Page 11 of Two Weddings and a Shoot Out

Locks sat there, fingering the envelope. He just wasn’t sure he was up to reading this today. He stared at the headstone.

“You never did anything easy, did you, baby? I’ve loved you for more than half of my life. Even though you’re not here, it doesn’t diminish my love. I just don’t know how to reconcile that with what I’m feeling for Hope. I’ll read your letter but not today. I need to prepare myself for that. There are still times I leave my dirty boots by the back door instead of putting them away and can almost hear your voice yelling my name. I love you, baby. I’ll be back soon.”

Locks breathed deeply and wiped the tears away. It wouldn’t do for his girls to worry about him. They had enough on their plate. He stood up and blew a kiss at the grave. He had a lot to think about.

Chapter Eight

Lockswalkedinalongwith the others to council. He and Hope had passed in the hallway a couple of times, but she and Benji had been scarce in the evenings. There wasn’t any watching movies together in the main family room or having supper together.

He had yet to read the letter from Kathryn. Every time he started to, he just couldn’t. His girls had invited him for lunch at Sarah’s house, and he was looking forward to seeing them. Sarah had said that Beth was even going to attend via video. He’d raised strong girls, but his preference would be that he’d be close enough to help out if needed. With Beth and Flick undercover near Dallas, he was five hours away, which in an emergency was a lifetime.

Their Cider Creek Chapter was helping out, but still, he wanted to be there.

“Let’s get started. We’ve got a lot to go over. Let’s start with money. Roam?” War said.

“The diner, gun range, and garage are all up by at least twenty-five percent in profits. Even with the money set aside for construction, everyone will be getting a really nice May dispersal,” Roam said.

“What about the tattoo studio?” Dex asked.

“That’s what I need to talk to everyone about. The tattoo studio has a waiting list of six months, and that is with Rascal working more hours than he’d like, and Sprite and I having zero time off. Pit called with a suggestion,” Roam said then paused.

Locks wondered why Roam just didn’t share the suggestion.

“Well? We don’t have all friggin’ day,” War muttered.

“There is a family of tattoo artists Pit knows. Their oldest sibling is getting out of jail. They’ve been a mobile tattoo studio for the last fifteen years. Pit said with the brother getting out that he thinks they’d like to have a home. I’ve done some research, and I’d really like to offer them all jobs,” Roam said.

“What did he do time for?” Bear asked.

“His dad was beating his mother again and was getting ready to rape the youngest sister. The brother had a crap attorney and a judge with a grudge. He did twenty years. Pit vouches for him,” Roam said.

“Sounds like the man deserved a medal, not to do time. Defending the innocent from someone evil sounds like a new prospect to me,” Cannon said.

“I agree,” said Scoop. “Roam gave me their names and info. I’ve also done some research. They deserve a break and a home. If you all want the particulars, I can send them to you, but I’m confident they’ll be a good addition.”

“How’s that going to work? There’s not enough room at the studio,” Locks asked. The shop wasn’t super large anyway.

“We’ll expand. We have the money, and Bootstrap called. They have time because the job in front of ours fell through. They’ll be here tomorrow to start the foundations for the housesbeing built and can work on the studio while the foundations cure. He’s only coming up to be an extra pair of hands and then heading back because of Flick and Beth. It will add some additional money to the total unless anyone wants to put in some free labor. We’ve cleaned the upstairs for Sprite to have the monthly manicure nights, which Sprite and I discussed could still be in the open area we’ll have up there. We’ll move the piercing room upstairs for more privacy along with a special tattoo room for one of the sisters. Her primary focus is tattoos for women who’ve undergone mastectomies, but she also specializes in camouflaging scars or disfigurements. With the additional six employees, it will take no time to recoup the money,” Roam said.

“Six new employees?” War asked.

“Yep, oldest brother, sister, her best friend, twin middle brothers, and the youngest sister who is thirty-two. They live in their RV, which is a traveling studio. The brother gets out in June. I think we designate one of the new houses for them if they’d like. We were already creating an area near the houses for pads for RV hookups. Their house could have one.”

“All in favor?” War asked.

“Yes,” sounded from everyone.

“Scoop, what about the surveillance on the barn?” War asked.

“Nothing, and I truly mean nothing. Since we added the cameras, no one has been there. I’m guessing they cleared out before we set the cameras. I’ll let you know if we pick up anything,” Scoop said.

War nodded. “Maybe while the construction crew is here, we could have them look at expanding the animal area. At the rate Dad is irritating Mom, we might need a whole other barn and corral.”

Locks chuckled along with everyone else while Baron glared at War.

“Okay, one last item. Slice?” War said.

“Although I love my sister-in-law, we have a lot going on at our house. Hope has indicated she’d like to stay on the compound but needs a permanent place to stay. I’d love it if one of the smaller houses could be allotted to her and Benji,” Slice requested, staring at Locks.

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