Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90503 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90503 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“But what?”
He shrugged. “Finn talked me out of them. Said they weren’t practical. He thinks I should just keep the money invested.”
“Well, it’s not Finn’s money. Tell me about your ideas.”
“I thought about opening up my own tattoo shop at one point. But I’m not much of a businessman.”
“You could learn. I have faith.” Unlike your family.
“Yeah, maybe. But I actually really like the shop I work at now. I guess if I moved somewhere else, it might make sense.”
“What was your other idea?”
He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “My friend Evan’s family has a ranch, and I worked on it this one summer a few years ago and really enjoyed it. It’s a working cattle ranch but it also hosts this program for what they called ‘troubled youth,’ but they were really just mixed up, angry teenagers who felt like they didn’t belong anywhere.”
“Wow. Did you work with the kids?”
“A little. They had teachers on site for academics, but sometimes I supervised a group of kids working on a ranch project, and a few times I held drawing workshops.”
“I bet the kids loved that.”
“Some of them did, I think. And I could kind of relate to them because of my background, although a lot of them had it way worse than I did. Some had been abused, some were depressed, some were recovering from addiction. Others were just really fucking mad at the world.”
“Must have been tough to see.”
“Actually, it was pretty cool to see how working on the ranch helped them. I mean, there was therapy there too, but it seemed like the actual physical work, especially with the animals, really made them feel good about themselves. I was only there for one summer, but I saw some pretty amazing transformations.”
“I bet. Are you thinking of doing something like that again?”
He shrugged. “I was, kind of. Evan recently told me his parents are looking to retire, and he and his wife are thinking about buying them out and taking over. He wants to adopt more sustainable practices, but that costs money and he’s looking for partners to invest.”
“Would you live and work there? Or would you be more of a silent partner?”
“I hadn’t really decided that yet. It’s a beautiful place, and Evan said he’d even sell me some of the land for personal use. I could build on it if I wanted to.”
“Where is it? Near Portland?”
“It’s in Lakeview, Oregon. Closer to California, actually.”
I nodded, thinking that both states were very far away from here and trying not to be sad about it. “What did Finn say about it?”
Dallas exhaled. “Not much beyond, ‘A ranch? Are you crazy? You don’t know anything about farming.’ And he’s not wrong, I don’t know that much, and I only worked there the one summer. But I liked the work. Evan’s wife is in finance and believes the land is a solid investment, and the ranch turns a profit every year.”
“Would you miss being a tattoo artist?”
“I don’t know. I might. But I think as long as I was still doing something creative, like drawing or painting with the kids, I’d be happy.”
“I’ve heard that therapy is really effective.”
“I’m not any kind of therapist,” he said quickly. “It would be really informal. But if it did some good…” He lifted his shoulders. “I don’t know. It’s probably crazy.”
“I don’t think so at all.” I set my glass down. “And don’t let your brother talk you out of it if you really want to do it. Those kids need people like you. And the work is rewarding. I get much more out of the yoga programs I do at schools and women’s shelters than I do from teaching at the studio. Not financially, of course, because they’re free, but spiritually.” I touched my chest. “I feel like I’m doing some good, even if it’s just yoga or meditation. Maybe that was someone’s only sixty minutes of calm that day, you know? The only time they spent on their body and soul.”
He smiled, then leaned over and kissed me. “Yeah. I know.”
When we were done, we walked around some more, and finally made our way over to Comerica Park. Dallas held my hand again, and I stayed close to his side. I couldn’t say it out loud because he’d have hated it, but I felt so bad for him. The way his family had treated him as a kid—and still treated him, apparently—was so unfair. They focused on all the things he wasn’t without noticing all the things he was—smart, sensitive, charming, funny, talented, thoughtful, passionate, generous. The kind of person who stuck up for others. The kind of person who remembered your favorite song. The kind of person who knew when you were having a bad day and did his best to make you laugh.