or eight sets of parents and grandparents filing a lawsuit against me personally, the school, and the school board. Making the teammates help clean it up will make them all responsible for each other. It’s a good lesson to learn.”
“How did Tiffany do with feeding the hogs?” Elijah didn’t really want to talk about hogs, but he couldn’t figure out a way to start a conversation about Jayden.
“She dry-heaved when she caught a whiff of their perfume. I’m glad you’ve got all kinds of animals here. The girls are going to love gathering eggs and baling hay for the cows. Which reminds me, who does all this work when you don’t have little lawbreakers around?”
“Henry and I do pretty good during those times,” Elijah answered. “Why? Are you looking for a full-time job?”
“No, sir!” Jayden threw up both hands. “There’s not enough money in the world to keep me here or to bring me back after the first of August.”
“I said that once upon a time, too.” Elijah flashed a bright smile toward her. “But the place kind of grows on you.”
“It can’t grow that much.” Jayden got up and headed back inside.
“Oh, but, darlin’, it can,” Elijah muttered as he headed toward the barn.
Jayden helped Mary spray the trays with hot water and then load them into a commercial dishwasher. “I’d tell all my secrets to have a dishwasher like this in my apartment. I wouldn’t have to do dishes for a week at a time.” She lowered her voice so only Mary could hear. “Do you think I’m being too rough on them?”
Mary shook her head. “Honey, here at first, you’ve got to put up those walls that Henry told you about. Later, you can be their friend, but not this first week. I don’t think any of us would have handled that as slick as you did. Now, it’s time to give them the good cleaner so they can finish that job.” She nodded toward a bottle that said “Stain Remover” on the label.
Jayden took it off the shelf and carried it over to where the girls were still on their knees. “See if this works any better.” She sat down in a chair at the next table and watched them.
“How do we use it?” Tiffany asked.
“For cryin’ out loud.” Carmella jerked it out of her hand. “Are you too dumb to read the label?”
“Don’t get all high-and-mighty on me. We’ve both been caught shoplifting, so you aren’t a bit better than me, and Ashlyn is a drunk so she’s damn sure not any better than I am,” Tiffany shot back at her.
Carmella looked down her nose at Tiffany. “Let me show you how this is done. First you read the directions. If the words are too big for you to understand, then you ask someone for help.”
“You are a bitch,” Tiffany hissed.
Carmella ignored her, sprayed the stain remover on the floor, and ran the scrub brush over it. “Pay attention to how I’m doing this, and you do the same thing.” She handed the spray bottle back to Tiffany. “And, honey, you better not call me that again. A demerit would be a small price to pay to get to wipe up this floor with your red hair.”
Virtual flames shot out of Tiffany’s eyes when she sprayed a section of the floor and began to run the scrub brush over it. “I need rubber gloves.”
“Did you have gloves when you dumped the tray?” Carmella asked.
“My hands are going to be ruined,” Tiffany whined without answering the question.
“Well, duh!” Ashlyn held up her hands. “I’ve already broken three nails and chipped the polish that I just had done yesterday on the rest of them. And it’s your fault, so don’t bitch about your hands.”
Carmella groaned as she looked at her own ruined manicure. “I wouldn’t do this for my best friend.”
“Neither would I,” Tiffany agreed, “but they’d do it for me without bitchin’ all the time about it.”
“Why?” Ashlyn asked. “Because you probably took the fall for them. Well, I’ll be willing to bet a hundred dollars that when you get home, all those friends will have deserted you. They won’t want to be around someone who spent time in boot camp instead of going to parties.”
“I’ve got friends. I just didn’t rat them out,” Tiffany declared.
“I’m so sure they appreciate that a hell of a lot,” Ashlyn said. “What are they doing right now? Huh? No answer? I’ll tell you what your friends are doing. They’re