Love Means No Shame - Andrew Grey

bread on the table. He heard the old truck before he saw it pull in the driveway.
    Poor thing needed work. Then he heard Pete coming out of the barn, greeting Frank and Penny. “Sounds like you got a problem with the truck, Frank.”
    “Yeah.” From the sound of his voice, it was just another problem on top of many.
“You here to see Geoff?” Frank must have nodded. “I’ll look at ’er while yer inside.”
It was Penny who answered. “Thank you.” Geoff came to the door and ushered them inside, inviting them to have a seat at the table.
    “Frank said you have a proposition for us about the farm.” Geoff poured them each a cup of coffee. “Yeah, I do. I’d like to buy it, but I just can’t quite make it pay at the price you want. But I think I can sweeten the deal in another way. Rather than buy all the land and the equipment, I’m willing to buy all the land except the acre that includes the house and your tool and equipment shed. You could easily sell the equipment to make up the difference if you wanted.”
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Frank looked skeptical. “Why would you do that? You could just meet my price and sell the equipment yourself and come out ahead.”
    “I probably could, but this way if you feel like it, you could keep it and rent it out when folks need extra equipment during planting or harvesting. I don’t need the equipment; I’ve got plenty.” Frank and Penny looked thoughtful. “There’s one more thing I’d like to do.”

    “What’s that, son?”

    “I want to hire you as a crop manager.” Frank’s eyes went wide. “No one knows more than you about rotating crops, building up fields, what grows best where, when to plant, and so on. Dad did all that, and to be honest, I did okay this year, but I’m not good at it.”
    Frank looked confused, “The reason I’m selling is because I couldn’t plant and harvest the fields I have.”
“Don’t want you to do that. I want you to plan it all for me.
    I’ve got people who can sit on a tractor to plant and harvest fields. I need someone who can manage what should be planted where and help build up the fields. I’ve got probably fifty acres that need augmenting.” Geoff stopped to let them digest what he’d said.

    “You’ve got a lot of good years ahead of you, and just because you can’t do the heavy work anymore doesn’t mean you don’t have a lot to contribute.”
    Frank and Penny were smiling.
Geoff continued. “Now, I want you to know what I’m asking.
With the addition of your land, I’ll be planting close to a thousand acres, with twelve hundred head of cattle on another thousand acres. Your job will be to plan what should be planted where, what fields need augmenting, and so on, to help make sure I have enough feed 134 Love Means … NO SHAME
for the cattle and some to spare. Take your time and think it over.
Let me know what you decide.”
    Both Frank and Penny were smiling at each other. Frank leaned forward, cradling his coffee in his hands, “If you don’t mind my asking, how are you gonna pay for this?”

    “Dad was smart, real smart. He put aside part of his profits for emergencies and for expansion. So to answer your question, I’m paying cash.” Frank whistled but said nothing more. Then he and Penny finished their coffee and said their good-byes. Geoff followed them outside and saw Pete closing the hood of their truck.
    “Should be okay now, Frank.” Frank thanked him, got in, started the truck, and they left.
Geoff heard the engine purring like a kitten. “That was real good of you, Pete.”
    “From the huge smiles on their faces when they came out, you must have been real good to them too.” Pete moseyed back to the barn while Geoff shook his head and went inside. He heard a tractor start up a few minutes later and saw Pete heading out with a load of feed. Geoff cleaned up the dishes and went into the living room, sitting in front of the television. It had been a productive morning, but he needed to rest awhile—especially if he wanted to go riding this afternoon.

    The television droned on, and he put his head back and soon dozed off, jerking awake when the back door closed and he heard Eli’s voice. The man was bubbling over and seemed really happy when he bounded into the living room.
    “How was the visit?” Geoff asked.
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    “Good. They were pleased I had a job and was doing well.” The smile faded a little. “Papa didn’t say much, which means he figured I’d be