Read The Blossom Sisters for Free Online Page B

it down, dry it out, and pack it away.”
    Gus finished with his sleeping bag and waited until Barney pulled down the zipper of the canvas door. The rain was coming down in sheets. They made a run for the house but got drenched in the process.
    â€œWe’re wet to the skin. You want to stomp in some puddles before we go in? Fling some mud the way we used to?”
    Gus grinned as he kicked off his shoes, which were already soaked, and ran like a crazy man around the yard, Barney whooping and hollering right behind him. Twenty minutes later, they rolled in a huge pile of mud beside a flower bed that one day soon would be sprouting with blooms. They were ten years old again, yelling at each other and pelting mud pies in every direction. Finally, exhausted, they lay down on the grass and let the cool rain clean off the mud.
    â€œI needed to do that, Gus. I really did. I think you did, too. Now we have to go back to being the responsible adults everyone thinks we are.”
    Gus was the first one up on his feet. He reached down for Barney’s hand. “I don’t know what I would do without you, Barney. I’m sorry if I don’t say it often enough, but I love you. I couldn’t love and respect you more if you were a blood brother.”
    â€œI feel the same way. The only difference is I have a brother who isn’t worth a good spit. Hell, I don’t even want anyone to know he’s related to me. C’mon, I’ll race you to the house!” Barney bellowed.
    Gus grinned as he wondered what Barney’s millionaire clients would think of him if they could see him now. They’d probably run for the hills or pull out their hair. The visual was so funny to Gus, he burst out laughing. And Barney wouldn’t give a good rat’s ass. Anyone worried about their tonsils simply wouldn’t care. Gus was still laughing when he stripped off the soaking-wet clothes and stepped into a shower with twenty-one jets to pummel his sore body. For sure, he wasn’t ten years old anymore.
    Â 
    Wilson leaped up, hopped over Winnie, and raced to the front door. Company!
    â€œOh, Lord, who is it this time? Don’t tell me Augustus has returned,” Rose said as she ran after Wilson and Winnie, who had finally woken up long enough to wonder what the commotion was all about. She let loose with two sharp barks to show she was still in the game.
    They came from all corners of the house: Iris and Violet from the packing room, Myrt and Gert, Shady Pines star ambulatory residents bounding down the steps, their aprons flapping in the breeze they created. Henry, another resident of Shady Pines—and their driver—stuck his head out of the doorway to the dining room to see what was going on. Six other residents of Shady Pines hung over the upstairs balcony, peering down into the foyer.
    â€œThis can’t be good,” Violet hissed.
    â€œAugustus is sending in his big gun to plead his case,” Iris hissed in return.
    â€œWe have to let him in,” Rose said. “We don’t have any other choice. We’ll give him fifteen minutes, that’s it.” Rose then waved her arm to indicate that all the other spectators should disappear.
    Rose waited till the house turned silent before she opened the door. She smiled, but it was more like a grimace. The three sisters greeted Barney warmly and headed for the kitchen. That’s when Rose remembered the ledger she had been working on. Well, she’d just close it and hope for the best. Wilson and Winnie continued to bark now that a friend had come to visit, a friend who always had treats and was good for a few belly scratches.
    Right off the bat, Barney knew he had interrupted something of major importance. The Blossom sisters were nervous and jittery, and it took them a full five minutes before they offered him coffee. Their expressions clearly showed they hoped he wouldn’t take them up on the offer. He didn’t.
    I