Organically Yours: Sanctuary, Book Five, Abbie Zanders [cheapest way to read ebooks .TXT] 📗

so she went down to The Mill and put together a basket of goodies, including a few specialty items from her private stash, before she went to the farmers market for the day.

Sunday morning, she gathered everything together, anxious for her trip to Sanctuary. Rick’s warning from earlier in the week had been relegated to the back of her mind. She hadn’t seen or heard from him since that day. Hopefully, he’d had time to calm down, but regardless, she would do what she wanted to do.

When she walked into the main house, however, it became apparent that a quick in and out was not in the cards. Bonnie wasn’t the only one in the kitchen. Rick was there, too, sitting at the table and managing to look both impatient and irritated. The tension in the air was palpable, but that wasn’t unusual when Bonnie and Rick were in the same room.

“Well, this is a surprise,” Tina told him. “It’s Sunday. Don’t you have somewhere else to be? O’Malley’s? The compound? A lynching?”

He scowled at her. “Sit down, Bert.”

“Sorry, I’ve got plans. I’m feeling much better, by the way. Thanks for asking.”

“Cancel them. We need to talk.”

“No, and no—unless you’re planning on telling me what’s going on with payroll because I’m still waiting for an answer on that.”

Tina had called Gunther and left several messages inquiring about the bounced paychecks, none of which had been returned.

Rick’s face reddened, confirming that he knew all about it. “Nothing you need to worry about.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Where’s Gram?”

“I’m right here,” Lottie said, making her way into the room just as a piercing scream rent the air. “And I’m ready to go. Bonnie, Rick, your son is using Adelle’s stuffed animals for target practice, and I just saw Adelle heading toward his room with a pair of scissors. I strongly suggest you intervene before someone gets hurt.”

Bonnie made a noise of irritation and left the room, reluctant to miss any of the brother-sister showdown.

Lottie put her hands on her hips and glared at Rick. “Well? What are you waiting for? Go disarm your son!”

Rick clearly wasn’t happy, but not even he would openly disrespect his grandmother in her own kitchen. He turned to Tina and said, “This isn’t over,” before stalking out.

“Let’s get going, dear,” Lottie said to Tina, urging her out the door. “I might have overexaggerated the situation a bit. Give me a boost, will you?”

Tina helped Lottie into the truck, thankful she’d invested in the non-slip, solid running boards, and then she hurried around to the driver’s side and climbed in. Only once they were safely on their way toward the main road did Tina ask what was really going on.

“Ricky was using Adelle’s stuffed animals for target practice but with a Nerf gun. And the scissors I saw Adelle carrying were the safety kind that wouldn’t cut through warm butter.”

“What was that horrible screech?”

“I’m not sure, but I suspect Ricky booby-trapped his room and Adelle walked right into it.”

Tina laughed. “Just like my brothers used to do to keep me out.”

Lottie chuckled. “Until you started turning the tables and set a few traps of your own.”

“Ah, good times, good times.”

“You always were a feisty thing, holding your own against those boys. You still do,” Lottie said with warmth, and then her smile faded. “But an ill wind’s blowing, Bertina. I can feel it in my bones.”

The fact that her grandmother had used her given name spoke volumes. Lottie only did that when something was really important.

“What do you mean?”

Lottie shook her head. “Something is going on. Rick has been in an even fouler mood than usual, and Gunther and Kiefer haven’t been much better. They’ve been to the house every night this week.”

“Do you think it’s because of me going to Sanctuary?”

“I’m sure that doesn’t help,” Lottie told her, “but I don’t think that’s the root of it. No, my intuition tells me it’s something much worse than that. I think Gunther has gotten into something pretty bad. What was that you said about bounced paychecks?”

Tina relayed what Otto had told her.

Lottie’s expression grew even darker. “I bet it has something to do with that Renninger boy.”

“Luther?”

Lottie nodded. “His father was a good man, but he’s his mother’s son.”

Tina didn’t know much about Luther’s mother. As far as she knew, no one did, except that she’d never really been part of the picture. That was one of those rare, well-kept secrets among the Sumneyville elite.

Luther, Tina knew. He’d been in Gunther’s class, and the two were good friends. Like Gunther, Luther was a smooth talker and considered exceptionally good-looking among local females. He was well-off, too—his father had left him an established, prosperous business—and that added to his appeal. But to Tina, he’d always seemed like a snake oil salesman—disingenuous and sneaky. It was one of the primary reasons she’d hired someone outside of Sumneyville to manage The Mill’s finances.

Unfortunately, her brothers didn’t feel the same way.

If Luther was involved with whatever had Rick vexed, things could get bad indeed. He handled the business accounts for Obermacher Farms. When the farm had been divided equally among them, her suggestion that they have someone else do the finances had been outvoted three to one.

“Do you still have your own private account?” Lottie asked suddenly.

“I do,” Tina confirmed. “And my LLC isn’t tied to Obermacher Farms. Neither Gunther nor Luther can touch it.”

“Good. At least you’ll have something to fall back on if things go to hell in a handbasket, which, I suspect, they will.”

When they arrived at Mr. O’Farrell’s, Tina helped her grandmother out of the truck. The older man was waiting for them on the porch, his eyes lighting up as they always did when he saw Lottie.

Tina walked with her grandmother to say hello to Mr. O’Farrell.

“Are you by any chance heading up to Sanctuary?” he asked Tina.

“I am.”

He lifted a canvas tote filled with meal containers from one of the two rocking chairs there. The second