I have mine, and here I am fighting with her because she’s not interested enough in my fossils.”

“Me going through bullshit doesn’t mean this doesn’t hurt. I’m sure that if I still had my mom we would have issues. That’s how parental relationships are. You don’t have to apologize. I was here. I heard that. I saw it. She was really dismissive of you.”

“Thank you.”

“Gutsy, though, telling her about me. I think my mom would’ve had a cow about that.”

“Oh. My mom is really interested in my sisters’ personal lives. Way more than she’s ever been in jobs. Plus, it’s not like we’re teenagers. She would expect us to be having sex at this point.”

“My mom was quite Catholic,” said Jax. “I don’t think she would’ve wanted me out there sleeping around.”