The Rancher and the Event Planner - By Cheryl Gorman Page 0,54
Sorry.”
His jeans and boots were dusty, his t-shirt streaked with dirt. He took off his hat and raked fingers through his sweaty dark hair. His face was handsome even with the blotches of dirt across one cheek and into the stubble on his jaw. It was a crime for a man to look handsome covered in dirt and sweat. “Hi, been herding cattle all day. Thought I’d drop by and it’s a good thing I did. What’s going on here?”
His voice held an edge of annoyance and she couldn’t begin to wonder why. They’d discussed the changes she wanted to make. He had argued with her on some points but she assumed they had come to a mutual understanding. So far everything looked great. She took the time to smooth back the tendrils of damp hair from her face, adjust her pony tail and put her cap back on. “I’m fixing up the park like we talked about.”
He glanced around the park at the newly dug flower beds and trees waiting to be planted. He eyed the stack of stones for the walkways, the boxes containing the solar lights and the fountain standing off to one side waiting to be installed. He looked back at her with irritation in his blue eyes. “Where’s the swing-set and the slide for the kids? Most of these flowers look way too delicate for the hot sun, not to mention the trampling they’re going to receive when the kids are playing. And where are the kids going to play? There won’t be any space after you finish la-de-daing up the place.” He gestured toward the fountain. “And what’s with the fountain? Kids are going to be playing around it, in it and throwing stuff in the water. Have you even considered the safety issue? Did you know a child can drown in an inch of water?”
Barnacles! Now she was a child killer. “You think I’m putting in a fountain so kids can drown?”
A contrite expression blanketed his face. “No, of course not. I just don’t think you’ve checked all the angles.” He gestured with his hand. “This is definitely not what we talked about.”
She propped her hands on her hips. “Okay, let’s take this one at a time. First, the swing set and the slide will be replaced with something a bit sturdier because the old set was half-rotted. Second, the flowers, shrubs and trees I chose might look delicate but they aren’t because they’re zoned for this area and are drought tolerant. Third, as you can see the fountain is made up of two children holding an umbrella. What you can’t see just yet, because it hasn’t been built, is the wall that will surround the fountain and be filled with flowers. The fountain will stand in the middle and part of the water from the fountain will splash down over the plants and help water them, therefore it will make the park more ecologically efficient.”
“Okay, I’m sorry about—”
“I’m not finished. The fountain is also quite tall which will make it difficult for a child to climb into it, stick their head under the water and drown. I invite you to do a search on the Internet concerning park fountains and check to see how many children have scaled these fountains and drowned in them without their parents or guardian being aware of it.”
He threw up a hand. “Okay, you’ve made your point.”
She held up her index finger. “One more thing. Any la-di-daing I might do to this park can only help its appearance because it was beginning to look like a slum around here. And the swing-set and slide will be set up at the east end of the park along with a sand box. So the children will have lots of room to play without trampling the flower beds. Any more comments or questions?”
“No.”
“Good. If you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”
JC walked away still fuming inside. How could one cowboy be that stubborn and pig headed?
* * *
Rafe watched Jennifer walk away, the shorts she wore hugging her fanny as it shifted from side to side. She had streaks of dirt on her legs, her clothes and her face. Her hair was pulled back in a scraggly, messy pony tail, not one bit of makeup on and she had never looked sexier. The exertion had put color into her cheeks and the light sheen of sweat made her skin glow. She had worked hard, harder than he had ever