Chapter 4
tate
I buried my head in my stacked arms. “Do you have any good news for me, Bill?”
“The last of the sheds are coming sooner than we thought.”
I lifted my head. “We’re not ready for them.”
“At least they aren’t late or lost.” The matchstick in his mouth twitched. “That’s good news right?”
“Like the supplies for the foundations for all the freaking sheds?”
I collapsed back into my chair, the springs squeaking with my weight. They didn’t make office chairs for guys my size without it being twelve hundred dollars. Not to mention, those fancy chairs didn’t exactly fit in the small trailer I used for a home base for this operation.
I raked my fingers through my hair in frustration. When I came up with the Haven Winter Wonderland idea I thought eighteen months was long enough to get it up and running for the holidays.
I was incorrect.
It was enough to give me some early gray hairs, however.
“Tate?” I glanced over at the door that was always open.
Molly, my best friend and second-in-command to this shitshow, stood halfway in.
Her honey brown hair was scraped back in a high ponytail as usual.
She had on three layers of shirts for some reason.
Hell, I was hot as hell and just wearing a T-shirt.
She glanced between me and Bill. “I can come back.”
Bill waved her in. “Nope. I already delivered my bomb. Your turn.”
I closed my eyes. Another bomb and I was going to take the money I had left and disappear to Aruba. I could live in a hut on a beach somewhere for the rest of my days.
“The gravel and concrete is in Maryland, so it should show up tomorrow,” Bill said over his shoulder.
The amount we needed wasn’t exactly available at the home renovation stores around here.
I’d come up with the idea of sturdy prefabricated sheds for shops on my farm to bring in new artisans to sell their wares for the various holidays.
Christmas was always my favorite time of year so that was going to be the first outing.
However, I was lucky if I could get the damn things installed before the first week of November the way we were going. We’d be pouring the cement pads right up to the day. At least we had the pasture graded and ready for installation.
The timeline was still way too freaking tight.
I’d invested literal millions in this venture. Not to mention the zoning headaches to get permission to do this.
Molly tentatively crept in.
“What headache do you have for me?”
Molly twisted the hem of her muddy flannel shirt. “The Halloween inflatables and animatronics arrived.”
“Thank God.” I stood up, my head brushing the top of the work trailer. I pushed aside one of the piles of papers before it could slide off my desk.
“They need you to sign off on it.”
“That, I can handle.” I narrowed my eyes. “Why are you doing the twisting thing?”
She dropped the hem of her oversized shirt. “They all have to plug in separately.”
“Great.” I followed her out. I swear I needed to be a freaking electrician to do anything for this venture.
A truck was parked at the top of the long drive.
The first thing I’d done was repave the road and drive to my folks’ old farm.
The place had been in serious disrepair and the gravel was a headache I didn’t need with all the construction going on.
I’d bought the farm back from the bank at a steep discount after my old man had finally given up fighting against the ugly writing on the wall.
The Reynolds farm had been in trouble when I’d been in high school. The entire town had fallen on hard times since very few of the new generation wanted to stick around in a dying town.
I couldn’t blame them.
I’d been one of them. After high school, I’d sprinted out of here on a football scholarship. I’d even managed to enjoy it for a few years. Until my mom had gotten sick.
They needed me to come back to help take care of her and the farm.
Things had swiftly gone downhill after that—both on the farm and with my father. What little profits we’d had in the business were eaten up with medical bills. And my father didn’t know how to deal with my mom not being his rock. Instead of being there for her, he withdrew, leaving it all on me.
She managed to stave off the end for a few more years, but a lifetime of hard work and putting herself last had caught up with her. Losing my mom had destroyed my father. I’d had to try and run the farm and work another job to keep the lights on. I hadn’t been able to do that either.
When I won the lottery, I knew it was my chance to start over.
To maybe help others who had been in the same sinking boat as my family.
At least my father could live out his senior years on the land he loved.
I’d set him up in a cabin at the back of the property.
There had been too many memories in the ranch house for him.
He was happy taking care of his horses with a couple stable hands I’d hired to do the heavy lifting.
“Tate! Your order saved my whole damn year.” Jessie Billings came forward with his hand stretched out.
I peered into the truck with all the inflatable characters in shrink wrap. The zombies I’d ordered for the back of the east corner looked pretty damn convincing.
“Glad to help. How are the Christmas inflatables going?”
“They’ll be in next week. I just have to look them all over and make sure they’re in good shape.”
“I appreciate that.”
For this delivery I had at least three dozen inflatable guys—large ones—in the truck.
“They all inflate themselves, but it does require a power source.”
Which meant either generators or cords everywhere. Hell.
“Okay. Can we rent a few generators from you, then?”
The older man tipped his ball cap back on his head. “That wasn’t in the order.”
I stuffed my hands into my jeans pockets. “Okay, can I add it?”
“I don’t think I can get them to you before the parade, Tate.”
“Of course not.”
“A couple extension cords and you’ll be just fine.”
With thirty-six inflatables. Sure. Not a fire hazard at all. “Okay, I’ll figure it out. Let me help you get these off the truck.”
“That would be great.”
I called over to Dylan, one of the dozen people I had working for me. “Can you grab the big wagon?”
“On it!” The kid was eager and one of my best workers.
Molly hopped up on the truck and we had them unloaded in no time. The zombies and ROUSes from The Princess Bride movie were a little trickier. But they were going to look great on the back pasture for the trick-or-treaters in the parade.
The Princess Bride had a resurgence in town thanks to a movie night over the summer and I figured the kids would get a kick out of it. I had it on good authority that there were at least four Princess Buttercups in the parade and nearly a dozen Westleys and Inigos.
Nothing like small-town life to keep the classics alive. We’d had that movie in rotation for as long as I could remember.
An old memory surfaced of Amber Dalton and me watching it one summer night.
The town was famous for playing older movies in the park during the summer block party.
I’d broken up with Meri Scott when I found her with her tongue down my teammate’s throat.
Funny I couldn’t remember that kid’s name anymore, but I did remember stalking off to lick my wounds.
Meri had always been a flirt, but I never imagined she’d do that.
I hadn’t been in love with her, but my pride had taken a hit. I didn’t want to go get drunk with my friends, but I hadn’t wanted to be alone either. I found Amber sitting off by herself watching the movie intently.
We didn’t even speak. Just quietly watched the movie together then I walked her home.
She let me vent about Meri without making me feel like a jerk.
I wasn’t sure when she’d grown up either. She’d always just been Amber—until that night. Her big, gray eyes looking up at me with so much intelligence and empathy. I’d almost leaned in to kiss her until I’d come to my senses.
“Tate?”
“Sorry.” I shook off the past. I hadn’t thought about Amber in a damn long time. Then again most people knew her by Ambrose these days. It was wild to think one of the biggest pop stars in the world lived next to me most of my life.
I jumped into the truck to help out with the last animatronic. I hadn’t been able to resist the massive Demogorgon from Stranger Things. It was going to look awesome at the end of the small maze.
Seeing all of them together got me excited again about the plans I had.
As tired as I was of all the setbacks, I loved being able to make the farm useful again. And I was going to get the Haven Winter Wonderland up and running if it killed me.
And it just might.