“Teamwork, darlin’, that’s what this is about. And someone is going home with a pretty good paycheck for today’s work,” Colton said.
Maudie raised the pistol and fired a shot in the air and all ten trucks sped out, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust in their wake and dozens of people cheering them on.
“Read to me. What are the directions for our field?”
“Right there, turn left,” she yelled and pointed. “We almost missed it. We’re supposed to follow the white flags. But you knew that, Colton, didn’t you?”
He crossed his heart with one hand and tapped the brake. “I did not. Since I’m a contestant, I didn’t get in on the game plan or the directions. Aunt Maudie, Ina Dean, and Patsy planned it all. She don’t abide cheatin’ in any form, so I don’t know any more than you do. Dammit!”
“What?” She looked around.
“We took off like everyone else without thinking.” He turned the truck around and headed back toward the house.
“There are no white flags this way. I’m not forfeiting just because you are the boss. Give me the keys! I’ll load this truck myself.”
Five thousand dollars was a lot of money in her world and be damned if she’d let it slide through her fingers because he changed his mind about playing—even if playing was really working.
“We need hay hooks and gloves. The time we spend going back to get them will put us ahead in the end. What’s next on the game?”
“Fences,” she said. “You can get those tools too and save time.”
She read the directions and slapped her thigh. “Well, shit!”
“I bet it says that if you are caught with fencing tools in your truck you are disqualified, right?”
She nodded. A bright red truck passed them and Roxie waved from the passenger’s window. Colton took off like a rocket and kept right beside them until they slowed down and veered off to the left.
“Why did they do that?” Laura asked.
“Directions, please!” he shouted.
“Equipment is in the barn with the red flag waving from the top. They saw the flag first. It’s over there.” She pointed.
He whipped the steering wheel in that direction and the big black truck felt as if it was flying. The kids had already grabbed their tow sack full of tools from the table that Maudie, Ina Dean, and Patsy manned.
“I’ll get the stuff. You turn this truck around.” She unfastened her seat belt and threw the truck door open when he slid to a stop. Maudie handed her a burlap bag with a white ribbon fastened to the front with a safety pin. She sidestepped when she saw Janet coming at her in a dead run. The hussy was planning to trip her so that she’d get a slight advantage.
“You’re gettin’ smart, sister.” Janet laughed.
“I just know you and you aren’t going to win by cheating,” Laura threw over her shoulder. She tossed the sack in the bed of the truck and off they went for the second time, passing the rest of the trucks coming back for their tools. “Follow the white flags. Right here, turn right, now left, and there it is. The first three bales mark our space and would you look at that? Roxie and Dillon are right beside us.”
“They’re young and strong but we’re experienced. Real quick, run down the list. When is fishin’?”
“Right after dinner.”
He smiled. “That’s where we will catch up if we get behind.”
“Oh, are you a fish whisperer?”
He chuckled. “Damn straight! I could whisper a big old catfish out of a sand pile. You going to drive or load the first time?”
“Load. You can have the next one. Four trips?”
“That’s the way I figure it. I bet the rules say if you lose a bale on the way, you have to forfeit that part of the game, right?”
She ran a finger down the list of rules. “It says each team gets one hundred points for each event. Ten points gets deducted for the first bale that falls off; twenty for the second; and fifty for the third. Good lord, we could lose eighty points of our hundred if we aren’t careful.”
“Twenty-five to the load it is, then. Any more over this rough terrain would be asking for trouble.” He jumped out of the truck and dumped the bag of tools in the back of the truck.
“Gloves, hay hooks, and half a dozen bottles of water. No tie-downs. That means we don’t stack them very high.”
Laura dropped the tailgate, grabbed a pair of gloves, and said, “Drive.”
She jogged to the first bale, picked it up by the wire holding it together, and threw it over the side of the truck. When she got five bales she’d ride to the next one and organize them. It wasn’t her first rodeo in the hay field and she’d be damned if Janet and Rusty beat the white team.
“Hey, I just read the rules a little more. The one who gets their bales stacked in the barn the quickest gets fifty extra bonus points.”
She tossed another bale over the side. They were a lot heavier than they’d been when she was Roxie’s age. She glanced over at the red truck and Roxie waved from the driver’s seat.
“And,” Colton yelled back, “one member of the team is not allowed to drive the whole time. They have to switch off.”
“Read the rules,” she yelled as loud as she could.
“I am,” Colton said.
“I’m talking to Roxie,” Laura said.
Colton’s laughter echoed across the fields like deep rolling thunder.
On the last load, she and Colton stacked hay with Roxie and Dillon on one side and Janet and Rusty on the other. Sweat stuck Janet’s blond hair to her face in limp strands and she panted as if she’d just run a mile.
“I remember now why I’m a hairdresser instead of a rancher.” She swiped a gloved hand across her forehead. “But for one day I do remember how to do this stuff and I will beat you.”
“You’d better put your hair up in a ponytail and prepare to work hard. I’ve got the fish whisperer on my team. And I do know how to assemble a wheelbarrow.”
“So do I,” Rusty said. “I’m the king of wheelbarrows.”
“See. Blue team wins,” Janet said.
“Only if you whip the white team. Last bale. Time, Maudie!”
Maudie held up a hand. “Too late. Red team gets the bonus points for stacking but several teams get the full one hundred hauling points. Blue team lost two bales so they lost thirty points on that. That puts them ahead by twenty points. Read your directions for the fencing, and good luck, everyone.”
***
They had to drive all the way to the backside of the farm to get what they needed to put in twenty fence posts and string the barbed wire for the next part of the game. Metal fence posts had been set inside the old wooden posts and sagging barbed wire fence on the very back of the ranch. A white flag flew from the last post that Rusty and his crew had reached when they were working the day before. From there to the next post looked like a mile, but it was really only eighty yards, which was less than the length of a football field.
Colton and Laura worked between the blue team, which was Janet and Rusty, and the purple team, which was Preacher Roger and Cynthia. Distance prevented taunting, so that was probably why Maudie planned it that way. Still, Colton couldn’t help but keep an eye on the blue team. He didn’t really care if he won but he damn sure did not want Janet to beat Laura.
“You take that tape measure and measure twelve feet from right here while I get a post,” he said.
She hooked the end of the tape around the post that was already there and walked out twelve feet with it and set her foot where the post should go. He brought the T-post driver and two posts from the back of the truck with him and set the first one where her foot had been. She jerked on her gloves and held the post steady while he began to pound it into the ground with the driver.
“Two feet into the ground and four strands?” she asked.
“That�
��s right. Thank goodness for that last rain. The ground isn’t too hard,” he said.
“That is good and steady,” she said and went running back to the truck.
She hooked the measuring tape to her belt, grabbed two posts from the back of the truck, and jogged toward the end of their section. By the time he was finished, she had measured and laid the posts where they would go, taped off the next one for him to set, and had it ready for him to pound into the ground. When it was steady, she picked up two more posts and carried them down the row.
Colton was amazed at her organizational skills. But what astounded him even more was that working with her felt so right. When the posts were set, he picked up the roll of barbed wire and she got the bag of fencing clips, the wire cutters, and pliers. He stretched the wire. Together they tightened it, cut it with the cutters, and used the pliers to rope it down with the clips. It made for slower progress than setting the posts, but they made it to the end before the blue team got the last of their wire strung.
“Good job,” Ina Dean called from inside the truck that she and Maudie used to patrol the fencing test. “White and purple are in a tie which will probably put them in a tie with the red team for the morning’s tests. When these others finish up we’ll serve dinner back at the ranch.”
“Good job.” Preacher Roger shook Colton’s hand.
Colton threw an arm loosely around Laura’s shoulders. “I’ve got a good helper.”
“So do I,” Roger said.
“I don’t like ranchin’ but I can do it,” Cynthia said honestly.
“See you back at the ranch,” Colton said.
He opened the door for Laura and she settled into the passenger’s seat. He whistled as he checked the truck bed to make sure the driver, the rest of the barbed wire, both sets of gloves, and two tape measures were all there. If anything got left behind, points would be deducted. Right now the white team was tied for first place. Rusty would not make a mistake and leave behind so much as one fence clip, so he had to stay on his toes.
“Did you see that?” Laura asked.
“I saw twenty fence posts and a lot of barbed wire. And I saw the most beautiful woman in the world tame them both,” he said.
“Well, thank you for that compliment, but it wasn’t what I was talking about. Cynthia blushed when Roger said that about her. And when she took her gloves off, her nails were just as beautiful as they were on Sunday. Damn, Colton. She can fence and not even break a nail. And she didn’t even have barbed wire bite marks where she let the wire get away from her.” She held up her arm to show two long scratches.
He applied the brakes and turned off the engine before he brought her arm to his lips and kissed the scratches. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I’m going to beat my sister. It will be the first time I’ve beat her. She always pouted if she lost a game, so I let her win, but this time she’s going down. It’s only scratches and they’ll heal, but I’m jealous that Cynthia can tie me with no bite marks and keep her pretty nails.”
“Maybe Roger will be so excited about her that he puts a bite mark on her neck tonight.” He unfastened both seat belts and drew her close to his side. He bent and the kiss was hard, hungry, and filled with passion. “I liked waking up to you beside me this morning.”
“Me too.”
“What happens if we win? What’s my reward?” he teased when the kiss ended.
She rolled up on her toes and kissed him again. “Win, lose, or draw don’t make a bit of difference in what happens next between us.”
***
Laura was amazed at the transformation of the backyard when they arrived. Tables had been set up with chairs around them. Mason jars full of wildflowers with empty pint jars beside them graced the tables. Maudie was standing on the back of a flatbed truck with a microphone and waving at them to join her.
“Y’all have a flat tire? We was about to send out a rescue team to find you.”
“No, we stopped for hanky-panky,” Colton yelled across the yard.
Everyone applauded except Janet, who smiled and gave Laura the thumbs-up sign.
“Well, I guess that’s to be expected,” Maudie said. “I just want to introduce Laura to everyone. Some of you folks have already met her. But to those who haven’t this is Colton’s lady friend, Laura Nelson. And for those of you who might be just now arriving, I’ll remind you that the kids had a contest going today too.” She motioned toward all the children gathered beside their parents.
“They’ve picked wildflowers for the table decorations. The empty jars beside their bouquets are for dimes. No pennies, nickels, or quarters. Just dimes. The team who has the most money gets a twenty-five dollar gift card to Hastings over in Sherman. Guess I need to make that clear, twenty-five for each member of the team. The money in the jars goes to the library fund at the Bells Elementary school. So dig into your pockets, folks, and bring out your dimes.”
“Don’t forget the casserole contest,” Ina Dean hollered.
“That’s right. The ranch supplied the fried chicken for today’s dinner. But the fine ladies of the community brought casseroles. Anyone who wants the recipe for one of their dishes can talk to Patsy Talley. She has copies for one dollar each and the money will be given to the Ladies Auxiliary Scholarship Fund to help pay one Bells High School senior’s way to college. Anything else before I ask Preacher Roger to bless this food?”
No one said anything, so Maudie bowed her head and everyone else followed her lead. Before the preacher said three words, Colton’s hand engulfed hers. Laura was amazed at how right it felt, but something was wrong, terribly so. She glanced up to see Janet’s blue eyes boring into their hands. She had a wicked smile on her face.
Shit! She thinks I’m playing into her scam idea, Laura thought before she quickly shut her eyes.
The preacher said, “Amen.”
Colton raised her hand to his lips and kissed her fingertips. “We make a fine team.”
“Yes, you do,” Rusty said. “Now would you please go start the line so we can eat? We’re all hungry.”
Chapter 17
At one thirty, Maudie picked up the microphone and informed the teams that it was time for them to enter the next phase of the games that day. They could pick up their equipment at the table in front of the barn where they had stacked hay, and their fishing spots had been marked by team color around the big pond at the back of the property. She and Patsy would be patrolling the area to make sure there was no cheating and that each team brought their fish to the finish line alive and gaping.
Laura and Colton weren’t the first to make it to the barn but they came in second behind Rusty and Janet. She expected a bamboo pole and some string, but what she got was a shovel, a tin can, and a long skinny box that had a picture of a fishing rod and reel on the front.
“Some assembly required!” she moaned as she laid the stuff in the back of the truck.
Colton fired up the truck and drove beside Rusty the whole way to the pond. “Which do you want to do? Assemble or dig bait? One of us will do each job so that it goes faster.”
“First, I’m going to read the rules,” she said. “And they say we have to use worms and can’t use grasshoppers. Dammit! I can catch a grasshopper faster than I can dig worms. And that it’s okay for one person to hold the rod but they both have to carry the fish to the finish line. What does that mean?”
“That we have to hold the fish in both our hands,” he said. “Read on.”
“You cannot drive in the truck. You have to walk to the finish line and the fish, which must be twelve inches long, has to be in both of your hands.”
She frowned. “The finish line is a quarter of a mile back toward the house and if there is dirt or grass on the fish, we get docked points. Maudie is the devil’s spawn!”
Colton parked in front of an enormous farm pond. Different colored fl
ags marked out fishing spots and trucks were gathering around the circular pool of water like thirsty cattle.
The white team had a space marked off that was about twenty feet wide with the yellow team, Darcy and Andy, on one side and the blue team, Rusty and Janet, on the other side.
“Y’all might as well go on and play some more hanky-panky because this test belongs to me and Rusty,” Janet called out.
“You are going to put your hands in the dirt?” Laura asked.
“No, Rusty is doing that. I’m going to put this rod and reel together. It can’t be too difficult, can it?”
“I wouldn’t know. I’m diggin’ bait.”
Janet ripped into the box and laid all the pieces out on the ground. “Good God Almighty! Where did you get this? I thought it would be a simple job of attaching the rod to the reel and stringing the line through the little round holes to the end.”
“Never underestimate Maudie.”
Andy chuckled as he started fastening pieces together. “She’s not one to make it an easy job, but then where would the fun be in that?”
“Y’all don’t have to worry about winnin’ because me and Andy are going to come in first place this time. I know dirt. I’ve got the prettiest flower beds in Ambrose,” Darcy called out.
“Have you seen my flower beds?” Laura asked.
“Yeah, but your dirt isn’t as moist as my dirt. I’m older and I’ve known dirt longer than you have and this part of the pond is better than your part,” Darcy argued.
She sunk her shovel into the ground at the same time Laura did and shouted when she turned it over. “I got three worms right here, Andy.”
Andy grinned. “Face it, Laura. She plays dirty!”
Laura giggled. “I got one worm and it only takes one to catch a fish, right?”
“Y’all stop braggin’. Worms ain’t worth shit if you ain’t got a hook to put them on,” Janet called out.
The next shovel full of dirt produced four worms for Laura and five for Darcy. They pulled them free of the dirt and dropped them into their tin cans.
“I bet you Colton gets his rod and reel ready before you do,” Laura yelled.
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