3 The Ghost at the Farm Read online

  “He told me to take what I wanted from his mother’s room and throw the rest away. He said to do the same with his things when he’s gone.”

  The old man was growing dependant on them to bring him meals and take care of him. Maybe Charlie would like to hang out at the farm for a few days and pick Otis’s brain about farming, but Andy had to go back to his real job next week, and he wouldn’t have time to coddle the sick old man.

  Otis liked Julie, and he apparently expected her to stick around, but Andy wasn’t sure what she had planned. If she left him after the farm closed, she’d leave a huge hole in his life, but he couldn’t ask her to stay with his own life so uncertain.

  If someone intended to kill him, he didn’t want Julie to get caught in the crossfire.

  <>

  After another night of bliss with Andy, Julie drove to her parents’ home. Dad was getting ready to leave for the golf course and Mom was still in her bathrobe.

  “Since when do you get up at this hour?” her father asked.

  “Sorry. I didn’t realize it was so early. I’ve been going out to the farm every day and—”

  “What farm?”

  “The one I sold to Andy Kane.”

  “Kane?” said Mom. “The mayor’s son?”

  “Yes. The architect who designed your house.”

  “I didn’t realize you knew him.”

  Knew him? Yes, she knew him, in the Biblical sense. “I brokered the deal on the farm, and he gave me a place to stay until my arm healed.”

  Mom gasped. “You stayed with another man when you were engaged to—”

  Why wouldn’t she listen? “I was never engaged to Brent. I stayed with Andy while my arm healed. If it hadn’t been for Brent I wouldn’t have cut my arm in the first place.” She lifted her arm to show them the healing cuts.

  “What happened to him?” Dad asked.

  Julie told him about the hearing and the house. “I found my clothes, but I don’t know what he did with my pictures and other things. He should be in the mental hospital for at least thirty days. Maybe they can give him something to straighten him out. I don’t know and I don’t care. He scares me.”

  Mom waved it away as if it didn’t matter, as if she hadn’t encouraged Brent. “Tell me about you and the mayor’s son.”

  Oh, no. She wasn’t about to discuss her love life with her mother. “I had dinner with Hannah and Donovan and their family a few days ago, and Hannah has been driving out to the farm every day while Charlie and Andy were there working.”

  Mom wrinkled her nose. “Working on a farm?”

  “Andy promised the seller he’d help get his corn crop in, since the old man is too sick to do it himself. They should finish up this morning.” Julie sat at the kitchen table with her mother. “The reason I came to see you was because I need a place to have my mail sent until I find a new apartment. Would it be all right if I have it sent here?”

  “Of course you can,” said Dad. “Why are you moving?”

  “Brent has broken in so many times, I don’t feel safe there anymore. I need a place with security.” She sighed. “And, since he’s all but ruined my real estate business, I need to find myself a new job.”

  “Poor baby,” said Mom. “You can move home with us until you get things straightened out with Brent.”

  Julie jumped to her feet. “Why won’t you listen to me? I don’t love Brent. He scares me. And I will never marry him. I don’t want anything to do with him.” She stared at her mother as if she didn’t know her. “Forget the mail. I’ll rent a post office box.”

  She turned to follow Dad out the door, when her mother’s words pulled her back. “Why do you speak to me like that?”

  “Because you care more about Brent’s money than you care about me, that’s why.”

  Mom burst into tears, and Julie and her father shared a poignant look. “What’s wrong with her?” Julie asked quietly.

  “Brent’s mother was one of the founders of a woman’s club she wants to join. Brent said after you married, your mother would be invited to join.”

  “She’d trade my life for a club membership?”

  “No, it’s not like that.”

  “Isn’t it?” Julie fled to her car, and without a backward glance, drove away.

  A club membership was more important to her mother than Julie’s life.

  Chapter Twelve

  Andy had gone all day Thursday without a vision of Andrew’s life. Friday morning, as he and Charlie finished harvesting the corn from the last field, he slipped into the past again.

  Paulina followed Andrew into the barn. “Andrew, I need to talk to you.”

  “Your father told us not to see each other.”

  “I don’t care what he said. I love you, and I want to marry you.”

  Andrew worked on the plow while they talked. “You’re too young to marry without your father’s permission, and I have other responsibilities now. Matthew has been called up. He’ll be leaving soon, and I promised to take care of Betsy and Annie while he’s gone.”

  “You’re staying on the farm?”

  He rubbed oil into the stiff leather strap. “I don’t know yet. If I get another house to build, I’ll move to town, but I’ll have to take Betsy and Annie with me. I can’t afford to take care of a wife, too. After the war, if your father changes his mind, we’ll marry then.”

  She burst into tears. “I can’t wait that long, Andrew.”

  He wiped his hands on a rag and gazed deeply into her eyes. “Honey, we don’t have any choice. I promised Matthew I’d take care of his family. After the war—”

  “No! We have to get married now.”

  “Paulina?” an angry voice shouted.

  “Oh, no,” she said on a groan. “That’s my father.”

  A second later, Paulina’s father grabbed her arm and yanked her away. “I told you to stay away from him.”

  “Take your hands off her,” Andrew said.

  Paulina’s father slugged Andrew on the chin. Andrew’s hands clenched into fists, but he didn’t hit back. His father had taught him to respect his elders, and even though he hated the man, Mr. Smith was Paulina’s father and as such deserved respect. Mr. Smith grabbed Paulina’s arm and pulled her out of the barn. Listening to her anguished cries tore at Andrew’s heart, but he couldn’t go against her father’s wishes. He didn’t have anything to offer her now anyway. Someday he would, and someday her father would change his mind.

  Somehow, they’d find a way to be together. They’d marry and have a family, he’d build the inn overlooking the river, and they’d have a long, happy life together.

  The vision faded and Andy walked down the row, pulling and twisting the corn from the stalks. Andrew didn’t know he’d soon be dead or he might have handled things in a different way.

  The sky in the distance darkened and the sound of the corn rustling in the gentle summer breeze grew louder as the wind picked up. They were running out of time.

  “Charlie, take the tractor back to the barn. I’ll get the rest of the corn.”

  Charlie ran off, and Andy finished picking the row of corn, grabbing and twisting. He wanted to get this load delivered before the rain began.

  Thirty minutes later, as thunder rumbled in the distance, Andy parked in back of the food bank and walked inside. “We have a load of corn. Where do you want it?”

  “Corn?” asked the old lady. “Fresh corn?”

  “Straight off the farm. Mr. Bedford said to bring it here. If you don’t want it, I’ll give it to someone else.”

  “Oh, we want it,” the old lady said with a smile. “We definitely want it.”

  A man wearing a white collar ran over. “Bless you, son,” he said. “Our customers will love it.”

  They worked quickly, filling boxes with corn and carrying them inside. The sun disappeared and the wind increased. By the time the rain began, Andy and Charlie were on their way back to the farm with the empty trailer, the temperature had dropped about t
wenty degrees, and Andy understood why Otis gave away the last load. It was a small thing to do, but it felt pretty darn good.

  Andy rubbed his whiskered face. “I should shave.”

  “Yeah, you should,” said Charlie. “You’re giving your woman whisker burn.”

  “She hasn’t complained.”

  “Of course not. She loves you.”

  “She doesn’t love me.” Does she?

  “If you don’t want to keep her long-term, you need to end it now before she gets any more attached. She’s not the kind of woman who sleeps around. She’s a one-man kind of woman.”

  Was Charlie right? Did Julie love him? “Come on, Charlie. I’ve only known her a week.”

  “Doesn’t matter, bro. Julie reminds me of Mom. She’s the kind of woman who settles in and gives a man a reason to come home. It won’t matter to her how much money you make or if you spend your weekends working on your car instead of taking her out or doing the chores she has lined up. She’ll love you anyway.”

  If anyone knew women, Charlie did, but Andy wasn’t sure about a long-term relationship at this point in his life. Although they’d been together for the past week and slept together the past three nights, he didn’t know Julie that well, he didn’t like her parents, and they both had problems to work out. Brent wouldn’t be in the state hospital forever, and Andy had past life issues to resolve.

  It wasn’t the right time to fall in love.

  Andrew had loved Paulina, but he did the right thing in not marrying her. Bad enough to leave Matthew’s wife and daughter to fend for themselves. Andrew wouldn’t have wanted to leave Paulina so soon after marrying her. After Paulina got over losing Andrew, she probably found another man, got married, and lived happily ever after.

  Andy drove Charlie home and headed for the condo. The rain came down in sheets when he pulled into the garage beside Julie’s car and lowered the door behind him. The cornfields must be a muddy mess by now. Good thing they finished when they had.

  Andy found Julie in the kitchen. She kissed him and asked, “Are you finished?”

  “Yep. Charlie and I took the last load to the food bank, and the hospice nurse is making dinner for Otis.”

  “Good. What do you want for dinner tonight?”

  “Give me a few minutes to shower and shave, and I’ll take you out.”

  She rubbed her hand lightly over his beard. “You don’t have to shave for me. I think you look kinda sexy.”

  He dipped his head and started to kiss her, but the doorbell rang. Julie pulled back. “I told her to check with you before she came.”

  “Who?”

  “Minnie Mouse.”

  Gina. “Aw, shit!” He didn’t want to have to deal with her now.

  “I’d tell her you aren’t home, but she was probably, like, watching for you.”

  “Maybe she won’t recognize me with the beard.”

  Julie shook her head slowly as the doorbell rang again.

  Andy opened the door and Gina drifted inside wrapped in a cloud of perfume. She must have bathed in the stuff. He sneezed, and she lifted her face for a kiss. He stepped back.

  “Poor baby,” she said. “You must be, like, coming down with something. Good thing I came over, so you’ll, like, have someone to take care of you.”

  She pushed past him. “Where’s the kitchen? I’ll make you some herbal tea.”

  Andy stood in the open door wondering how he’d lost control when Julie came out of the bedroom wearing a short black dress and heels. Her legs were amazing, and so was her neck. With her hair pinned loosely on her head, she looked sexy as hell.

  “Andy, honey, your bath water is getting cold.”

  Gina whipped around. “What’s she doing here?”

  “She lives here,” Julie purred. “What are you doing here? I told you he had other plans tonight.”

  Andy took Julie’s hand and followed her into his bathroom. “What if she doesn’t leave?” he whispered.

  “Would you rather spend the night with her or with me?”

  “With you, of course, but—”

  “Then take your shower while I handle the problem.”

  Julie walked out to the kitchen, where Gina sat on a barstool, sipping a cup of tea. Making herself at home in someone else’s home. “Why are you still here?”

  “I don’t have, like, anywhere else to go. Terri has a guy over tonight, and she said I have to, like, move out this weekend anyway, so I, like—”

  Could the girl talk without saying like? “So you thought you’d move in with Andy for the weekend, or did you intend to stay for good?”

  She shrugged and wiped away a tear. “I should have, like, stayed in California, but after I, like, broke up with my boyfriend, I had to, like, move out, and my mother has, like, a new husband, so I couldn’t stay there. Ya know what I mean? And Andy has this cool condo.”

  “Yes, it’s a cool condo, but…” Julie tapped her lip. “He’s moving out this weekend. With him working on the farm—”

  “He’s a farmer? He said he was, like, an architect or something.”

  “He quit so he could help his grandfather on the farm.” Julie leaned in close, as if telling her something in confidence. “This condo doesn’t belong to him. Andy has to move back to the trailer on the farm. It’s old and really small, and his grandfather lives there, too.”

  “But I thought… I thought he made, like, good money, and—” Gina’s big blue eyes widened. “I, like, didn’t know.”

  “You thought he was rich?”

  “Not like rich, but—”

  “I know. That’s what I thought, too.” Julie heard Andy coming and whispered, “There are mice in the barn.” She shivered and made a face. “Nasty little creatures.”

  “Uh, I’d better go.” Gina grabbed her jacket and fled out the door.

  Andy propped his hands on his hips. “How did you do that?”

  Julie grinned. “I told her you were a poor farmer.” He didn’t look like a poor farmer in his soft yellow sweater and brown slacks. He’d shaved his neck and trimmed around his beard, and he looked as sexy as a movie star.

  He chuckled.

  “I might have mentioned, like, the mice in the barn, and she, like, didn’t hang around to hear any more.”

  Still laughing, he said, “You are one wicked woman.”

  “Just protecting my territory.” She walked toward her bedroom and stopped to look over her shoulder. “You are my territory, aren’t you?”

  “Honey, tonight I’m all yours.”

  Julie grabbed her raincoat. The night she’d seduced him in the shower, she thought she wanted nothing more than a fling with the hunky architect. That’s all this was supposed to be. A fling. Now that she’d gotten to know Andy, now that she knew what it was like to lie in his arms and have his hands and mouth on her body, she longed for more than a short affair.

  She wanted this fling to last forever.

  They’d made love every night since the first time, but their lovemaking that night was more intense. Andy was especially tender and loving, and Julie couldn’t get enough of him. She knew she was falling in love, but she couldn’t help it. It wasn’t just sex, it was his considerate nature and his strong character. But he’d made it clear he wasn’t looking for a lifetime companion.

  As she snuggled in the aftermath, she blinked back tears. Being with Andy like this was paradise, but it wouldn’t last. He hadn’t asked her to stay, so when the farm deal closed and she got her commission check, she’d have to find herself another place to live. She’d be alone again, but it wouldn’t be like before.

  She’d never been in love before.

  <>

  Although they hadn’t yet signed the closing papers on the farm, Otis had told Andy to go ahead and clear out the attic of the house. Anxious to see what Andrew had left behind, on Saturday morning, Andy left a note for Julie, who was still sound asleep, and drove out to the farm. As he’d done every other morning that week, he stopped for some
breakfast sandwiches on the way.

  The overcast skies signaled the end to summer and the beginning of autumn. As he drove out to the farm, he gazed around the wakening countryside. He felt proud to own a part of this, a piece of dirt he could call his own.

  Otis already had the coffee on, and they ate breakfast together. The old man seemed especially tired that morning. “You feeling okay, Otis?”

  “Just tired. I had a bad night, slept in the chair off and on. Wish I could help you with the attic, but I’m not good for much today.”

  “My brother is bringing his kids over to see the puppies this morning. He’ll help with the attic. What about your family things? Are they still in the attic?”

  “Most of my mother’s things are in the barn, in the loft. You’ll want to clean up the dead mice before you put anything else up there. The girl put the traps up the other day, but I didn’t want to ask her to touch the dead mice.”

  “I’ll get them this morning.”

  Andy smiled, thinking about how Julie got rid of Gina last night. Smart girl, letting Gina leave on her own instead of throwing her out. He didn’t want to take responsibility for a girl he’d had dinner with once. She didn’t just need a place to live, Gina needed a keeper. He felt sorry for her, but if he let her stay for one night, he’d never get rid of her.

  At nine, Billy brought Kayla and the kids, six-year-old Michael and eight-year-old Conner, to see the puppies. Andy handed Billy a mask. “I need help getting trunks out of the attic in the house. Julie offered to help, but she’s allergic to mold, and she isn’t supposed to lift anything heavy until her arm heals inside.”

  “No problem. Anything else in the house you want?”

  “I don’t know yet.”

  While Kayla and Otis mixed dog food for the puppies’ first solid meal, Andy and Billy pulled on their masks, grabbed the ladder from the barn, and walked into the house through the kitchen door. Billy pointed to the stove. “That’s an antique.”

  Yes, it was, and Andy wanted to keep it.

  He assumed Otis had already done some salvaging. The kitchen table and chairs were gone, and so was the refrigerator.

  “Why didn’t they keep the house up?” Billy asked.