“Dammit!” she muttered under her breath.
“You just realized what you bit off, didn’t you?” Novalene asked.
“I’m afraid I did,” she said.
Elijah started for the door.
“Where are you going?” Henry asked.
“To get the keys out of the van. We might have a runner,” Elijah teased.
Novalene laid a hand on Jayden’s shoulder. “I’ve been doin’ this for ten years, honey. You just give them my little speech when they first arrive, and that will set the mood for the whole time.”
Jayden was warming up to Novalene. “And what speech is that?”
Novalene pushed back her chair and slowly stood up, squared her shoulders, and narrowed her eyes. Her expression sent chills down Jayden’s back. “Listen up, girls, because I only intend to say this once. You may think you are going to drive me up the walls, and you might do just that. Remember this, though. I can only climb up that wall so far”—she turned around and pointed behind her—“and then I’m going to fall, and when I do, it will be right on top of you.” She whipped around and pointed her finger right at Jayden.
Elijah chuckled and came back to the table. “That’s a pretty good speech.”
“It sets the mood very well. We have to be tough at first and lighten up as they earn it.” Novalene smiled and sat back down in her chair. “I’m going to go over the book, and then take a nap. Today will be the last time I get to have one for the next eight weeks.”
“And now for the crowning glory.” Elijah brought out three baseball caps in different colors and explained the reasoning behind each as he passed them out. “Dark blue for Novalene with a moon on the front for the Moonbeam Cabin. Yellow with a bright sun for Diana for the Sunshine Cabin. Clouds on a pink hat for Jayden.”
“Why do I get clouds when my cabin is called Daydream?” she asked.
“Daydreams are like clouds, ever changing and bringing much-needed rain to the parched earth,” Mary answered. “When you read the handbook, you will find that your girls are not allowed to be outside without their caps that go with their cabins. That way we’ll be able to locate and know which one belongs to which counselor.”
“Amen to that.” Jayden crammed the cap down on her head and stood up. “I’m going to help Mary clean up this kitchen and then go unpack and wander around the place so I know where everything is located.”
“See you at suppertime,” Diana said.
“Thanks for the offer, Jayden, but me and Henry got this,” Mary said. “Elijah, you should go show Jayden where everything is located, and you might tell her a little about each place and why we do things the way we do.” Mary shooed them out with the flick of her wrist. “Now get going, and help these ladies get their suitcases into their cabins.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Elijah snapped to attention and saluted.
Mary shook a fork at him. “Don’t you go all smart-ass on me. You’ll own this place in a few months, but right now I’m still your boss as well as your aunt.”
Elijah chuckled and tipped the brim of his cap toward her. “You know I love you, Aunt Mary.”
“Aunt Mary?” Jayden asked.
“I claim him most days.” She smiled. “When he’s being a bad boy, then he’s Henry’s kin, not mine.”
“Henry is my mother’s brother,” Elijah explained. “Let’s get out of here before Aunt Mary”—he put emphasis on the last two words—“decides to kick me out and not sell this place to me after all.”
“Thanks again for the offer to help clean up, Jayden. I might just take you up on it sometime,” Mary said.
“Anytime,” Jayden threw over her shoulder as she followed Elijah outside.
Diana and Novalene were halfway across what must be considered a lawn, since it had some sparse green grass on it. But it sure didn’t look like the gorgeous lawn her mother and grandfather had kept. Jayden glanced at the Daydream Cabin and sighed as she headed toward the van.
Elijah beat her to it, opened the door, and jerked the keys from the ignition. “Just takin’ the necessary precaution. If you run, then I’ll have to step in and be the counselor for the Daydream girls, and I don’t think it would go over too good to have a man living with them.”
“I gave my word, and I never go back on that.” She grabbed her suitcase and headed toward her new home. Elijah jogged across the yard and opened the door for her.
“Thank you,” she said as she walked into the living room and stopped in her tracks. “The inside is so different from the front of the cabin. Whew!” She wiped sweat from her brow. “It’s almost as hot in here as it is outside.”
“Yep.” Elijah grinned. “We just faced the front with wood siding so it would look a little more inviting. There is a small window air conditioner in the girls’ bedroom and in yours, but we advise against using them in the day, because they freeze up so badly in this climate. Save the cool for the night so you can sleep better.”
Sweet Jesus! she thought as she parked her suitcase in the middle of the floor and looked around at the stark furnishings. Two worn but soft-looking leather sofas faced each other with a scarred and beat-up coffee table between them. The only inviting thing in the room was a bookcase on the far wall, filled with all kinds of reading material and baskets of craft supplies. She noticed there were no knitting needles or scissors.
“Your room is in here.” Elijah opened a door to the right. “The girls will bunk over here.” He crossed the room and pointed into another that held a footlocker at the end of each of three cots and a metal rack for clothing beside each one.
“Bathroom?” Jayden asked.
“The bathhouse is out back beside the laundry room,” he answered. “I’ll show it to you right now.”
I hope you have a miserable trip to Europe, Skyler Jane Bennett, she fumed as she followed him out of the cabin. You could’ve told me that I’d have to go outside with the lizards and coyotes just to take a shower or use the bathroom.
“I bet these girls just love this,” she muttered as she kept in step with Elijah.
“They hate it, but it’s good for them.” He stopped at a building with BATHHOUSE painted on the swinging sign above the door. “This is for ladies only. I’ll wait for you out here.”
“And do you have a bathroom in whatever building you live in?” She crossed her arms over her chest and wished she could cross her legs, but she refused to let him see her do a fancy little bladder dance into the place.
“See that little building beyond the clotheslines? That’s my house, and the one on down from there is where Henry and Mary live. We have bathrooms and we also have central heat and air in our places.” He grinned.
“Now you’re just showing off,” she said as she stepped inside the hot building. Maybe they should repaint the sign to say SAUNA AND BATHHOUSE. She counted six showers with plastic curtains and as many toilet stalls, but there were only three sinks, and they did not have mirrors above them. When she finished in one of the stalls, she washed her hands, dried them on a brown paper towel, and went back outside.