Milk Money Read Online Free Page B

sister, Sarah, hated farming. She left the farm when she was still in her early twenties. She lives in Idaho.” She sipped her soda. “My stepsister Lisa lives in Florida, and Laura is visiting her right now. My other stepsister, Becky, is pregnant, and she lives in California. It’s a difficult, high-risk pregnancy, and it’s a shame she couldn’t come to my father’s funeral.”
    “Is this her first child?” Frank took another slice of pizza and sprinkled red pepper flakes on it. His leg jiggled beneath the table, and she wondered if he was nervous.
    “No, she has two more, and she’s really struggling right now. She’s a stay-at-home mom, and her husband works full-time. Since her pregnancy has been so difficult and she is supposed to take it easy, a lot of people from her church have been helping her out.”
    “It sounds like you’re close to your stepsisters.”
    Emily shook her head. “We’re not really that close. I’ve seen them off and on since my dad married Laura. I’m not as close to them as I am to Sarah.”
    They ate in silence for a few minutes before Frank asked another question. “Why are you so against your mother hiring an accountant? You never answered me earlier.”
    She sighed. “This is a family business, and you are not family. When Dad died, I wanted to try and figure out the bookkeeping myself, and I wanted my stepmother to help, but we kept arguing about it. I asked her if she’d at least wait for a couple of months to give me some time to go through Daddy’s files.”
    “And she didn’t agree to do that?” he guessed. “I guess not, because she’s gone and you’re here.”
    “Well, your attitude is not very smart.”
    She frowned. “Why do you say that?”
    He folded his arms in front of him, his leg continuing to jiggle. “Emily, you just admitted that you know nothing about the way your father accounted for the profits to your farm. You need an accountant to help you figure things out. You certainly don’t want to be flagged for an audit by the IRS. If you are, it’ll make things more difficult if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
    Pressing her lips together, she looked toward the counter. He touched her hand. “Hey, don’t get offended. I just don’t think you’ve thought through this very clearly.”
    “Whatever,” she mumbled, draining her soda cup.
    He chuckled, gazing at the empty pizza box. “I guess we had big appetites tonight.”
    “I tend to eat a lot of food.”
    “Do you?”
    He seemed surprised, so she explained. “I’ve always eaten a lot of food, because doing those farm chores every day works up an appetite.”
    “You can’t tell that you have a big appetite by looking at you,” Frank said before he finished his soda.
    Once he’d gathered his papers and placed them back into his briefcase, he closed it and paid the bill before they returned to his car. After he turned on the air conditioning, she rummaged through her purse. “I can pay for half the pizza.”
    “It’s just a pizza. Besides, I can expense the meal since we were talking about business most of the time, anyway.” When they pulled into the dairy farm, he reminded her that he would be returning the following day.
    After she had showered and gotten ready for bed, she was about to open her Bible when her phone rang. “Hello?”
    “Hi, Emily.”
    “Kelly, hi. What’s up?”
    Her best friend told her about the date she was looking forward to. “I can’t wait to see Martin again.”
    When Kelly continued to speak, Emily struggled to listen as fatigue washed over her entire body like a tidal wave. “Did you call just to talk about Martin?”
    “No. I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping with me next Saturday. I’m going to get my hair and nails done; then I’m going to look for a new outfit for my date Saturday night.”
    Emily lay back on her pillows, thinking about how busy she was the following weekend. “I want to go to the livestock auction. Is