Page 77 of Love and Other Trials
He liked contingencies. He opened his arms. “Spray away, honey.”
Her thoroughness was a sign of her character, and he loved the way her brows knit as she ran her gaze over him, making sure she hadn’t missed anywhere. “Best we can do given the situation. Jeffrey is going for more holy water at a local store, you’ll be happy to know.”
Yeah, her brother had said he and manual labor didn’t see eye to eye. His energy was better used for other things. Like offsetting this horrible curse. “At this point, more water is not what we need. Any Buddhist sacred mandala sand maybe?”
“I’ll check.” She smiled warmly, the sweet expression grabbing his heart hard. “God, Dax, you’re a trooper.”
“So are you.” He held out his mud-caked hand, his expression teasing. “Want your official war paint?”
“I might not look like it, but I’m covered in sludge on the inside.” She rolled her eyes toward the Three Tornadoes, all decked out in designer sunglasses and more colorful magazine-cover-ready sundresses. “If you knew what I was dealing with… I told Jeffrey I needed another lucky rabbit’s foot.”
He cocked his hip her way. “If you want to reach in there, honey, you can have mine.”
“Tempting.” Her heated blue eyes told him how much. “But I need to run a few errands.”
“Take the Bronco.” He spied the thunderclouds in the distance. “My keys are on the kitchen table. I don’t want you in a downpour if that menace comes our way.”
Please, God, don’t let it come their way.
Her wince said it all. “I told Jeffrey to fling holy water at those clouds and burn enough sage to make the birds cry foul. Okay, I’m off. If you pucker up, I’ll give you a kiss, but no muddy business.”
He sent her a cheeky wink. “Good play on words. Scout’s honor, you’re safe.”
Leaning in from the waist, he puckered up. She carefully leaned in and kissed him. Once. Twice. And then once more, as if the kisses weren’t enough for her. He understood. He felt the same way.
When she eased back, she wasn’t so pale from the stress. “See you later, Stephan.”
“Count on it, Elizabeth.”
He watched her walk off before he resumed his work, telling himself that what they were doing was going to work. Positive intention helped.
When he heard his name shouted sometime later, he spun around and grinned at the sight. Carson and Perry—the other groomsmen—were striding across the lawn, both already stripping off their Navy T-shirts. Behind him were two more of their buddies from the Academy. Gunner and Frank were walls of all-American muscle, and they stripped their shirts off as well, making the Three Tornadoes whoop and holler like groupies at a strip show. Dax watched Rob sink his shovel into the earth and jog over.
When Carson reached Dax, he slapped him on the back. “Jesus. What a FUBAR!”
“Amen to that,” Perry said, adjusting his aviator sunglasses. “Rob mentioned some wedding curse when he called. Looks like we need one of my grandma’s remedies from the bayou.”
Dax thought of Jeffrey. “We already have a Minister of Good Juju. He brought a party pack of rabbit feet and holy water and a whole bunch of other stuff.”
“Looks like we’re going to need it.” Frank inclined his chin to the mess as Rob joined them. “You piss somebody off upstairs, Rob? Because I’ve been to more than twenty weddings, and I ain’t seen anything like this.”
Rob man-hugged everyone. “So we’re special.”
Dax jerked his thumb toward Rob. “What he said. You guys ready to start shoveling? Because we’re going to need every able body to get this done.”
Perry pointed to the gathering clouds. “Tell me I’m hallucinating.”
“Ignore it.” Rob’s jaw practically popped. “We can’t be that unlucky.”
Dax fought a laugh. Sure they could. And they were…
Forty minutes later, they were hit with the kind of downpour that had coined phrases like raining like cats and dogs and coming down in buckets. The Three Tornadoes’ anguished cries could be heard as they made a run for better shelter. Dax and the others worked in the rain until he heard Rob’s shrill whistle, signaling a break.
The caked mud on his skin was sticky again, so Dax decided to head back to the cottage to shower. He called out to his friends that he’d be back and then jogged through the rain, his tennis shoes squelching. God, they’d be a dead loss after this.
In the shower, he reviewed their progress. They’d almost dug up all the mud and ruined sod out of the eight plugged sprinkler system areas. What it would be like after the storm, he had no idea, but worrying about it wouldn’t help anyone. Dirt was being brought in later today along with the new sod. Ariel had insisted the resort bring in nighttime work lights so they could continue in the dark if needed.
But this rain could last a while…
