Head Over Boots For You // Jenlisa

10: Christmas Presents

Lisa

Winter was firmly entrenched now, with daily highs never surpassing freezing, no matter how inviting the clear blue skies might seem. The snow never left, merely being blown from one hilltop to another. But even as the cold seemed to settle into Lisa's bones and become a part of her, Lisa continued to heal. One day, grooming her horse, she decided that it was time. She secured the saddle and climbed up into it with difficulty, but she found that that was the hardest part. After that, she began accompanying Jennie on her shorter trips around the ranch, and she finally felt like she was useful again.

For her part, Jennie was quieter than she had been, and that furrow between her eyebrows never seemed to truly go away, but she stayed. She worked hard, harder than Lisa had ever expected a temporary hire to work. And after that Thanksgiving, Lisa thought that she might even be happy that she decided to stay on the ranch.

(Lisa certainly was happy about that, for the extra help while she recovered, for company in the cabin during the never-ending winter nights, and simply for Jennie.)

But every time that they visited the herd in the fields, or corralled them back to the barn before a storm, Lisa noticed how Jennie searched through the cows with just a momentary glimpse of hope before her lips curled in disappointment. For months, Jennie had been greeted by a rambunctious calf running across the fields toward her. But now, the cows barely glanced up from their pawing through the snow in search of grass. Jennie's usual excitement to see Daenerys (and the rest of the cattle, she supposed) was replaced by diligence to just do her job.

Lisa remembered how her eyes used to light up, how she had almost been knocked over more than once by Daenerys running to her, how Jennie had a folder on her laptop of Daenerys' photos. Even though Lisa didn't understand how Jennie had formed a friendship with a calf, she did understand how it felt to lose the things that you care about.

So Lisa looked at her finances once again (dismal, but what else was new). She wondered if this was a normal thing for a ranch owner to do for a ranch hand (it wasn't). She gave herself a night to sleep on it (she woke up the next morning just as determined as ever to make Jennie happy).

And that day, she made the arrangements. Because she knew, no matter how much it cost her, seeing Jennie's smile would be worth it.

•••

Jennie shifted the curtain to the side again and peered outside. The sky was so dark, it was hard to know that it was mid-morning.

"Any change?" Lisa asked from where she sat at the kitchen table. She had taken this opportunity to review her schedule and finances for the next week. It may have been Christmas, but there was always work to do.

"Yeah. It's gotten worse." Jennie let the curtain fall again and huffed when she reached the table. "The snow is so thick, I can't even see the barn anymore."

Lisa just hummed in response. If nothing else, at least it was a "White Christmas" (although such a thing wasn't exactly rare around there). They had been ready for this one and moved the cattle into the barn the night before. They wouldn't have another disaster like the unexpected blizzard in October. Lisa was determined never to be taken off guard like that again.

"Lisa."

She didn't respond for a moment, but then the folder containing the Lisa's records closed abruptly in front of her. Lisa looked up to Jennie leaning over the table, her hands firmly pressing the folder shut.

"It's Christmas," Jennie continued. "And you've already been obsessing over that for hours."

It was true, but Lisa had to. Especially after her unwise purchase the last week, she had to check and double-check every data entry, every purchase, every receipt, because that was her new reality. She already knew she would have to slash her food and household goods budget, and she would find other cuts wherever she had to...