LITMIR.BIZ

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this afternoon.”

      Drew felt as if there was something going on there, but he had too much to juggle on his own without sticking his nose into Jed’s life. He was just glad his brother had been in Royal and not Dallas when the tornado hit. It felt good to have Jed’s support at a time like this.

      On the way out, Drew paused to speak to friends: Stella Daniels from the mayor’s office, who was playing a key role dealing with the media, and Keaton Holt, who co-owned and ran the Holt Cattle Ranch. Everyone’s demeanor was the same. Grief, determination, and beneath it all, a pervasive sense of loss. The tragedy had stripped away a semblance of security and left them all floundering.

      Drew signed up for a shift later in the day and spoke briefly with Nathan, reporting the damage to Beth’s home. When he finally made it to his truck, he waited for Jed to grab his things. “I think I’ll take a pass on lunch,” he said. “I want to catch Allen, the inspector, if he’s still around and hear the report on Beth’s house.”

      Jed nodded. “I’ll give you a rain check. Say hi to Beth for me...and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

      * * *

      Beth felt a trickle of sweat roll down her back. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, with temperatures reaching the lower eighties. That was Texas for you. A veritable smorgasbord of weather. For the first hour, she had been banned from the house while the inspector, hardhat in place, went over the structure with a fine-tooth comb.

      At last, he permitted her to enter. He took her around, pointing out spots that would require repair. Fortunately, the foundation was intact. That was a huge relief.

      Beth put her hands on her hips and frowned. “So if I had to sleep here, I could?”

      Drew’s buddy frowned. “Well, in theory, yes. But it should be a last resort. You’d be breathing in bits of insulation and maybe mold in the short term. I wouldn’t recommend it.” He clicked a few more times on his hand-held tablet and pursed his lips. “I should be able to get you this report by tomorrow morning. If you call your insurance immediately and give them my contact info, we can get the ball rolling. Hopefully, you’ll be near the front of the line.”

      “Thank you for coming.”

      He climbed in his car and lowered the window to say goodbye. “It won’t be so bad. To a layperson, this might look daunting, but a professional carpenter will have you back to rights in no time. I’ll be in touch.”

      As the inspector drove back down the driveway toward the shared road that had been a bone of contention between Beth and Drew, she wondered for a bleak half second if she should simply sell her land to Drew and relocate. She’d poured what little capital she had into making a go of Green Acres. It would take months to recover from this setback. Maybe it would be smarter to look for a small house in town.

      She had worked at the bank before. It wasn’t her passion, but it paid the bills.

      As she stood there pondering her options, a second vehicle arrived, this one an ancient green Pinto with a muffler that was shot. The car shuddered and snorted to a stop. Beth’s stomach clenched. The last thing she needed today was a run-in with her deadbeat brother.

      The car door opened and Audie stepped out. He weighed barely a hundred pounds sopping wet. Numerous jail sentences over the last ten years had hardened him. Mostly B&E, with a few disorderly conducts and a handful of public drunkenness thrown in. Audie had his mother’s alcoholic tendencies. Unfortunately, she’d let him drink his first beer at age twelve. It was a wonder he wasn’t already dead from liver failure.

      Audie had been in and out of rehab repeatedly. But apparently this last time had produced some success. Though Beth found it difficult to trust anything he said, Audie had supposedly been clean for six months now.

      Beth had done her best to rise above the stigma of her upbringing. Hanging out with her brother didn’t help matters. But as much as she hated his behavior and his lack of backbone, she couldn’t ignore the fact that he had a wife and child.

      Angie, Audie’s bride of four years, was a cheerful woman-child with less street smarts than most kindergarteners. What she saw in Audie was anyone’s guess. The baby was small and sad-eyed, but as far as Beth could tell, little Anton was healthy. Angie had picked out the decidedly non-Texan name. She liked having three As in the family.

      Angie and Anton remained in the car, so that meant this visit was business and not pleasure. Beth’s stomach knotted. She had called her brother to check on him only this morning and gotten his answering machine.

      When she made no effort to approach the parked car, Audie ambled in her direction. “Hey, sis.” When he smiled, the usual sly calculation in his gaze was missing. He appeared clear-eyed and sober. “Looks like the house is okay.”

      She raised her eyebrows, incredulous. “An entire section is gone.”

      He shrugged. “Still standing. Our apartment is toast. Thought we might stay with you for a while.”

      “Audie....” She struggled for words. Bringing in a homeless stranger would be an easier task than dealing with her sibling’s personality.

      “C’mon,” he said, slinging an arm around her shoulder. “We’re family. You wouldn’t let a baby sleep on the streets, would you?”

      Feeling boxed in and frustrated, Beth evaded his grasp. “There are shelters set up in town.”

      “Those are for people who don’t have relatives to help out. I got you, babe.” His snickered reference to an old song didn’t amuse Beth in the least.

      “I’ll have to get repairs done. Construction debris is no place for a child.”

      “We can stay out in the shed. It has electricity and a sink. And a utility shower.”

      It was clear that Audie had made up his mind. Beth knew from experience he would continue to harangue her until she gave in. Perhaps she shouldn’t stay in Royal at all. Sometimes the temptation to move far away and make a new start was compelling. This setback in her fledgling farm endeavor might be a sign.

      But in the same instant, she thought of Drew. And of her friends and neighbors in Royal who faced a long road ahead. This corner of Texas was all Beth had ever known. Though her memories of growing up weren’t entirely positive, Royal was home. Audie would always be her brother, no matter how hard she tried to tell herself they were nothing alike. They shared DNA and a difficult past.

      Audie had made different choices in life than Beth had. Poor choices in many instances. She felt no real compunction about letting him bear the consequences of his actions. But she couldn’t turn her back on an innocent child and a waiflike woman with no common sense at all.

      “Fine,” she said. “Have it your way. You can stay. But you’ll have to bring in some kind of camp stove and a mini fridge.”

      “Why didn’t you take care of that?” he asked.

      “I’m not staying here,” she said evenly. “Drew Farrell has invited me to Willowbrook Farms for as long as it takes me to get the repairs done.”

      Audie frowned. Apparently he had assumed Beth would be responsible for everything. “Well, that’s convenient. Seems like you always have men hanging around to look after you.”

      The implication in his voice and in his words made her furious, but she wouldn’t let him see that he could get to her. Keeping her expression bland, she lifted an eyebrow. “Audie...”

      “Yeah?”

      “For once in your life, try to think of someone other than yourself. If this turns out to be too uncomfortable for Angie and Anton, please be a man and find a solution.”

      “Easy for you to say.”

      She refused to let him make her feel guilty. “I’m leaving now.” She headed toward the green Pinto to greet her nephew and sister-in-law. But before she got there, a familiar dark truck

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