Conflicted Home (The Survivalist Book 9) by A American (learn to read books TXT) 📕

bows and arrows were back in. Palmetto stem arrows flew back and forth across the yard. I smiled at them as I climbed up onto the porch. Perez was sitting in a rocker watching them. A pile of trimmed palmetto fronds were at his feet.

“You the official arrow maker?” I asked.

He looked down at his feet and replied, “Someone needs to keep ‘em in ammo.”

I looked out at the yard. It was cluttered with arrows and squealing and wheeling kids. It made me smile. Fortunately, they weren’t shooting at one another. They were shooting at several palmetto fronds stuck in the ground. I patted Perez on the shoulder and said, “Don’t let ‘em kill one another.”

“It’s under control,” he replied as I walked into the house. The house was busy. Mary was in her dress, just as Fred was next door. Jess was trying to follow Kay’s instructions on how to pin the dress for modification. All the while, Kate was busy on a cake.

Jamie was helping Jess pin the dress up. I looked around and asked, “Where’s Danny?”

“He’s out back behind the pond,” Kate replied without looking up from her mixing bowl.

I didn’t reply and quickly left the way I came. Nothing good was going to come from me being in there. I walked out to the pond and could see Danny on the back side of it swinging a weed-eater. I shook my head because he shouldn’t have been doing that. I walked out and he shut the machine down when he saw me.

“What the hell are you doing?” I asked.

He looked around, as though the answer to my question were obvious. “I’m cleaning up back here so we can have the wedding here, near the pond. I thought it would look nice.”

I nodded at the Stihl in his hands and said, “You shouldn’t be doing that. Your hand isn’t ready for work yet.”

He shrugged. “It’s been doing fine today.”

I looked around at the brush piles he’d created and asked, “Want some help?”

He handed me the Stihl and I went to work cutting the brush down. We worked the rest of the afternoon together. By the time we were done, the back side of the pond looked nearly as good as a manicured lawn. My girls came around the house in the little red truck. Danny had sent them out earlier in the day to find chairs. He wanted the plastic type of lawn chairs that nearly everyone had a couple of.

The girls helped us set the chairs up, forming two neat rows. Danny said he had an idea and went to the shed. He returned with a piece of rolled-up carpet on his shoulder. It was a chunk of green indoor/outdoor carpet, and we laid it out in front of the chairs.

“This looks really nice,” Taylor said.

I wiped my sweaty forehead and looked at the product of our efforts. “It’s not bad. Not bad at all.”

“I think they’re really going to like it,” Lee Ann said.

I looked at Danny, “You ready to call it a day?”

He looked tired and nodded. “Yeah. I think we’ve done everything we can. It looks pretty good.”

We piled the tools we’d used, the Stihl, rakes and pitchforks, into the bed of the little truck. The girls drove it back over to the shed to put everything away while I walked with Danny to the house. Mary was out of her dress and she and Jess were sitting on the sofa stitching up the adjustments on the dress. They were laughing and talking as they worked.

Danny headed upstairs, saying he was going to get cleaned up. I sat down at the bar. Kay was still in the kitchen, but it appeared the baking was done. Not only from the wonderful smell in the air, but the fact that the kitchen was cleaned up. She was always so fastidious about cleaning up as soon as she was done cooking. Only thing in the kitchen now was a large pot sitting on the stove, slowly simmering.

“What’s in the kettle?” I asked.

“Tonight’s supper. I just made a goulash. Something easy,” she replied.

“Cool. Have you seen Mel?” She shook her head. “I’m going to go back to the house,” I said as I headed for the door.

Perez was still on the porch, his hat pulled down over his eyes and his feet stretched out in front of him. I slapped his shoulder as I passed him and said, “Keep up the good work.”

He adjusted in his chair and mumbled, “I’m on it.”

Mel was sitting on the couch when I came in. I looked around and asked, “Where’s Fred?”

“She went home. We finished the dress and she took it with her.”

I sat down beside her. “It’s really nice you gave it to her.”

“It’s not like I’m going to wear it again.”

I patted her leg, “I sure as hell hope not!”

She smiled and stood up. “It’s hard to meet people today. You want some tea?”

“You’re not funny,” I replied. “And yes, thank you.” I landed a playful kick on her ass as she passed me.

She returned from the kitchen with a glass of tea for me and an ice water for herself. “What’s with all those tubs of ice in the freezer?”

I took a sip before replying. “I don’t know. Mikey is up to something.”

“That’s what you said before. You still don’t know what he’s up to?”

“Nope,” I replied. Then I figured this was as a good a time as any to break the news to her. “I’ve got some bad news.”

She looked at me with genuine concern. “What?”

“Meat Head doesn’t have a sister anymore.”

She sat up and looked at me. “What do you mean? What happened to her?”

I told her the story of the dogs coming home and the way they acted. Of how I followed them into the woods.

“What happened to her?”

I took her hand and said, “Someone killed her.”

“What? Why?”

I couldn’t tell her why. “I brought her home and buried her out back.”

Mel got to her