Fisher (Prince of Tigers, #3) - Kathi S. Barton Page 0,60

her head. “I’m not as impatient as I was only a week ago. I’m taking time to smell the roses, so to speak. I’ve been listening to people rather than trying to find a way to rid myself of them. Did you know there are many ways to fix a pair of shoes so that you can get at least another year out of them? Yes, I can tell you that I could afford new ones, but I was told I needed to make a smaller footprint in the world. I’m ashamed to say I had to go and look that up after I was lectured about it. And he was right. I think we all need to make a smaller print of ourselves in this old world. It is the only one we have.”

Benson also thought about the little creature that had come to see him in his hotel room. A little person by the name of Toby. It did, admittedly, take him an entire day to figure out he wasn’t having a stroke or something. However, once the little man started telling him things he could do for all the world, Benson realized he was right.

On his list was making a park in the middle of the town square, a place for flowers to grow. Some benches so that people could sit and admire them. Benson was going to do his best to bring more jobs to town. To make sure that once the people started working again, there were places for them to go and do local shopping. His head was swimming with all the things he wanted to do. Not for himself this time, but for the entire world.

Toby pointed out to him over and over, you only have one life to live. And how you lived it and died by it would determine how you were remembered.

“Do you want people to say, ‘There goes Mr. Alexander, the cheapest bastard that ever lived’? Or do you want them to go, ‘Sure gonna miss that old geezer. He sure could throw a great party.’” Benson then admitted that he didn’t have the slightest clue how to even throw a party. That was when Toby told him he’d be right there with him. All the time. Then when the time was right, Toby would introduce his wife to her faerie.

Toby had all sorts of odd sayings too. But his favorite one was Man is not measured by the size of his suit, but his willingness to get it dirty for someone else. Benson was going to get this put on a hat or something. It was going to be his mantra for the rest of his life.

Chapter 10

Collier was ready to jump into the seat as soon as Emmie was finished backing it into the slot. He knew this was deceptive, but there wasn’t any other way for him to make any money than to tweak the system once in a while. Not cheat. He’d never cheat someone, but he would tweak things so he could feed his family. What little there was of it.

“Okay, Dad. You’re there.” Emmie moved to the back of the truck and sat quietly on the bed. She and her little girl, Olivia, were depending on him to make this work. It had been a long time since he’d been a trucker. Even longer since he’d tweaked the system. “Just be calm.”

Calm? Collier hadn’t been calm in decades. Emmie and Olivia had moved in with him. They’d had to, as his little world had taken such a brutal hit that he’d nearly not made it out on the sunshine side. He looked down at the picture near the speedometer and had to smile.

There wasn’t anything like having a granddaughter. Olivia would only need to put her hand on his shoulder, and he’d know things would be all right. At fourteen, she was now the exact age as her mother when she had gotten pregnant with her. That, too, had nearly killed him.

His little girl being kidnapped and raped had been what started him on the downward spiral of feeling like a failure. Not only that, but he’d been unable to cope with important things anymore. Nor the little things. As he sat there at the wheel of the semi, he gave himself a moment to reflect while the back end of his truck was being loaded.

Collier was a drunk. His morning meal had been a glass—not a shot, but a full water