Page 167

Story: As It Was

“Is she not good with them?”
“No, she’s great with the animals. But she spends more time talking than working.”
Especially with Moosley. How she’d gotten that cow to like her, I’d never know.
Jackie offered to help one last time before I convinced her I was okay. When she drove off, I mentally filed away Nicole and Kerry as people who couldn’t help.
And now I had to figure out who remained.
29
MOLLIE
Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch
Mark Bell
Need a plumber. Bathroom. Can’t explain more than that.
Comments:
Jade Clark: Sounds like a ... shitty situation
Jade Clark: A shituation, if you will
Kerry Winsor: Oh, you’ve got jokes. Funny, coming from the woman who told me the wrong definition of gyatt.
Jade Clark: You JUST figured it out?
Kerry Winsor: I SAID IT AT CHURCH, JADE.
Mark Bell: PLUMBER, GUYS!
Hu Gh: Doesn’t goggle do that?
Marjorie Brown:@Theo Murfcan you help?
Kerry Winsor: You’re actually being helpful?? Has hell frozen over?
Theo Murf: Dammit, Marj. Poop? Really?
Theo Murf:@Mark BellYes, I can help.
Henry Connor: Please just wash your hands afterward.
Winter settled in,then turned to spring. Our already busy days grew even more hectic as the chickens ramped up egg production and I had to monitor the strawberries.
It hadn’t been a hard winter, but I’d gone out every day to check on them in case something went wrong. Cain had told me I couldn’t control everything with the farm, but I wanted this so badly that I’d felt like I’d needed to.
And as the sun stayed in the sky longer, I grew more and more nervous.
I wanted to open the farm this year. When Cain and I went into town for breakfast, people asked about it, and I wanted to deliver.
“They’ll get over it if you can’t,” he told me every single time.
“I know, but this is exciting. I’m making it happen.”
Keeping up with the farm and sneaking into each other’s rooms every night was almost enough of a distraction from our problems, but not totally. As the court date loomed, both Cain and Eric had grown more and more restless.

Table of Contents