T. McClure - Deal Of A Lifetime

Cyrus laughed. “Where’s the truck?”

Alex held out the phone and looked at the receiver, unable to believe his cousin’s question. “Where’s the truck? How about, am I hurt?”

“Obviously you’re not hurt, or we wouldn’t be talking. Where’s the truck?”

“Not far from here. You’ll pass it when you come to pick me up.”

“Well, that’s the thing. See, the bridge is still flooded, and I can’t come get you unless I go way out of my way. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time.”

Alex smacked the wall with his fist and then winced at the pain. “I wanted to stay in a hotel in Shadow Falls in the first place, but you insisted I—”

“Whoa, fella. Settle down. By staying at Sera’s—I already asked Sera if you could stay another night and of course, being the nice person she is, she said yes—you can do me a favor while you’re there.”

Summoning what patience he had left, Alex was reminded that Cyrus was indeed Jean’s son. The two could talk your ear off. Funny how easily his cousin had slipped in the news he wasn’t coming to get him. “You’re the one who suggested I stay with you while I’m working on the theater mall project. You said we could get reacquainted.”

“I did. I do. And we will. But I want you to look over Sera’s farm and give me a fair market value. So this little twist of circumstances works to my advantage.”

Alex turned. Sera stood at the back door, hands behind her in the pockets of her jeans, her hair curling as it dried. He lowered his voice. “She’s selling you her farm?”

“She is. She just doesn’t know it yet. One way or the other, Last Chance Farm is going to be mine by the end of the year. And you, my favorite cousin from the big city, are going to help make that happen.”

CHAPTER FOUR

SHE STOOD ON the back porch, breathing in the damp air and waiting while Aunt Hope found Alex a pair of Chance’s rubber boots and a poncho. She had absolutely no desire to show their visitor around the farm, but when he had asked, and Aunt Hope said, “Why, that’s a good idea, gives me some quiet time,” she didn’t have much choice.

Underneath the kitchen window, Aunt Hope’s herb garden sported bright green sprouts in the freshly turned earth despite the cool spring. She would package herb bouquets for the farmer’s market along with Sera’s larger produce. The onion sets she had planted two months earlier, just before the onion snow—hopefully the last snow of winter—had sprouted. A clump of chives in the corner grew green, and a double row of string for the sugar snap peas ran along the edge. On the trellis, new leaves jutted from the rose canes woven through the lattice. The door opened behind her.

The heavy air seemed to shift as he came to stand beside her. She moved an inch to the left. “Where would you like to go?”

“I don’t know. I got the feeling your great-aunt wanted us out of the house, so here I am. I don’t want to keep you from your work.”

She shrugged. “Actually, with the rain, there’s not much to do today. The soil’s too wet to work.” She finally turned to look at him. Light brown stubble, a shade lighter than his hair, covered his face.

“Where’s Cujo?” He scanned the enclosed yard and then the open space between the backyard and the barn.

Fighting back a smile, she cleared her throat and tried to sound serious. “Don’t worry. He has a morning routine. He won’t bother you.” She noticed Alex shivered, but whether from the damp chill or her words, she couldn’t say. “Let’s go.” She strode off in the direction of the barn.

The fog swirled around them as she led Alex past the shed and the big mock orange bush. Just beyond the garden, the white barn loomed out of the fog. Sera opened a door fitted into the gray stone foundation and entered the dim interior. When Alex didn’t follow, she stuck her head out the door.

Alex stared up at the huge structure.

“Committing the dimensions to memory?”

“No. Just looking.” With a last glance at the barn, he followed her inside.

Sera flicked a switch and a row of light bulbs illuminated a long hallway with stalls on one side and an open stairway on the other. “We’re on the lower floor of a bank barn. Built the year after the house.”

Alex peeked into the nearest stall. “Do you have any animals?”

“Two old horses. Mine and my mom’s. Sometimes I put them in during the winter, if the weather’s bad.”

“That’s right. I saw a bay and a palomino out front.”

“That’s them. And as of yesterday we have a litter of kittens.” She dropped to her knees on a pile of hay under a short flight of simple wooden stairs. She pulled aside the hay to show Alex five tiger-striped kittens and one black, mewing and crawling, their eyes still closed. “People drop animals off down by the mailbox. Sometimes dogs but mostly cats. I usually take them to the animal shelter, but this one had her kittens before I could get around to it. Six kittens. Can you believe it?”

“You have a lot of room. What’s six more cats?” Alex leaned against the stairs and crossed his arms.

He was obviously bored. Sera reached into a container and emptied food into a metal pan. “If the mama cat isn’t fixed, she could have two more litters this year. And these kittens could be having kittens by September. Trust me, it gets expensive.”

“Where’s the mother?”

“She’s out earning her keep.”

Alex threw her a puzzled look. “Excuse me?”

Relaxing on her knees, bent over the kittens, Sera smiled. “Catching mice, I hope. Everybody has a job on the farm.”

“I see.”

Sera pushed the bedding back around the litter and stood, brushing bits of hay from her sweatpants.

“Two dogs, two horses and seven cats.”

She nodded. “Eight cats. Smoky is a gray tomcat and he’s neutered. But I can’t afford to spay or neuter every cat that’s dropped off. Hazards of owning a farm.”

When he didn’t answer, she fastened the lid on the cat-food container. “I’ll show you where we used to store the hay.” She started up the stairs and disappeared. Her head reappeared through the hole cut in the ceiling. “Be careful. These are just boards nailed on risers.”

Gripping the edge of the upper floor, Alex climbed the stairs and poked his head through the hole. He pulled himself out into the upstairs. “This place is huge.”

She brushed some hay off a wide beam running across the width of the barn. “Chance and I used to play hide-and-seek in here with Cy and his older sister all the time.” She looked up at a fluttering of wings high in the loft. “We would play for hours.”

Walking to the big open barn doors, Alex stood at the top of the earthen ramp that led down to the car shed and looked out across the fields, where tiny green shoots poked through the soil. “Corn?”

Nodding, she came to stand beside him. “Sweet corn.”

“So you and Cy are old friends?”

She started at the shift in conversation. The man seemed too inquisitive for someone just passing through, but then again maybe he was just making small talk. “We’ve known each other for a long time.” She hesitated, then continued, “Funny, you and I have never crossed paths.”

He took so long to answer she thought he hadn’t heard her. His response was quiet. “My parents moved to Shadow Falls after I was in college. Cy and I didn’t spend much time together as kids.”

She sighed. “He wants to buy the place.” She thought Alex would look surprised, but he just continued to stare out at the fields.

As a bird swooped by them out the doors, he glanced up at the rafters. “Is the farm for sale?”

She bit her lip. “Good question.”