by Jamie Begley
“Or you can stop growing. Does one of us have to be killed before you all stop?”
“Explain to me how we can stop? You think The Last Riders will stop smoking it if we stop selling it?” Greer was just as tired of growing weed as Tate and Dustin were. “You want them smoking the shit that the Colemans and Hayes are selling? The Colemans are keeping the ER busy, because he talks them into oxy and coke, since it’s more money in their pockets. And I don’t want to know what the Hayes’s are laced with.”
“That may be true about the Coleman’s, but I just don’t see Jessie’s brothers doing that. She would turn them in herself if that were true. She wants them to stop as much as I want you to.”
“It’s the truth. A couple of The Last Riders bought some off them when I ran low. Shade brought it to me when one of the them passed out after smoking it. Sons of a bitches laced it with cough syrup.
“Forget The Last Riders; how about people like Cora Mae, who needs it when the chemo becomes too much for her? She doesn’t have relatives to go out and buy or steal it for her like Cal had to for his mother before she died.”
“Times are changing. Medical marijuana may become legal—”
“Not in Kentucky. It’ll never be in Kentucky. Hell, the legislatures adjourned before they could bring it up for vote. We’ll be dead and buried before it happens.” The Bible thumpers in Kentucky with deep pockets would make sure that would never happen.
His sister quit arguing, knowing that pill was hard to swallow, but it was true.
“Look on the bright side, sister. If they ever do, your brothers will be ready. Tate may share his Kentucky Gold with pharmacies in other states, but mine? I’m waiting until it becomes legal. He’s a sucker. I don’t share the plants I breed. That money will stay in our pockets.”
Dustin rubbed his forehead. “Stop arguing. Whoever is after us is filled with pure hate. I feel how much he hates us.”
“You sure it’s a man? Holly hates Greer enough to kill him.”
Greer looked over his shoulder to see if Tate was joking. He wasn’t. And the rest of his family seemed to be considering the same option.
“Holly couldn’t kill a fly. It took her six months before she would go get the eggs because she couldn’t bear the thought of the hens crying after them.”
“Hens cry?”
“How in the fuck do I know? It’s not like I’m on a first name basis with them. She almost passed out when I wrung that old rooster that kept pecking Logan. Holly may hate my guts, but she wouldn’t kill me,” he said confidently before yelling at his nephew. “Boy, if you climb that one more time before your pa or I are with you, I’m going to paddle that ass with my bare hand. You hear me?”
“The whole town can hear you.” Dustin’s face lightened as Logan sheepishly moved away from the large rock.
Greer reeled in the large fish that was struggling to get away.
“You caught another one, Uncle Greer!” His nephew came to his side, his own stick up out of the water.
Greer hunkered down next to him, taking Logan’s and handing him his. “You reel him in.” Coaching the small boy, he patiently guided him until Logan had the fish wiggling on the ground in front of him.
“Can I take out the hook?”
“Be slow.”
At first, Logan drew away from the fish, then he gathered his courage with the adults looking down at him.
“I did it!” He proudly raised the hook up for them to see.
Greer took it away from him. “Go put it in the cooler. You think you’re strong enough to pack it to the cabin and give to Cash?”
“Yes, sir.”
Greer took out his knife, cutting off the hook from the line as Logan manfully tried to lift the cooler.
Dustin’s fear was the same one the rest of them shared—that the recurring dream was a foretelling of his own son’s death.
“Quit worrying, Dustin. It’s not going to change a damn thing. If anything does happen, we’re prepared. Other than Winter’s baby, I haven’t healed anyone. I’ve been saving my strength—”
“What if something happens and we’re too late?”
“Well, brother, I guess God’s going to have a fight on His hands.”
12
Sharpshooter: Do you believe in life after death?
Kentuckygirl: That’s a hell of a conversation starter. What made you think of that? Are you sick?
Sharpshooter: I don’t get sick.
Kentuckygirl: Everyone gets sick.
Sharpshooter: I don’t. What size top do you wear?
Kentuckygirl: You’re changing the subject.
Kentuckygirl: Why do you want to know?
Sharpshooter: Because I want to imagine you in my arms.
Kentuckygirl: I hate to disillusion you, but I don’t want to have sex over the Internet.
Sharpshooter: Get your mind out of the gutter.
Kentuckygirl: Sorry. Does size matter to you?
Sharpshooter: No … unless you do change your mind and want to have sex over the Internet, then I have a ten-inch dick.
Kentuckygirl: Whose mind is in the gutter now?
Sharpshooter: Trying to make you more comfortable. So, what size are you?
Kentuckygirl: I don’t measure myself, but I wear a large and an x-large if I want to be comfortable.
Sharpshooter: I want you to be comfortable when I’m fucking you so …
Chatroom closed
Sharpshooter: Woman, I know you know I was joking with you.
Kentuckygirl: Ha, ha.
Chatroom closed.
Sharpshooter: Be that way. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
Kentuckygirl: Bye
Chatroom closed.
“Is that it? You didn’t leave anything behind, did you?” Greer dropped a large box on the bed in the room that Dustin had said Mrs. Langley had given her. “I don’t want you making excuses to come out to the house. I don’t want you showing up when I’m entertaining.”
Holly pulled out two pictures of Logan, setting them on the dresser facing the bed. “Make sure you wash your sheets before inviting Diane over to spend the night. I won’t be there to change them for you.” She flipped over the top of the box so she could pull out the clothes that hadn’t fit into her suitcase.
She had expected Dustin to drop her off and leave her in a dark house. Instead, Dustin, Logan, and Greer had driven her, while Logan had excitably told her he was staying with her and she would be taking him to school in the morning.
Nothing had gone the way she had expected it to. When the Porters had come home from the fishing trip, she’d had her things ready. They had sat and talked to Logan, telling him that Holly wanted to live in his grandmother’s house until it sold, because she didn’t want it to sit empty.
Yeah, she had volunteered to leave; that much was true, Holly thought caustically.
Logan came running into the bedroom, leaping onto the bed. “Can I sleep with you?”
“Boy, you can sleep in the same room you always slept in when you visited your grandmother.”
Logan’s face drooped.
“Do you ever get tired of being a party pooper?” Holly wanted to stick her tongue out at Greer, yet she didn’t want to set a bad example for Logan.
Winking at him, she helped Logan off the bed.
“It’s getting late, and your dad is waiting to give you a bath. When you get your pajamas on, I’ll read you a story.”
He ran off before Greer put a damper on her suggestion.
“That boy doesn’t need to be running in the house.”
Holly rolled her eyes. There were several things she wouldn’t be missing living with Greer.
“Do you remember what I said about Logan not wanting to visit you when you’re old?”
“Yeah?”
“Did it go in one ear and out the other?” Holly gave him a droll look.
“Boys need discipline. My pa—”
“How close were you to your father?”
Greer’s mouth closed in a tight line.
She raised her eyebrow at him. “I rest my case.”
“How do you think Tate, Rachel, Dustin, and I turned out?”
Holly thought about the Porters and how much they loved each other. They might not have many friends, but they had always been fair to her. Despite Greer’s complaints about her living in his home, he had never made her feel uncomfortable by leering at her the way most men did. When he went to the grocery store, he would even buy items that he had noticed she liked. During certain times of the month, she would find her candy bar stash replenished. He had even noticed when Dustin had bought her the wrong brand of shampoo and had come home from work to find it replaced with the one she used. He was also the one who took Logan out to shop for her, for her birthday and Christmas.
None of the Porters knew how to back down from a fight. When a friend of Sutton’s had wanted to leave town, Tate, Greer, Rachel, and Dustin raked together what cash that could spare, giving it to Sutton to give to Cheryl to start over in another city.
The townspeople might not like the Porters, but they could also name someone in their family whom the Porters had helped without expecting anything in turn. Shade had bought Greer a new truck after he had watched out for Bliss, one of the female members who had a former boyfriend who wanted her back. Holly was sure Greer would have done it for free just for the excitement.
“You don’t have to raise Logan as hard as you all were raised. He may have taught you right from wrong, but did it give you the affection you needed as a child?”
“That’s what our ma was for. If you want to know if I wish my pa hadn’t been hard on me, you’re barking up the wrong tree. I’ll raise my kids the same way I was raised. The same his pa raised him.”
“Your wife may have something to say about that.” Holly pulled the mound of clothes out of the box, dumping them onto the bed.
“My wife will do what I tell her.”
Her blood began to boil. Picking up the box, she thrust it into his arms. “How do you know what she’ll do? You can’t even pick one.”
“Got it narrowed down to two.”
Her eyes narrowed at his smug grin.
“Which two?”
“Kentuckygirl and Jo. Diane didn’t make the cut. She burnt the meatloaf she cooked for me last night. Woman can’t make a meatloaf without burning it, I’m not going to trust her to cook me a steak.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh my goodness. Can you tell me how Kentuckygirl is still on your list? Did she make a meatloaf and send you a picture of it?”
“Now you’re being ridiculous. I’m going to ask for her recipe.”
“Greer …” Holly didn’t know what to say. His method of trying to find a bride was too asinine to be believed. “Okay, forget Kentuckygirl. How about Jo? How do you know she cooks?”
“Ate a couple of things she brought to the church potlucks.”
Holly was ready to pull her hair out. “She brings things that she pays Willa to bake.”
“I ain’t got no problem with a woman being resourceful.”
“You can’t eat cake and cupcakes every night. If I give Logan something sweet to eat for dessert, you blow a gasket, saying I’m going to make him fat.”
“I don’t want Logan to end up dead like his mother. The doctor said we have to watch his sugar intake.”
Stunned, Holly sat down on the side of the bed. “That’s why you’re always watching what he eats?”
Greer frowned. “Yeah. And that’s why I don’t eat them in front of him.”
“The doctor told us to monitor his sweets, not to never give them to him. I’m very careful with what I give him. That’s why I make cakes with no sugar, using unsweetened applesauce, and I ask Willa to make special cupcakes and other things to keep him from being deprived.”
“How was I supposed to know that? You could have told me there was no sugar in them.”
“Because I didn’t want Logan to know.”
“Damn, now I feel bad. I just thought you were a lousy cook.”
“You think I’m a bad cook?”
“Where dinner is concerned, you’re not bad. But where desserts are concerned, yeah, you’re pretty bad.”
“Have you ever tasted any of those sugar-free desserts?”
Holly tried to keep a straight face but couldn’t when Greer gave her a cocky grin. It was the same infectious smile he had given her the night of the carnival.
She tried keep the protective barrier that steeled her heart against him. She was still furious at the way he had talked to her that had led to her moving out, but every time she was about to write him off, he managed to find a way back inside.
She had tried too many times since she had met him to hate him, but she couldn’t. Each time, he would find another way to become entrenched, making her fall in love with him even more.
Logan came running back into the room, dressed in his pajamas.
“Daddy said, since you won’t let me sleep with you, he’ll stay and sleep with me in my bed. Is that okay? If you want, my bed is big enough for you, too?”
Holly laughed, picking Logan up and cuddling him close. “How about I tuck both of you in and then come down and sleep in my bed? Your daddy snores, and I have to be at work early in the morning.”
“Dustin doesn’t snore.”
“Yes, he does.” Holly carried Logan out of the bedroom, going to the foot of the stairs.
“I’ve had to share the same bedroom with him for most of my life. I’d know if my brother snored.”
Holly frowned. “Maybe it was his TV I heard then. I just assumed the sounds coming from his room were snoring.”
“I’m going on home. Lock the door after me.” Greer took Logan from her arms. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out his comb then parted his damp hair to the side that he normally lay on. “You remember what I told you?” he asked when he put his comb back in his pocket.
“Yes, sir. I won’t forget.”
“Good.”
Holly locked and bolted the door behind him.
“What aren’t you supposed to forget?” She couldn’t stem her curiosity about the stern warning Greer had given his nephew.
“That’s a family secret. I’m not supposed to tell you.”
Holly paused at the foot of the stairs. “I’m part of your family, aren’t I?”
“Yes.”
“Then you can tell me.”
“No, this secret is just between me and Uncle Greer. Not even Daddy knows.”
“Darling, you can tell me. I won’t tell your uncle you told—”
Logan’s jaw set stubbornly, just like Greer’s. “A man doesn’t break his promises.”
Holly’s worries melted into a puddle. “No, he doesn’t.”
“If you’re done with those folders, I can file them?”
Diamond took one of the top ones, leaving the remainder. “I’m finished with them.”
Holly picked them up off her desk, seeing the one she kept. “Are you going to take Holt’s case?”
“No. A good lawyer will get him off, but it won’t me.”
Holly was glad Diamond wouldn’t be taking the job. She wouldn’t have to listen to Greer badgering her about being a traitor. He took the feud between the Hayes and Porters seriously. She knew the two families competed for the same market, each bragging who was the best grower. Holly wished the Feds heard the same gossip and arrested them all. Well, everyone but Tate and Dustin. Now, if that happened, she would have the talk Greer said she needed to have with Diamond about representing what he considered the criminal element in Treepoint.
Diamond stood up, stretching. “What are you doing for lunch?”
“I thought I’d take a walk, unless you need me?”
“No, I’m having lunch with Knox. Do you want to join us?”
“Thanks, but I’ll pass. I need to walk off the cupcakes you talked me into ye
sterday.”
“Don’t blame me. Willa was trying out a new flavor. The woman’s been coming up with a different flavor every day since she became pregnant. The whole town has packed on more weight than she has with her pregnancy. Hopefully, the baby will slow her down.”
“That’s not likely to happen. She’ll come up with two new flavors a day to prove she can handle it.”
Diamond sighed. “You’re right. That woman is a menace to womanhood and my expanding ass. The baby is due any day now. I hope he or she arrives before I have to go up a pant size.”
Holly laughed as she went into the front office to file the folders.
Diamond came out of her office, carrying her purse. “Do you want me to bring you something from the diner?”
“No, thanks. I might really get industrious and go by the house and start a load of laundry. Dustin dropped me off a bag of dirty laundry. He didn’t trust Greer to wash them. The last time he did, Greer shrunk his favorite T-shirt.”
Diamond gave her a concerned frown. “How is it working out living in Mrs. Langley’s house?”
“Strangely, it’s been great,” Holly admitted.
“How’s it strange?”
“Logan is there more than he spends at his. Usually, Dustin does, too.”
“Why is he staying there?”
“He’s been working late. By the time he shows up, we’re eating dinner and Logan doesn’t want to leave. So, one night Logan stays. Then the next, he goes home.”
“I bet you don’t miss seeing Greer.”
She unhappily looked down at the files she was holding. “He’s not so bad once you get to know him.”
“Don’t tell me you’re missing him?”
“It’s sad, isn’t it?”
“You need to find another man to take your mind off him. You should go out with Caleb Green.”
“You think I should? Maybe next time he comes into the office, I’ll see if he’s still interested in that lunch date.”
“He has to come by the office tomorrow. If you don’t ask him out, I will do it for you.”
“All right, then I will.”
“That’s my girl. I’ll be back in an hour unless I can convince Knox to take the rest of the afternoon off with me. Don’t be shocked if you don’t see me until tomorrow.” Diamond left her with a gleam in her eyes that said she wouldn’t be back.