Ryder snickers. “Yeah, he did that in the car with me last night and I nearly shit myself.”
Aiden shakes his head, laughing. “So what are we doing with the rooster? I can bring him back to the farm but I can’t give you twenty grand for him.”
Ryder waves him off. “Not looking to make my money back on the bird. If you have space for him where he can be happy and comfortable, that would be amazing.” He thinks for a moment. “And if you’re up for it, I can buy you a couple beers as a thank you?”
Aiden nods, reaching out for a friendly handshake. “It’s a deal, man.”
With that, Aiden loads the rooster into the back of his truck. He does a quick U-turn in the dirt and dips into the grass to pass Ryder’s BMW on the way out, waving as he passes us.
“Bye Roo!” I call out, and I swear I hear him cluck in response.
Ryder grins at me. “Aw, you made friends with the rooster.”
I snort and decide to ignore the comment as I head back toward the house. “Incapable of answering your phone?”
His brow furrows as he glances between his car and me, as if he can’t decide whether to move it or continue with our conversation. “Did you call me? Roo pecked it.”
I raise my eyebrows as Ryder takes a few quick steps to catch up with me. “The rooster killed your phone? Convenient excuse.”
“Seriously. I think he saw his reflection. I had to run out and get a new one this morning.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know what to do with you.”
His response comes quickly. “Celebrate. Reed agreed to the proposal we submitted. We can continue with the plan.”
I eye him, very aware that the plan’s proximity to my land wasn’t resolved.
It wasn’t close enough to be ahugeproblem, and if Mayor Reed is willing to overlook that in favor of a plan that does seem minimally invasive—at least compared to what I expected—I’m not going to make a huge deal about it.
I am, however, going to keep an extremely careful eye on Ryder’s moves. On Reed’s interference or lack thereof. Because although this is probably the best-case scenario, the sunflower farmisbeing left in the dust again, the proximity of the new development conveniently forgotten the moment a totally irrelevant issue is corrected.
“I guess that’s a good thing.”
“Agreatthing.” When I don’t say anything else, he continues, “And by the way, Steve can come take a look at your wiring in a couple days if you’re able to either cancel a reservation or have them check in late.”
“It’ll take that long for him to look?”
Ryder nods.
I groan. “Well, it’s something Ihaveto do, right?”
He nods again.
“Okay. Well, let me know what time works for him and I’ll see what I can do about reservations.”
He gives me a big grin. “Pleasure working with you, Evie Harper.”
15
RYDER
In the same way that I trust Sana fully with my business, I trust Steve and any contractor he approves for anything electrical, mechanical, HVAC, or plumbing.
I meet him at Eve’s barn bright and early. She wants to let the night’s guests continue with their stay uninterrupted, so we’re not allowed to make any noise or go into the barn early, but if I had to guess, most of the wonky wiring we’re dealing with is in the open area underneath the loft anyway.
I had a cleaning crew come out yesterday to take care of the area before we start work, and judging by the lack of smoke coming out of Eve’s ears, she hasn’t noticed yet. They didn’t touch any of the large farm equipment, but they did organize a lot of the small stuff and clear the cobwebs from the ceilings.
And lo and behold, there’s a concrete floor beneath all that dirt.
