Christmas at Home (Spikes & Spurs #5) - Carolyn Brown Page 0,68
that was as binding as ink on paper.
When the hand shaking was over, Essie laughed. “I would have gone for two weeks four times a year.”
Ada smiled. “I would have settled for three times a year.”
“You know she’s enough like you that you can’t force her into doing what you want, right?” Essie said.
Ada threw an arm around her sister. “She gets that from you.”
* * *
Noel and Angel both had clean beds, and two sets of sheets were in the washing machine. Sage and Creed carried their overflowing laundry baskets to the kitchen and set them on the floor.
She dumped hers. “Might as well combine the loads. It’ll take less time.”
He dumped his on top of hers. “I agree.”
Putting her underwear in with his was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life. It seemed so personal, so symbolic. Not even a long morning of sex had made her blush scarlet. But she did as she sorted clothing and visualized their personal things tangled up in the washing machine together.
When the kitchen floor looked like an explosion in a Goodwill Store, she poured a cup of coffee and carried it to her easel. The canvas looked different with overhead lights, and lamps added to the sunshine pouring in from the window.
“That sun promises warmth, but if you poke your head out the door that cold wind will freeze your nose off,” Creed said.
“It’s better than snow falling so hard that you can’t see your hand in front of your face. Aha! I can turn on the radio. Six days and I’d already forgotten what all electricity does bring in the house.”
She picked up the remote, hit a button, and music instantly filled the room.
Creed exhaled loudly.
“What?” she asked as she poked a button on the stereo unit inside the cabinet with the television.
“I liked the feeling of no technology. It’s crazy, but I did. It’s the same feeling I got when I first came out here.”
“Want me to turn it off?”
“No, I’d like to hear the news before I go out in the barn and start building the dog and cathouses,” he answered.
Toby Keith sang his newest song and then there was five minutes of news, most of it still covering the snow and all the damage it had caused. When that was done, Creed pulled on his coveralls, gloves, and boots and settled his hat just right on his head.
“See you at dinnertime,” he said.
“I’m making tortilla soup.”
He made his way around the piles of clothing and kissed her on the cheek. “That sounds great.”
The house felt empty with him gone. Even the DJ and the constant noise of Christmas songs from country artists didn’t fill the void. The dryer buzzed telling her that the dog and cat bedding was ready to fold. She laid her brushes to the side and went to the backside of the huge walk-in pantry.
It needs to be as big as the kitchen. It has to house the freezer, the washer and dryer, and enough food to last a month, my child. It’s our grocery store and our laundry all rolled into one. Grand’s answer to her question when she was a little girl flitted through her memories.
Would she ever tell her daughter the same thing when she asked why the pantry was the biggest room in the house?
She pulled the old blankets from the dryer, cleaned enough lint from the filter to make a bonfire, and switched the sheets over from the washing machine. Then she gathered up a load of towels, put them in the washer, and added detergent.
Noel cold-nosed her hand when she started back out and Sage yelped.
“You scared me, girl.”
The dog went to the door and put a paw on the doorknob.
“It’s cold out there,” Sage said.
The dog barked and she opened the door. Noel meandered out and headed straight for the barn. Other than her floppy ears blown back against her head, she didn’t act like she even felt the cold. But Sage shivered when the icy wind shot up under her shirt. She quickly shut the door.
“Creed is tough as nails to work outside in this kind of weather,” she said aloud.
She carried the laundry basket to the table and folded the two ratty blankets. Grand saved everything until she’d gotten the last drop of good out of it. Sage would have tossed those two blankets years ago, but not Grand. And now they’d come in almighty handy.