Shay saw Maud and walked down to meet her. She hugged Maud, who was grinning broadly, her eyes dancing with happiness.
Maud turned, pointing toward the four enclosed houses. “Now, we gotta turn all our attention to those houses, Shay.”
“That’s the plan,” Shay agreed, giving her a grateful smile.
“Have you seen the insides of the houses yet? Our teams have made a lot of headway.”
Reese came down and hugged Maud as well. “Take the time to go look,” he urged Shay. “Steve and I can hold things together down here.”
Maud hooked her arm around Shay’s. “Come on, let’s check them out. See what you think.”
Reese stood there, hands on hips, smiling as the women moved slowly down the gravel path toward the four new homes. A roofing crew had the roof on each of them. All the double-paned windows were installed. He knew all the details on the houses because he’d gone over them with Steve weeks earlier. The architect had wanted to spend the money to winterize them properly.
Turning, Reese headed up the slope, back to the barn, where weary crews who had finished their jobs on the arena were checking where they could be used on the next project. At 8:00 P.M., the work would stop. And all the people who had thrown their hearts and bodies into this two-day, intense project, would go home. Reese was sure there would be a lot of them soaking in bathtubs tonight, a lot of tired, aching muscles needing relief.
Steve met him at the lip of the barn. He gave him a weary grin. “Looks good, doesn’t it?”
“Does it ever.”
“Shay hasn’t seen the inside of the houses yet, has she?”
Shaking his head, Reese said, “No, but Maud’s taking her down there to look at them. I think she’s going to be surprised at how much the crews have gotten done.”
“Well,” Steve said, lifting his gray Stetson off his head and running his fingers through his short, silver and black hair, “Maud wanted the drywall up and spackled today. That’s where they’re working now. The plumbing and electric is already installed.”
“The crews have gotten an unbelievable amount completed.”
“Never say cowboys and cowgirls don’t work hard,” Steve agreed, pleased. He motioned toward the homes. “The detailed work that is left can be worked on in the coming week. Maud is bringing down one of her wrangler crews next weekend to get it finished. You and Shay up for that?”
“Let me ask Shay.” Reese saw Steve give him a studied look. For a moment, he had a sense that Steve was going to say something, then decided not to. Off and on yesterday and today, Maud would come into the main headquarters area and tease the daylights out of him about being sweet on Shay. Did everyone around him see that he was falling in love with her? Feeling raw, needy, and unable to scale the wall that stared back at him from his past, Reese rubbed his jaw. “When she comes back from the house inspection, I’ll ask her.”
Steve nodded. “Sounds good. Let’s get back to work. We’ve still got five hours, and we can do a lot with them.”
*
Shay pulled off her boots in the mud room, putting them on a special mud rug. It was 9:00 P.M. and everyone had left the ranch. They were alone again. Moving her fingers between her aching toes covered with thick cotton socks, she saw the sky was darkened in the west over the Wilson Range. The ranch was quiet once more. Easing into a sitting position, she stared at the fully enclosed arena. Her heart swelled with joy. She owed so much to so many people in this valley for their kindness and hard work. Without them, this would never have been possible.
“Hey,” Reese called from the hallway, “can I draw you a hot tub of water?”
She gave him a relieved look. “That sounds wonderful.” She saw that Reese, who had come in to the ranch house half an hour earlier, had already taken a shower. His hair was damp. He’d also changed clothes, wearing a dark red polo shirt that showed off his powerful chest and broad shoulders. Instead of jeans, he wore ivory-colored chinos, and a pair of hiking boots rather than his usual cowboy boots. She almost told him that he looked like a civilian, and grinned to herself, thinking he’d probably not like her assessment. He was a military vet. A cowboy. Not a civilian.
“I’ll get it started,” he said, giving her a warm look.