Packing up camp was smoother than ever; everyone knew exactly what needed to be done and was pretty clear on what the order of operations. The only new twist was we had three dogs which added up to too many occupants to fit into the cab of the truck. I briefly contemplated putting sulking Sonya and hitchhiking Matilda in the stalls but couldn’t figure out a way to successfully pull that one off. So - two of the dogs went into a stall with their beds and I devised a rotation plan based on seniority, the pack leader always got priority; Mila rode in the cab first and we’d rotate at each stop.

It was a quiet ride to Oklahoma City, we only had one quick business call to confirm our conference call that evening. I had time to let my thoughts roam and ended up thinking about our growing library; I had checked my library computer at our last rest stop and it was still chugging away downloading the gigabytes of books we’d queued up, that part was working well at least. I’m not a big fan of reading off of a screen so I decided to purchase an ultra-high-speed printer as soon as we reached my new ranch; I would simply print out the books I wanted to read, or more importantly, take with me to read on a hunting excursion.

Sonya sulked and moped the entire drive.

Our rental was at a farm about 30 miles outside of Oklahoma City, it was the full farmstead again with the furnished house available for use. As usual we avoided the house for the most part, it was nice to have the bathroom but easier to follow routine overall. We would be here for three nights. It had been an eight-hour drive to get here so after camp was set up we exercised the animals, did the chores and had our supper. Matilda had made us beef burritos with rice and beans; they were simply amazing and a very nice change. If she was trying to pull her share of the load she was doing a very good job.

We had quick conference call with the wealth management team, I gave them authorization to close the deal on the ranch and several other related matters. As the meeting closed, David texted me asking me to call him later to discuss a personal matter. I had a good idea what that matter was going to be.

With the call out of the way we then proceeded on to our nightly ritual of tagging books, videos and movies for eventual download; Sonya even figured out how to down-load a series of a TV show she wanted to watch. I remotely logged into the library laptop and was that it was still chugging away and we still had terabytes of space available. I also pulled up the trailer’s command software and confirmed that everything was in good shape with no warnings or errors. It would text me if something came up, but it was good policy to check manually.

We turned in around 8pm, each of us heading off to the privacy of our own tent/camper; all day on the road together tends to make everyone feel a little claustrophobic. I called David as soon as I heard soft music coming out of the camper and knew that Sonya was in for the night.

David picked up my call immediately and put me to hold while a few other people joined the call. Traci joined the call, which wasn’t a surprise, and then Lisa joined the call which was. David explained that Lisa was now handling public relations and social media for the firm. I responded with a verbal shrug and a surprisingly appropriate quip about the firm policy regarding fraternization amongst senior staff.

Introduction and bantering complete, they broke the news. David’s guy had found out that Sonya let slip to her family about my lottery win and that with that bit of news havoc broke out after she left. Sonya’s mother and sisters apparently decided that Sonya had run away with the rich guy leaving everyone else behind. Sonya’s sister started sleeping with Sonya’s boyfriend within days, and now all four of them were ghosting or trashing Sonya on social media. The only good news was that apparently Sonya’s father, grandmother and aunt didn’t buy any of that and were still loyal to her.

To be honest I didn’t have any idea what to do about any of that, but that was why Traci and Lisa were on the call. They had arranged a meeting with Sonya’s aunt and grandmother tomorrow and would lay out a plan of attack; they’d call me if I had a role to play.

On an associated topic the official announcement of my winnings would be made soon; Lisa had a press release she wanted me to review and would send it to me in the morning. She explained that strategy was to obfuscate and misdirect, and part of that included a very long and very boring press release. I begged for two more days and got it; I wanted to be out of Oklahoma City before that happened.

I explained that after Oklahoma City we should have closed the ranch deals and I would be basically off the grid for a while. The places I was going next treasured personal privacy over almost everything else. Business complete, we said our goodbyes.

I sat for a long time thinking about our current predicament and how quickly and radically my life had changed. I pulled out my private bottle and poured two fingers of Max’s finest aged bourbon; I’m not sure it provided true solace but it was a comfort to smell and taste that lovely liquid. Sometimes just the color of it was a great focal point during contemplation.

Winning the lottery had made my life more interesting, but it sure didn’t make it any easier. I toasted my companions, Brin and Kordi, drank my bourbon and then went to bed.