Page 51 of Organized Chaos

“You’ll meet everyone later, but that’s Pete, Henry, and my daughter Georgia.” Gary winked over his shoulder. “We decided to keep the double G tradition alive by giving all our kids G names.”

“Bet that gets interesting.” She skipped ahead of Grayson and shielded her eyes from the sunlight. “So what’s our first job?”

Mischief danced in Gary’s eyes as he looked from her to Grayson and back again. “You two are going to be cleaning out the chicken coop.”

Her step faltered the tiniest bit but she recovered fast enough to keep her smile in place.

“You’ve removed the chickens from the coop, right?” Grayson spoke for the first time and the deepness of his voice surprised her.

Gary’s grin widened and he chuckled lightly. “Yep. You’re safe from the chickens. Not that you’d have to worry about them much anyway. All of our chickens are used to dealing with people.”

Kayla gulped and kept her smile firmly in place. She didn’t mind chickens. This whole experience was outside her typical day, but she loved the spontaneity.

Her need to do something knew was part of what drew her to the Garnett’s ranch. They offered a type of ranch experience that allowed the guests to live the real ranch life. She’d be responsible for helping with chores while enjoying a room in the main house and three meals a day at no charge.

Who wouldn’t love something like that?

Grayson rolled his shoulders forward and shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. Okay, so maybe he didn’t love this. But he’d agreed to come here so why bother being sour about it? He toed the ground with his spotless sneakers and eyed her and then Gary.

Gary unhinged the mesh gate and pushed it open. “Coop’s right in there. Not much to do, really. We decided to take it easy on you for your first day.”

“What do we do?” She rocked on her heels and her excitement built until she had to rub her palms together to ease the tension.

The chicken coup stood nearly as tall as her, with twin rows of nesting boxes painted a deep red. The frame reminded her of the barn’s A-frame with its white trim. She grinned at the little ramp that led from the boxes down to the ground. The Garnett’s must love their chickens.

Movement from Gary brought her back to the job at hand.

“Scoop out the old nests and sweep up the floor until you get to bare dirt. Then put down a layer of shavings and refill the water containers. Once you do all that, open the gate so the chickens can come back inside.” Gary motioned at the chickens running around the yard with a type of happy abandon that she completely understood.

Gary handed each of them a pair of thick work gloves and pointed out the rakes and brooms propped against the wall.

She pulled on her gloves and dove into the first nesting box. Musty hay and chicken droppings spilled out into a pile at her feet.

Grayson snarled his nose and stepped around to the far end of the boxes. He worked quickly and quietly, without looking at her a single time.

She didn’t know why that bothered her a little. Not that she wanted to draw his attention. That’s not why she’d come here. She didn’t even know that anyone else would be here during her stay.

Three weeks wasn’t long, and she wanted to enjoy every minute of her time here.

A dog barked in the distance, followed by horses neighing. The sounds were so enamoring that she looked for the source. Three men on horseback rode over a hill and approached the barn with a pair of dogs cavorting around the horses.

“I’ll be in the barn if either of you needs anything.” Gary interrupted their work one last time. “Gina’s up in the house. Grab one of us if something comes up or you have a question.”He shuffled away, his long-legged stride carrying him away and into the barn in a handful of seconds.

She returned to her work, curling her nose at the stench of the chicken coop.

Grayson tapped her shoulder. “Here.” He held out a cloth mask in his ungloved hand and waved it in her face. “Probably should wear this. Chicken feces can be toxic.”

“Oh. Thanks.” She removed her gloves and tied the scrap of cloth around her mouth and nose. “We look like bandits.”

Grayson quirked one eyebrow upward but didn’t respond except to turn back to the job and get back to work.

They cleaned in silence until they finished the nesting boxes and moved on to raking out the floor.

Grayson took the rake and pulled out all the bigger pieces. He dragged them back toward a gate at the back of the coop opposite the gate where they’d entered. “I’m going to rake this out to that other pile.” He pointed at the manure pile a few yards away.

“There’s a wheelbarrow over there. I bet you could use it.” She’d seen the wheelbarrow on their way over but forgot to mention it.

Grayson grunted what she assumed was his thanks.

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