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She smiled. “Yes. That’s doable.”
“That being said, if I drive by and see a geyser in your yard, I’ll of course come do what I can to resolve the issue.”
“Or smoke billowing from my front door?”
“That too.”
She pushed the box of chicken toward him. “Have another piece.”
He took a chicken strip. “One thing that has changed at Mr. Kluck’s is the price. We used to get a box like this for five bucks.”
“I know. I paid almost nine dollars.”
“Speaking of money. And I know this is none of my business. But how the hell did you afford this place? The house isn’t worth much, but the land is. We’ve been trying to buy it for a few years now. I know how much it’s worth.”
“It was a family venture. My dad is a co-signer and he and Mandy helped with the down payment.”
“Okay. That still leaves you with a hefty mortgage to pay. Along with what it’s going to cost you to fix this place up.”
“I’ve been working at the White Buffalo and we have plans for the property. My dad is helping me financially.”
“What kind of plans?”
“I’d rather not say right now.”
“Fine. Like I said. It’s really none of my business.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I should go. I need to run into town, then go to the house for dinner.”
He got to his feet and Joey stood, too. “Thank you for agreeing to be friendly neighbors.”
“Thank you for the chicken.” He stepped off the porch.
“Can you recommend a reliable plumber? Maybe one that won’t rip me off too bad.”
“There’s only one plumber in town. He’s currently working on my house. I’ll tell him to give you a call at your dad’s.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
“See you around, Josephina.”
Joey went into the house and looked around the big living room. The house was built in the thirties by one of the first settlers in the valley. The Eastman family had made a fortune first by making the natural springs into a tourist attraction for the wealthy, then by selling off the land he’d bought around the valley to the ranchers who wanted the spring-fed grass for grazing their cows. Once the ranchers took over the area, he sold his house to the Bradfords. Both the Eastmans and the Bradfords had large families and the house with its six upstairs bedrooms, one downstairs bedroom, and six bathrooms was perfect for that.
Joey, Mandy, and Freddy Pierson had plans for the seven-bedroom house. They wanted to turn it into a bed-and-breakfast. Mandy and Freddy both wanted to be silent partners and leave the running of the place to Joey. She’d also been put in charge of refurbishing it. Fortunately, her father had made a lot of money over the years with his bar and he didn’t mind putting it into this new venture.
It was going to be a good thing when they got it up and running. And she was excited about it. But J.T. was going to hate the idea. He chose his building site because it was quiet and fairly secluded. He was surely going to assume the tourist the bed-and-breakfast would draw would ruin that for him.
She shook her head. “I’m sorry, J.T., you’re just going to have to deal with it. I’m doing this for me and my family.”
She thought about Finn, who was in Boise with her mother. “I’m doing this for you, Finn.” She took her cell phone from her pocket and pulled up her photo gallery, then flipped through the many pictures of her son. “I miss you, baby.”
Joey wiped away a tear and put her phone away. She needed to get to work. The sooner she made this place livable, the sooner her son could join her.
Sage was staring at her brothers as they put away their dinner with gusto.
J.T. looked at her. “What?”
“How are you guys completely over it? I had two margaritas last night, and I had a headache this morning.”
He shook his head. “We didn’t drink that much.”
