And those words sent the little wheel in my head spinning. I glanced over to the barn, then back to the hunk before me. "How many?"
"Two."
Perfect. "If you can get the barn back in shape while you're at it, I'll let you move them in and cover both the stall and the hay. Deal?"
Luke chuckled but offered his hand. "Deal. Should prolly warn ya that most people don't sweeten the offer halfway through negotiations, but I'll take it."
"And you just agreed to fix my barn, Mr. Barrett." I paused to let that sink in. "But I'm gonna need the air conditioner working as soon as possible. My stuff should be arriving today or tomorrow. Have time to help now?"
"Cows are fine until sundown." The look on his face turned smug. "So what do I get if I can fix it before the end of the day?"
I headed back toward the house, answering over my shoulder. "Dinner. Isn't that how things work out here in the sticks, cowboy?"
"It sure is, princess," he mumbled, sounding a little too pleased with himself.
Chapter Four
Imanaged to get the air fixed that night, but I didn't have time to stay for supper, even though Violet tried to insist. I begged off, saying I had cows to feed, which was true. I also had a funny feeling that Violet wasn't the kind of girl to eat supper at, well, supper time. She'd countered with a pair of bills - the hundred dollar kind - and told me that if I didn't like getting paid, I didn't need to come back. As I left, I promised to show up and start on the barn in the morning. Besides, what else did I have to do on a Saturday?
Mostly, it was because I really wanted to move my horses over. While I was at it, I could take a look at Bea's tractor and see what kind of condition it was in. If things were bad, I might be able to borrow something from the Wallace brothers. If I could get it running? Well, that was just one more favor Violet would owe me, and I knew exactly how I intended to collect.
Just as I was dumping the last bag of cubes to the last herd of cows, my phone started to vibrate. My first thought was Violet, but when I looked at the screen, I knew I was wrong. "Hey, baby," I answered.
"Daddy?" The girl's voice was a whisper. "Can I stay with you tonight? Mom's fiancé is here."
"Did you ask her?"
"No." She was still whispering, which meant she wasn't supposed to be calling. "I was hoping you'd ask if it was ok."
I sighed and readjusted my hat, trying to think fast. "Well, I suppose I could always take you out to get some summer clothes, huh?"
"I don't want any more clothes," she grumbled.
"Your mom bought you any lately? Or did you wanna spend the night there?"
"Ok. I guess we can go shopping."
"That's the spirit," I told her. "Now lemme call your mom and see if we can spring ya outta there, ok?"
"K, bye Dad! Thanks."
"Bye, cupcake."
I paused long enough to toss the empty feed bags into the bed of my truck, then called the person I liked talking to the least. The phone rang four times before a woman finally mumbled, "What now, Luke?"
"Hey, Meredith. I know it's not my weekend, but I just got some extra money and have to run into town tomorrow. You mind if Faith stays with me tonight? I figured we could pick up something for her to wear over the summer, but I was planning on leaving here pretty early. Just be easier if she crashed at my place." When she didn't jump on that, I decided to sweeten the offer. "Maybe even get her a bathing suit and some new shoes."
"Where'd you get money?" she snapped.
Thankful she couldn't see it, I rolled my eyes. "Fixed the air up at Vera Dawson's old place. Not much, but I figured Faith could use a little pick-me-up. I'm off Spring Creek right now, so I could run past there in half an hour, if you're cool with it?"
"She hasn't eaten dinner yet, Luke."
"I haven't either. I can take her to Bev's or something. I mean, unless you had plans?"
Meredith grumbled under her breath like she was disgusted. Then again, the woman said everything in her life was my fault. Not like she tried to do anything to make it better. She just enjoyed blaming me because it was easy, and I'd gotten used to taking it. I had made a mess of things, but she was as much to blame as I was.
"I have Brody over this weekend," she told me, "so if you want to keep her until Sunday at church, I guess that'll be fine."
