Trouble In Dixie by Becky McGraw Page B

barn with a bunkhouse. The barn and bunkhouse looked
newer."
     
    Excitement poured through Katie and she sat
up and raised a brow to ask, "Is it listed with a Realtor? Or is it
by owner? Any idea what they want for it?"
     
    "All I know is it's about a hundred acres or
so, and it's already cross-fenced, and what I told you already.
I'll get the phone number on the sign when I got out that way
again," he said with a grin. "Have to pay you back for that
tattoo."
     
    "Pay me back?" she asked and fear
overshadowed her excitement for a minute. She really didn't want
Gabe mad at her.
     
    "Yeah, it's hot...thanks for talking her
into it," he said and gave Karlie a heated stare, and she blushed.
Her wild ass sister blushing was a novelty, and Katie grinned
thinking about how much her sister had settled down.
     
    Katie took a sip of her tea, then suggested,
"Why don't you call us when you go out there and we'll meet you and
walk around?" She had to get out of their house and soon. Karlie
and Gabe were newlyweds, and as much as they protested, she knew
she was cramping their style.
     
    "Okay, I'll do that...I need to get back to
the station, I saw your truck parked over here and had to come get
a kiss from my beautiful bride," he said then leaned over and
kissed Karlie again, then put his forehead to hers and said softly,
"Love you, babe."
     
    "Love you too," Karlie said staring dreamily
into his eyes. He grabbed his ugly putty colored Stetson, which
Katie thought looked ridiculous on the handsome hunky Sheriff, and
slapped it down on his head, the stood up and tipped it at them,
and drawled in his deep voice, "Have a good afternoon, ladies."
     
    Karlie sighed and her eyes followed him all
the way to the door, then she looked back at Katie and fanned
herself. "That man sets me on fire."
     
    Katie snorted, then said sarcastically,
"Nah, really?" and Karlie laughed.
     
    When they got back to the cabin, Katie went
directly to her room and started sanitizing to remove the traces of
her pity party. She was using the broom to fish under the bed for
dust bunnies, when the home phone rang, and she got up and ran into
the living room, hoping it was Gabe calling with good news.
     
    Karlie gave her a thumbs up from where she
sat on the sofa with the phone to her ear. "Okay, we're on our
way...meet you there," she said then kissed into the phone and hung
it up. "Let's go sis, Gabe's headed out to the property, and wants
us to meet him."
     
    Katie went to her room and changed into
jeans, and put her old boots on, then walked back out and said with
excitement, "Ready when you are," then she asked seriously, "You
sure you want to do this, Karlie?"
     
    "Definitely, Kate...I want this too. We're a
good team in whatever we do, and this won't be any different," she
said with sincerity.
     
    Katie grinned and hooked her arm through
Karlie's, then they walked out the door, and got into her truck.
"Let's go see our new operation then. The Double K?"
     
    "Of course...the Double U would be cute, but
it won't work anymore since I'm Kelley now," she said with a
laugh.
     
    Thirty minutes later, Katie wasn't as
optimistic about the location of their new operation, as she stared
at the overgrown fields and broken down fences. The barn looked
okay, it had ten stalls, but it needed some work, as did the
bunkhouse. With a little elbow grease, and a few repairs, the
bunkhouse would do as living quarters, until she could build a
small house. The shack that Gabe had mentioned wasn't fit for
anything except a bulldozer. It was leaning to the left, and looked
like a stiff breeze would take it down.
     
    "I can get Luke's tractor over here and bush
hog all this scrub, and get the pastures cleaned up. We'll probably
get some good hay out of it too," Gabe told them
enthusiastically.
     
    "Can you get the name of that contractor
that they used to rebuild their barn too?" Katie asked and shook
her head. "He's gonna have his hands full out here."
     
    "I think he's