Chapter 24: Lunch and Tennessee Whiskey

After Michelle made her early morning departure, my first order of business after morning chores was to order a double wide cot for my tent. Space would be a bit tight in my tent but a standard cot just wouldn’t do for two people. After that was breakfast and pack up.

We were on the road by 8am; it was a long drive to Memphis and this day was going to be tough for a lot of reasons. It was the day that the official announcement of my lottery winnings was going to be made, my name and face would be on the news nationwide. If I thought the sharks had been circling before things were about to get serious now. I had to deal with that first.

Secondly it was the day that Sonya’s life was going to completely blow up on her, I knew about it but she was still mostly in the dark.

I got down to business and started making calls using hands free built into the truck. Contacting all my siblings I reminded them that today was the day that the news was going public. Most of them reported that they had already started getting hit on by leaches. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sonya cringe slightly confirming what I had been told about her leaking the news. I really didn’t have plans to confront her about it and merely stated that I wish I knew who had leaked early. I told them all I’d see them soon and that they would be informed of the location of my new home as soon as the noise died down.

After that I put my headset on and called up David. He confirmed that everything was well in hand and I could do what I needed to do. We were ready to go so I kicked it all off by playing my role, this was when the shit hit the fan.

I hung up the call and told Sonya, “David says you need to call your Grandmother right away, it’s important”.

“Why?”, asked Sonya.

I merely shrugged and drove on. When I looked in the review mirror Matilda was glaring at me, I simply shook my head and focused on the road.

Sonya made the call and shit predictably went to hell, she cried in anguish then screamed in rage and even pounded on the dashboard. Boy we were having some fun now I thought.

After the call she threw her phone down and turned on me, “You knew, didn’t you” she accused.

I was honest, “I found out and Traci told me to call your Grandmother because she believed in you”

“So everybody fucking knew except me?” was the screaming response.

She then turned in her seat to face Matilda, “Did you know too you little bitch?”, she accusingly asked.

Matilda merely shook her head in the negative. After Sonya turned in her seat I looked in the mirror again and Matilda calmly gave me the finger.

Sonya was raging still but also now on her phone furiously typing away; I reached over, took it from her and calmly threw it out the window. That earned me more than a few slaps and punches.

I merely endured and focused on my driving.

Minutes later my phone rang over the trucks system and I answered, it was Sonya’s father, after polite exchange I disconnected my phone from the speaker system and handed it to Sonya.

That was about all I could do for now. Matilda still glared at me in the review mirror; Mila was unsettled and circling in her seat.

I was pulling into the next rest area when Sonya got off with the phone with her father, apparently it was a day of great trauma in that family’s household. I asked Sonya to please try and calm Mila while I saw to the rest of the animals; I hoped Mila would comfort Sonya. When Mila and Sonya had gone I asked Matilda to move to the front seat, she glared at me but did what I asked. I walked Brin and Kordi and checked on the horses.

We got everyone handled and situated and got back on the road, both women were glaring at me but we weren’t fifteen minutes down the road before Sonya was cuddled up with Mila sobbing, soon after she slept.

Matilda and I had driving snacks for lunch and didn’t wake Sonya, she slept until we reached our destination. I wasn’t surprised in the least.

We were scheduled to stay in a large paddock on the actual farmstead of the breeder in Tennessee, he had insisted on it after hearing we were camping anyway. A large and elegant wood sign at the end of his drive informed us that this was the home of “Stephen White, Equine Veterinarian” and that this was the home of “Quality Morgan Horses”.