Read Online Bitter Harvest by Sheila Connolly - Free Book Online

sensed—mainly that he was trying to be everything to everybody because of his own family’s history. Was that a bad thing? He was a good person, and he did make a difference in a lot of people’s lives. Could he dial that back and pay a bit more attention to his own wants? Could she, should she ask that of him? Trying to change people never worked, and anyway, she was still working on keeping her head on straight. As she had told him, she’d had a difficult year, with a lot of changes, and she hadn’t processed them all yet. And she couldn’t draw any conclusions until she knew if her business was turning a profit.
    What if it wasn’t? Would she cut her losses and quit? Leave Granford? Leave Seth? She’d pretty much exhausted her capital, between the barn improvements, buying a tractor, upgrading some other much-needed equipment, and getting necessary supplies, so if it turned out that the orchard couldn’t support her, she’d have to find some other income. Which wouldn’t be easy, given the local economy. That was one problem she didn’t think Seth could fix. She wondered briefly if he was helping to support his mother. He certainly didn’t live like he had a lot of money. Not that money or possessions seemed to matter to him.
    Once she’d located her skillets, and a pot that would withstand a fire, Meg had little left to do. She pulled out her cell phone and turned it on, and was surprised to get a signal. She hit the speed dial number for Bree’s cell.
    Bree answered after the fourth ring. “Wha?”
    “Sorry, did I wake you?”
    “Meg? Sort of. You okay there?”
    “Well, the furnace quit and the power’s out, but other than that, I think so. How about you?”
    “’Bout the same—no power, and the furnace here has an electronic ignition so it’s not working either. This is a bad one.”
    “You heard anything about when it’s going to stop?”
    “Not since last night. Don’t expect to see me anytime soon.”
    “That’s fine. I’ll manage. Seth’s here.”
    “Oho!” Bree chortled.
    “Whatever. Enjoy your time with Michael, and I’ll see you when I see you. Bye.”
    Seth still wasn’t back, so Meg decided to check the rest of the house and make sure there were no problems. She put Lolly’s food on the counter, then headed for the hallway. When she pulled open the front door, she found the outer storm door blocked by drifted snow as well. Peering out, she realized she couldn’t even tell where the road began : the snow rolled on unbroken as far as she could see. She slammed the door shut quickly, and poked her head into the room across the hall. More or less the same: snow piled at least up to the windowsills outside. Upstairs she used the bathroom, briefly splashing very cold water on her face, then checked out the other rooms. All were equally cold, colder now than the ground floor rooms. She shut the doors behind her again, and went back downstairs in time to meet Seth coming into the kitchen with an armload of wood.
    “Bacon and eggs work for you? We can toast bread or bagels or whatever on forks, right?” she asked. “Oh, and I talked to Bree. It sounds like it’s as bad in Amherst as it is here.”
    “I’m not surprised. I’ll get the fire going.”
    An hour later they were swabbing their empty plates with toast that was only slightly burnt. “What now?” Meg asked. “Do we have to do the dishes? I mean, there’s no hot water.”
    “You could boil some. But I’d wait until you have a whole batch of dishes. We do need to ration the wood.”
    “So how are we supposed to keep warm?” When she saw Seth’s expression, she giggled. “I mean, apart from that?”
    “We keep moving. Is there any cleaning or sorting you need to do?”
    “Well, we can’t run a vacuum. But I’ll admit there are parts of the house I haven’t even touched—no time and no need. Maybe this is a good opportunity. Can we skip the attic?”
    “Why?” Seth asked.
    “I don’t like it. There