Page 2 of Kinsey (Pennington Family #1)

The bill wasn’t as large as he’d thought it should have been, so he had a bit more left over than he thought.

Going to the grocery store with enough money to buy all the things that he needed, he was thrilled beyond words that it took him three trips to take it all into the house.

The hot water heater would be in tomorrow, and he’d have to install it, but he was actually looking forward to it.

Something that he usually dreaded, he was going to map out the entire morning for getting it done.

The others would be thrilled to know that they’d be able to take a long shower too.

It was nearly three o’clock when Wylie came back from his meeting.

Telling him about the bank loan and how he’d been able to use the money, he got a bear hug from his younger brother.

As soon as they sat down to dinner that night, not only had Gleason made it home for dinner, but so did Bodi and Ara.

It was a good night to have fresh vegetables at the table with their beef steaks.

All of them had a hand in cooking when they were home.

Usually, they had stuff that was easy to put on in the morning and eat in the evening.

His favorite thing to make was chili, but it had been too hot to have over the past week, so they’d been eating a lot of steaks and pot roasts.

Kinsey decided that if he ever got a job that paid well, he was never going to have another crock pot meal as long as he lived.

“I’m going to be working with Mr. Thomson in his fields for the next three weeks.

I know that we still have to get our crops in, but he said that he’d let me go before dark, and I could use his tractor to put out things in too.

Great deal and he’s paying me five hundred a week to help him out.

” They all congratulated him on his job and the money.

It would come in handy when they were making payments on the bank loan.

He told them about the feed store and the groceries, as well as the hot water heater.

“I’m looking forward to having enough water to take a shower to get myself clean.

Not to mention using the washer for my clothing.

It’s hard to get them clean when the water is freezing cold. ”

Dinner was an easy clean-up with all five of them working at it.

There was money left over, so he made sure that each of them got a bit of it.

He’d had the most fun buying groceries for the first time this year, at least everything that they needed, so he didn’t take a cut of the money.

The others were to use their part for something they’d been wanting to do, and he smiled when Ara said he was going to use his to get himself some socks.

They were a bunch of men who had been too long without a woman around, and that was all he could think about.

The heater arrived just as he was finishing up with the cattle.

There had been some trouble with the milkers at first, but he’d been able to fix that without any trouble.

As soon as things were set up with the heater, getting it installed in about half the time that he thought it would take, he jumped into the shower and cleaned up.

It was wonderful to have enough water to get clean without freezing at the end of it.

Setting the washer to wash his things up, he headed back out to the barn.

There was always something that needed fixing, and today was no different.

As he finished up with the tractor, thinking that he could get at least another year or two out of it, Wylie came over with the neighbor’s tractor and started plowing the land for it.

But first, he plowed up the garden that he planted every year so that they’d have fresh produce when they wanted it.

He was still putting the tomatoes in the ground when Mr. Howard came by to see him.

“I wanted to tell you that the police might come talk to you about what Kelley told you. It seems that the missus is missing, and Tom can’t give a good excuse for where she might have gone.

Kelley is in protective custody right now until her grandma can come and get her.

They’ve arrested Tom, I guess, on suspicion of murder.

” That was a shocker. “I told them that he was hitting up on Candance when he was in the bank and that the kid talked to you. Good thing, I guess, or there would be no telling how long she might have gone missing without anyone knowing.”

“She told me that her mom was fighting with her daddy.” Mr. Howard told him that’s what he’d told them. “I don’t really want to get involved, but I will. I just hope she’s someplace far away and will turn up someday. Little Kelley can’t believe that she’d left her behind on her birthday.”

Just as Howard was getting in his car to leave, a cruiser pulled into the long drive.

He really didn’t want to get involved in anything, but knew that if it was his sister, he’d want someone to tell him where she was.

Telling the police he had three more tomatoes to plant, could they wait, he’d take them in the house.

They were agreeable, especially if he had some tea brewed for a drink or two.

He had some that he brewed just that morning and invited them into the house.

~*~

“I don’t understand why they have put her into the system instead of waiting for someone to go and get her.

It’s right here in the paper that she is put in the system.

” Grannie said she didn’t know, but the little girl was going to have to live with someone.

“I’ll drive Ms. Stacker if it comes to that.

You don’t want to have a five-year-old cooped up on a bus for an hour while getting to your house. It’ll drive both of them crazy.”

Meggie knew that she’d have to call the meeting she was having in the morning off, but it was better than her worrying about Ms. Stacker and her granddaughter traveling on a bus as well as having to tote that little grandson of hers too as well.

Ms. Stacker had lost her ability to drive about a year ago, and she’d been taking her all over town when she needed it.

Instead, she’d hint around that she had a doctor’s appointment, and Meggie would end up taking her and the little boy.

Her grannie was the same way about driving.

Not that she minded. She loved her grannie and was so happy that grannie had decided to live with her full-time.

It was great for them both. Meggie would come home to a nice meal, and Grannie could watch her shows all day without being disturbed.

The nursing home that she was in would plan activities for those few hours, and Grannie would have to miss them. The activities, not her shows.

“I hate that you have to miss work.” She wanted to tell her grannie that she did as well, but didn’t.

Her grannie was all she had, and she was never going to miss an opportunity to be with her over a meeting or something equally boring.

“I was thinking that next week, when I have those tests done, I’ll use that driver you talked about. ”

“You don’t have to do that. I don’t mind being there when you have your tests.

I know you hated having someone drive you around, too.

” She said that sometimes it was necessary.

“Yes, and I’ll let you know when I can’t cancel something, and you’ll use him.

For now, the two of us are working things out.

Besides, you give me the best advice when I’m working.

Did you know that Landry Lending is closing up?

I heard about it yesterday. I wonder why he didn’t come to me about a loan. ”

“He’s too prideful, that man is. And you being a woman would have just set him on his ears.

Stupid man. He’d rather close up his only business rather than come to you about money troubles.

I heard it was his wife who was making him close the doors.

That’ll put fifteen people out of work, and it being summer and all.

” She asked what summer had to do with that.

“Child care. They won’t have their kids in school to go job hunting, and they can’t afford a sitter anymore.

Just a terrible shame it is that people don’t think about the ones they’re affecting when they do something like close their doors after fifty some years. ”

“I never thought about school being out either. Do you think I should go talk to him or let him close up? I can hire his people, some of them anyway, but I don’t know about seeing him.

” She said that those people would need a good job if they were going to make it until Christmas.

“I’ll talk to Landry and see if you can get a list of his employees that he’s putting out of work.

Maybe I can talk to him about shutting his doors, too. ”

“Don’t bother. Mrs. Landry has a list of things that she wants to do with her husband now that he has time for them.

She wants to go on a cruise like the two of us did last year.

Remember how much fun we had? Oh, to be able to live like that daily.

” She told her that if she wanted, she could take a cruise for the summer.

“No, it wouldn’t be as fun without you there.

You liven things up when we’re together. ”

They had had fun. A great deal of it seeing the Bahamas like they had.

And spending a week on a large ship had been the best trip she’d had in some time.

Her cell phone would have worked had she brought it with her, but she’d left it at home, so she couldn’t be bothered.

Yes, she thought again, it was the best trip ever.