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?”
“No, I think it’s going to cost more. These are very rough estimates.”
Molly sat down in the rickety chair at the end of the kitchen table, a defeated look on her face. “I don’t have any more money.”
“Well, don’t freak out yet. I’ve got my share plus whatever Ben invests.”
“What about Mom?”
Beth blew a stray hair out of her eye. “No. We talked about this. We’re not getting Mom involved.”
“Beth, she’s got money.”
Ben and Beth had both agreed. Mom’s money was hers. They had to respect that. “No, Molly. Let’s leave Mom out of this.”
“What about Dad’s business?”
Beth frowned. “What about it?”
“Is there any money there? Dad was always investing and making tons more than he put in.”
Beth’s fingers went cold. Whitaker had barely bounced back from her mistake. “I think that’s a dead end.”
“Why? It’s our family’s company. If there’s money just sitting there, shouldn’t we get it?”
“There’s not money just sitting there, Molly. It doesn’t work that way.”
Thanks to me.
“Fine. It was just an idea.” Molly finished the last of Beth’s scone. “So we can’t ask Mom. The business doesn’t have anything. What other choice do we have?”
Beth had been racking her own brain with the same question, though she didn’t like to think about it. She had her trust, but that was like her security blanket. She never touched it. But with her savings spent on the purchase of the farm and still not built back up to where they were before she’d tried to bail the company out of the mess she’d made, she would have to get into it. Otherwise, she didn’t have her share of the money at all.
But she wouldn’t tell Molly that.
“Let me talk to Ben. And after Drew gives me his list, I’ll have a better idea. I think we prioritize and do what we can, then worry about raising the rest of the money.”
“There was someone else interested in the property,” Molly said. “A real estate investor or something.”
“What do you mean?”
“Last week, a couple of days after the auction, this really tall guy I’d never seen before came up to me and handed me a business card. He said to call the number when I realized I was in over my head—his employer would take the place off my hands. Made me kind of mad, actually. I told him I was doing just fine, thank you very much, and tried to hand him his card back.”
“And?”
“He said, ‘Keep it just in case.’” She did her best impersonation of a cranky man.
“You’re just mentioning this now?”
“I didn’t want to tell you. I was afraid you’d call the guy and sell the place out from under me.”
“I probably would’ve.”
“And see all the fun you would’ve missed out on.”
“Are you kidding? I would still be sheepless.”
“Exactly my point.” Molly grinned.
“Who was this guy?”
“No idea. After he gave me the card, he walked over to a black Cadillac and talked to someone sitting in the back seat. The tall one glanced back at me, said something else to the mystery man, got in the car and drove away.”
“Did you see the guy in the car?”
“Just for a second as he rolled up the window.”
“What was his name?”
“Davis something. Davis Biddle?”
Beth jotted the name on her legal pad. She’d have to look him up when she got home.
“That doesn’t make any sense. If he wanted to buy Fairwind, why didn’t he just come to the auction? He could’ve bid one dollar more than you and been the new owner.”
“He was vacationing in the Caribbean. That was the other thing the tall guy said.” Again, she put on a male voice, only this time, she sounded snooty: “‘My employer would’ve bought the place himself if he’d known about the auction, but he was vacationing in the Caribbean.’”
“Was he British?”
Molly looked confused. “No, why?”
“Your impression of him sounded like a cheeky British guy.”
“Funny. Maybe he’d invest? Another silent partner—like Ben.”
Beth didn’t like the idea. Ben was their brother. This guy would come in and tell them what to do and how to do it. And even if that was exactly what they needed, she didn’t want a boss right now. “I don’t know, it all seems a little strange to me.”
Molly shrugged. “Yeah, and a little creepy. Not the right kind of person to buy Fairwind—even if he could probably bankroll the whole thing.”
A silence fell between them.
“It’s too bad Seth’s not around,” Molly said.
“I’m sure his money is long gone,” Beth said. Their youngest brother had cashed out his trust the day he turned twenty-one, and they’d hardly seen him since. He’d breezed in for Dad’s funeral, acting unfazed as usual, and the next day he was gone.
None of them even knew if Seth was in the country right now.
Molly sighed. “I really wanted this place to be ours. A family affair.” She sat up straighter and looked around the kitchen, which, Beth had to admit, looked a lot worse than when she’d first started cleaning. “What are you doing in here anyway?”
Beth went back to the refrigerator. “I’m cleaning.”
“But there’s so much to do outside. Isn’t that the priority?” she mocked.
Beth scrubbed at the stains on the fridge’s shelf. “It all needs to be done.”
“But no one lives here. Can’t the house wait?” Molly balled up the empty Butler’s bag and tossed it in the garbage can. “Beth?”
“Mm-hmm.” If Beth put her head any farther into the refrigerator, she’d freeze her nose hairs.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
The side door opened, and Drew walked in. At the sound of him, Beth startled, knocking her head against the shelf. When she finally extricated herself from the appliance, she could already feel a knot forming. “Hey.”
Very cool. Very nonchalant.
Drew’s eyes darted from Beth to Molly and back again. “You don’t have to do this.”
“It’s a mess.” And so was she.
Molly cocked her head to one side, a playful smile spreading across her face. Beth pretended not to notice but prayed that for once her sister chose not to embarrass her. “If I’m going to stay here, I can clean it up.” He turned on the water faucet and filled up his water bottle. “And how many guys do you think we can hire to help me outside?”
Beth left the refrigerator open and moved away from it. She sprayed the only small patch of counter that wasn’t covered with dishes, and scrubbed, aware that Molly’s playful smile had vanished. In its place a death glare now lasered in on the back of Beth’s head.
Drew turned the water off and turned around, suddenly looking caught.
“What’s he talking about?” Molly asked.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“It’s not your fault, Drew. Beth has a policy about us not making decisions without consulting each other first.” Molly said this in her throw-it-back-in-your-face tone.
“He needed a place to stay,” Beth said, finally facing her.
“And you didn’t think you might want to consult me about that first?” Molly had dug her heels in. Beth wouldn’t be able to say anything to appease her. “Do you see what a ridiculous double standard this is? You haven’t even officially signed any papers. You’re not even an owner yet.”
Again, Beth closed the refrigerator, still wearing her yellow dish gloves, which carried the faint smell of bleach and dirty sponge. “I know, Mol, I . . .”
What could she say? She hadn’t even considered consulting Molly first, but it made good business sense to pay Drew less and allow him to live in their unoccupied house.
“I bring a harmless sheep to live here and you fly off the handle. You bring a man to live in my house and I’m supposed to act like it’s no big deal? What if I wanted to move in here?”
“Do you?”
“Of course not, but what if I did?”
Molly wasn’t going to let her off the hook. She had a point to make, and she would make it. And it really irritated Beth to know she owed her sister an apology.
“He’s staying here as a trade for work,” Beth said. “It was a smart business decision.”
“So is collecting animals for our petting zoo, Beth. Especially when they’re free.”
Beth peeled off the gloves and tossed them in the sink. “I’m not going to talk to you until you calm down.”
Molly turned to face her. “You know I’m right. You did the exact same thing I did. You made a decision without talking to me, only your decision is a whole lot riskier than mine. A sheep isn’t going to set fire to our farm. Or slit our throats when we aren’t looking.”
They both looked at Drew, who stood wide-eyed, like the collateral damage he was.
“I don’t really think those things about you. I’m just making a point,” Molly told him. He nodded. “Good to know.”
“What do you want me to say?”
Molly narrowed her gaze, locked tight on her sister. She raised one eyebrow in a challenge. A challenge Beth recognized instantly. “You know what you need to say.”
Beth crossed her arms over her chest. “We’re really going to do this now?”
Molly’s only reply was to cross her arms over her own chest and stare Beth down.
“I think I’ll excuse myself,” Drew said.
“No, stay,” the sisters said in unison, neither of them looking away.
He froze. “I can find another place to sleep.”
Molly’s eyebrow popped upward ever so slightly. “Well, that’s up to Beth.”
Beth didn’t know when this ridiculous game had started. Maybe it was right after Molly’d had the brilliant idea to let her hamster “sleep” in her underwear drawer. Or maybe it was after she’d dropped out of college, throwing a full year of work—not to mention money—straight down the toilet.
Somewhere along the way, Molly had begun taking great pleasure in pointing out every single time Beth was wrong—payback, of sorts, for all the times Beth had pointed out one of Molly’s blunders. The difference was, Beth wasn’t trying to be mean or condescending. She was trying to be helpful. What was she supposed to do? Let Molly carry on as if nothing was wrong?
If Beth hadn’t intervened, who knew where her sister would be right now?
That didn’t change her current situation, however. Beth saw that familiar twinkle in Molly’s eye. Right now, there was only one thing her sister wanted from her—and she wasn’t going to stop until she got it.
There were three little words that would make this all go away. Three words that had Beth wishing this standoff hadn’t happened in front of the handsome stranger from Colorado.
For the sake of the farm, Beth pressed her lips together and took a deep breath. “I . . .”
Molly leaned a little closer. “Yes?”
“I was wrong.” In her periphery, she saw Drew’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. A contented look settled on Molly’s face.
“Can you say it one more time, please? I didn’t quite hear you.”
“Don’t push it, Molly.”
“It’s just music to my ears. I mean, it’s not often I’m the smart one around here.”
“That’s a fact,” Beth said.
“Does this mean I can stay?” Drew asked.
“Of course, Cowboy,” Molly said, her false anger dissipating. “I just wanted Beth to admit it out loud. Very hard words for her to say.”
“When are you going to grow up?” Beth threw a dish towel onto the counter, genuine anger building inside her. Sure, Molly may have been half kidding with her, but Beth didn’t like feeling stupid, especially not in front of her employees. As she opened the back door, she heard Molly say to Drew, “I told you we have to stick together.”
The screen door slammed behind her, and Beth picked up her pace, her mind spinning. They wouldn’t have enough money to complete the repairs on the farm. They didn’t have enough help to get any substantial work done. And now they had a sheep and a boarder with a big German shepherd.
The words I was wrong had never echoed so truly in her life.