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“Here you are.” Cady straightened to stand as she handed over the washers.
Eli took them, examined them, and dropped them into the basket along with the toilet plunger. “You going to the dance this weekend?”
“Gosh no.” Cady chuckled. “That’s for kids.”
Eli wrinkled her brow. “I ain’t no kid.”
“Eli, you’re a drop in the bucket compared to me.”
Eli shook her head. “Nah, Cady, you arenotthat old. But I’ll let you get out of the dance this time. Next time, though, I’ll expect to see you there.”
Cady laughed as she moved to the next aisle to grab the rest of Eli’s list. They chatted amicably until it was time for Eli to check out. She put it on her account, which she made sure to pay up at the end of every month as soon as they sent her the bill. When she left, Cady gave her a sweet smile, and she headed out the door to her old truck.
She’d brought in the farm truck that day, knowing she was stopping at the lumber yard for some dog food, some feed, and some wood. If she was really going to renovate that bathroom, she was going to need the supplies and she didn’t want to ruin her nice new truck with everything she had to bring back.
It took her less time at the lumber yard than at the hardware store. Cady was a talker, and Eli knew she needed the conversation. As soon as she was back on the highway and bumbling down it, topping her speed at fifty so her old truck wouldn’t fall apart, Eli sorted through her mental to-do list.
As she pulled off the highway and onto the dirt road that would eventually take her home, Eli relaxed. Her new guest coming in was a bit of a mystery. She wasn’t lying when she said business routinely dried up in the winter. There were months sometimes when no one wanted to stay there, but then again, who would want to travel to the her side of Kansas in the middle of winter if they weren’t hunters.
She had cabins for hunters on her property, and those were usually booked clear through. She’d thought about opening the house to them in the winter to increase her profit margin, but she worried about the damage they would do to the facility, which she had tried to make more of an upscale but western style B&B, a small sort of dude ranch.
Eli turned down the second dirt road, her back tires spinning out. She always had to watch that curve. She’d seen far too many cars end up rolling in the ditch—kids hurt, or worse, dead. It was the classic make-out-and-party spot, had been since well before she was born, a tradition passed down from generation to generation.
When she’d been a kid, she’d steered clear of it, not only because she didn’t like boys and it was hard to find another girl who liked girls in her neck of the woods, but also because it was far too close to her house for her comfort. If she had been caught in that position with a girl or boy, she would have had her ears cuffed in no time.
It took her twenty-five minutes to get home from town. It was a long drive, but it was one she loved to make every time. She loved the solitude of living on her own out in the fields—no one to bother her when she didn’t want them to, and the quiet and peaceful air every morning when she woke up.
The four years she’d done in the city to get her degree were plenty enough for her. She didn’t need any more than that. She’d gone to get her vet degree so she could eventually take over her parents’ place when they decided to retire, but when the time had come, she’d balked. She couldn’t do it. While she loved animals, she didn’t want to run a business treating them.
Eli pulled up outside of the large house and smiled.Home sweet home.It was the perfect place for her, and she would have it no other way. Eli wasn’t going to leave any time soon. As she shut the rickety door of the truck, the old dog on the front porch lifted his head in greeting, but he didn’t budge. He wouldn’t until she took the truck out to check the cattle in a few hours.
Unloading the supplies she’d gotten, Eli put everything in its place before she went inside to make herself a quick lunch. She had two whole days to get the bathroom in working order before Sarah arrived at the house, and she would do her best to get it done. She was glad she had learned over her time growing up there how to fix things because it made running her business that much easier.
She had ordered the toilet months before, making sure she had enough cash on hand to do the renovations first. Eli set her supplies inside as she made her lunch. As soon as she was done, she headed into the small, tiled room and sat on the floor. It was going to be a doozy of a job. She’d never installed a toilet before, but she did at least know enough to drain the tank of the old one first.
She read the directions she had pulled up on her laptop. If someone on the Internet could do it, certainly she could. She might not have a degree or certification in plumbing, but she wasn’t trying to re-plumb her entire house, just replace the toilet that had always had a small leak in it with a better, more water efficient one.
Every time she had to stop to take a break and read more instructions, Eli felt as though she was in over her head. She should have done it over the Christmas break when her father was in town. It would have been far easier with his help than doing it on her own, but she’d insisted they relax while there rather than helping her fix stuff she should have taken care of before they arrived.
Instead, since she’d barred him from any work in the house, her dad had taken to doing her morning chores for her. He truly missed his cows. She’d known that was going to happen the moment they’d told her they were retiring out of state to the city. Her father had always been a farmer, and it was impossible to take the farmer out of the man. But to make her mother happy, he had gone. She’d lived in Kansas for more than thirty years while raising their family and running their business. It was her turn to live where she wanted. At least that had been how he’d explained it away.
Still, Eli knew if she wanted a break, she could always call on him to join in and take over for a week while she left to go on vacation. And she had taken that week to sleep in until eight every morning, enjoying watching the sun rise from her bedroom rather than from the fields outside. Eli settled onto the floor, her legs surrounding either side of the toilet as she waited for the water to drain. The next step, after she undid all the bolts and disconnected the lines, was going to be the hard one to do. A second pair of hands, legs, and back would certainly come in handy. Too bad she was on her own with no one else in sight.
Eli stood up and brushed her palms on her dirty jeans. She stretched her back and stared down at the toilet. “Okay, you fool, I’ve got this. I can do this.”
Grunting, Eli shuffled into place so her feet were planted on either side of the basin. She reached down and around the bowl. “I can do this.”
With a heave, Eli pulled upward, using the leverage from her knees to give her a good go, but the toilet didn’t budge. Grunting again, she stood up and then bent down to try one more time. When it didn’t move again, Eli kicked at it with her shoe.
“Fucker.”
The banging on her door surprised her. Cocking her head to the side, Eli left all her equipment on the floor as she left the room. The pounding started again. Eli frowned as she headed down the stairs and rounded the banister at the bottom to get to the front door. She pulled open the large wooden door her dad had handcrafted for weeks on end in the barn whenever he’d had a few minutes’ spare time.
“Bill?”
Bill’s balding head and scruffy face shown through the screen door at her. He gave her a stare and shook his head.
“Don’t tell me they got into your field again,” Eli muttered.
