Page 147 of Trouble Comes in Threes

I stared at him in disbelief. “You don’t know the first thing about farming. How do you know you’ll even like it?”

“When I wasn’t gettin’ in trouble in my youth, I worked on the farm on the land adjacent to Granny’s place,” he said with a wicked grin. “I learned to do plenty.”

“I stand corrected,” I said, trying to wrap my head around it. “But what about the mechanic shop?”

“It’s Jed’s, and while I’m good at it, I don’t love it, you know?” He paused. “I want to do something I love.”

“I understand that,” I said. “I feel the same way about my landscaping business. Violet was the one who wanted the nursery, and part of me did too, but my heart was in the landscaping.” I looked him in the eyes. “I get it.”

The corners of his mouth tilted up, and his eyes were glassy. “I knew you would.”

“How do you think Neely Kate and Jed will react?”

“Jed won’t love it, but he’ll understand. Neely Kate, on the other hand…” He made a face.

“She might be upset at first, but she’ll understand too. I know she will.”

“I hope so.” He paused. “She has Jed and Daisy, and this new baby they think I don’t know about. They’re doin’a piss-poor job of keepin’ it secret.” He released a chuckle. “She doesn’t need me anymore.”

It was then I realized that Witt had spent most of his adolescent and adult life being there for his cousin because after her mother had dumped her at her grandmother’s house when she was twelve and had been surrounded by a passel of cousins, Witt and her granny had been her only true constants.

“She’ll always need you to some extent,” I said. “But you also no longer need to hold yourself back on her account.”

He laughed. “Who’s gonna play bodyguard when y’all get into trouble again?”

“Trust me,” I said with a grin. “I’m gonna try hard to make sure we stay out of trouble.”

His eyes twinkled with mischief. “I think that’s like askin’ a rooster not to crow.”

“You could be right, but we’ll be okay, Witt. Live your life. Neely Kate’s gonna be okay.”

He pressed his lips together and nodded.

“You’ve been takin’ care of Neely Kate all this time,” I said softly. “But who’s been takin’ care of you?”

His eyes widened with surprise, then he got to his feet. “I’ve been takin’ care of myself for as long as I remember. At this point, I’m doin’ just fine on my own.”

He walked out of the room before I could respond. I’d watched him grow from an irresponsible kid into a dependable, honorable man. Witt deserved to be happy. I hoped he’d found that here, or wherever life took him.

I went upstairs and got ready for bed. Just as I was about to walk into my room, my phone vibrated with a call from Joe.

“Joe,” I said in relief as I answered, grateful to hear his voice and hoping he had good news. “Tell me this is over.”

“This is over, darlin’.”

I sank my back against the hallway wall and closed my eyes. “Thank God.”

“We arrested Derby Sloan and his muscle, John Ballister. They’ll be arraigned tomorrow, but I doubt the judge will grant them bail. Or if he does, it will be so high, they won’t be able to post it.”

“So we can come home tomorrow?”

“You can come home tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” I said breathlessly. “I miss you.”

“I miss you too, and I miss our kids. The house is too quiet without you. At least what little time I was there last night.”

“Ashley will want to go to school, so we’ll leave early enough that I can drop her and Mikey off. Then I’ll take the kids to daycare and get to work cleaning up the office.”

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