The question took her off guard. But it was a fair one.
“You think it was a mistake?” She started past the animal barn toward two other outbuildings, neither of which she’d even been inside.
“I didn’t say that,” he said behind her.
“Despite what it looks like, this is a good investment.” She tried not to sound defensive.
“For the right investor, sure.”
“And I’m not the right one?” She turned and faced him. Only then did she realize he stood almost a foot taller than her. “You don’t think I can handle this.”
Calm down. Your insecurity is showing.
His eyes widened. “Not at all. I’m betting you can handle just about anything you put your mind to.”
Why did that sound like an accusation when he said it?
“But?” she asked.
He shrugged, almost as if he couldn’t be bothered. “You don’t really seem like the farming type.”
She hugged her portfolio to her chest. She’d read up on farming, orchards, what it took to restore old buildings. She’d crunched numbers and researched other businesses like Fairwind. Still, the fact was she was just as clueless as Molly, and Drew Barlow knew it. She didn’t like that at all.
She could pretend to know the lingo all she wanted. That didn’t make her an expert. Not yet.
“Is that right? What type do I seem like?”
He bent over and pulled a long blade of grass from the ground, then tore it into pieces as he spoke. “Bossy. Lots of money. Always in charge. You give the orders and people do what you say.”
Bossy? Just because she was a leader didn’t mean she was bossy. She planted her free hand on her hip.
His eyes narrowed. “But you don’t understand this farm, and that’s killing you.”
“That’s not true.” She and this farm were starting to become friends—at least she and the chapel were.
“You’re going to hire me to run the place, but I know more than you do, and that’s killing you.”
She turned away and started off into the trees. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“It’s not a bad thing to admit you were wrong about something.” He followed close on her heels.
“I can admit when I’m wrong.” As she trudged through the trees, she thought about the last time she’d messed up and how she had yet to tell a single soul. By definition, she absolutely could not admit when she was wrong.
She moved forward, hoping eventually she’d land near one of the other barns she knew was back here somewhere. “I can admit I might have been wrong to assume you were the best person for this job.”
After too many long seconds of silence, Beth realized Drew was no longer behind her. His idea of a joke, maybe? Let her get lost in the woods on her own property and force her to ask for help.
“Drew?” She stilled and listened, but all around her there were only sounds of nature. Two birds had a melodic conversation overhead. “Drew?” she called out again, but still no response.
Her heart raced as she turned back in the direction she’d just come from. All around, she searched for signs of where he might’ve gone, until finally, in the distance, she spotted a lonely old barn. Was this one of theirs?
If so, maybe he’d known about it and wanted to see how badly it was damaged. Leaving her alone in the woods might’ve just been thoughtless, though that seemed out of character for someone who’d brought her coffee and pastries.
Maybe she’d irked him enough to make him leave.
The air felt thick, like a heavy cloud had settled right over this barn and where she stood. She stared at it, heart still pounding too loud and too fast in her chest.
“Drew?” She called out again, moving around the corner of the building, where she found the doors open and Drew inside with his back to her. He stood, unmoving, at the center of the hollow space—a small, dilapidated barn with a rickety ladder leading up to what she could only assume was a very unsafe loft.
He was like a statue where he stood, and she wasn’t sure if she should interrupt him.
“Drew?” She kept her voice quiet.
He turned, and for a brief moment, he looked like he didn’t remember who she was, as if he’d been immersed in some other world.
“Are you okay?”
He looked away, still seeming lost in a distant fog.
“I guess this is one of ours too, huh?” She met him in the center of the space. “I don’t know that this will be very high on the priority list, though. Doesn’t seem like one we would need right away, does it?”
He shook his head, but said nothing.
“I wonder what they used this one for. Horses, it looks like.”
Still, he didn’t respond.
Unlike the other buildings, this one appeared to have been cleaned out, at least partially. Maybe one of the workers had stumbled in here Saturday and swept.
“Drew?”
Finally, he met her eyes, and she saw something behind them she didn’t recognize. “Sorry,” he said, then turned and walked out.
Back on the path, it was she who wondered why he was walking so fast. She struggled to keep up with him as he strode back toward the main barn, Roxie at his side.
When they reached the yard, Beth finally caught up with him—or he finally let her. “Is everything okay?”
“It’s a lot of work,” he said, avoiding her question as he trudged on toward his truck.
“Too much work?” She watched him, wondering why he’d gone from cocky and teasing to awkward and withdrawn in a matter of seconds. Maybe he didn’t want the job after all.
“I’ll have a detailed plan including an estimated budget by morning,” he said, still avoiding her eyes.
“That would be good. Should we discuss payment?”
“I’m fine with whatever you decide.”
Independently wealthy? He didn’t dress it or drive it. “You sure about that?”
He nodded. “If we’re done, I’d like to get started.”
She hadn’t expected that. What was he going to do out there by himself?
He waited several seconds, and when she didn’t respond, he went around her and pulled tools from the back of his truck. He started off in the opposite direction, but stopped—abruptly—and faced her. “One more thing.”
She looked at him, holding the gaze she’d been working so hard for, until he eventually broke eye contact.
“What are your plans for the house?”
Beth glanced beyond where Drew stood to the old farmhouse that had fallen into the same disrepair as the rest of the farm. Inside, it looked like it had been frozen in time, but it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. She assumed Harold had maintained the house at least a little longer than he had the barns, but it still needed some major updates and a few repairs.
“What do you mean?”
He squinted in the sunlight behind her, then turned his hat around to shield his eyes. “You can pay me a lot less if you let me stay here in the house. I’ll work on it in my free time, get it back in shape. Unless you planned to move in right away.”
“I don’t plan to move in at all.”
“Ever?”
She hadn’t even considered moving in. Would Molly want the house? Someone should live there if they owned it.
“I’m not sure.”
“Well, let me know. The hotel guests don’t like Roxie, so the owner said I need to make other arrangements.” Roxie perked up at the mention of her name.
“By when?”
He glanced at his truck in the driveway. “Tonight.”
Beth laughed. “I don’t think you’re going to want to stay here tonight. We haven’t even cleared out the old man’s things.”
He shrugged. “I’ve stayed in worse.”
Something about this felt horribly wrong, yet before he walked away, she heard herself tell Drew Barlow to go ahead and move his things into the house at Fairwind Farm.
Chapte
r Fifteen
Drew practically ran away from Beth, away from the house, away from the past. He’d seen the old barn in his dreams the night before. He could smell it, and when he’d woken that morning, a torrent of anger flooded his mind. Why couldn’t he remember? What couldn’t he see?
He’d spent hours sweeping and cleaning it out Saturday, and it had done nothing to stir the old memories. Today, walking through the woods, the barn seemed to call his name, begging him to come in for one more try.
Foolishly, he thought the past would give him the answers he’d been waiting for. But as he stood there, begging for the truth, his mind was blank.
Too much time had passed.
He’d felt like an idiot for trying. Why did he think he would ever find closure? In that moment, he’d considered leaving. He could get in his truck and drive back to Colorado. It would be like he’d never even come.
But something had gotten ahold of him—something wouldn’t let him leave.
So, he took the job. If he had any hope of finding out the truth, he had to stay at Fairwind, and taking this new job gave him unlimited access to the farm—and the house—no matter how haunting.
Besides, he needed work if he wanted to calm his mind.
He’d called Elkhorn the night before to tell them he’d be gone a little longer than he’d thought. As expected, his boss wasn’t happy, but Drew needed answers.
Jess deserved that.
He only hoped he could give her some.
Now, standing behind the main barn with his tools spread out on a picnic table in front of him, he forced his weary heart to stop racing.
“There you are!”
He spun around to see Molly walking toward him with a grin as wide as a jack-o’-lantern’s.
“Heard you took the job.”
Roxie ran to her, and she welcomed the dog with excited pats and a good, long ear rub. It struck him how different these two sisters were. Molly was open and welcoming. Beth was closed off and mysterious. He had a feeling that wasn’t where their differences ended.
His pulse had returned to its normal rate—thankfully. “You heard right, I guess.”
“Beth said you’re going to put together a list for us?”
“That’s the plan.”
She stood in front of him now, squinting up at him in the morning sun. “She also said you’re acting weird and wants me to make sure you’re not a lunatic.” Molly tilted her head and sized him up. “So, are you?”
Drew stared at her. “Am I what?”
“A lunatic?”
“I don’t think so.” Though his actions not long ago suggested otherwise. He’d frozen. Panicked. He didn’t know how to manage the onslaught of emotions he’d been burying for twenty years.
“Good.” Molly pulled her messy brown hair into a ponytail. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I have to show you something. I haven’t shown Beth yet because she’s going to kill me, but wait till you see.” She walked around the east side of the building, putting the barn between them and the house and shielding them from her sister’s sight.
They rounded the corner, and Drew couldn’t help but notice the pride on her face.
“It’s a sheep,” Drew said.
“Her name’s Bluebell. Blue for short.”
The black sheep had been tied to an old pipe near the edge of the barn. She looked up, seemingly confused by her new living arrangements.
Drew ran a hand over his chin, made a mental note to shave at some point this week. “You bought a sheep?”
“Someone was giving her away. Do you believe it? Who would want to give away a cute little sheep?”
Drew watched as Molly approached the sheep as if she were a dog. Blue let out a disconcerted baa and hobbled away from her.
“What exactly are your plans for Bluebell?”
“Put her in the barn. Feed her. Let kids pet her when we open.” Molly took another step toward the sheep, but Blue scurried away. “She’s kind of shy.”
“And your sister doesn’t know about this?”
Molly shielded her eyes from the sun and stared at him. “We need to get something straight, Cowboy. If you’re going to work here, we need to form an alliance.”
“That right?”
“Beth has a reputation around here.”
“Oh?”
“Not that kind of reputation. She’s notoriously not fun.” She said the words as if they left a sour taste in her mouth. “Going into business with her is smart, but if we want to have fun, there are going to be some things she can’t know about.”
He snapped his fingers at Roxie so she’d stop sniffing the sheep. “Pretty sure she’s going to find out about this one.”
“Right, but if we present a unified front, she won’t be able to say anything about it.” Molly pulled the bill of his hat down lower. “I’m counting on you.”
Drew held his hands up in front of him. “I’m just the employee around here. I can’t get in the middle of your family stuff.”
Molly cocked one hip out and crossed her arms over her midsection. “You’re not just the employee. You’re the guy who understands how all this stuff works. If you say Blue gets to stay, then she gets to stay.”
“And who takes care of her?”
Molly’s eyes darted away. “We’ll take turns.”
“Uh-huh. Maybe we should go get your sister.”
Molly turned away, startling the sheep, who hurried off in the opposite direction with enough force to pull her loosely tied leash from the pipe, sending her running off into the parking lot with Molly close behind.
Drew walked toward the lot and watched as Beth spotted her sister. Molly was now flailing her arms in an effort to capture the poor animal. Blue turned in circles, doing her best to keep away from Molly’s grasp.
“What is that?” Beth ran toward them, face flushed and fire in her eyes. “Molly! Why is there a sheep out here?”
Molly continued chasing Blue, hollering at Beth to shut up and help her.
At Drew’s feet, Roxie whined and inched forward, seemingly anxious to get in the middle of the ruckus, but he didn’t release her. He was having too much fun watching the two women run in circles around the overgrown sheep. Each time one of them would get close, they’d pull back, unsure how to best wrangle the poor animal, who had to be terrified by all the commotion.
Finally, and only for the sake of poor, innocent Bluebell, Drew released Roxie. The dog ran out to the sheep and corralled her back toward Drew. He picked up the lead around her neck and led her back to the pipe, this time tying the rope tight enough so she couldn’t escape. Roxie barked until Drew thanked her.
He turned, looked at both disheveled Whitaker sisters, called for Roxie and walked away.
Something told him this job was going to be quite the adventure.
Chapter Sixteen
“A sheep, Molly?” Beth stormed toward the farmhouse and followed Molly inside. “What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking this is a farm. It needs animals.” Molly leaned against the kitchen counter. She ignored the piles of dishes behind her, which Beth had pulled out of the cupboards for damage assessment.
“We agreed we weren’t going to make any decisions without consulting each other,” Beth said. “That’s the only way this can work.” She pulled her yellow dish gloves back on and knelt down in front of the fridge.
Molly sighed. “I got a really good deal on her. I couldn’t pass it up.”
“How do you know what constitutes a ‘good deal’ on a sheep?” Beth took her frustration out on a nasty stain in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator. She’d moved her cleaning efforts indoors when she realized she didn’t have the muscle strength to do any good outside.
“She was free. I’d say that’s a pretty good deal.”
“What are we going to do with a sheep?”
Molly reached into the Butler’s bag on the table and pulled out half a scone. “Breed her? Get more sheep? Petting zoos
always have sheep.”
Beth sprayed the inside of the fridge with Clorox and starting scrubbing.
“There’s a man a few miles away with a horse too. And I was thinking we should get a dog. I like that Roxie so much.”
“Molly!” Beth threw her sponge into the fridge and stood.
“What?” Molly’s eyes were wide, her mouth full of scone.
“We have to get the farm repaired. That’s our first goal. We can’t start boarding stray farm animals when we don’t have anywhere to put them.”
“You don’t think Blue will be okay in that barn? Drew can whip it into shape today.”
Beth frowned. “We have a prioritized list. That means there’s an order to things. The petting zoo is not at the top of the list.”
Molly swallowed her stolen pastry. “Maybe it should be.”
Beth shut the refrigerator and sighed. “I don’t think you have any idea what we’re up against here. There is so much work to be done, and we really don’t have the money for it.”
“What about Ben?”
“What about him?”
“You said we have no money. With him on board, we have more than we had yesterday.”
“Nothing is certain yet, you know that,” Beth said. “I left Ben a message this morning when Drew took the job, but even if he invests the same amount as us, we’re still going to come up short.”
“Do you know that, or are you just being your usual negative self?” She took another bite.
“I’ve been doing some figuring.” Beth opened her portfolio. She’d been “doing some figuring” for days now. Drew would bring her his list of repairs, but Beth had already started one of her own. She’d contacted a few local businesses to get rough estimates, and after her walk around the property with Drew this morning, she’d added a few more things she hadn’t thought of before.
This way, when he brought her his proposed budget, she’d know if he was doing his best to save them money. That had been important to her dad, and it was important to her.
“You can learn a lot about a person by how he spends someone else’s money,” he’d told her.
What did the way she’d spent her father’s money say about her?
Molly stared at the figures Beth had scrawled on her legal pad. “You really think it’s going to cost this much?”
Hometown Girl Page 15
