Page 5 of Kingston
“What do you suppose possesses a person to open a grocery store?”His first thought was greed, and that’s what it had been for people that he’d encountered opening one.Then, when he thought about it, he knew what Trevor wanted as an answer.So he told him.“I don’t know.Need?It sort of sounds lame.”
“Think about it.The need to have someone put in a grocery store was paramount to the people of the town many years ago.And I’m talking like, well, before you were born.Because it wasn’t just a store that sold things like flour and sugar.They also sold stamps, made sure your mail got to you, and when it went out.They were there for news, too.Everyone came into the store and would have a bit of gossip to tell.He’d know it all.So it was a community information center too.Not to mention, he’d know the honest people about as well as the people who gave birth and who died recently.He was a hub of information.A person opening a store had to be handy, organized, as well as someone people could trust.”
“I guess I can see that.Not just anyone would be able to juggle all those hats and come out a part of the town.I see that.”
They walked around the town looking for nothing at all but seeing things that he’d never noticed before, like the schools.Even though they’d built them when they first got here, they were starting to show wear and tear.He didn’t know how long a building was supposed to last, but he’d bet that they should be looking into updating or replacing these again.
There were quite a few buildings that were empty now.Wondering when that had happened, he made a mental note to himself to check on those.Where did the businesses go, and how long had they been gone?More importantly to him was whether someone was keeping track of the buildings that were empty so that someone didn’t move into them, taking over the building as their own.
When they were heading back to his home, he told Trevor that the weather was supposed to turn ugly tonight.With rainstorms coming in, there might be some power outages around the town, and that would cause trouble.People would be lighting candles to be able to see, which might cause fires in the homes.They needed to be on the lookout for those.
Once they were home, they had some lunch and made plans for the dinner meal.It was kind of boring living with a kid, he thought all they thought about was food and when the next time they were going to eat.He supposed he might have been the same way, but it had been so long ago now that he could no longer remember.Laughing to himself, he thought about how he could liven things up and decided to go and see what Skye was up to.She was always fun for a nice change of topic.
It took him longer to find her than he thought it should have.She wasn’t in the house as he had assumed, nor did she seem to be on the grounds of the property.Reaching out to his cousins, he asked them if they knew where she’d gone and was told that she was having lunch with Kaida.They were going to be working on a project together.
He knew that he couldn’t go to the restaurant and cause trouble, so he was stuck at home with Trevor, who was playing on one of the gaming systems that he’d gotten sometime back.Picking up a book, he decided that he could entertain himself by reading a good book.Or a bad one.He didn’t care so long as he wasn’t bored.
At a bit after four, he heard the front door open and Skye come inside.He also heard Kaida as he was getting out of the chair and went to see what he could get into.His entire body seemed to seize up when he noticed the blood on Skye’s face.
“What happened?”Clearing the distance between them, he picked her up in his arms and took her to the couch.“You’re covered in blood.Who did this to you?And where do I find them?”
“I did it to myself.Let me go, you moron.I’m fine.It’s just a small cut.”He examined the cut, then the rest of her face.Finding nothing more than the small cut on her cheek, he demanded again who had hurt her.“I told you.I did it.I was coming around the corner and hit my cheek on the wall.It’s no big deal.”
The need to have her seen by a professional was making his head spin.Once he figured out that she was going to murder him if he didn’t calm the fuck down, he sat back on his knees and came to the conclusion that she was indeed his mate.He told her that.
“Is that a reason for you to become deranged?”He nodded and told her that it was every reason for him to become concerned.“You’re not concerned.Concerned is asking me what happened in a calm voice and not picking up like I’ve broken my ankle.You’re deranged.What is up with you?”
“I told you that I belong to you.I’m your mate.Did you notice how I said that?Not that you belonged to me but that I belong to you.”She said he was a moron.“Why are you calling me names?I did nothing to you to warrant that.”
“Look, can you just back off a second?I need to get my bearings.For days, you ignored me, now you’re practically sitting on top of me.Just back off and give me some breathing room.”He stood up and backed away to the chair across from the couch he’d put her on.It was too far away from her, so he moved closer until he could touch her.“You’re doing it again.Just let me…is this how you’re going to be acting all the time?”
“Yes.I want to protect you.”She said that the only person she needed protecting from was him.“Now you’re just being mean.I’m only within touching distance right now.I’m not all up in your face.”
“I give up.”She sat up and put her feet on the floor.In order for her to stand, he was going to have to back up again, and he wasn’t ready to do that.“So what does this mean?You belong to me?I don’t have time for this.I’m trying to keep myself from being killed in the event that might have skipped off in your head.”
“He’s not going to hurt you again.No one will.”She asked what that meant again, and it was Kaida who answered.While she did, he got to observe Skye and look her over.He had forgotten that she was on someone’s to-be-killed list, honestly.She’d been hanging out with Kaida and Tucker for so long that it was why it had taken him until today to figure out she was his mate.Or something along those lines.“So you see, you’ll be fine so long as you allow me to protect you.”
“I’ve been doing all right by myself, thank you very much.”She finally pushed him away with her feet on the chair.“You’re too close.Can’t you go back to whatever you were doing before you realized this thing about us being mates?I think I liked you better then.”
“I was reading a book.It wasn’t all that good, but I was caught up in the plot.It’s a good murder who done it.”She asked him who had written it, and he said he didn’t know, he’d forgotten to look.At least when she was talking about the book, she wasn’t calling him names.Kings didn’t know why, but it hurt his heart a little when she did that.Like he had done something terribly wrong and she was scolding him about it.“What can I do for you to make you like me better?”
“Back off.Something that I’ve been saying to you since I came in here.Where’s Trevor?Aren’t you supposed to be watching him?He’s a bigger target than I am.”He told her that nothing would harm him either.They were both under his protection.“We’ll see about that.”
“I’m glad you’re his mate.Now you can be a part of my family.I don’t have any women friends.”Kaida hugged Skye and then sat down on the couch.“You should ask her what we got done today.We had a very productive day in getting things organized for the upcoming street fair that is going on in August.”
The two of them talked about the street fair and how it was going to benefit so many things this coming fall.Usually, he and his cousins donate money to the school to get backpacks for the kids who couldn’t afford them.But this year, they were also going to load them up with things that they could use.It sounded like they had lists for each grade and were going to purchase the things and load up the backpacks for the grades.They were only going to do about ten per room, and that would leave the rest for the parents to do.He didn’t know how that was going to work out; people could be jealous of things like that happening, and they weren’t a part of it.He told them that.
“What would you do then?I mean, there are a lot of families that can’t afford the supplies that are needed to get through the class year.”He said that he’d need more time and information about it before he could make a decision.“Backpacks are nice and all, but they don’t do them any good if they can’t get the supplies to fill them.”
“Your way is going to have parents that might well have afforded it, not buy them because they know that someone down the street is getting one for free.That’s all I’m saying.It has to be fair or people are going to get upset.”She asked why they didn’t do this before.“For that very reason.While we can afford it, it’s still draining on us to have to go out and get the supplies for each classroom, and they’re all different, so that the few that can’t afford it can have supplies while the others can.Understand?”
“I guess I do.It would be like having your wallet out for every little project and plan they have going on.And then they’ll be wanting bigger projects to be paid for by us.It’ll get expensive, and no one will have anything special done for them because they’ve all gotten something for nothing.”Skye nodded and continued.“Yes, I understand that.I never thought beyond making things better for those who don’t have the funds.I should have realized what other people would feel about that.”
“We’ve been around for a long time, and we’ve experienced it all, I think.We’ve tried to be helpful in other towns that we’ve lived in, and the result was the same.We’ve learned a great deal in coming here and just bargaining with the people who live here, like for the computers to be used in the library.We matched them dollar for dollar on getting four of them.They ended up with eight nice computers and printers for the library.As I said, we’ve been around for a very long time and have learned a great deal over the years.What we’ve done in the past is buy a bunch of backpacks and let the kids pick out the ones that they want.Anything left over is held until the next year, and that’s worked out great for us.That way we’ve helped out and it helps all the stores around too because we buy them at retail price from the local stores and they make out as well.”
“I guess that’ll work out because it does every year.”Both women seemed to be upset with his plan, but he knew that it was the one that worked out best for everyone.“What do you do for the teachers?I’m sure they could use some help, too.”
“Three times a year, we hold a contest about who has the best grades going forward.It’s not just the kids, but the teachers are graded as well.The principal will notice things that are going on in the classrooms or on the playground that he wants to nominate a teacher for, and their names are put into a bucket and pulled out.The more you do for your class, the more times you get your name in the bucket.The teachers can win five thousand dollars if they win each time.There are second and third-place winners as well.It’s been going over very well, and there are a lot of teachers who stay because of the money they can win.And they don’t have to use it for the classroom, either.It’s their winnings.”
