Gleason was doing well on his investments.It was something that he worked on daily, and it was paying off for him.He, like the others, had an investment broker, but there were times when he wanted to do it on his own.Just buy low and sell high.
Today, he’d been able to net himself a hundred grand.It has terrified him to spend his money on a not-so-sure thing.But he was learning, and according to David, the only way to learn was to take chances.
It didn’t always pay off.A couple of times, he’d lost more than he had gained.But he kept at itso that he wouldn’t lose out on money that he could ill afford.He was still a multimillionaire, but he was worried that if he messed up badly enough, he’d be broke again, and didn’t want that to happen to him.It was nice having money and a beautiful house.
He also had a newer truck than he’d had when they’d been working the ranch, but that wouldn’t have taken much to make happen.The truck he had now wasn’t older than he was but the one he’d had before was something that his grandma had driven around town when she had to go shopping or something.It had been nearly as old as Kinsey.He remembered the truck that grandda had had and the accident that his brothers had been in one day.
Had it not been for the age of the truck, they both would have been killed.As it was, a semi rammed them from behind and shoved them up under another semi in front of them.It had been touch and go there for a while whether or not either one of them would have gotten out of the mangled truck.But once they were out, Kinsey had to spend a couple of months in the hospital to help with the bruising all over his body.To this day, he has trouble with his right ankle, where it got stuck under the brake pedal when he was trying to save Wylie.He still thinks about what the truck looked like after the accident, and his body shivers.They were both very lucky, and he thought about how he would have lost them daily.He smiled at Hailey when she came into his office.
“I’m not bothering you, or anything, am I?”He told her what he’d been thinking about.“I was with Meggie the other day when she was talking about it.I shudder to think what would have happened to them had they been in a newer car.She said that the only thing that saved them was the steel that was used over the plastic that would have been used nowadays.”
“I think that is why I’ve never bought a new car yet.I just keep thinking that I’m safer in the older models.”She said that she had an older model, but only because that’s all she could afford.“We can get you something to drive around while you’re waiting for your car to be given back to you.I heard that was how they were figuring out who some of the bodies were.”
“It is.The agent in charge of me said it might be another month before they could release it back to me.He’s been kind enough to let me go there and see what I might need out of it.There was nothing that I’ve needed so far, so I think I’m all right.”He nodded as he watched the screen in front of him.“What would you like to do for dinner tonight?The cook is off, so we have to do for ourselves.And I don’t want pizzas or subs.”He laughed hard.
“I didn’t think you would.I’m sort of tired of it myself.”He closed his computer and looked at Hailey.She seemed to be in a really good mood today.“How about we go to Scotties Den?We’ll have to eat early.I think they close at seven.”
“They close at five this week because the kids are out on summer break starting today.I had no idea that school was over.”He said that he’d not either and asked her how she’d found out.“Mae has one of her grandsons working in the yard with her husband.He’s picking up sticks so the mower doesn’t run over them and pitch them far.She told me once when she was working at a home, one flew into the house and damaged one of the large picture windows.I told her that we’d pay him.Even if you don’t want to, I can cover that.”
“I’ll pay him, that’s a wonderful idea.”He asked her what she needed.“I’m assuming it was just about dinner?”
“Yes.I forgot.Mae is off tonight, and we’ll have to get by on our own.”She came further into the room.“What do you think about a fish fry?There is one about forty-five minutes away from here, and that sounds good.Instead of having it on Friday, they have it on Thursday night.It’s supposed to be run by some older women who like to get together and cook for people.It can’t hurt to try it, and it’ll be something different.”
“That sounds fantastic.”He was excited now.“My brother and his wife love seafood and get it every chance they get.I like it well enough, but not enough to drive all the way to Columbus for.But a fish fry sounds really good.”
“Good.We should leave here by five if we want to get there by six.I guess that’s when they have the best seating.After six, they’re so busy you might have to wait in line for hours before getting in.”
“We’ll leave here soon.Just to get ahead of the crowd.”She said that would be even better.“Good.I’ll get dressed now, and we’ll head up that way.I guess you’re talking about the one in Stockport?”
“Yes, that’s it.”He got up from his desk and made a move to the door.When she moved out of his way, he bumped into her and nearly took them both to the floor.As it was, he held onto her until they were both steady.He took a moment to look into her eyes and at her mouth.“Are you going to kiss me?”
“I was thinking about it.Would you be terribly upset if I did?”She shook her head, and he lowered his mouth to hers.So as not to overwhelm her, he kissed her as gently as he could before stepping back from her.“I’ve fallen in love with you, Hailey.What do you say about that?”
“That while I don’t know what love is, I think that I have the same feelings for you.”He kissed her again, a little more aggressively than before.When he lifted his head, he smiled down at her.“I could get used to that.But I want to take it slowly.I still might end up in jail for giving false information to the police.”
“He told you not to worry about that.”He took a step back and smiled at her.“I’m suddenly starving, so we’d better get going.But I’m going to kiss you whenever I get the chance.That was just too good to let go just one time.”
While he was getting dressed, he thought of being in love with the beautiful woman.They’d come so far the two of them, and he wanted to take it further still.But he would go slow for her.He knew that she had a great deal on her mind and would be overwhelmed if he rushed her.Besides, they had plenty of time to get to that point.He wanted her in his bed, but could wait.They had a lifetime of getting to know one another, and he couldn’t wait.
The drive to Stockport was fun.It was a pretty drive, too, with all the trees green.She’d never been to this part of Ohio, and it had been a while since he’d been there.They had cattle and hog auctions in the fall and spring, and he’d come up with his brothers sometimes.Stockport was a nice town, and the restaurant they were headed to served a good fish fry from what he’d heard.
They were just in time to get a seat.After ordering the dinner, they waited for their turn to be served.There were kids doing the serving, and they were working to get money for their trip in December.It seemed a long way away, but he knew that it would be expensive to go, and they had to work hard to get there.He was going to look into sponsoring something for them in his town for the kids, too.They were forever selling something to make money for trips and uniforms, and such.
Dinner was as good as he’d heard it had been.The kids that were in their section were good about keeping their water glasses full and fish on their plates.He didn’t know how much he’d eaten, but he felt almost too full to drive back home.After leaving a hundred-dollar tip for the trip, he and Hailey walked around town to feel less full.
They found a dairy bar open and decided to have an ice cream cone.While eating it and walking, they talked about the things going on around the little town.In addition to the trip for the band members, they were raising money for the new library and getting books for it.He’d not realized that people actually did that, but he and Hailey thought it was a great idea.There was also a little tea shop that they stopped in that sold tea leaves by the ounce and pound if you wanted them.They both decided to get some different flavors of tea to take back home with them.
“I want some lavender tea.It’s said to help with going to sleep.And here lately, I need something to help me fall asleep more than when I lived at home.I was never a part of my parents’ lives when I lived there.I think they forgot about me most of the time.”He said that he’d not had a good childhood either.“You had a terrible childhood.I heard about how your father killed your mother over a party he wanted to have.”
“He’d only just gotten out of jail, and some of his buddies wanted to have a get-together and drink the night away.Since we had a house and not an apartment back then, he wanted to have it there.Mom and us kids had picked berries all day and were making them into jam for the winter months.He backhanded her first, then beat her badly.Us kids tried to stay out of the way, but he knew we were there.He kept cursing at us for her being dead.When she didn’t die from him beating her, he strangledher with the belt from her dress.That got me a lot.Knowing that Mom had looked so pretty with her dress on while we made jam.The neighbors called the cops, and Dad decided to do away with the body by cutting it up with a chainsaw.Thankfully, it wouldn’t start, or he might well have used it on us.He had Bodi and I hold down her body so that he could cut it into pieces before the cops got there.I can’t to this day stand anything to do with red berry jams.”
“That’s worse than I’d heard.”He said that when the police arrived, he tried to convince them that they didn’t see her body.“You mean he wanted to finish the job?”
“Yes.Then he called us from prison just before we sold the farm, asking us why we didn’t go see him.”He didn’t think that killing our mother was all that big of a deal, and that we should put some money into his pot he called it so he could get a bag of chips.Of course, we never did that.”She asked him where he was now.“Dead.He died when he started a fight with another inmate over chips, of all things.I never in my life knew he liked them that much.I know we never had them around the house when we were kids.We didn’t even claim his body, but left him there at the prison to be buried.Good riddens to him is all I have to say about him.”
“He’s a terrible man, and I’m glad that he’s gone.”He told her that he was as well.“My goodness.It’s a small wonder that you guys turned out the way that you have.I don’t know that I could have gone on with my life, knowing that he was in prison.You guys turned out all right, and that’s a blessing.”
“Thank you.But we have our grandparents to thank for how we turned out.As soon as the funeral was over, my grandparents told us to come and live with them.I was about ten when it happened, so they’re all I really know about as parents.Grannie made sure that we had meat on the table and that we had food when we wanted it.In turn, when we all got out of high school, we did a tour in the service and sent her money home so that she could raise the rest of us.Kinsey had started it, and the rest of us saw no reason why we didn’t carry it on so that we could have our educations paid for.It came in handy, too, to have that paid for.I miss my grandparents every day and wish they were here now to see what we did with ourselves.The money aside, it would be nice if she could see our homes and the wives of the others.”
