Life After Wife (Three Magic Words Trilogy, #3)(25)

“Guess that’s one way to deal with it,” Gus said.





CHAPTER SEVEN


The actual cleaning began right after lunch.

The fighting began ten minutes after that, when the two chiefs disagreed on what the hired hands should do.

All the equipment had been moved outside: the ranch’s two biggest John Deere tractors, two four-wheelers, and the company work truck. At that point Sophie figured they’d get out the four-foot brooms, sweep the joint out, make sure the cobwebs were knocked down, and call it a day.

She’d located half a dozen wide brooms and scanned the interior of the barn for spiders and scorpions. She saw a couple of bugs scoot off in search of a hidey-hole, but, after it was swept out, she’d bring out the foggers and that would take care of them. Tomorrow the hired hands would sweep up whatever dead varmints the fog had killed, and then they’d help round the cattle up into pens for the sale. She’d done this the year before, back when it was just a cattle sale and not a Broadway production.

She’d picked up a broom when she heard Elijah shout.

“It’s here!” Elijah was as excited as a little boy on Christmas morning.

“What?” Sophie ran to the door and shaded her eyes with both her hands.

“The power washer. They said they’d deliver it right after lunch, and, by golly, they are right on time,” Elijah said.

“Power washer?” Sophie asked.

Elijah nodded. “We could rent it for a hundred dollars or buy one for five hundred. Since we’ll be using it every year, I bought it.”

Both of Sophie’s eyebrows tried to jump to the top of her brow. “You didn’t consult with me.”

“Nope.”

“We are partners, Elijah. That means…”

He set his jaw and his blue eyes narrowed. “If I’d bought the thing with ranch money, I would have talked to you. I paid for it. It’s my power washer. Does that make you feel better, Miz Queen of Sheba?”

“What on earth do you need a power washer for?” She ignored the barb and kept pace with him as he motioned the pickup truck to back up to the garage.

“To really clean this place out before the caterers come with their snow-white tablecloths,” he said.

“Are you Elijah Jones?” A tall, blonde delivery girl crawled out of the truck. Denim shorts looked like they’d been spray-painted on her body; her shirt hugged every curve, leaving little to the imagination; big hoop earrings touched her shoulders and drew the eye away from her short spiky hair. Her eyes were brown, and the way they scanned Elijah from boots to ponytail, evidently she liked what she saw.

“Yes, I am,” Elijah said.

Pure old jealousy shot through Sophie’s heart like cupid’s famous arrow.

“It’s five hundred forty-nine dollars and sixty-nine cents plus twenty dollars for delivery. I was told you’d have a check ready for me,” the woman said.

“Follow me. The business checkbook is in the house. Gus, holler at a couple of the men to come get this off her truck,” Sophie yelled over her shoulder.

Elijah took two steps toward Sophie and looked down into her eyes. “I said I was paying for the thing.”

“And I say the business is paying for it. You leave; it stays. I might want to spray something else with it after you’re gone.” She did not blink.

“I’m not going anywhere, darlin’.” He drew the last word out into five syllables and made it sound downright mean.

“Neither am I, except to the house to write this woman a check,” she said.

Gus brought two men from the barn, and they all three leaned on the truck, staring at the apparatus. Gus removed his straw hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Looks like it’ll have some power. Never thought of using one of them things to wash things down. I betcha it’ll do the work in half the time, but I hear they make your arms pretty darn sore.”

Elijah walked away from Sophie without another word and joined the men at the truck. Sophie motioned for the woman to follow her and stomped toward the ranch house, the dirt billowing up behind her cowboy boots.

The woman had to hurry to catch up and was out of breath when they reached the house. Sophie opened the back door and stood to one side to let her enter first.

“Would you like a glass of iced tea or a soda? There’s Pepsi and Dr Pepper,” Sophie asked.

“Dr Pepper, please. It’s too hot to run,” she sputtered.

Sophie grinned as she removed one of Elijah’s sodas and handed it to the girl. “Honey, that wasn’t even jogging. That was just a good old, angry fast-walk.”

“Well, I live in air conditioning, work in it, and even when they talk me into a delivery, I ride in it. And to top it all off, I work out in a gym that is air-conditioned. I do not run in the heat,” she said.

“Oh, I thought you were here to use the power washer. At least give us a demonstration,” Sophie said.

The girl gulped down several drinks of the cold soda pop before answering. “No, ma’am! Not me. I’ve seen the guys at work use one of those things. It’ll wear you plumb out in a hurry. Let your husband do the washin’, honey. You just stand back and tell him what a good job he’s done.”

Sophie almost choked. “He’s not my husband!”