Colorado Skies

Chapter 26 {Girl}

First and foremost, if you or someone you know is struggling with depression, please don't be afraid to seek help. I've been in that same position before; I know what it's like. My messages are always open, no matter the problem. The Suicide Prevention hotline is
1-800-273-8255. Please know you are never alone. You are loved.
Second this chapter is dedicated to the females of this story.
Thirdly, the medical information talked about may not be correct.

3 Weeks Later; Dixies Point of View

"I gotta get going, is there any way you can watch Nicky and Knox? I can take the twins with me; they have lessons today anyway." I asked my husband while grabbing my bag. "Can't you take Nicole and Knox with you too?" "No, Zach I can't. I have work to do, and I'm not bringing two young kids to the ranch." "Are you saying I don't do any work?" He asked. "Yeah, I am. We have lived here for 3 weeks, and you still don't have a job! I found one in a matter of two days. We have a mortgage to pay, bills to pay, and 4 kids to feed! We need the money!" "I have a job interview today, Dixie!" He yelled at me, clearly annoyed. "Do you actually?" "Yeah, with a construction company. My dad knows the owners pretty well." "Good, but you still need to find a babysitter, I can't take them with me. I'm sorry." He just nodded while I got the twins ready to go. "I'll see you later." "Yeah, whatever." I got in my truck and held back the tears that wanted to fall. "Mommy?" I looked up in the rearview mirror to talk to Annie. "Yeah, baby?" "Why do you and daddy keep yelling at each other?" My heart broke at her, and Gunners faces, as they waited for the answer. "You guys don't have to worry about that, okay? Its adult problems." They nodded, as I tried not to cry in front of two little people who look up to me.

Charlottes Point of View

I stared at my paycheck, confused as to why I was being payed less all of a sudden. "Kaleb, how much did you make all together the last 3 weeks?" I asked one of my coworkers that I was close to. "I made about $2,500 the last three weeks why?" Now I was confused and pissed off. "I have the exact same job as you and we work the exact same hours, and in the last three weeks all I made was $1,800." "Thats it?" He asked, a shocked look on his face. "Yeah, but I used to be payed the same amount as you. This all started when we got our new boss." I said, a wave of realization washing over me. "I'm gonna talk to the other instructors, see if he's paying women less than the men. "Hey guys." Dixie walked in with her kids and grabbed her check out of the filing cabinet. "Dix, how much were you payed this week?" She looked over her check before answering. "$545. Why?" "Because Kaleb gets paid $200 dollars more a week then both of us." "Well, I can see why he's being paid more than me, he has a better job than I do, but you and him do the same job." "Exactly." "I mean all of the trainers are females so I can't compare payrate, but I think you should look into that because $200 is a weeks' worth of groceries and I wouldn't want to lose that money." I nodded and walked away to talk to some of my other colleagues.

Brookes Point of View

I sat on the hospital bed, waiting for the results of my scan. After getting chemo for six months to try and shrink the tumor, now I was finding out if it was small enough to be surgically removed. I heard a small knock on the door, signaling that my oncologist was here with the results. "Alright so I got some good news." She said with a smile on her face. "Really?" She nodded. "We can remove the tumor." The second she said that tears started rolling down her face. "There's just one thing, with your insurance, the surgery is going to cost somewhere around $10,000." "$10,000? We could barely afford the chemo treatments after we had to buy a bigger car." "I'm sorry believe me, I wish it wasn't that much." I nodded. "Of course, you know you don't have to get the surgery. Give it a couple days, then call me either way." I nodded "I'm going to call my husband, and I'll get back to you." She nodded. "Have a good night, Brooke." "You too Dr. Nicholas." I grabbed my bags and walked out to my Yukon. Before pulling out of the doctor's office I dialed Blakes number and put it on speaker. "Hey what's up?" "Hey what are you doing?" "I just dropped off Lilah at the ranch for her lessons, and then dropped the twins off at my parents. Now I'm putting the new siding up on the bar, how was the doctor's appointment?" "They can remove the tumor, but its gonna cost around $10,000." "I don't care how much it costs." "Blake, we can't afford that." "I don't care Brooke, we'll sell my truck if we have too, sell the bar." "We'll figure it out." "Yeah, I guess we're gonna have to."

Charlottes Point of View

I quickly figured out that my new boss was paying me and other females less than our male colleagues, so now I'm sitting inside his office waiting for him. "Charlotte, why are you in my office?" "How long did you think you could go before someone found out that you were sexist?" "Well, you women aren't as hard workers." He said a serious look on his face. "Well, unless you change our payrate I'm gonna take your ass to HR." I walked out the door, leaving him to decide what to do.

Brynlee's Point of View

"Want one?" Reese opened a beer and asked me if I wanted one as well. I nodded. It's been a long day, and it's only 1:00. I just came in from practicing with Bonnie, and she was not in a good mood. She wouldn't cooperate at all and tried to buck me off three times. "I might kill that damn horse." "Oh, come on, if you do that you won't make it to the rodeo." She laughed, handing me the beer. I heard a knock on the door and yelled a quick come in. It was Blake. "Hey what's up?" "I wanna ask you guys a favor." "Course, what's up?" "Brooke's tumor is small enough to remove." "Really?" "That's great!" "There's just one thing, we can't afford the surgery." "Do you need money? I have $9,000 in cash upstairs in the safe, plus more in the bank." "I have some too." "Girls, I don't want your money. I appreciate it but no thank you. I have a better idea. We could have a benefit. Behind the bar we have all that land, we could give out drinks, make it into a party." "That's a great idea. I could bring the horses down, have people pay to ride, I think we could make a good profit out of this. How much do we need?" "$10,000." "We could do this."

Dixie's Point of View; A Couple Hours Later

I pulled into the driveway. It was dark, and the twins were asleep in the backseat. Zach's truck was parked where it always is. I opened my glove department and grabbed a little orange bottle. The label read the name of my depression meds. I swallowed the last pill that was in there and got out of my truck so I could take the kids inside. I brought them up to bed and went to check if Zach was still sleeping in the guest room. He was. I went out at sat at the kitchen table. "Let me cry real quick." I said out loud, as the tears began to fall. Life's been really hard lately, and right now I needed to focus on not falling down the rabbit hole again.