Chapter 2

Larry and Jerry both worked the farm. They were in their mid to late twenties Larry being a year older and both were married and had kids. They each had a house built on the property. Their parents gave them each five acres of land of their own. The houses were at least a hundred yards from each other. They were really a close knit family. It was full of love.

Jerry offered to take me in to town to the motel. On the way we talked a bit. He mentioned that when Alex came to live with them that he was just a kid himself. He said that Alex followed him everywhere. To him she was his little sister. They had heard that she was a twin but never met her sister. He laughed when he mentioned that Alex was independent and wanted to do everything herself.

I asked him why he and his brothers came out with rifles when I pulled up. Did they think I was a revenuer or something? He laughed and told me they didn't do home brew anymore. They really were legit farmers and were just trying to make a life for their families.

The reason they came out with rifles was that Alex had told them that she had gotten a few harassing phone calls. She had no idea who it was from but it bothered her in this day and age. She expected it was from a couple of the guys at college that bothered her, but she couldn't be sure.

Jerry said he thought that I might have been one of them who had come to the farm. They were just going to scare me. They tried to trace the calls but it came from the bar down the road. It was sort of a college hangout. After I signed into the motel I asked Jerry to take me to the bar. I wanted a look around at who might be harassing Alex, maybe we could get lucky.

As we drank a beer I asked Jerry about Alex's boyfriend, Lance. He told me Lance has liked Alex ever since high school. They even went to the prom together. The problem was Lance was crazy about Alex but she just liked him as a friend. He knows it but doesn't stop trying.

It was about that time that three guys walked up to Jerry and I. They looked like smart ass college kids and somewhat drunk. The smallest guy named Will was doing all the talking. Saying things like, "Hey where's your sister. Damn, she sure is a looker."

Jerry just sort of shrugged it off. He mentioned to me that his father said not to get into it with these drunk college guys unless he had no choice. It was better to walk away. As I mentioned earlier, I was well built and very capable of taking care of myself. When they started saying how they would like to get Alex drunk and what they would do to her it pissed me off.

I looked at the biggest of the three assholes and said to him, "Hey, Buddy! If your little friend doesn't close his filthy mouth and stop talking about my girlfriend, I'm going to kick your ass."

"Who the fuck are you, anyway?" said the little guy. "Don't give me that shit! She's not your old lady."

I reached in my wallet and took out two pictures of Lexi and set them on the end of the table. One was Lexi and I kissing and the other was signed, 'To my boyfriend, I love you Tom.'

I then stood up and cold cocked the biggest guy. I hit him first in the stomach and then hard in the chest right at his heart. He fell to the floor holding his chest. The other two jumped back and said, "Sorry Man, We don't want any trouble. We were just messing with Jerry here."

"If I ever hear of any of you bothering my woman or anyone in her family, I'll be back and I won't be so easy on you. I suggest when you see Alex in school that you apologize for harassing and scaring her. So you know, this isn't a threat, it's a fact. I'll be around for awhile."

Jerry and I finished our beer and left the bar. "Damn, Tom, that was something else. Where did you get those pictures of Alex?"

"It wasn't Alex, it was her twin sister that passed away. They were identical twins. She was my girlfriend. I figured that might put a scare into those idiots. Don't mention it to Alex, I don't want her mad at me," I laughed.

The next morning I arrived at the house and Alice invited me to breakfast. She had pancakes, eggs, potatoes and bacon. I couldn't believe they ate like this most every day. Bob said they always work it off. When Alex entered the kitchen I felt my heart beat faster. There wasn't a lot I could do about it.

It was Sunday but the accountant's wife was still going to be there to give us the files. The Smith's headed for church and asked me if I wanted to go along. I told them maybe next time.

Later when Alex and I arrived at the accountant's office I felt sorry for the lady. She told us that her husband's stroke hit him pretty hard. The doctor mentioned to him that he would probably have to retire; that his speech and probably his memory would be affected.

She told us that he would have to sell his business or find someone to run it. She even told me if I was interested in it that they would make me a good offer. I took the five years of the Smith's back tax filings. Mrs. Henry said they also had it backed up on the computer. She let Alex know that she was sorry that her husband wouldn't be able to help them and hoped it would all work out for them.

On the way back to the house Alex asked me a lot of questions about her sister. I answered them as best I could. She said she was up most of the night reading the diary. She told me about some of the dates that Lexi had mentioned and she thought back and could correlate a lot of the dates. She wished she would have kept a diary as well.

"She died on Earth Day didn't she?" asked Alex. I nodded in the affirmative.

"I know this might seem odd but this diary has really brought me close to her. We may have been in different states and lead different lives' but I can see we also had so much in common. I don't know how to thank you. There aren't very many men who would have done what you did. I can see why she fell in love with you."

"How did you know she died on Earth day? I don't remember telling anyone that." I asked.

"Around here we celebrate earth day since there are so many farmers. We plant our crops in the earth and take care of them. God oversees our farms and helps our crops grow. On earth day we had a fair in town. I got off one of the amusement rides and felt deathly sick. I figured that was when Lexi was in her accident.

"I ended up going home and Mom was going to take me to the hospital when the pain went away. All of a sudden a dark void came over me like I just lost a best friend. I began to cry. I talked to Mom but we couldn't explain it. Now I know that it was when my sister died."

I was lost for words so I just looked at her. I had to ask myself if I was having feelings for Alex or was she just so much like Lexi and I missed her. We got back to the house and Alex showed me a room with a desk and computer that I could use to begin going over the taxes. She explained that she had farm chores to do and would see me later.

Bob came in and said we never discussed my fee. I told him to let me look over the files before quoting any kind of a price. I wanted to see what type of problems we were having first. He brought in his letters from the IRS questioning deductions and income.

After spending a few hours going over some of the taxes Bob came in and invited me for dinner. "Well, do you think you will be able to help us out?" asked Bob.

"As a matter of fact I think we can have it done in about five days. I see where the deductions on the farm equipment weren't applied correctly in last year's return. I haven't looked at your past tax years yet but I'm figuring it's why they went back to look at the previous taxes. It's an error that's often made. So the IRS disallowed those deductions until you have them corrected.

"There were also a few minor errors but shouldn't affect the outcome too much. No need to go into all of them with you. That's why you have someone do your taxes for you, to save you all the aggravation."

"So, have you arrived at a cost yet?" asked Bob.

"I usually get fifty dollars an hour for personal tax preparations and a hundred an hour for business. I'm willing to do this for you for twenty dollars a day plus dinner. It should take me less than a week to correct them all."

"Are you serious? You're willing to correct five years of our taxes for twenty dollars a day?" asked Alice.

"Plus dinner," I added, smiling at Alice. I looked over at Alex and she was smiling at me.

"Why would you do that?" asked Bob. "We don't want to take advantage of you."

"You're not taking advantage of me. I'm just glad I could help," I replied.

"At least say you'll stay here to save you from renting a motel room. I won't take no for an answer," Bob responded.

"Ok, it's a deal. Room and board plus twenty dollars a day till your taxes are completed." I was hoping I wasn't making a mistake. It wasn't the money or the room and board, it was all about Alex and I knew it.

They fixed a nice room for me. At least I wasn't anywhere near Alex's room. I had a little trouble getting to sleep with my mind wandering. When I woke up the next morning Alex was already out the door and headed to college. I had breakfast and headed into the office to work on the taxes.