And little did she know, but they weren’t going to string it.
Conrad had purchased a mobile storage container, and he’d spent an hour on the phone with Brandon last night to make sure there would be enough space to partially bury it, put a couple of steps down so Lenore could go in and out, and house all of the batteries there.
It would keep them cooler in the summer to be partially buried, as well as somewhat insulated in the winter. He planned to bury the lines over to Lenore’s cabin and then raise them up and attach them to the inverter that would go on the front side corner of her house.
Getting power to the barn and the second cabin would require more batteries, more line, at least two more inverters. When Conrad had started to outline that, Brandon had stopped him.
“I don’t need power in the second cabin,” he’d told him. “I’m a temporary hire, remember? The idea is to make it livable for Lenore, and she doesn’t need power in both cabins.”
Brandon could still hear the lengthy pause that had come through the line when he’d said that. He hadn’t known what Conrad was thinking—and still didn’t.
A great rumble filled the air, interrupting his thoughts. Brandon turned toward the entrance of the homestead, unsurprised to see a massive, full-size excavator bumping and grumbling onto the land.
“What in the world is happening?” Lenore demanded.
Brandon chuckled that she could still be surprised. After all, Conrad had a lot of money—and hadn’t Lenore learned that money could buy anything?
Brandon certainly had, mostly after Duke had married Arizona. Perhaps he was just a little bit more used to having someone around who had no problem paying for things—and actually got excited to do it.
Behind the excavator came the enormous king cab of a tractor trailer.
“That is not going to fit through my gate,” Lenore yelled, and she took a few long strides toward the gate.
But the semi-truck fit just fine, as did the long bed carrying the storage container. Behind that came another truck, this one with a lightning bolt going into a battery and the wordsPower Upon the side.
Brandon took a few steps and linked his arm through Lenore’s.
“Come on back over here, sweetheart,” he said. “Let’s just let ‘em work.”
She gaped at the equipment and men coming onto the homestead, and Brandon dropped his hand to take hers.
“Walk with me for a minute,” he said, tugging her away from the circus.
“I don’t want to walk with you for a minute,” she said. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you if you walk with me for a minute.”
She glared at him, but Brandon simply kept a tight hold of her hand and stepped onto the road now that the vehicles had all passed.
“What do you think of the water tower?” Brandon asked. Mitch had brought it that morning, and Brandon and Lenore had left the others to help him install it.
“I think it’s incredible,” Lenore said, her voice still set on Grumpy Cat. “A little weathered, maybe, but Colt said it should be fine. I guess we’ll see when the water truck shows up.”
Brandon wouldn’t look at her, because he didn’t want to see the irritation on her face. “I know Conrad is new for you,” he said. “But the man’s been through a lot, and he really wants to help people. Almost like a…penance.”
“He didn’t do anything to me,” Lenore said.
“No, but he feels a great stewardship over his money. And as he told me last night, when the Lord tells him to do something, he doesn’t feel like he can ignore it.”
Lenore sighed out a long breath, clearly exasperated with the day. They cleared the fence and kept going. “I’m just wondering what you thought today would be,” Brandon said. “If not this.”
“I don’t know,” Lenore said, and at least all of the anger had seeped out of her voice. “I guess I should’ve known better.” She looked over her shoulder. “But really? A storage container? Those things are tens of thousands of dollars.”
“I think that one was seventy-five hundred,” Brandon said coolly. “He’s going to store all your batteries in there. They’re going to dig a line under your road all the way to your house, and he’s going to attach it to the inverter. Then, you’ll have power in your house, and your lights will work. And you can get a real refrigerator that works. And you can vacuum and iron. Make coffee in an electric coffee maker, and tea on the stove after filling your kettle from your sink.”
He looked over to her and gave a shrug like he didn’t care about anything. “Heat water for a shower.”
Lenore looked like she might cry at any moment, her bottom lip trembling as she fought her emotions. Brandon pulled her into his chest, much like he had on that very first day he’d come to the homestead.
