Chapter 21
S urprise ran through Lenore when her phone rang at six-fifteen on Monday morning. The feeling dissipated quickly when she saw Arizona’s name sitting there, and she swiped on the call, almost fearful that the shrill noise would reach across the fields between her cabin and Brandon’s and wake him.
“Hello?” Lenore asked.
“Hey, Lenore,” Arizona said, not a stitch of grogginess in her voice. “I know I’m going to ruin the surprise, but at this point I don’t even care.”
“Okay,” Lenore said.
“I should’ve just talked to you about it anyway,” Arizona said. “Because Brandon is not an early riser, and I can’t get him to answer his blasted phone.”
Lenore frowned. “Why are you trying to call him so early?”
“The food I ordered is there,” Arizona said. “And the guy just wants to know where to put it.”
“The food you ordered?”
“Yes,” Arizona said, as if she ordered food every day and had it sent to the homestead. “Duke and I can’t be there today because we’re making the rounds with all the cattle at Shiloh Ridge and Hidden Hills to bring them in a little closer for calving season.”
“Okay,” Lenore said again.
“But I wanted to help with the solar panels,” Arizona continued, and Lenore was pretty sure she didn’t have to say anything for Arizona to keep talking. “So I bought breakfast for everyone.”
“Everyone?” Lenore asked.
“Well, Brandon said Conrad and Henry are both going to be there,” she said.
“And probably Finn and Colt. And then he said something about Mitch bringing a water barrel, and I…yeah, I didn’t know how many people were going to be there.
So yes, I ordered a whole bunch of donuts and ham, egg, and cheese sandwiches.
There should be orange juice, chocolate milk, and lots of bottled water. ”
“Arizona,” Lenore said, hearing the weariness in her voice and feeling it run through her body.
“Then there’s boxed lunches for lunch,” Arizona said as if Lenore hadn’t spoken. “Those should be sandwiches, salad, chips, and fruit. So you let me know if something isn’t right.”
Lenore got to her feet, the chair scraping against the floor as she did. “How many boxed lunches?” she asked, totally resigned to this woman helping her.
In fact, Lenore didn’t mind it. Arizona had a good heart.
And while she might be ordering food out of worry for Brandon, Lenore also knew that Arizona truly wanted to help.
She told herself that ordering food for even ten people for a couple of meals wouldn’t cost Arizona very much.
Even if it was three or four hundred dollars, that meant nothing to Arizona, who had billions.
“I think I got two dozen,” Arizona said.
“Two dozen?” Lenore opened her front door, almost angry now. “Arizona, there is no way you thought there would be two dozen men here today.”
“It’ll feed you and Brandon until you can come for Thanksgiving,” she said airily.
“I hope it’s not potato salad,” Lenore said darkly. “You know I don’t have reliable refrigeration. Are you trying to poison me?”
Arizona sent a peal of laughter through the line as Lenore went down the steps and saw the delivery truck parked there.
“Just sign for the food,” Arizona said. “They’ve already got my credit card.”
“All right,” Lenore said.
A man got out of his truck, and Lenore confirmed the four dozen donuts, two dozen ham, egg, and cheese sandwiches, and two dozen boxed lunches, along with four containers of orange juice, four of apple juice, and three gallons of milk—only one of which was white.
“And you’ve got the seven cases of water,” he said.
“Seven cases of water?” Lenore muttered.
He started to unload them onto her front steps, and Lenore signed the clipboard and had it ready for him. “Thank you,” she managed, and he gave her a wide grin before he got behind the wheel and circled off her property.
“ Seven cases of water,” she said to Arizona.
“Well, maybe you won’t have to make a trip to town before Thanksgiving,” she said.
“You better not give me any water at Thanksgiving dinner,” Lenore said.
Arizona simply laughed again. “I’m glad one of you gets up with the sun. See you in a couple of days.”
The call ended, and Lenore took in the boxes of food and drink on her front steps. She figured that was as good of a place as any for it, and she pulled out an old folding table from underneath the porch and set it up.
She had to use some of the water and a fresh washcloth to clean it off, and then she put the donuts and breakfast sandwiches on the end, along with the juice and milk.
The boxed lunches would probably stay cooler in the house, but Lenore left the water on the steps as well. That way, anyone could come get something to drink anytime they needed it.
With everything organized, Lenore wondered what time Brandon would emerge from his cabin. She’d allowed him to put a petition out during the small ranch owners meeting, and she never anticipated the response they’d gotten .
Some cowboys had volunteered on the spot, saying they could absolutely be there this morning. Others had said they needed to check schedules and with their significant others before they’d know if they could make it work.
Brandon had texted her last night about Mitch bringing the water container and that he thought they should build a platform for it and construct a miniature water tower according to the pictures Colt had sent from the apple orchards.
He’d forwarded those too and said they easily had enough lumber and that he thought they should place it where the current wood pile stood at the end of her back porch.
In the next moment, Lenore heard hammering, and her gaze flew to the back door.
It came from that direction, and she hurried down the hall with her heart mimicking the noise in the back of her throat.
She unlocked the back door and stepped outside just as the buzzing of a handsaw filled the air.
That came from her left, and Lenore looked and moved that way simultaneously.
She arrived at the railing, easily spotting Brandon as he worked to get the log to the length he wanted. As soon as the handsaw stopped, Lenore said, “You’re up early.”
Brandon yelped and practically threw the saw in her direction.
Lenore laughed, because what did he expect—that she’d hear hammering and sawing and not come see what was going on?
“You scared me,” he said.
Lenore leaned against the railing and watched him pick up the saw. “What are you doing?”
“I’m building the base of the water tower,” he said. “Mitch said he’d get classes started and do his dog training, and then load up that water barrel and bring it on out. Figured we’d need this before then.”
“Yeah, probably.” She grinned at him, though he’d focused back on his task. “What time is everyone coming for the solar?”
Brandon looked toward the front of the house. “Any time now, I expect.”
“Any time now?” Lenore repeated. “You realize it’s not even seven yet?”
“I told them eight,” he said. “But I’d be shocked if they’re not all here by seven thirty.”
“Who else is coming?” she asked.
“Just Conrad, Henry, Finn, and Colt,” he said. “My brothers and everyone at Shiloh Ridge are doing their roundup for calving season today. It’s bad timing, but it is what it is.”
“We don’t need fifteen people here anyway,” Lenore said.
“Libby can’t get away from Three Rivers, and Paul and Brielle are still in the hospital. Angel will have to go to Lone Star, and Ty is still too injured to do much.”
Lenore followed along, picturing each of his friends in her mind as he spoke of them.
“Mitch is bringing the water barrel, but JJ’s wife isn’t feeling well, and Tate can’t leave the fields, so neither of them are coming.”
“Two of us and four of them,” Lenore said. “I think we’ll be okay.”
Brandon grunted, but she couldn’t keep the smile off her face.
“Do you want coffee?”
“Do I ever not want coffee?” he asked. “And that’s usually at nine a.m.”
“I have donuts and breakfast sandwiches out front too,” she said.
That got Brandon’s attention, and he looked away from where he’d been measuring another log. “Donuts and breakfast sandwiches?”
Lenore cocked her hip. “Did you really think Arizona wouldn’t leave her mark on today?”
He grinned and chuckled. “I suppose not. She did sound really sorry that she couldn’t be here.”
“Well, she’s still here,” Lenore said. “She ordered breakfast and lunch.”
Two dozen boxed lunches for six people , she thought.
“I’ll go get the coffee going.” She moved back into the house, deciding then and there that she wasn’t going to be upset about the help. If Arizona wanted to send seven or seventeen or seventy cases of water, Lenore would accept it and do so graciously and gratefully.
A sense of humility washed over her as she accepted that she could not do things on her own. And not only could she not—she didn’t have to.
Accepting help didn’t make her weak. When her stubbornness and pride pushed against that, she shoved it right back down.
You want the help, she told herself as she poured water into the kettle and set it over the flame on her stove. You need it, and you want it, and they want to help.
If the positions were reversed, Lenore would like to think that she would show up at someone else’s property and help however she could. She wouldn’t need to be paid, because she wanted to be a good neighbor and a good friend.
She took Brandon his coffee, a breakfast sandwich, and a whole box of donuts, and she held the legs of the water tower while he nailed them in place. She unwrapped the plastic tubing they would use to get the water into the greenhouse and out to the garden area, while he built the platform for it.
She hurried to feed the dogs and the chickens, collecting a dozen eggs in a variety of colors, before she returned to the house. No one had shown up yet, so she grabbed a few bottles of water and went to care for her strawberries.