Free The Cowboys Heart 1 by Helen Evans

envelope caught my eye. I bent to pick it up. There was a bright green
sheet of paper inside, and it was from the local gas company. “That’s weird”, I
thought. I pulled the paper out and read. My heart raced and my eyes widened.
My hands even began to shake a little.
    “We have reason to believe there is a large amount of oil
beneath your property, and we’re interested in the prospect of exploring this.
Please contact us at your earliest convenience to discuss this matter,” I read.
    Holy crap! I put my hand over my chest and fought to catch
my breath. My knees were shaky, and I was having trouble wrapping my mind
around this letter. There was oil under the property? If that were true… “Wow.”
I shook my head. There’s a lot of money in oil. If I could strike a deal with
the gas company, it would solve all my problems.
    Clearly Grandma had opened the letter, but had she ever
called about it? Did she think about it? I know she never did it, but why?
Well, there was only one way to find out. I grabbed my cell phone and called
the number on the letter.
    ***
    I was waiting in the driveway when
the bus pulled up and Jamie got off. I was so damn excited, I couldn’t stand
still. “Mom?” he asked, giving me a confused and concerned look. “What’s
wrong?”
    “Nothing!” I threw my arms around him and hugged him. He
pushed me away in that way teens do when their moms hug them or show them any
affection in public. I laughed. “In fact, everything is fantastic.” I looped my
arm through his and turned him toward the house. “I have a lot to tell you.”
    He stopped and turned to face me. “Are we moving back to the
city?” Excitement flashed in his eyes, and my mood turned sour.
    I frowned. “No, we’re not going back to the city. I told you
already, I’ve got too much invested in this ranch to just walk away.”
    “Not if you sell it,” he grumbled.
    Refusing to let him get me down, I straightened my back and
took his arm again. “There’s oil on the property, Jamie.”
    “Oil?” he asked with disbelief and contempt. “So what? Who
cares?”
    “Jamie, don’t you realize what this means?” I rolled my
eyes. “Oil means money, and money means…”
    “We get to go back to the city?” he asked hopefully.
    I sighed with frustration. “No,” I snapped. “We’re not going
back to the city, now stop asking me that.” When he pulled away from me, a pang
of guilt stabbed at me. I truly did feel bad about snapping at him, but I was
so tired of him asking me the same question over and over again. His life here
would be so much easier if he just accepted this was home now.
    “Fine. So tell me what’s so great about living on top of
oil.” He stormed toward the house and I rushed to catch up.
    “I’ve agreed to lease a small parcel of this land to the gas
company so they can drill for oil. They’re paying a large sum of money plus
royalties on whatever they collect and sell. This means no more struggle.” I
clutched his hands and searched his face, hoping he showed an ounce of the
enthusiasm I felt. “I can do what needs to be done around here; I can afford to
send you to whatever college you want to go to… See, Jamie? This is good for
us. It’s an answer to my prayers.”
    “Yeah, what about my prayers, mom? Huh? What about what I
want?” he shouted at me then ran inside, slamming the door behind him.
    I covered my face with my hands and fought back tears,
wondering if he would ever forgive me. He blamed me for everything – the
divorce, his father’s absence, moving here. Nothing I did would make it better,
except agreeing to move back to the city, but that just wasn’t a possibility. I
had a life here, and he did too. Granted, it wasn’t the same as the city, but
he still had friends here. He only had to give it a chance.
    I entered the house and found Jaime standing in the kitchen.
His arms were crossed over his chest, but he didn’t look as angry as he had a
moment ago.