Chapter 22
“ I think we need to tip it a little bit more,” Brandon called down the row of solar panels.
He’d built the initial frames for the panels that Lenore had, and they’d made up about fifteen feet by ten feet of panels.
But Conrad had ordered more, doubling the length of their power bank, and all Brandon had been able to think about all morning was how grateful he was for good food, good friends, amazing family, an abundance of lumber, and the extra wheels they needed for the extended panels.
It had taken most of the morning to get them mounted, and now he wanted to find the exact right angle to capture all of this fantastic winter sun.
His stomach clenched, though he’d eaten better today than he had in a while. Even after consuming a couple of breakfast sandwiches and a half dozen donuts, along with juice and coffee for breakfast, he’d eaten two lunch boxes at their midday meal.
Henry tipped the wheels on his side, and a glare came off the panels.
“Right there,” Brandon called. “Put a lock right there.”
Henry did, while Conrad did the same thing on the wheels he manned, and Finn did the same on the last set of wheels before it reached Brandon. With everything locked, Brandon stepped away and looked at the thing that he hoped would power Lenore’s homestead.
It was glorious and shiny, black liquid power set among blond wood, with the wheels behind the long length of solar panels. Lenore would be able to move them anywhere to capture the power from the sun, but he had a particular place in mind for them.
“I think that’s it, guys,” he said.
“Let me measure it,” Colt said. “And we can put a notch in those wheels so it’s really easy for her to adjust.”
He took some photos, jotted a few things into a notebook he’d brought and kept pulling in and out of his pocket, and then moved along the wheels to mark where they needed to be notched.
Someone’s phone rang, and Conrad pulled out his device. “That’s me. I’ll be right back.”
The man had been on and off his phone all morning, hurrying off to take calls and then coming back with great news. Brandon fully expected this to be the call that brought batteries and inverters to the homestead, and quiet excitement drummed through him.
He let Conrad go, smiling at Lenore as she joined him out in front of the panels.
“What do you think?” he said. “Is this an okay spot?”
“I think it’s the spot that gets the most sun year-round,” she said.
And that was exactly why Brandon had chosen the spot of earth. Just east of the chicken coop, there were no trees here and plenty of open space until the fence behind him.
“And it’s not that far to your cabin,” he added. “We’ll only have to string the line about thirty feet.”
And little did she know, but they weren’t going to string it.
Conrad had purchased a mobile storage container, and he’d spent an hour on the phone with Brandon last night to make sure there would be enough space to partially bury it, put a couple of steps down so Lenore could go in and out, and house all of the batteries there.
It would keep them cooler in the summer to be partially buried, as well as somewhat insulated in the winter. He planned to bury the lines over to Lenore’s cabin and then raise them up and attach them to the inverter that would go on the front side corner of her house.
Getting power to the barn and the second cabin would require more batteries, more line, at least two more inverters. When Conrad had started to outline that, Brandon had stopped him.
“I don’t need power in the second cabin,” he’d told him. “I’m a temporary hire, remember? The idea is to make it livable for Lenore, and she doesn’t need power in both cabins.”
Brandon could still hear the lengthy pause that had come through the line when he’d said that. He hadn’t known what Conrad was thinking—and still didn’t.
A great rumble filled the air, interrupting his thoughts. Brandon turned toward the entrance of the homestead, unsurprised to see a massive, full-size excavator bumping and grumbling onto the land.
“What in the world is happening?” Lenore demanded.
Brandon chuckled that she could still be surprised. After all, Conrad had a lot of money—and hadn’t Lenore learned that money could buy anything?
Brandon certainly had, mostly after Duke had married Arizona. Perhaps he was just a little bit more used to having someone around who had no problem paying for things—and actually got excited to do it.
Behind the excavator came the enormous king cab of a tractor trailer.
“That is not going to fit through my gate,” Lenore yelled, and she took a few long strides toward the gate.
But the semi-truck fit just fine, as did the long bed carrying the storage container. Behind that came another truck, this one with a lightning bolt going into a battery and the words Power Up on the side.
Brandon took a few steps and linked his arm through Lenore’s.
“Come on back over here, sweetheart,” he said. “Let’s just let ‘em work.”
She gaped at the equipment and men coming onto the homestead, and Brandon dropped his hand to take hers.
“Walk with me for a minute,” he said, tugging her away from the circus.
“I don’t want to walk with you for a minute,” she said. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you if you walk with me for a minute.”
She glared at him, but Brandon simply kept a tight hold of her hand and stepped onto the road now that the vehicles had all passed.
“What do you think of the water tower?” Brandon asked. Mitch had brought it that morning, and Brandon and Lenore had left the others to help him install it.
“I think it’s incredible,” Lenore said, her voice still set on Grumpy Cat. “A little weathered, maybe, but Colt said it should be fine. I guess we’ll see when the water truck shows up.”
Brandon wouldn’t look at her, because he didn’t want to see the irritation on her face. “I know Conrad is new for you,” he said. “But the man’s been through a lot, and he really wants to help people. Almost like a…penance.”
“He didn’t do anything to me,” Lenore said.
“No, but he feels a great stewardship over his money. And as he told me last night, when the Lord tells him to do something, he doesn’t feel like he can ignore it.”
Lenore sighed out a long breath, clearly exasperated with the day. They cleared the fence and kept going. “I’m just wondering what you thought today would be,” Brandon said. “If not this.”
“I don’t know,” Lenore said, and at least all of the anger had seeped out of her voice. “I guess I should’ve known better.” She looked over her shoulder. “But really? A storage container? Those things are tens of thousands of dollars.”
“I think that one was seventy-five hundred,” Brandon said coolly.
“He’s going to store all your batteries in there.
They’re going to dig a line under your road all the way to your house, and he’s going to attach it to the inverter.
Then, you’ll have power in your house, and your lights will work.
And you can get a real refrigerator that works.
And you can vacuum and iron. Make coffee in an electric coffee maker, and tea on the stove after filling your kettle from your sink. ”
He looked over to her and gave a shrug like he didn’t care about anything. “Heat water for a shower.”
Lenore looked like she might cry at any moment, her bottom lip trembling as she fought her emotions. Brandon pulled her into his chest, much like he had on that very first day he’d come to the homestead.
“We don’t have water in your place yet, but we’ll be able to keep all of your plants alive in the greenhouse, in the garden, and I’ll figure out how to get the water in there.”
“I’m pretty sure Colt said he’d come tomorrow and do it,” Lenore said in a very small, almost childlike voice. “He said we’re only missing a couple of fasteners, and he knows exactly what to get.”
“Great,” Brandon said lightly. “I’ll learn from him, and then I’ll know.”
“This is almost too much for me,” Lenore said. “I believed you when you told me, even with you living and working here for three months, that we might not be able to get this far. And we’re going into week four, and I’m going to have power and water.”
“There’s still plenty to do, sweetheart.”
Lenore stopped, pulled back, and gazed around. “Yeah, there is,” she said, something unspoken hanging at the end of the sentence.
Brandon’s pulse stuttered through his veins. “If you don’t need me anymore,” he said. “Just say so. I’ll start looking for something else.”
Her eyes flew to his. “Of course I need you,” she said. “Why would you even say that?”
“I mean, if you have power and water, your chickens properly contained, a garden, your barn is airtight and watertight—what do you need me for?”
“Just like you said,” she said. “There’s still so much that needs to be done. Pastures, enclosures, crops. There’s a whole ten acres down there we haven’t even cleaned up yet.”
He smiled at her softly. “But you can drive a skid steer now. You can have that cleaned up in a couple days just by yourself.”
“I don’t want you to go,” she said, her eyes blazing with challenge. She obviously had no idea what such words did to his heart, but it ballooned up with hope.
“Good,” Brandon said huskily. “Because I don’t want to go.” He leaned down and touched his lips to hers in a tender kiss. He didn’t linger long, because they weren’t that far away from the others.
“But really, Lenny, you tell me if you don’t need me here anymore. I won’t take your money for nothing.”
She swallowed and nodded in a tight little burst. “What about you?” she asked. “You won’t have power in your cabin.”
“Just more reason for me to come visit you more often after work.” He grinned at her and kissed her one more time. “Now, come on. Conrad is like a small child on Christmas, and he can’t wait to show you his plans.”
Brandon turned and looked behind him. “And I don’t hear that excavator working, which means they’re waiting for your go-ahead before they do anything.” He looked at her again, his eyebrows raised. “What do you think? Does Conrad have a good plan?”
“I’m not approving anything unless he has hand-drawn sketches the way you do,” Lenore said with a grin.
Brandon chuckled, reached into his back pocket, and pulled out a couple of rumpled pieces of paper. “Oh, you mean like this?”