“There’s a lot of that going around,” I muttered.
She cut a glance to my bandaged hands. “I still can’t believe Ty’s got you doing chores.”
I’d turned up at her apartment with four copies ofPride and PrejudiceI’d salvaged from Austin thrift shops and a bottle of rosé, but all she had noticed were the bandages.
“He’s not exactly happy about it.”
Pausing her cutting, she absently read the book page she held.“I’ll have Booker call Ty. I’m sure he can talk some sense into him.”
“Don’t do that. He needs the help, and I don’t mind doing it.” The man drove me crazy, but he couldn’t handle those chores on his own, bet or no bet.
That brought Eden out of her classic book fog. “You don’t mind shoveling manure for hours, and ending the day with your hands all bandaged up?”
When she put it that way, I did mind a little. It wasn’t how I’d planned to spend my time in Magnolia Ridge. My body ached, I needed a nap, and I already dreaded the next two weeks of work—but the day had been exhilarating in its own way, too.
“It’s not that bad,” I said. Eden bobbed her eyebrows at my hands again. “Okay, yes, it is that bad, but I kind of liked being out there today, doing something physical and real. Most of my work lately has been of a virtual nature.”
The biggest downside to working for an internet-based company was that I never met my clients anymore, and never saw their homes. I missed the giddy excitement of going through another person’s house, listening to their vision for it, and finding ways to make that vision an even better reality. I missed heading out to stores to find the perfect accessory, handling bolts of fabric, and test-driving furniture. Nowadays, I mostly spent my time on email, scanning photographs, and clicking around in my design program. I only saw theBeforepicture, never theAfter. I had no way of knowing if my clients even did anything with my suggestions.
At least today, I could see the results of my labors, even if it had just been clean horse stalls.
“So you’re having a reverse vacation,” Eden said.
“Something like that.”
“Enjoy it then, I guess. Myself, I’m looking forward to a real vacation. On the beach. With my husband.”
I made a face. “Don’t rub it in.”
She grinned across the table. “Five days in Key West with my man. It’s going to be the best vacation ever.”
“I think it’s called a honeymoon.”
Her grin turned sly. “I bought a thong.”
“Swimsuit or underwear?” Honestly, I couldn’t imagine Eden in either.
“A swimsuit, but I don’t know if I’ll have enough courage to wear it.”
“I’m sure not wearing it would work for Booker, too.”
We laughed over that, the rosé making everything sound both more risqué and more hilarious than usual.
“I think the wine was a bad idea,” I said, surveying our completed work. “We’re not making as much progress as I’d hoped. We should have invited the girls.”
The girls being Harper and Eliza, Eden’s younger sisters. Both women lived in Magnolia Ridge, and both would have been willing to help make wedding decorations. More or less.
“We would have had fewer roses done with their help, and less wine,” Eden said. “I’m familiar with Eliza’s work.”
The youngest and wildest of the Webb sisters, Eliza had always seemed to go out of her way to do the opposite of whatever was expected of her, from her liberal arts degree to the bright aqua hair she’d sported the last time I visited town.
“You know, I’m surprised she’s still here. I thought she would have headed back to San Antonio by now.”
Eliza had barely unpacked her bags in her city apartment before she’d come home again. It sounded like her internship hadn’t gone to plan, but I’d figured she would try again eventually. Instead, she’d stuck around to try just about every job Magnolia Ridge had to offer in the last few years.
“Don’t talk up the joys of big city life. You’ll give her ideas.”
I frowned over my paper flower. My life in Austin wouldn’t do much to draw Eliza in. Sampling the city’s nightlife had been fun for a while, but now, I found the crowds and noise claustrophobic. Lately, most of mybig city lifecentered around my cramped apartment, where they raised the rent the maximum the law allowed every year.
