“Cold would be fine.” He hadn’t sat yet. “I can help myself.”
She dipped her chin and finally nodded. “I suppose if Brady thinks you’re family, then so do the rest of us. There’s tea and lemonade in the fridge.”
The man’s eyes opened wide. “Fresh lemonade? The stuff that Kade spoke of as the elixir of the gods?”
That had her laughing. “I don’t know about that, but yes, fresh squeezed with a little strawberry too.” For a second she thought, Josh might start to drool.
As Josh took a seat and eyed the fresh baked cookie bars, Kade and Cassie sauntered arm in arm into the kitchen, whispering softly to each other. Yep, her heart swelled at how happy her children were. Not that they weren’t happy before when they were still single, but this was just a little different and made Alice’s heart sing.
“Okay, everyone take a seat. I’ve got a pie cooling if anyone prefers a blueberry sour cream.”
Josh let out a low moan, then immediately blushed. “Sorry ma’am, but Kade used to talk about you and your cooking so often, that we all wished we could teleport to Texas, but I never thought there’d be a day when I’d actually get to taste something you made.”
“And that, young man, will get you an extra large slice.” She smiled at him and patted his shoulder before indeed giving him a hefty hunk of her son’s favorite pie.
Sitting down between his buddy and his wife, Kade glanced down at Brady lying at Josh’s feet. “Traitor.”
The dog twitched one ear and Alice would have bet the ranch that Brady shrugged a shoulder.
Ready to settle in and listen to the free-flowing banter between her son, his wife, and his friend, her phone buzzed with a message. She almost ignored it, but decided with all thechaos of the found money, the new cameras, and the search for Ray, she should at least check who it was. She immediately recognized the Florida area code. Brooklyn.Trying to reach Clint, any idea where I can find him?
When that man focused on a chore, a bomb could go off around him and he wouldn’t flinch. “If y’all will excuse me a minute, I need to check on something in the barn.”
Three heads nodded, but the conversation didn’t slow.
She really missed having a full house. Heading out the back door, she moved toward the barn, pleased to find Benny mucking stalls. “How’s it going?”
“Just fine, Ms. Sweet.”
She looked around, craned her neck toward the tack room. “Any idea where Clint is?”
Benny shook his head. “No ma’am. He said he had something he’d been putting off too long, but didn’t tell me what.”
“I see. Thanks.” What could he possibly have been putting off too long? Making her way back to the house, she considered the possibilities. For Brooklyn to reach out to her in search of Clint, he must really want to talk to her new foreman, but where to find him. She’d made it halfway to the main house when she spotted Clint pushing a wheel barrow across the yard, disappearing around the side of the house. Picking up her pace, she shifted trajectory to catch up with him. When she reached the side and found him dumping dirt, she stuttered to a halt. “What the heck?”
The only way to make a surprise stick on a place where ten people crossed the yard every five minutes would be to start in the middle of the night. That, unfortunately, had not been an option. Instead, taking a few hours early every morning, he’dmanaged to work quietly along the side of the house without drawing attention to himself. The trickiest part had been hauling the sand and compost from the opposite side of the house without anyone noticing. Until now.
The sound of Alice’s voice held more curiosity than anger, but either way, he’d been busted before he was completely finished.
Her mouth hanging slightly open, her gaze darted left then right before meeting his. “You cleared out all the weeds.”
Even though it was obvious, he nodded.
Immediately, her focus shifted to the piles of dirt and compost and sand to one side. Now she was taking inventory. The mountain of overgrown weeds and vines had been cleared, the weatherworn picket fence had been replaced with fresh treated wood, a swing gate with oiled hinges, and lined with chicken wire to keep hungry critters from munching.
Turning the soil for the beds was the last portion of this project. A few more hours and it would have been ready. “I’m almost finished.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
He certainly hoped that was a good thing.
Shaking her head, she seemed to be searching for words. “You didn’t lose the bet.”
“No. But I figured it needed doing anyway. I mean if you were wanting to work the garden again it had to be done. Besides, homegrown always tastes better than store-bought.”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “That’s why I was thinking it was time to clean this up.”
“I hope you don’t mind.” It hadn’t occurred to him that she might not want him to do this.
