Page 6 of Out on a Limb
“Who else would do something like this?” Julia grabbed another chicken. “They are trying to run us out of business so they can expand their stupid subdivision.”
“They don’t even have a single house up. They can’t expand what doesn’t exist.” Andrew caught another chicken and dropped it into the bucket.
Unfortunately, that was exactly what it was. A drop in the bucket.
A single chicken in a sea of wings and thighs.
“We’re never going to be able to catch all of them.” The hopelessness I’d been fighting for almost a year dug in, dragging me down.
And maybe I should let it.
Maybe I should just walk away from this whole thing. If my granddad fixed his mess then good.
If not…
Then oh well.
“Like hell we’re not.” Julia added another chicken to the bin. “We’re catching every one of these damn things.”
I wanted to believe it was true. Just like I wanted to believe my grandfather would come around. Find his way back to being the man he used to be.
But right now, it didn’t look like either of those things was possible.
I turned and marched back to the administration building, each step coming faster than the last.
This wasn’t fixable. None of it was.
Definitely not by me.
I talked a good talk, but at the end of the day it was all for show.
I didn’t have what it took to fix my granddad.
And I sure as hell didn’t have what it took to save Sweet Side Gardens.
Chapter Two
Andrew
I STARED AFTER Collette as a chicken pecked the steel toe of my work boot.
Even I could see she was upset. I looked toward where Julia was chasing another chicken, completely oblivious to her friend’s emotional state.
I was not the man for this job. Not by a long shot.
But the thought of Collette being upset and alone didn’t sit well.
“Here.” I shoved the chicken in my hand at one of the gardeners, passing the clucking hen off as I followed the best chance we had at rectifying this situation.
Which should be the only reason I was chasing her down. Unfortunately it wasn’t.
I didn’t like the expression I saw as she turned to run from the mess we were dealing with. It bothered me in a way that wasn’t easy to understand.
But I was going to try to do something about it anyway.
When I got to the offices she’d escaped to, Collette was standing in the center of the dark space, hands pressed to her face.
I stopped behind her, scuffing my feet on the worn linoleum so she would know I was there. “I’ll catch all the chickens. I promise.”
