Chapter 1
Wylie was beginning to see the end of the construction of his house.He’d bought it because he knew he needed someplace to stay and hadn’t thought of how much he’d hate the place.It was the hallway that he disliked the most.It didn’t seem to have a reason for being there other than to divide the living room from the dining room.Plus, he’d had the kitchen upgraded, and that had needed it a great deal.Now it was beginning to look like a house that he could live in.But he’d not.He was going to get him something that he loved from the start and rent out the one that he’d so hastily purchased when the farm sold.
He and his brothers had sold off five thousand acres of prime land that went across several states to a man by the name of David Winchester.He’d not only given them a great deal, but he’d made millionaires of all six of them in the process.They were learning how to be rich men; it wasn’t easy, and learn how to not lose their shirts in the process.It was something that he was learning daily, being around David and his wife, Alice.They were billionaires themselves.
“Did you learn anything about load-bearing walls when the construction company was at your house?”He asked his brother, Gleason, what he wanted to know.“I was looking at this house, and the dining room and living room are across from one another like yours was.But the kitchen is in between.I want to open the dining room and kitchen up so that it’s one big room.Otherwise, I don’t like it.”
“Then keep looking.If you have to figure out a way like that to like the house, then keep looking.You’re in no hurry, are you?”He said that he wasn’t so long as Kinsey and Meggie didn’t kick him out.“They won’t.I think they love having us all under one roof for now.Especially with Kinsey getting around better.”
The accident that the two of them were in had nearly killed them both.Had they been in a newer truck than the old one they had been in, they would have been killed when a semi behind them had run them up and under a semi in front of them.Kinsey had been hurt the worst and had been in the hospital for a month before he could get around at home.He still couldn’t drive yet, as it scared him a bit, but Wylie had gotten a car to drive and had been doing all right.
“I’m not finding anything that I want to live in.I know that I could build, but it seems to take a long time for them to get finished.I want something of my own now.”He asked him about a condo.“I don’t think I could live with people living right up in my face.I’m more of a loner than I thought.It’s nice living with Kinsey and Meggie, they’re great, but I do want something of my own to buy and live in.”
“Then buy the house that you were talking about and fix it up.That way, you can get a feel for the construction part of your home buying and have a rental too.That’s what I decided to do.I’ve bought the land, and construction will start as soon as I can find a house that I like.I figured that I can live in the rental when it’s finished and then get a feel for living alone at the same time.”He asked if he thought that he could do it after being with family all this time.“Yes.Because I know that you guys are only a few minutes away.Even if you only live in a condo or something else.I’m going to be visiting you guys all the time.”
“I think I’m going to do it then.I’ve been looking at land that’s out near where Kinsey lives.There’s a lot of land for sale out that way.I’m going to get myself about ten acres and build.That way I can pick out the stuff that I want in a house while it’s being put together.”They hugged and then hugged again.“Thanks.I didn’t know that I needed that until just now.Want to go and look at the house with me?I’ve been dicking around with it for the past three weeks, and I think that the realtor is getting sick of me asking to see it.But I want to make sure that it’s right for me.But you’ve made me realize that it doesn’t have to be perfect for me this time.I can just keep looking with having rentals inmy wake.”
“That won’t be so bad either.Having income will make you feel better about having to find a house.I know that it does me.Just knowing that I’m going to be renting out the house I’m living in right now makes having to look for a place for my forever home easier.When they start on the kitchen, I’m going to have to rent something.I don’t want to be in that kind of construction.Also, I don’t have to rush into anything.”Gleason said that made sense to him, too.“Let’s go and see your house then.I’m thinking that it might not be as bad as you think.”
“No, it’s not bad.Just the rooms to the dining room and kitchen are too small.I want them to be opened up so that we can gather in the kitchen before eating dinner like we did at the other house.It was nice to be able to slide from room to room.”Wylie told him that he’d liked that as well.“It made cleaning up better, too, because we could see what still had to be done.”
They talked about the old farmstead that they’d been living in all together with their grandparents.Their father was in prison for killing their momma when she’d been at home with the six of them.Father was in for life without parole, which made it nicer for the six of them in not having to worry about him being around all the time.He could screw up a bad dream if he was around and none of them had anything to do with him since he’d been put away.
He loved Gleason’s home.It was in a good neighborhood that seemed to be one where they took care of their homes.The kitchen was small.The dining room could fit a nice-sized table in it with lots of room left over, and he could see why he’d want to open up the space.It would be perfect for a home with lots of family over.They talked about how they would open up the front of the house too to be more welcoming, and before he left, Gleason made an offer on the house.He was sort of jealous about his first home being nearly perfect, but he’d find his forever home, or he’d build it.He was already getting ideas from his brothers’ homes so that he could have the perfect home on the second try.Laughing to himself, he thought that Gleason was going to have the best house out of the rest of them because he’d taken his time with it.Just as he was going to do with all money decisions from now on.
They decided to get lunch at the local diner and were having fun when Raphael showed up.He said that he was finally finished working his trucking job and was free to get himself something to live in besides staying with his brother.
“I’m going to get a condo.I want to try living with people around.I’ve been alone most of my adult life and could use some interaction with people.Driving a truck for a living didn’t leave me much room for a social life.”They all agreed with him.“I’ve had my eye on this one that’s on the corner of a lot with only one other person living next to me.I thought about buying them both so that I could have the rental income, but I’m not that far yet.”He said that it sounded like a good plan.“My thoughts were that if I didn’t like my neighbors, I could evict them and start over.That’s my plan anyway.I don’t know what I’d have done if not for Kinsey and Meggie letting me stay with them when I was off duty.I think I might have gone crazy living in the bed and breakfast for so long.”
“I was thinking that, too.”Gleason told Raphael how he’d put an offer in on a house.“This way, I can live there while the construction is going on and not be too bothered with it.I don’t think.I need to get out on my own so that I can get my feet under me.Living with Kinsey is nice, but I think I’m getting lazy about finding myself a home to live in.”
“I never thought of that.”Both Gleason and he agreed that it was their problem too.They were making it too easy for them to get their own home.“It’s like we’re still living in the farmhouse together.I never thought of how it was making us do things.I’m going to move out this weekend.”
“We can’t all leave them at one time.They’ll think we’re not grateful for all that they’ve done for us.I’m going to be staying until I get the condo and get it cleaned up for myself.I’m going to tell them what I’m doing, but I’m not leaving until things are set up for me.I think we should all do that instead of living in construction zones all the time.”Raphael had a good point, and he liked it.“I’m going to talk to them tonight when I get back for dinner and tell them what I’ve been thinking, not in a way that would hurt their feelings, but just to tell them how lazy I feel about the way that I’m doing things.I think they’ll understand.Don’t you?”
“I do.Meggie might cry; she’s been sort of touchy lately with the tears all the time, but I think she’ll be happy for us.Don’t make her cry while I’m around.Her tears drive me crazy, and I want to just kill someone for making her do that.”Both Gleason and Raphael agreed with him about making her cry.“Kinsey just looks foolish all the time, and I want to make fun of him.I don’t.He’s been lifting weights, and he’s looking better than he ever has in the way of fitness.The doctor told him that had he not been in as good a shape as he’d been in, he might still be recovering from that accident.I was lucky that he tossed me under the dash, or I might still be hurting, too.His ankle is giving him the most fits.He has to use a cane still.”
“I saw him this morning, and he was still using the cane.I hate to think about the accident.The way he looked and the truck looked afterwards.They said that had we been in a newer truck, one or both of us would have died.”He shuddered when thinking about how lucky they’d been.“I’m just glad that we made it out alive.And for the most part, unharmed like we could have been.”
“We all are.”He thought about Rosie when he saw a cruiser go by.She’d asked him out the other week, and he’d had to turn her down.He’d had this function that he was required to go to about donations for the new school.He didn’t know what to think about donations when they had tax money coming in from the sales of the land they’d sold.But it had been boring, and the food tasted stale like it had been cooked in the army of all things and brought to the dinner.He declined a date with her in order to be served stale food and boring company, and he’d regretted it ever since.What he should have done was take her with him.He would have at least had fun at the thing.
Rosie Donaldson and his brothers had gone to school together.She had been a couple of years younger than him, but they still were in some classes together in high school.She’d been so smart in school that he figured that she’d be married with about ten kids by now.So when she went to the police academy and finished at the top of her class, he’d not been surprised at all.What did surprise him was that she stayed in their little town and became the chief of police.No one had done a better job than she was doing for their town.
After leaving his brothers in order to get back to his house to see what was going on, he thought about her all the way to the police station.By the time he ended up there, he didn’t know what he was going to say, but he knew that if he didn’t ask her out, his head would explode.Seeing that she was in her office, she smiled at him and asked him what she could do for him.
“I was wondering if we could have dinner Friday night.I have one of those functions to go to, and I thought that if we ate before we had to be there, the food would be better.”She burst out laughing, and he felt his face heat up.“I knew I was going to mess that up.I’m sorry.Would you go with me to this thing I have to go to on Friday?We don’t have to call it a date if you’d rather not.I’m sorry for—”
“I’d love to have dinner with you Friday night.But I’m going to the same function with Ara.He asked me this morning.”He wanted to cry.He’d finally worked up the nerve to ask her out, and she was dating his brother.Perhaps he could pound in his head so he couldn’t go.While that had merit, he wouldn’t do that to his own brother.“How about Saturday night?I don’t have any plans, and I’d love to have dinner with you.I’ve had a crush on you since we’ve been in school together.”
“Really?”She said that it might have started when he’d been in fifth grade and she in third.“That’s a long time.And yes, Saturday night sounds perfect.”They worked out the time he was going to pick her up, and she was agreeable to that.He nearly laughed out loud that it had taken him so long to get around to asking her out.“I should have taken you with me the other week.The thing was boring, and the food was terrible.But I sat through it all.”
“I heard from the ladies who are friends with my mom how you were the hit of the night.”His face heated up again, and he told her that he didn’t know about that.“Mom said that the women were all over you.Made me sort of jealous about them.”
“There was no need for that.They were all about twice my age, and while friendly enough, they were only talking about how I’d been part of selling the farm that we did.I think they were hoping I’d fund the entire school building, and that was it.I don’t think that I’d ever be able to live it down if I were to do that.”
~*~
Rosie had had so much fun at the charity ball last night.The men, both of them, were hanging out with her until Ara took her home.He’d been so sweet that when he’d kissed her on the cheek, telling her that he didn’t feel right kissing her goodnight because of Wylie, she found herself falling a bit in love with the younger man.
