My Tribal Rule Said Marry Or Matchmake novel · Chapter 12 of 32
Chapter 12: Pie Supper
Nobody in the yard laughed at that.
A few people looked at their shoes.
The Tilden mill was closing. Harvest money was down a third. Bentley had just said the word cash out loud in a hollow full of people counting pennies.
He saw it land.
He smiled again, frosting and all, and got in his car.
***
By Monday, the flyers were on every mailbox.
PIE SUPPER. SATURDAY. COMMUNITY HALL. EVERY FAMILY WELCOME.
Under that, in smaller print: Come hear a generous offer for your share of the Hollow Fund.
Breanne had driven down from Chicago to hand them out.
Her mama walked beside her with a clipboard.
Granny read the flyer at the kitchen table and tore it into eight neat pieces.
"Pie supper," she said. "That girl couldn't bake a pie if you held a gun on her."
"She's not baking anything. She's buying."
"How much?"
I'd already heard from three people.
"Ten thousand dollars a family. Cash. To sign a pledge to vote the fund dissolved at the harvest meeting and the Ridgeline shares sold to him."
Granny put her hand on her chest.
"Ten thousand is more than some of these families clear in a year."
"I know."
Jeb was leaning in the kitchen doorway, turning his cap in his hands.
"So we go talk to them first," he said.
***
We started that afternoon, in his truck, with a list of thirteen families on the back of a feed-store receipt.
The first house was a widow with twins headed to Morehead State in August.
Two of Jeb's twelve checks.
"Ten thousand dollars," she said finally. "From that man in the sweater."
"Yes, ma'am."
"And if the fund dies, my girls don't get their checks."
"No, ma'am," Jeb said.
She looked at me.
"Can you beat ten thousand?"
"I can't buy your vote," I said. "I won't."
Keep reading free with an account. Start My Tribal Rule Said Marry Or Matchmake from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 11 · All chapters · Chapter 13 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend