Page 31 of Will Bark for Pizza
“Are you okay?” Connor finally asked.
The question nearly broke me, but I pulled back the tears before they could fully form.
“What I care about more is, areweokay?”
Connor collected an egg, looking back at me as he placed it in the basket. “We’re family, Kira. We were always okay.”
I wanted to hug him, but I didn’t trust the chickens. I preferred to wait outside the coop in the enclosure, where it was safe. The hens and I had a complicated relationship, on account of me being Husker’s mom.
“I really am sorry.”
“You done apologizing?” he asked, coming back out with a dozen eggs in his basket, and closing the rounded coop door behind him.
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
“Good.”
I glanced back across the spacious yard—some grassy, some rocky—that separated our grandparents’ large log cabin and Connor’s smaller three-bedroom home. Husker was behaving himself, sitting like a sphinx beside the garden with Opal. Grandma Connie tossed something to him, and he caught it. Opal’s laughter echoed softly. She’d grown so much in the past year. She was at least two inches taller, her hair longer. I made a silent vow not to wait so long between visits ever again.
“How have you been?” I asked Connor.
“Come on, Kira. Is that what you really want to ask me?”
“I’d ask if you knew why Dad was selling the bookstore, but I’m guessing you’re not allowed to tell me, either.”
“Margene.” He answered so quickly, I hardly had time to register he did anything other than blow me off.
“Margene? Is she buying it?” Margene was the bookstore manager who took over after Mom’s passing.
“Buying it?” Connor shook his head as he set the basket of eggs just inside the back door of his house.“More like robbed it clean.”
“What?”
“She’s been stealing from the bookstore for years,” Connor said, heading back toward the family garden. “It’s on the verge of bankruptcy. So, go easy on Dad, okay? He has his hands tied here.”
Halfway back to the garden, my phone rang. I shivered at the name on the screen.
“It’s Dad.”
“You should probably take it.”
I hung back, swiping to answer the call just as a black truck pulled in. It seemed vaguely familiar, but everyone in this town either drove a truck or a Jeep-like vehicle. Probably just some local wanting to chat it up with Grandpa. I turned away to focus on the call.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Kira, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m going to come right out and tell you.”
“I know.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“I know you’re selling the bookstore.”
“You do?” He let out a heavy sigh, and I felt the weight of his decision echo. If Connor hadn’t given me a heads up, I might’ve gone off on him and made this so much worse.
“Yeah. I’m in town, actually. Are you coming to family dinner at the farm tonight? We could talk after?—”
“Maybe it’s better if you and I have a chat by ourselves. How about I pick up a couple of steaks and you come on over to the house?”
