Daisies in the Canyon(49)

“I understand,” Shiloh said.

“You? I thought you had a perfect life with your mama and aunt,” Bonnie said.

“There’s no such thing as perfect. My mama said that when you live with someone twenty-four-seven, you will fight occasionally. It doesn’t matter if it’s a parent-kid relationship or a husband-wife one, because nobody agrees every minute of every day on everything. Take this stupid carpet. I think it should be taken out and some kind of tile put in here,” Abby said.

“We do need new carpet, but it should be a nice neutral color that doesn’t show dirt or dog hair,” Shiloh said.

“I think it should be bright orange to liven up the room,” Bonnie said.

“Point proven,” Abby said at the same time the oven timer dinged. “Cookies are done. Meat should be cooked, so let’s eat.”

Poor sisters! They looked like they were about to cave in. Bonnie had done 90 percent of the actual work, but Shiloh had given it her all and couldn’t be faulted one single bit. Abby had lived in horrible situations for days on end but her sisters hadn’t. They deserved a break.

“I’m doing the feed by myself tonight, ladies. My truck only seats two people. It’s still raining and neither of you are riding in the back and I damn sure don’t want my passenger seat to get wet, either,” she said.

“No argument from me, but why don’t one of us go?” Shiloh asked.

“And get my passenger seat wet? No, thank you,” Abby said.

“What about the driver’s seat?” Bonnie asked.

“I intend to take that quilt you are using and pad it really well,” she told Shiloh.

“If I don’t have to go back out there, you are welcome to it. There’s a brand-new shower curtain still in the package in the linen closet. You could put it down first and then the quilt,” Shiloh answered.

“I’ll get all the towels washed up and put away after dinner,” Bonnie said.

“I know where Ezra hid the whiskey and tequila. I’ll have drinks ready when you get back,” Shiloh said.

Abby nodded. “I’ll be ready for a dry towel and a drink.”

“Hamburgers have never looked so good,” Bonnie smiled.

She still had an hour after dinner to go to her room, sit in the old gold rocking chair, and relax. She leaned her head back and had dozed off when she heard Bonnie and Shiloh arguing.

“What?” she asked.

Bonnie was in front of the fireplace, arms folded over her chest, glaring at Shiloh. Her book had been tossed to the end of the sofa and Shiloh was firing back dirty looks at Bonnie.

“I think we should call Rusty,” Shiloh said.

“I don’t. We took care of the problem. It’s our ranch anyway,” Bonnie shot back.

“Not for a year,” Abby told them.

Their mean looks took a ninety-degree turn and landed on Abby.

“You are going to cast the deciding vote. Yes if we call him. No if we don’t,” Shiloh said.

“I don’t give a shit either way.” Abby would love to hear Cooper’s voice, but she really could care less whether they told Rusty about the stampede or not.

Bonnie shifted her gaze back to Shiloh. “You’re just wanting to brag that we took care of it on our own.”

“Oh, for God’s sake!” Abby fished her phone from her pajama pants and dialed Rusty’s number. She hit the button for speakerphone and laid the phone on the coffee table.

“Hello to you. Is it still raining?” Rusty asked.

“Cats and dogs and baby elephants,” Abby said.

“Well, sunshine is on the way. We’ve outrun it and I heard on the radio that it’s moving out of the canyon in the next couple of hours. Everything going all right?”

“We’ve got it under control. This is on speakerphone and we’re all here,” she answered.

“Good. Coop wants to talk to you, so I’ll put this one on speaker, too.”

“Hey, it’s come a real toad strangler, hasn’t it?” Cooper said.

“Something like that. Y’all got the prisoner delivered?”

“Just now did and now we’re on the way to the hotel.”

“So you can go drinkin’ and flirtin’ with the pretty ladies?” she asked.

“We’re both exhausted. We’ve decided to buy a six-pack of beer and a pizza and watch hotel movies in between naps,” Cooper said. “What have y’all been doin’ all afternoon? Paintin’ your fingernails and readin’ romance books?”

“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you, but it hasn’t involved pizza and naps,” she said.

“Okay, now you’ve got my curiosity workin’ double time. What did you do?” Cooper asked.

“Well, there was a stampede and we had to put most of the cows back where they belonged, and then we had a busted-up fence and then there was a big old bull lyin’ up on the porch like he owned it, so the dogs had to come in the house,” Shiloh said. “And tell Rusty that his four-wheelers look like shit.”

Cooper chuckled. “And then the aliens landed in their flat little spacecraft and carried you all away to examine your brains. I know it’s been raining like hell up there and y’all couldn’t even get out of the house, so don’t spin yarns to me.”