Ain't She Sweet (Seven Brides for Seven Mothers #2) - Whitney Dineen Page 0,25
include tile, grout, or paint.”
“That’s a lot of money, Hank. Any chance you’d be interested in bartering part of that?”
The old plumber shakes his head. “Can’t pay my men with vegetables. They need cash money for their bills.”
“What about your cut?” I ask. “Surely you’d like a hefty store credit so Marge can come by and pick up all her fruits and vegetables for canning.” Hank’s wife is one of my best customers during the summer months. “I’ll give you the first wild turkey I shoot for your Thanksgiving table,” I say, sweetening the pot.
Hank bops his chin back and forth like a Mexican jumping bean which is making me decidedly anxious. If he doesn’t go for this, I’m going to have put my bathroom renovation on hold for another year and that would be a major inconvenience. My other bathroom is downstairs.
“Okay, you got yourself a deal. Two-grand in credit and the rest of the money due after the work is done.” He sticks out his hand to shake mine. I’m more grateful than I can say.
Once he’s gone with the promise to start work tomorrow, I sit down on the couch and prop my feet up on the coffee table. I have enough equity in my house that I could take out a home improvement loan, but that would increase my monthly payments and I’d rather avoid it, if at all possible.
I need to find a way to make additional income that doesn’t require more work or expense from me. A lot of farmers in the area have a big fall business with pumpkin patches, hayrides, and corn mazes, but most of those are family operations where everyone pitches in. Doing that on my own isn’t an option.
I kick off my shoes and shift my feet to the sofa so I can lie down and close my eyes. I’d always hoped to turn my farm into a family operation, but that’s not likely to happen when I’m the only person in that family.
Mom has the lodge, which is a huge undertaking, especially now that Dad is gone. Brogan is busy being a bestselling author on top of being in love with Addie, so he’s not interested. In a perfect world, I’d get married and have a bunch of kids who would take over some day, but being that the last date I went on was six months ago, that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen any time soon.
A loud knock on the door jolts me back to consciousness. Who the heck could that be? I get up to answer the door and find my mom standing there holding a paper plate full of apple cider donuts.
“Hey, Mom, what’s up?” I ask before leaning in to give her a kiss hello.
She hands me the plate before pushing past me. Once she’s standing in the entryway, she declares, “I left you three messages and was starting to get worried. Why haven’t you called me back?”
I reach into my back pocket looking for my phone but it’s not there. “I must have left my phone in the truck.”
She walks through the living room and into the kitchen where she fills the kettle with water before putting it on the stove. “How are garden plans coming along?”
“Good. Tara and I have decided that it could be designed as a secret garden by fencing it off and then have planted climbers to cover the fence. Not only will that keep the deer out, but it could make it a destination for guests who are looking for a nice spot to picnic. I’m going to show the plans to Dale so he can give me an estimate of what that might cost.”
My mom pulls a canister of dried mint leaves out of the cupboard and spoons them into a tea caddy. “Speaking of Tara, you need to talk to her about how many pumpkins she’s going to need for Thanksgiving and then arrange to deliver them. The sooner the better.”
I decide to have some fun with my mom. “Tara is babysitting your granddaughter for me today.”
My mom’s eyes nearly pop out of her head which causes me to laugh out loud. “What are you talking about, James? And you better not be telling me that you got some poor girl pregnant and she dropped off a baby with you.”
“I thought you wanted grandkids?” I ask, prolonging the joke.
“I prefer to get them in the proper way, as in, you marry their mother and