Chapter 6
Jeff was up early the next day, just the same as he always was. He had spoken to Sheriff Robert Hayes the night before, and both agreed he should take a couple of days off. No newly married man should be back at work so soon.
It was a pity that Jeff’s internal clock hadn’t gotten the message, and like clockwork, his eyes opened at dawn. He dressed and headed down to the kitchen to make some coffee.
No sooner had he gotten the fire stoked and going again in the range, when Bonnie arrived in the kitchen.
She looked tired but still managed a smile for him.
“You’re up early,” she said.
“I’m always up early,” Jeff said. “I usually start my patrol at dawn.”
Nodding, she said, “Yes, I forgot that you’re a deputy now. You’re not working today, are you? I was hoping we could spend some time together.”
“I’m not working,” he assured her. “But I told Kevin I would help with getting the cart back to town.”
“Right,” she said. “So, would you mind if I spent the day getting acquainted with the house as it were? Yesterday’s introduction to it was so quick, I feel that I missed a lot of it.”
Jeff gestured to the house. “Go ahead,” he said. “It’s your home too.”
“Thanks,” she said. “Now, where do I find the coffee and the mugs?”
Jeff showed her, and together they made the coffee.
It was not an easy task. Bonnie kept bumping into him, and he tripped over her a couple of times.
When he’d designed the house, Jeff had thought the kitchen would be more than large enough for two people to be able to move around in it without standing on each other, but he was quickly learning that wasn’t the case.
Everywhere he needed to be, she was in the way of him getting there.
“Gosh, I’m sorry,” Bonnie said. “I appear to be under your feet.”
“Yes, and I’m under yours,” Jeff said with a sigh.
“What should I make for us for breakfast?” she asked. “What do you like?”
It was such an odd conversation to be having with a spouse.
Jeff had a feeling that under normal circumstances, they would already know this kind of thing about each other.
It felt a little odd that in all their correspondence, they had never mentioned their favorite breakfast or how they liked their coffee.
Perhaps the written word had felt too important to immortalize something as trivial as whether someone liked cream and sugar in their morning cup.
“I usually have bread and cheese, or sometimes eggs if I remember to buy some,” Jeff said. “I’ve been out a lot and sometimes only eat when I get to the farms. They like to give us things while we’re on patrol.”
Bonnie went into the pantry and came out with a loaf of bread and some cheese. Jeff suspected there wasn’t much else in there. He wasn’t one for cooking and often opened a can of beans and a can of meat, fried them together, and called it a meal.
From the look on Bonnie’s face, that might not be something he should admit to in her presence. She was frowning.
“There’s nothing much in the pantry except for cans of beans and meat. You have no rice, no pasta, nothing. What have you been living on?” she asked, sounding very worried. “Please tell me you’ve been picking the ripe vegetables from your garden, at least?”
Jeff shrugged. “I take a tomato now and then.”
She raised one brow, and Jeff flushed.
“I never really learned how to cook,” he said, suddenly defensive. “It’s not like my mother ever took me into the kitchen and taught me what to do with a lot of the things we have around here. I’ve had to make do with what I had.”
“It’s okay,” she said kindly. “I can help, but I will need to buy some things. Is there a general store or something?”
Jeff shook his head. “But there is a market today. I think Anita is heading there. I’ll send her over to collect you before she goes.” He paused. “Can you ride a horse?”
Bonnie blanched. “Not well.”
He considered this. With no cart, things could be difficult. “Maybe you can ride with her. There’s money in the cookie jar on the counter.”
Bonnie walked over and opened it. “There’s just money in here,” she said. “Where are the cookies?”
“There aren’t any,” Jeff said. “You can get some at the market. The farmers’ wives are fantastic bakers, and so is Grace.”
“Then we’ll have to find another place to hide the money,” Bonnie said with a chuckle.
They ate breakfast and then Jeff had to go. The sooner he went and got the cart back, the sooner he could come spend some proper time with his new wife.
He found Kevin waiting outside his house on the farm. Kevin, Troy, and Kyle were discussing options for transporting the new axle Kyle had found somewhere to fit on the stricken cart.
“You’ll need to hoist the cart up,” Kyle was saying. “It’s going to be a big job.”
“I know,” Kevin said.
“It would be better to bring it back here,” Troy said, wiping a hand over his brow. It was already hot, and the day had hardly even begun.
“Jeff,” Kevin said. “Good to see you. You coming to help us with the cart?”
“Yes,” Jeff said.
“I thought you’d be shacked up with that lovely wife of yours,” Troy said, smiling. “She’s very sweet.”
“She wants to go to the market,” Jeff said.
“Then take her,” Troy said. “We can handle this.”
“Are you sure?” Jeff asked. “What about finding out the cause of the accident?”
“We can handle that too,” Troy said. “I’ll have a better idea of what happened when I get my eyes on what’s left of the cart. If there was foul play in any form, between us all, we’re bound to spot it. Have a little faith in us. Okay?”
Nodding, Jeff agreed. “Okay then, if you’re sure you don’t need me.”
“Absolutely,” Kevin said. “And then Anita can go with you, and that will make me a lot happier.”
“Great,” Kyle said. “I’ll get you another two horses saddled up and ready and you can go.”
Jeff considered mentioning that Bonnie wasn’t such a great rider, but that didn’t seem to be relevant. She was going to have to get better at it, or she’d have to walk everywhere.
Anita came out of the house with her saddlebags and waved.
“Apparently, Bonnie and I are coming with you,” Jeff said.
Anita smiled. “Well, that is a nice surprise.”
They mounted the horses, and Jeff held the reins for Bonnie’s horse as he and Anita said goodbye to the others and rode up the street. As they went, they saw Joel and the cart coming the other way.
He was smiling again. He spent far too much time grinning for Jeff’s liking.
“Morning, Jeff!” he called.
“Morning,” Jeff said and found that he had to stop when Joel greeted Anita and she stopped her horse to talk to him.
“Are you going to help them get the axle on our cart?” she asked.
“I thought I would offer my services,” Joel said brightly. “Where are you off to?”
“The market,” Anita said.
“Have a good time,” Joel said.
“You too,” Anita said.
Then they could finally ride on.
“You’re awfully friendly with him,” Jeff said.
Anita shrugged. “And I shouldn’t be because?”
“Because we don’t know anything about him,” Jeff said.
She sighed. “We didn’t know anything about Hector except that he was kind to Grace, and look how well he’s fitting in. You knew nothing about the refugees, and yet you took them in, without hesitation. Why should Joel, who only wants to start up a carting business, not be shown the same courtesy?”
It was a perfectly logical, level-headed argument and Jeff had nothing to counter it with.
“I just don’t like him,” Jeff said.
“And you’re allowed not to like him,” Anita said. “You don’t have to be best friends and companions with everyone. But you do have to give him a chance.”
She had a point. And since his only real gripe with the man was how he had smiled at Bonnie before he knew that she was Jeff’s wife, he really didn’t have a leg to stand on. He would have to give Joel a chance, and it irked him.
What bothered him more was what this whole situation was telling him about himself.
Jeff had never thought of himself as a jealous type.
He’d never thought he was reactionary or given to flights of silliness, and yet all his actions lately had been so terribly out of character for him.
Perhaps he should speak to Julie about it.
She was a doctor. Maybe there was something wrong with him.
Anita had picked up on his troubled silence, and once again, she stopped her horse with a worried look on her face. “What’s eating you, Jeff? And don’t say nothing. I’ve never seen a newly married man look less happy. Don’t you like Bonnie?”
Jeff was startled into a nervous laugh, which he quickly cut off. “No! Gosh! It’s nothing like that. If anything, I … I like her a lot. She’s like a force of nature.”
“Then what’s wrong?” Anita asked.
“I don’t know,” Jeff admitted.
She smiled kindly then and nodded. “Well, think about it. If you need to talk, there are plenty of people around. Everyone is here for you.”
“Thanks,” Jeff said.
They finally made it up the street and to the house. Bonnie and Leo were on the front porch waiting, deep in conversation. As Jeff and Anita pulled up to the house, Jeff realized that his wife and her godfather were arguing.
“You’ve known the man five minutes, Leo!” Bonnie roared. “You can’t go moving in with him on a whim.”
“He invited me to stay,” Leo snapped back. “Now be a good girl and give me my bag.”
Jeff took in the scene. Bonnie was holding the portmanteau’s handle and not releasing it to Leo, who was red in the face and looking angry, trying to pull it from her grasp.
“What’s going on?” Jeff asked, dismounting and leaving the reins with Anita. He hurried up the path to the porch.
“Jeff! Good, maybe you can talk some sense into him,” Bonnie said pointedly.
“About what?” Jeff asked, frowning at them. They were glaring at each other.
“He’s moving out,” Bonnie snapped. “Just like that. One night and he’s gone, as though living with us would be like drinking poison or something.”
“It’s not like that, and you know it,” Leo protested, sounding hurt more than angry. “I want to give you two space to be married. The last thing you need is an old man puttering around your house.”