Bluegrass State of Mind (10 page)

She smiled and gave a slight shake of
her head, "Henry, dear, this is your last warning. If you don't
want to pull back a nub and lose your ability to have children..."
Kenna said in a slight, sing-song voice. She counted to three and
then dug the heel of her pump onto his big toe with just enough
pressure to get his attention, but not enough to make him limp…
well, only limp for a couple of hours anyway.

Henry yelped and pulled his arm back
to its original location. He shook out his foot and then gave Kenna
a full grin, "You're going to be so much fun as a roomie. Come on,
let me show you the offices and the library at the end of the hall.
At the end of the hall on the right is the copy room. It circles
around there and you come out behind Tammy's desk. If you agree to
rent the space, Tammy will be responsible for answering your phone
and taking messages. You can also leave things at the front desk
for pick up." They had stopped outside the third office and Kenna
took a peek into a nicely furnished library next to it. Old leather
chairs sat around a coffee table and a larger conference table. The
room ran the length of half the building. From what Henry told her,
on the other side of the far right wall was the kitchen that was
accessible through the copy room. She looked over to Henry, who now
had his hands in his pockets and seemed completely harmless. He was
a bit of a snake, but she still liked him. "So, what do you
think?"

"I'll take it." Kenna held out her
hand and Henry took it and shook it enthusiastically.

"This will be great. Come on, let's
celebrate. Tammy! Go get us some drinks, love. We have a new
tenant." Tammy gave off a squeal and a couple of minutes later ran
back into Kenna's new office with three glasses of
champagne.

"You have champagne in the
refrigerator at the office?" she asked.

"Sure do. Bottles of it for just this
reason. Also have a nice assortment of bourbon. Since you’re a
Yankee, I don't think you'd be up to handling that. We'll save it
for when you want to seduce me," Henry winked. It was delivered so
smoothly that Kenna couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

Kenna left an hour later after
deciding what furniture she needed and signing the lease agreement.
She had assurances from Henry and Tammy that they would order the
new sign for out front. Kenna couldn't keep the smile off her face
as she left the building. She looked up the street and saw Southern
Charms. She thought about stopping to pick up Paige for their
dinner date when she heard the courthouse clock chime once,
indicating it was now six fifteen. Realizing she was late, Kenna
turned down the street and hurried to Blossom Cafe.

As she approached the cafe, she
noticed the street was filled with cars. The cafe was packed.
Hopefully Paige was able to get a table. Kenna thought of the
homemade food, and as if on cue, her stomach growled. As she
entered the cafe, cheers broke out as all the patrons turned to
Kenna and clapped. Kenna's brows knit together and she realized her
mouth was hanging open a little.

"What's going on?" She looked over the
happy crowd and saw all the people she had met the other night and
some faces she didn't recognize. But there was one face she noticed
wasn't in the crowd, Will. Well, fine. He was with his wife anyway.
Grr! It made her mad just to think about it.

Paige made her way through the crowd
and held up her arms, "It's your celebration party, Assistant D.A.
Mason! Congrats on the new job and welcome to Keeneston!" The place
erupted with cheers, whistles, and an array of welcomes.

"But, how do you know already? I
haven't told anyone except Henry and Tammy? It's only been a couple
of hours since I left Tom's office."

"You can't keep anything a secret in
Keeneston. Besides, Martha called." Roger Burns said as he slowly
made his way up front to shake Kenna's hand. "Glad my son did the
right thing and hired you instead of that sniveling brat. You'll
actually do a good job. Now, let’s eat." Roger made his way back to
his table and the rest of the patrons found their seats, happy
conversation flowing through the room.

Paige led Kenna to a table in the
middle of the room where Miss Daisy and Miss Violet had already
placed some food. Kenna looked at it, and couldn't really figure
out what it was. There was something underneath some kind of thick
cream sauce. Cheese sat on top of that, accompanied by a couple
slices of bacon and topped off with a slice of tomato.

Miss Daisy bustled over full of
congratulations, "Now sit yourself down for a spell. You must be
exhausted after all the excitement."

"Thank you, Daisy. It looks great, but
what is it?" Kenna asked as she pointed to the plate in front of
her.

"That is a Kentucky Hot Brown. It's an
open-face turkey sandwich covered in a yummy rich Mornay sauce,
then topped with bacon, tomato and some parmesan cheese. Tradition
around these parts. Thought it would be the perfect dinner for you
tonight considering this is your new home".

Kenna felt her eyes start to sting.
After an initial interrogation that stopped just short of
waterboarding, Kenna was now being accepted as a true member of the
community. She felt like she was finding a family again. "Thank you
so much, Daisy. And you too, Violet. You all have made me feel so
welcomed."

"You just eat up, now. We need to get
some meat on your bones. And save room for dessert. Violet made you
a bourbon pecan pie." Daisy gave her a wink and then hurried off to
serve the other tables.

Kenna cut into the sandwich and took a
bite, "Oh my God." She couldn't help it. It just slipped out as she
chewed the first bite of the Hot Brown. "This is unbelievable. It's
like a cheesy heart attack on a plate, and worth every
artery-clogging bite," she said as she popped another bite into her
mouth. Paige laughed and they dug into their dinners.

They sat in a comfortable silence
while they ate. But as they lingered over the pie, Kenna wanted to
learn more about her new friend.

“
You know all about my
family, tell me about yours.”

“
My parents have a farm
out in the country. I grew up helping harvest corn, soy beans, and
a little tobacco. Went to school here, but then as any teenager
thought I just had to get out of this town. It takes getting used
to. People knowing all my business and everyone else’s too. It
wasn't until I was in L.A. at design school that I realized how
much I missed it. The support of the people, the ribbing, the
rivalries, and the community gatherings. It was my Junior year and
I sat in my dorm feeling lonely. It just hit me, how much I missed
Kentucky. I missed church pot lucks after the service, I missed
everyone in town knowing who I was dating and giving me unwanted
advice. I missed men opening doors for me." Paige gave a little
laugh, "I was once walking to a building with a man on each side of
me. Both looked to me to open this heavy metal garage door to the
studio. One even asked me what's wrong and why I wasn't getting the
door. I realized what I thought of as macho by my brothers and
boyfriends was just good manners. I thought they were patronizing
me when they offered to carry things for me, as if I couldn't do it
myself. But out there, it hit me that it was done out of respect. I
missed the food too. I missed the farm and the open air. As a
teenager it seemed like nothing but wasted space. Then, after two
years in smog, I couldn't wait to run through fields again. So, I
decided to load up on classes and I graduated by the end of my
third year. Moved back here, designing clothes and hats for a
couple of years, selling them at church functions or online before
I saved enough to open my shop. And the rest is history, as they
say."

"That's really amazing. How big of a
family do you have?"

"A big one. My parents still live in
the main farm house. I have four older brothers and one younger
brother. We are all two years apart, except for the youngest. He's
three years younger than me. They all continued the farming
tradition. The oldest, Miles, started a farming corporation and
bought up land around my parents farm. He lives on the neighboring
farm and is currently building a house there. Number two, Marshall,
thought it was a good idea and bought some property to the south.
He and numbers three and four, Cade and Cy, live there. Even though
they both bought property connected to either my parent's farm or
one of the brothers. But Max’s place is the ultimate bachelor pad
with the three of them there. Then Pierce is the baby. He's at UK
getting his Master's in agriculture."

"I can't imagine having that many
brothers!"

"Even though they are all wildly
overprotective, it was a lot of fun. They never let me get away
with screaming and freaking out over spiders, worms, and muck. And
boy, can I fight, swim, and throw mud with the best of them! They
still laugh at the fact that I own this really girly shop, yet have
a rifle in the back of my truck," Paige snickered. "It's always fun
to confuse men, isn't it? Speaking of men, I thought Will would be
here. Have you talked to him at all?"

"No, I haven't talked to him. Tom did
tell me that Will talked to him about hiring me. That's all I was
hoping for, so I am sure I won't be seeing him too much. Especially
with Whitney here to see him. I am not the type of person to get in
the middle of that. I am pretty sure I am going to be too busy
setting up my own practice and studying for the bar to have time to
worry about men and their intentions. So," raising her glass of ice
tea, "here's to girls, their rifles, and law degrees."

Paige raised her iced tea and they
clinked glasses, "Here, here" Paige said before taking a
sip.

The tinkle of the bell over the door
had everyone turning to see who was coming in. John heaved his pot
belly through the door and before anyone could even wave he
bellowed out, "You won't believe what happened out at the Ashton
Farm."

The previously boisterous place went
quiet in a heartbeat. Kenna's stomach clenched with worry, even
though she knew she had no claim to the Ashtons, she couldn't stop
herself from worrying about them.

John took a deep breath, "Someone let
all the mares out of the pasture, about twenty of them. They were
wandering all over the farm and a couple of them were even spotted
wandering down the road. Pam was on her way home from a soccer
practice and had to slam on the brakes and swerve around a horse
just standing in the middle of the road. Thank God she saw it in
time. You all know how much damage a horse can do to a car." Kenna
and Paige shot a glance at one another. They knew first hand the
danger of a horse in the road.

"Took every hand on deck to round them
up. There is something going on out there. One of his grooms breaks
an arm, the mares being let out of the pasture, the tractor parts
that were stolen, fences that were in perfect condition having
nails removed, barn doors being left open… I am telling y’all, I
think someone is trying to run him out of town," John told his
friends, his eyes wide, and his face turning red.

Roger spoke up from his table, "I say
it's that no good Sheik. He came in here last year and bought up
both the McKinnley Farm and the Bush Farm. I bet he'd want to get
his neighbor's farm and Will is the unlucky guy to be his
neighbor." Kenna noticed several more heads bobbing in agreement
and then the noise level rose again as people started talking
amongst themselves about the trouble at the Ashton Farm.

Kenna turned to Paige, "What is going
on?" She had not heard such heated debates and such a strong
dislike for someone as she was witnessing about this
Sheik.

"Last year both the McKinney and Bush
Farms were seconds away from foreclosure. Sheik Mohtadi Ali Rahman
is a wealthy kid, although I guess I can't really call him a kid.
He's in his mid-thirties, but he has been spoon fed his whole life.
Anyway, he comes over from some little oil country in the Middle
East with all this money. He buys out both farms, but is very nice
about it. He could have given them pennies, but he gave them a fair
shake, even if no one likes to admit it. He builds a huge mansion
on it and is determined to start a Derby winning stable. He bought
some horses from the Ashtons and brought some from the Middle East.
This will be the first year to see how he does when the races start
at Keeneland in April. There are two prevailing theories. One, he's
an evil outsider and everything he does is wrong. And two, that he
isn't so bad. He's brought a lot of money to the town and hired a
lot of people to work out on the farm. More importantly, he's
keeping it a farm and not trying to develop it."

"It sounds like he's not so bad. I
don't understand the unwelcome response he's received. You all have
been great to me."

"It's a little different. You have a
connection to Keeneston in the form of the Ashtons. If old lady
Ashton liked your Granny, that's good enough for everyone here.
Also, you came in and met people. He hardly ever comes to town and
he didn't have a local showing him the ropes. That, and there is
this steady stream of different women out there that some of the
old guard doesn't like. Most importantly, everyone was willing to
give him a shot until all these accidents started a couple of
months ago."

"So, people are just assuming it's
him. It seems kinda strange to me. I mean, if he has all this money
he could just buy out the Ashtons if he wanted."