When The Runway Went South by Lois Kasznia Read Free Book Online Page B

head on Caleb's feet, as if he belonged there.
"Five boys from the next town over have been trespassing on my property for the last month. Jeb said he's been seeing beer cans in the fields and thought someone had been dumping their trash. Still don't know what triggered them to poison the cattle, but they're denying it. The good news is they're in custody, so they won't be bothering us for a while."
"What about your animals?"
"Had to put at least eight of them down." Caleb looked sick and Ally felt sorry for him.
"Now, the police could charge you for shooting off your gun, but I talked them out of it."
"Why? I'm only trying to protect myself." Ally answered.
"Just be more careful in the future." Caleb stared at Ally and Ally didn't break the eye contact. "Besides this and firing random shots, what else did you do today?"
"My day went downhill from there," laughed Ally. "You see, I'm trying to help Kat with her catering business. She's a great cook, but when it comes to business, she gets kind of lost. So, I tried to organize things for her and I ended up with more questions than answers." Ally showed Caleb her attempt.
"What do you know about running a business?" asked Caleb, somewhat surprised at Ally's determination.
"I'm a model. I know what goes on," said Ally defensively. Caleb seemed to have a second sense zeroing in on her insecurities.
"Didn't you have an agent?"
"Yes, but I still understand about negotiations. The only thing I would need help with is taxes and finances. I want to join the Chamber of Commerce in order to get started. I want to cater a breakfast or lunch for them once we get up and running."
"You're one ambitious person." He smiled at Ally's enthusiasm. "You know who the president of the Chamber of Commerce is?" Caleb sat up straight and cleared his throat as if to make a speech.
"You're the president?" Ally paled.. Would he still help her?
"We have special help for start-up businesses. You need to attend one of our seminars."
"Sure." Ally shrugged her shoulders.
"It's on our website." Caleb poured another drink. "What else?" He looked at Ally, knowing something else bothered her.
"Um. Trash pickup?" Ally looked at the bottle of whiskey, which had been full when she moved down here. Only a half remained.
"City Hall is right down here on Main Street. They'll have all of that information. Do you know about your sprinkler system?"
"I have a sprinkler system?" Ally laughed. "I probably have this 'deer in the headlights' look on my face. No. I don't even know where it's at. I know where the fuse box is."
"Here in Texas, you need to keep the foundation of your house wet or else it will crack. There are city ordinances where you can only run it at certain times. Y'all need to have someone come out and check all the sprinkler heads to make sure they're working. Let's see if we can find it." Caleb stood up. "Are you coming?" Caleb felt sorry for Ally in a way. She had just jumped into this move without even thinking. How could she survive? He watched as all five foot nine of her stood next to him. She smelled good enough to eat and those legs; Caleb tried hard to suppress an inward groan. Also, not to mention those luscious lips and wary blue eyes. X-rated thoughts kept crossing his mind and he had to concentrate not to act upon them. Ally seemed to cast a spell around him and he didn't want to be roped in. Caleb had promised himself not to come over to see her and now look where he had landed.
"Here it is." They had reached the garage and Caleb wandered over to a gray box on the wall. "Let's see what it's set on." He flipped open the lid and peered into the digital display. "It’s like a clock," he explained. "Here's where you set the time and day when you want the water to go off. Also, you can set how long it will go for. Right now, it's set for Monday, Wednesday and Friday to go off at five in the morning. It will run for ten minutes."
"Um," Ally swallowed nervously. "Is there someone I can hire to do