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

the fertile soil and sell it off, turning their rolling fields into residential complexes with luxury townhomes and single-family mansions. One of them had even gone as far as to design an entire community village with restaurants and shops and God knew what else and present it to the township board—or so she’d heard. Apparently, it was the new thing among rich folk looking to get out of the congested city.

Those offers were just offers, and those rumors, just rumors. Tina wasn’t overly concerned. Obermachers had been working their land since the late 1600s and would continue to do so for the next four hundred years. Farming was in their blood.

Even if they were inclined to sell off a few parcels, the citizens of Sumneyville wouldn’t stand for it. They disliked outsiders and would be especially unaccepting of city folk coming in and building multimillion-dollar homes and golf courses, driving up the tax base and looking down their noses at everyone.

Plus, the township board would never approve the kind of rezoning necessary to allow any of that to happen. Not even the greedy ones.

At least, she didn’t think they would. Things were changing around Sumneyville, and not all of it was good. The old guard, as she called them—men like her father and grandfather along with Sam Winston and others—were slowly disappearing, and those rising up to fill in the gaps weren’t made of the same honorable stuff.

The moment Tina started up the tractor, she knew what the problem was. The machine was rolling coal—shooting black smoke out of the exhaust—which often indicated a faulty glow plug.

Tina dug down into the bottom of her toolbox, grabbed a spare, and swapped out the bad one. It was an easy fix, one that anyone with even a minimal working knowledge should be able to diagnose and repair.

She drove the compact over to where the guys were digging and got to work right along with them despite the cold, damp air seeping into her joints and making them ache. Once the new trees were in and she was satisfied with the way the pruning was going, Tina went in search of her older brother to wrangle back her workers while there was still some daylight.

She found Rick in the office with her brother Gunther, leaning over a large table covered in site maps.

“What the hell, Rick?” she said by way of greeting.

Both men looked up.

Rick’s brow rose in question as he straightened and allowed the map to curl in toward the center. “Got a problem, Bert?”

“Yeah, I have a problem.” She glared at him. “Why’d you pull my guys off orchards today?”

“Fence repair in the northern border.”

“I need them on peaches and apricots.”

“Eddie didn’t seem to think it would be an issue.”

“Eddie doesn’t run the orchards. I do. Next time, check with me before you poach my crew. Call them now and send them back.”

He shook his head. “The fence takes priority. The fruit trees can wait.”

“Seriously?”

“You’ve got plenty of time.”

“I’ll remember that when planting season rolls around.”

Tina left the barn in a huff and drove back to the orchards, only to find that the guys had already left. A quick check confirmed her suspicions—they hadn’t gotten nearly as much done as she’d hoped.

Eddie needed to go. Rick’s best friend or not, he’d gotten too big for his britches, and his piss-poor attitude was affecting the whole crew. Rick could put him on his team if he had a problem with that.

She needed someone she could trust. Someone who cared about the success of the orchards and would have her back. Eddie was not that guy.

Darkness wasn’t far off, but there was no sense in wasting the little bit of daylight remaining by chasing the guys down. She grabbed a handsaw and some telescoping loppers and went out herself, using the headlights from her truck when it got too dark to see with natural light.

By the time she made it back to her place, she was hungry, tired, and hurting.

One thing was becoming increasingly clear: things could not continue as they were.

Tina turned on the oven and popped her backup Zook’s chicken in. While that warmed, she went to take a long, hot shower to ease some of the stiffness in her upper body and fished out the prescription pain pills she tried so desperately not to use.

She curled up on the couch in front of her television with her chicken and a mug of tea—made with herbs known for their anti-inflammatory properties—when her landline phone rang. She glanced at the number on the display; it wasn’t familiar.

“No, I don’t want to extend my vehicle’s warranty,” she grumbled to no one and let the answering machine pick up.

“Hi, Tina? It’s Kate Handelmann—well, Kate Sheppard now.” Even on the machine, Tina could hear the smile in her voice. “Can you call me back when you have a chance? There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”

The soft click signaled the end of the call, leaving Tina staring at the now-blinking new message light, bemused.

Tina had always liked Kate. She didn’t know her very well, but she knew enough to know Kate was friendly, down-to-earth, and kind of a tomboy, like Tina. Plus, Kate was active in the community and always doing for others. Or at least, she had been before the whole kerfuffle with her family. What exactly had transpired varied based on who was doing the telling. All Tina knew was that Kate had quit her job in the family store—Handelmann’s Hardware—and was now married and living at Sanctuary.

What Kate wanted to talk to her about, Tina had no idea. Her curiosity continued to grow, and by the time she finished her dinner, she decided to find out.

Chapter Four

Doc

Kate’s phone chimed in the semi-darkness, a melodic overlay on the dialogue taking place on the screen. She quickly muted it and looked down at the screen. “Sorry, everyone. It’s Tina.”

As Kate got to her feet and prepared to leave the room, Sam