Mrs. Huffman and her husband, the owners of Square Deal Lumber Company, after a long process and a lot of paperwork, adopted Stephanie. Her bedroom had the gold switch plate cover by the door as you came in. Stephanie thrived living with the Huffmans. She talked them into letting her do little jobs around the store during summer school breaks, for a nice allowance, of course. It turns out Stephanie was very good in math and business. As the years passed, Stephanie became more and more involved with the business aspects of the store. When Stephanie was a sophomore in high school, she suggested opening another store in Cave City. The Huffmans took her advice, and the new store was a huge success, leading to more stores in Glasgow, Horse Cave, and Franklin. Stephanie graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in business and inherited Square Deal Lumber Company that same year. Over the years that followed, she turned the business into a major company with hundreds of stores, mostly across the South but now starting to expand into other parts of the country.
Stephanie would always come to me when she needed a realtor to help her purchase land for a store. Over time our business meetings turned into dates, and eventually we married. We’ve got two kids, a boy and a girl, both now in middle school. Sometimes we like to take the kids to Truck Mountain, as we still call it, and live like they did in the old days. We bought the land a few years after we married and fixed up Mr. Miller’s old house. Charlie sometimes brings his wife and kids and joins us for a weekend visit. The kids are fascinated by the old truck, but Charlie and I won’t allow them to go near it. We let the weeds around the truck get taller every year. The last of the chips of red paint have now faded away, and eventually the earth will reclaim the truck completely.
Stephanie and I had us a big house built a few years ago, just outside of town. It’s not as big as the house Stephanie built in her dreams all those years ago, but it’s big enough, and that’s all that matters.
About The Author
K. Martin Beckner is an Army Veteran and a graduate of Western Kentucky University. He is registered nurse who has a degree in psychology with a minor in writing. His home is in Southern Kentucky, not far from Nashville, Tennessee. His family has lived in Kentucky far longer than Kentucky has been a state. As a child he loved to listen to stories his grandparents told of days gone by, and he now enjoys incorporating their stories into his writing. He is currently working on his next novel. Please join K. Martin Beckner on Facebook and Goodreads to keep up with his latest happenings.
[email protected]
Chips of Red Paint Page 20