Life After Wife (Three Magic Words Trilogy, #3)(30)

Elijah was disappointed. He’d wanted another few minutes alone with her. For a second, he’d wondered if the sparks from when their hands touched that afternoon had set the fire to burning in the first place. There’d sure been enough to blister his fingertips and make him want to draw her to his chest, maybe even see if those lips were as sweet as they looked.

“Sounds like they don’t like their close quarters.” Sophie giggled.

The sound of bawling cows was music to Elijah’s ears, easing the tension from his tired arms and chest. He hadn’t realized how uptight he’d been until that moment. He chuckled and it turned into laughter, which quickly changed to a full-fledged guffaw with Sophie laughing right along with him.

“It’s not that funny,” Gus said.

“No, it’s not, but I’m so tickled that they’re all alive that it made me giggle.” Sophie wiped her eyes.

“You look like a coon with all that dirt and smoke on you,” Elijah said.

“Well, you don’t look any better,” she said.

“Bawling cows are not funny!” Gus said.

Sophie patted him on the shoulder. “I know, Gus. It’s just that laughter takes the bite out of the nerves. I was scared to death those flames were going to crawl right up in the tractor with me. I could feel the heat on the passenger’s side of the tractor. When it all settles, I bet the paint is blistered bad. And then the wind died down, and the fire stopped right there at the fence. The barbed wire was red-hot, and the fence posts are black but still standing. I want you to put at least three men on the permanent payroll after the sale. We are going to redo the whole fence around the ranch with metal posts. If we’d been gone to another cattle sale or off to Walmart, this whole place would have been gone when we got back. We were lucky once but…”

“Woman, are you crazy? Metal posts won’t stop a wildfire,” Gus said.

“But they won’t burn to the ground and leave us with cattle scattered from here to Hades,” she said.

“You got that right. Y’all want a permanent job?” Gus turned around and asked the three men coming toward him.

“Bunkhouse rent is free. We can’t offer medical insurance right now, but we’ll pay time and a half for all over forty hours,” Elijah said.

Frankie nodded. “Can I move in tomorrow? Rent is up on my apartment, and I was about to move back in with my folks.”

“Yes, you can. You might have to clean it up, but there’s room for six hands. Take your pick of the rooms,” Elijah said.

“I’ll take a job, but I want to be up-front and honest. If my old job comes up, I’ll probably go back to it,” Kendall said.

“Fair enough,” Sophie said.

They both looked at Randy. He was the youngest of the three, graduating from high school the previous May. Short and stocky, he showed his Hispanic heritage in his dark hair, slightly toasted skin, and big brown eyes.

“I’m in if them two are. Six days a week. Off on Sunday?”

“Five and a half days a week. Off from noon on Saturday so y’all can do some two-steppin’ with your girlfriends or some squirrel huntin’,” Elijah said.

“Sounds good. I’ll get my gear and be here tomorrow mornin’. Gus, you goin’ to take us back to Baird or we goin’ to stand around here and jaw all night?” Randy asked.

“Go get in the truck and remember that I’m your boss, so if I want to jaw until daylight comes rollin’ in, I will, boy,” Gus teased.

Randy air-punched him on the arm and then hopped into the back of the truck. “Whoooeee, boys! We got us jobs for the winter. I betcha you two can’t keep up with me buildin’ fence. I betcha I can string that barbed wire tighter and faster than either one of you.”

“What are we bettin’?” Frankie, the best looking one of the crew asked. He had brown wavy hair and a face that reminded Sophie of a young Travis Tritt. She’d heard him play the guitar and sing when he worked in the hayfields in the summer and often wondered why the boy wasn’t in Nashville.

“Supper! Whoever does the most miles of fence a day don’t have to cook in the bunkhouse,” Randy said.

“I’ll do the cookin’,” Kendall told them. “I’d rather do it myself than take a chance on you two poisonin’ me.”

“We’ll supply the beef, and you are welcome to whatever is left in the garden. There’re peppers, cucumbers, and potatoes,” Sophie said. “Freezer is full of beef from the last time we butchered around here. Help yourselves.”

Kendall chuckled. “Now I’m sure I’ll do the cookin’. Them two would burn up a good steak and make jerky out of a decent roast. We’ll all be here tomorrow mornin’, ma’am.” He tipped his hat at her and hopped into the bed of the truck with Randy.

“You goin’ to let any one of them ride up front?” Elijah asked Gus.

He shook his head. “Dirty as they are? No, I ain’t. Besides, it’ll teach them that I’m foreman and that has special rights.”

Elijah was still laughing when Gus fired up the engine and drove away. He slung an arm around Sophie’s shoulder, and together they walked toward the house, leaving the tractors parked.

“We really did it,” he said again. “We faced down our first disaster and came through it. We’re a good team, woman.”