[Kentucky Brothers 01] - The Journey by Wanda E Brunstetter Read Free Book Online Page A

some bulk foods.”
     
    “Where is it?” Titus asked.
     
    “Just off Highway 115—the Pembroke-Fairview Road over near the Fairview Produce Auction. You probably went past the place when Allen brought you here yesterday.”
     
    “I don’t recall. Just remember seeing the Jefferson Davis Monument.”
     
    “The store’s not far from there.”
     
    Titus grabbed a pen and scribbled the directions on his arm.
     
    Nelson’s eyebrows lifted high. “There’s no need to mark up your arm with a pen. I’ll write it down for you.” He quickly scrawled the directions on a tablet and handed it to Titus.
     
    Titus smiled. “Danki.”
     
    “How you planning to get to the store?” Isaac questioned.
     
    “Figured I’d ride over on Lightning.”
     
    Isaac grunted as he shook his head. “You’re gonna need somethin’ bigger than the back of your horse to carry groceries home. Why don’t you go up to the house and see if Suzanne’s free to drive you to the store? Tell her she can take my horse and buggy if she wants.”
     
    Titus hesitated near the door. He wasn’t sure he wanted Suzanne to take him anywhere. But he guessed Isaac was right—he couldn’t carry all the groceries he’d need on the back of Lightning. He grabbed his straw hat from the wall peg near the door, plunked it on his head, and headed out the door. “See you both tomorrow,” he called over his shoulder.
     
    When Titus stepped onto the Yoders’ back porch, an orange, white, and black calico cat whizzed past his leg. Startled, he jumped back, nearly clipping the critter’s tail.
     
    “Go on! Get away! Shoo!”
     
    The cat hissed at Titus, leaped off the porch, and bounded away.
     
    “Stupid
katz,”
Titus mumbled as he knocked on the door.
     
    A few seconds went by; then Suzanne opened the door. “Can I help you with something?” she asked, tipping her head.
     
    Seeing her again made Titus’s heartbeat pick up speed. He sure wished she didn’t remind him so much of Phoebe.
     
    “I … uh … need to get some food and a few other things, and Nelson said there’s a store nearby.”
     
    “That would be the Beilers’ store. You met Esther Beiler yesterday.”
     
    Titus shuffled his feet, feeling more uncomfortable by the second. “Umm … your grandpa said I should ask if you’d mind taking me there. Said you could use his horse and buggy.”
     
    Suzanne’s mother, Verna, stepped out of the house just then. Titus had met her briefly when he left the shop the day before. “I need a few things at the store myself,” she said, smiling at Titus. “So Suzanne would be happy to take you to the store.”
     
    Suzanne shot her mother a questioning look, but she didn’t offer a word of protest.
     
    “You can tie Titus’s horse to the back of the buggy, and then when you’re done shopping you can drop Titus off at the trailer,” Verna said.
     
    “Oh, okay,” Suzanne mumbled.
     
    Titus suspected by the slump of Suzanne’s shoulders that she wasn’t happy about accompanying him to the store. Well, he could understand that because he wasn’t thrilled about going with her, either.
     

     
    As Suzanne and Titus climbed into Grandpa’s buggy, one of Suzanne’s cats—a fluffy gray one—leaped in and jumped up on the seat between them.
     
    “Get out of here!” Titus muttered as he pushed the cat out.
     
    Suzanne ground her teeth. He obviously didn’t like cats any more than he liked her.
     
    As they headed down the road toward the store, Suzanne tried to make conversation, but that was hard to do when Titus didn’t say much in response.
     
    “What’s that?” Suzanne asked, when she noticed some writing on Titus’s arm.
     
    “What’s what?”
     
    “That.” She pointed to his arm.
     
    Titus’s face colored. “Oh, I … uh … started writing the directions to the store when your brother told me …”
     
    “I can’t believe you’d write a note on your arm.”
     
    “It’s easier than carrying