She’d just felled her third tree of the day when Brandon joined her in the woods. “Morning, sunshine,” he said, and he carried a thermos with him, so he’d definitely had some coffee already.
She gave him a smile, somehow able to swallow her anxiety for a moment. He came closer, and Lenore turned off the chainsaw and set it aside to kiss him. It felt wild and wonderful to do that, and Lenore sure did enjoy the nearness of him, and the place he’d carved inside her life in such a short period of time.
“You ready for today?” he asked, his arms still curled around her waist.
“I hope so,” Lenore said.
“Good,” he said. “Because my brothers are fifteen minutes away, and I’m getting text after text of all the pictures of the chickens that Arizona, April, and Shiloh are picking up right now.” He grinned at her.
Lenore’s stomach flipped, but she nodded. “Let’s go get ready for them, then.” She took the chainsaw back to the barn and left the felled trees for now.
Sure enough, Dawson and Duke arrived right on time, and Lenore stayed out of the way while the three of them got the housing unit for the chickens up on the posts and secured in place. Then they worked together to stretch the wire over the top, and Lenore stood looking at a twenty-foot by twenty-foot enclosure with that pretty ten-by-ten house in the middle of it. Duke attached the ramp for her chickens to walk up and into their roosting area while Dawson hammered down the final corner of fencing along the side of the house.
Brandon hung watering feeders from the fencing, which she could also fill from the outside. Then they all exited the coop, and Brandon locked the gate behind him.
“What do you think?” he asked, coming to her side.
Dawson and Duke stood back as well, and Dawson said, “That’s the best-looking chicken coop I’ve ever seen.”
“It’s mighty nice,” Duke added.
Her three chickens clucked around, inspecting their new home, and all Lenore could do was smile and smile and smile.
Duke clapped his hand on Brandon’s shoulder. “Let’s get to work on the barn.”
“I don’t expect you to stay to stain to the barn,” Brandon said.
“I cleared my whole day,” Dawson said. “And the sooner we get done, the sooner my day ends.”
Brandon grinned at him. “I’m not going to say no to help on the barn.”
The three of them started toward the barn with their long, cowboy strides, and Lenore marveled at them, because she had also not anticipated them staying and staining the barn. With the three of them working, they could probably get it done today.
Thrilled, she turned and looked across the road to her new gardening area. She had it all set up and ready to go, but she didn’t have any plants to put in it quite yet. She and Brandon also hadn’t gotten the plastic sheeting or bendable wiring yet, and she wasn’t quite sure what she could plant outside and what still needed to be in the greenhouse during the winter months.
Someone whistled, and Lenore looked over to the barn. “Zona’s only five minutes out,” Duke called.
“Great,” Lenore called back, another round of buzzing nerves in her throat.
Sure enough, Arizona pulled onto the homestead with her two young adult daughters only a few minutes later. She drove a big truck and seemed perfectly at ease doing so, while Lenore felt like someone had poured an angry hive of bees down her throat. She went to greet them anyway, smiling when Arizona pulled her into a hug.
This time, she stepped back and held on to Lenore’s shoulders. “How are you doing out here? Really?”
“Mom, leave her alone,” April said. “You haven’t met my sister, Shiloh.” She indicated the other girl, who stood a couple of inches taller than April.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Lenore said, stepping over to shake the young woman’s hand. “And I’m doing really good. Brandon is amazing, and he knows how to do so much.”
She beamed over to the man who currently held a long pole with a roller on the end to reach the highest part of the barn.
“Yeah, he’s pretty amazing all right,” Arizona said dryly. “Is he treating you right?”
Lenore looked at her, a slip of surprise moving through her. “Yeah, he’s great.” She reached up and wiped her mouth, not quite sure why she did.
Arizona settled her weight onto one leg. “Oh, I see what’s happening.”
“Mom,” Shiloh said this time. “Come get these chickens.”
The two girls moved to the back of the truck and opened the tailgate, but Lenore stayed rooted to the spot, as if Zona had pinned her there with her gaze.
