Bittersweet Creek Read Online Free PDF Page B

couldn’t bear to get rid of the horse I’d intended as Romy’s wedding gift.
    She backed away from me, tentatively walking in the direction of the fence that separated her paddock from the larger pasture where the other horses roamed. She called to them from her side of the fence.
    â€œYou know, I could shoot that horse between the eyes and put her out of her misery.”
    I didn’t even turn around. “Don’t even think about it, Curtis.”
    â€œSeems to me, we didn’t get to finish our chat.”
    â€œI don’t have anything else to say to you.”
    I turned on my heel and left, but he followed me. “Well, maybe I’ve got some things to say to you.”
    As I walked by the tree, the pit bulls barked with all their might, straining against their chains to get to me. “Well, maybe I don’t want to hear what you’ve got to say.”
    He tried to clap a hand on my shoulder but missed. His eyes squinted and blinked against the light. A moon blind horse and a mean-ass old man who was going blind, too. How sad was it that I’d consider putting Curtis down before the horse?
    â€œYou might. I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to have to start turning some things over to you.”
    This was a dream—it had to be. If I could get Curtis off my back...
    I wheeled around to face him. “What’s the catch? Why so ready to make a deal all of a sudden?”
    â€œYou might’ve noticed I can’t see for shit. Doc says I’m going blind.”
    â€œI’ve noticed,” I said.
    â€œHe said my eyesight would go quickly. Said I might ought to get some things in order. I’m gonna have to trust you to write the checks one day. Might as well start putting your name on things.”
    Yeah, and then you can run up debt in my name and I’ll be the one who has to pay it off. “Why don’t you put it in Mama’s name?”
    â€œThat woman wouldn’t know her ass from a hole in the ground,” Curtis spat.
    My fists clenched, ready to knock the smug grin off his face. But if I could get everything in my name then I wouldn’t have to kowtow to him anymore.
    â€œAll right, I’ll bite. What do you need me to do?”
    â€œI’ll get Charlie to draw up some papers, you know, power of attorney and all that. Then we can talk about getting your name put on the bank account along with mine.” Curtis stopped short of Mamaw’s front porch. He knew he wasn’t welcome in the house I’d fixed up and claimed as my own.
    â€œI’m bringing Ben.”
    Curtis cussed under his breath, but he knew I didn’t trust Uncle Charlie any farther than I could throw him. And Uncle Charlie was about a biscuit shy of three hundred.
    â€œDo what you need to do,” Curtis muttered before tottering in the direction of the trailer. I noticed the weeds around the trailer were about waist-high.
    Feeling generous, I went for the weed eater and got to work on those weeds creeping up around the trailer. I’d been avoiding them on principle, waiting to see if Curtis would ever get off his drunk, lazy ass and mow his own lawn and do his own weed eating. He wouldn’t have done that even if he could see. At least he lived in a trailer, and there was the possibility of hauling it somewhere else someday. Hell, I was helping myself by cutting these weeds! Now we’d be able to find the trailer hitch.
    Done with that task, I put the weed eater away and absently patted the beagle as I walked through the back door. For the first time in a long while I felt like celebrating. Nothing with Curtis was ever easy, but there was a whisper of hope I might get shed of him.

Romy
    W hile I was waiting on Genie to pick me up, I thumbed through the folder of my mother’s notes. She had, of course, arranged them chronologically. The first piece was a yellowed paper she’d typed using a typewriter with an