Chapter 1

Candy walked out of the house for just a few minutes. She and Jeremy had had an argument, it wasn't that the argument was really about anything serious, but still, she did not want to say things to hurt him, and she did not want to hear what he had to say. She went over in her mind what they had both said, how it had started and why it had ended the way it did. Jeremy had come in and was tired from a long day dealing with the work schedule, the men, some who had quit, others who weren't wanting to follow the safety precautions, getting hurt and then he had to fire them. Candy had had a bad day as well. The kids were acting up, everyone was on edge it seemed. Then Biddie came over and said something that set Candy off, and Candy had told her to leave. Biddie left upset. Soon Biddie saw Captain Clancy and he was drunk as usual and he had bumped into Biddie, when he tried to say he was sorry, Biddie looked at him and then walked away. Captain Clancy himself was a bit miffed about that and proceeded to go to Lottie's to get some more to drink, but Lottie had cut him off, so he could not get what he wanted. So, he in turn complained that she didn't know how to make a man happy. Which then got her upset and when Aaron Stemple came in, she yelled at him to put Clancy in Jail to dry out. Soon everyone in the whole town was unhappy, yelling at each other and no one really was happy anymore!

Jeremy was furious with Candy, how come she hadn't' had dinner ready when he got home? What was up with her? She always had dinner ready. Those kids kept yelling and screaming, how come she didn't quiet them down, didn't she know that he had had a bad day? Why was she yelling at him? He wasn't one of the kids! He stalked off to go down to the lake and sit on the rock to ponder all that was happening.

The air hung heavy for a late September day. The weather was kind of warm and humid, unusual for that time of year in Seattle. The town itself was in a holding pattern as was the weather and the people in the town were restless without knowing why. Candy had gone to her favorite rock and saw Jeremy standing there by their rock. She decided to go to the farther side of the lake, she was not ready to talk to him just yet. Jeremy noticed that she was there, but he said nothing. He thought she should come to him, not him go to her! So, he stayed with a mad determined look staring out at the water. Joshua had come down from his work. He himself was tired and did not care to talk to anyone but he saw Jeremy by the lake, so he decided to find out what was happening.

"Hey Jeremy, why so glum?" Joshua said as he came up to his brother. Jeremy just looked at him. He didn't want to talk about anything, but he also wanted to say something about how he felt about having to make the decisions on who to fire and who to keep.

"J-j-josh, you know we- we had a rough-da- day today! Herb and Jack getting hurt and then I-I-I ha-had to fire L-L-Larry because he c-c-c-caused the accident that almost k-k-killed Ben! I am tired of this. W-who-why do I-I have to d-d-do-do that?" Josh looked at him, he knew they both had a rough day. If he answered with something, anything, he thought Jeremy might just loose it. So, he just looked at his brother and said:

"I will see you later!" and walked away. Jeremy didn't like that, and he ran after his brother.

"Y-Yo-You c-c-can't w-w-walk away!" said Jeremy who was running and could not get enough air in his lungs, and he had to stop. Joshua was a bit faster and hurried over to the cabin. He wished Jason was there, Jason would be able to help! Or so Joshua thought. But Jason was gone, he had to go to Olympia for business. When Joshua got down to the town, he saw Aaron Stemple coming out of the saloon.

"Joshua Bolt, I need to see you now! In my office!" Stemple said sounding angry and upset. Joshua looked at him and he thought 'that is the first time that Aaron has yelled at me?' He followed Aaron to his office and waited until Aaron was seated at his desk.

"What do you want, Aaron?" Joshua asked.

"I know Jason isn't here, but I need you and your brother to sign these papers. I had to rework the contract and I need them signed as soon as possible!" said Aaron. Joshua picked up the contract and was going to read it. Aaron said"

"In the contract I changed the date to reflect the actual date that you will have the lumber to my mill by. It is all above board and legal, you won't need to read it. Just get your brother Jeremy to sign it and everything will be fine!" Aaron said again to Joshua.

"Well, I want to read it over with Jeremy and Jason, when he gets back!" Joshua said scanning the 'fine print.'

"There is no need for Jason, he told me that he is retiring and will no longer be running the business! So, I just naturally thought that you and Jeremy were still running the business and since one of you is retiring, I have to rework the contract! It is all there, basically the same contract that you have had since we first started, just took Jason's name off." Said Aaron standing up and getting ready to walk out the door.

"Take it home and look it over. I'll give you a couple of days to read it and sign. Now, I am going home to dinner." He ushered Joshua out the door and locked it. Leaving Joshua standing there looking at the contract.