Page 22 of Burke (The Haven #2)

B urke watched as Shirley spoke to Dwight for a minute, after he pointed out where she could find what she needed, and she then set to work.

Timber turned to Burke and asked, “Does she bake?”

“Dang if I know. Silvia couldn’t boil water—or flat-out refused.”

He burst out laughing. “It sounds as if you were barking up the wrong tree before.”

“That’s for sure,” he declared, with feeling.

“Shirley was really good in the barn today, great with the animals, happy to muck out the stalls, not a wimp and not a whiner. She got right to work. You know, down the road,” he added for emphasis, “when you have some time to focus on operational details instead of construction, some equipment might be a nice addition.”

“Yeah, I’ve got some equipment coming,” Timber confirmed. “It’s just a matter of timing. I’m talking to Andy about some of what he’s got over there.”

“Oh, that makes perfect sense. He’s probably got exactly what you need already.”

“He does, but that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily ready to part with it all.”

“Of course not.” Burke snorted. “Parting with it probably means the end of an era for him.”

“In a way it is the end of an era, whether he’s quite ready for it or not, but it’s easy enough to understand why he wouldn’t be quite ready to see it all come to end so soon.”

Leaving Shirley in the kitchen with Toby, Burke headed outside with Timber. “The horses are doing fine. Everybody is out and looking okay, so what’s next?”

“Either working on construction or taking a look at that well, I guess.” He shook his head and raised both hands. “She’s right. I really need to have it all written down someplace so we can keep better track of it.”

“In fairness, your system probably wasn’t so bad when you were doing it all yourself—up until you suddenly ended up with a full crew without even asking for them,” he pointed out.

“Now that you have all these people, it makes more sense to get organized so you can make the most efficient use of them. She’s right about that. ”

He sighed. “I do have to go into town and get supplies, so maybe I’ll run by and get the whiteboards myself. I’ll also go talk to the bank.”

“Money problems?” Burke asked, turning to face him.

“Nope, I saved up quite a bit. Plus, I inherited some,” Timber shared. “So money isn’t the issue, but I might need to open up a few investments and unlock some of that.”

“Any trouble?”

“The trouble with doing that is,” he pointed out, “as soon as you start spending principal…” He let his voice trail off because Burke understood as well as Timber did.

“I know,” Burke confirmed, “but what else would you do when you went from a one-man operation to suddenly having all that help, accelerating the project well beyond what you ever imagined? You had no choice but to confirm they had everything they needed.”

Just then they heard a vehicle coming down the road.

As he watched the truck approach, Timber had a big smile on his face, as he walked over and talked to the other man.

Burke stayed on the sidelines, close but not quite, until he was officially introduced to Andy Killerman, the man who had sold Timber this land.

He smiled at the older man and greeted him. Andy nodded at him, then looked back at Timber. “You’ve really got quite a crew here, don’t you?”

“It wasn’t planned,” Timber clarified, “but when men show up…”

Andy nodded. “When the labor is there, you’ve got to put it to good use.” He looked around. “I guess it’s probably time we talked about some of that equipment, isn’t it?”

Timber nodded. “It is, though I’ve also got to keep my budget in mind.”

“I understand that. I really do. As soon as we settled up on the property, I figured you would eventually need the equipment.”

“I do,” he admitted, with a laugh, “but this whole project has accelerated really quickly, with all the help I’ve gotten, so my budget has been turned upside down. I’ve got options. Still, I need to keep my bottom line and cash flow in mind.”

“Of course, everything’s got a bottom line, doesn’t it?” Andy agreed, with a sigh. “Anyway, I won’t be needing this equipment anymore, so I thought maybe I could make a real good deal for you.”

Timber nodded. “That would be great, but your idea of a real good deal and mine might be different. What equipment are we talking about?”

“I’ve got a front-end loader, a tractor, a couple flatbed trailers and, of course, horse trailers. You’ll probably need almost everything,” he noted, as he looked around. He smiled when he saw the horses out in the pasture. “What? You’ve already got more out there?” he exclaimed. “That’s a sight.”

“We had those come in yesterday, and of course I already had yours here.”

“Right.”

When Danny started to bray in his direction, Andy walked over to the fence, and the donkey came flying. The two old friends greeted each other, and he smiled as he looked back at Timber. “It’s good to see him doing so well.”

“It is. He’ll be just fine here, Andy.”

“I can see that,” he agreed. “I guess I should have done this a long time ago.”

“But if you had, he wouldn’t be here with me now, would he?” Timber pointed out, with a bright smile. “He’s happy, and he’s got quite a load of friends here. Speaking of which, we haven’t spoken about your other horses either.”

“I know.”

“What do you want to do?” Timber asked Andy.

“I’ve sold four of them,” he shared, with a nod. “I’ve got three older ones that just need a place to live.… So, for their care, I was thinking about trading you some of the equipment.” He turned to look at Timber.

Timber stared at Andy. “You want to exchange for the horses’ care?”

“The horses are my responsibility, but honestly, I’m not sure I can care for them much longer.

I could sell them off for meat, but that won’t suit me.

Plus, I can feel my wife shivering with anger at the very thought,” he muttered.

“So, yeah, I was thinking maybe we should go to my place and take a look and see what you can use, and maybe we can come to a deal then.”

With that, Timber nodded. “Sounds great to me. Let’s go.”

And, with that, the two men hopped into Andy’s old truck, and they headed back down to his place.

Burke stayed at the open doorway to the main cabin and watched as the truck disappeared.

Toby stepped out and joined him. “Now that would be a good thing.”

“I don’t think Timber was expecting that.”

“No, I don’t imagine so, but it’s a very good thing,” Toby stated. “More than a good thing. Andy’s a good man, and he knows what Timber’s doing here is a good thing.”

“A lot of people wouldn’t care whether it’s a good thing or not.”

“Nope, and that’s why Andy’s special in that way.

Plus, Timber and Andy have a bit of recent history that needs some smoothing over, some things that Andy feels guilty for.

He’s also very aware he’s about to go over the rainbow to meet his wife, and Mariana Killerman was a force to be reckoned with in her day. ”

Burke looked at him. “Why does it sound like he’s off-loading?”

“Andy’s dying. He’s got cancer.”

“Oh, crap.”

“So, the Killerman ranch has been broken into pieces, and, if he can’t sell a lot of the leftover stuff, such as the equipment, it will likely end up at auction,” Toby explained. “So Timber getting it is really the best answer for a lot of it.”

“It’s a great answer, isn’t it?” Burke agreed.

“Plus, it allows the Killermans to save face and to not have to deal with too much family garbage.”

“Will there be family garbage?”

“Yeah, there could be,” Toby stated, with distaste in his tone.

“His son Max and his grandson Brian—who hurt Danny, his wife’s pet—kidnapped Tiffany and caused all kinds of hell before Max died in a shootout with the local authorities.

Not to mention that the military was after him too.

Brian got lucky, getting to choose between prison or a tour or two with the military. ”

“I heard about Danny but had no idea about the rest,” Burke muttered. “Not a nice thing in anybody’s book.”

“Plenty of bad feelings to go around because of Max Killerman and what he did to Tiffany, not to mention what Max did to everyone else in his life. An awful lot of guilt is mixed in there too. Andy knew Max had to be taken down, but it was still hard on everyone concerned. Apparently Andy’s decided that, if he can help out, he’ll try as much as he can. ”

“Which is absolutely lovely,” Burke noted. “Now we just need to confirm there’s a machine shed for everything to go in.”

Toby frowned at him, then at the surrounding buildings, and groaned. “I didn’t think of that.”

“No, and that’s one of the reasons we need the whiteboard and some organization to get the projects moving along here, without having to go back and fix things.”

“And yet things are moving,” Toby clarified, shaking his head. “Just not quite efficient enough is what you’re telling me. Jesus, I’m getting too old for this shit.”

“You are joking, right? I’ve seen you helping all around here.”

“I suspected that would be your answer,” he replied, with a smile. “However, the deal with Andy is in progress, with whiteboards coming, so we’ll continue to make good time and to do the best we can. Yet I suspect we’ll need to start thinking about that machine shed.”

With that, the two men looked around the place and discussed possible options for its location. They certainly wouldn’t make decisions without Timber here, but it seemed as if somebody needed to get ideas started on this.

By the time Timber returned, a broad smile on his face, he looked over at them and declared, “We’ve got quite a bit of equipment to move over.”

Burke smiled at him and asked, “And where are you planning to put it?”

“I don’t know,” he confessed, frowning, as he looked around. “I really hadn’t put any machine shop in here as a consideration. Andy does have one of those big metal sheds, but I don’t know how hard it would be to deconstruct it and to move it over here.”