Steal You Away

Chapter Eleven

Trent stomped his boots on the back porch, trying to knock off as much of the mud and horse shit he could before brushing them off in the boot scraper. That damn rain last night hadn't done him any favors. The round pen was a quagmire of mud and had been a real bitch to work in. They needed to come up with a better drainage system or move the damn thing to higher ground before it became necessary to build an ark.

Turning back towards the barns, he thought of the mare he had taken in for training from Thomas Jensen. She was a real beauty with enough paperwork and pedigree to wallpaper a house, but she was also temperamental as hell. Fifty percent temper and twice that in the mental department. He shook his head, cussing under his breath. It was going to take him a lot longer to break the bad habits inflicted on the mare by someone else's stupid mistakes.

Taking off his hat, he wiped the sweat off his brow. It was hot and humid day today. He was tired, muddy and hungry. Spinning on his heel back towards the house, he decided to fix the hungry first, then make a phone call to Tom and see what he wanted to do about his mare. Opening the screen, he walked in and was about to set his old hat on the counter when he noticed something different.

The kitchen sparkled in the afternoon sun. Every stainless steel surface mirrored his shocked expression. The sink, devoid of dishes, glimmered a pearly white while the dishwasher hummed. Looking down, he picked up his booted foot. Even the hardwood floors glowed with a spit shine. Holy shit!

Glancing at his sweat encrusted hat and the pristine counter, he was at a loss as to what to do. He looked like a first class moron standing there holding one foot up with his fucking hat in his hand. Jamming it on his head, he tip-toed quickly back out on the porch and pulled out his cell phone.

"What's up, bro?" Chase answered on the fourth ring.

"Did you clean the kitchen before you left this morning?"

Chase snorted on the other end. "No. I left the same time you did, remember?"

"Is mom in town?"

"Not that I know of. Why? What's going on?" Chase asked, his voice getting worried.

"I think we've been ransacked by Mr. Clean," Trent murmured, frowning at the back porch door.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"The kitchen is cleaner than the day we installed it," Trent snapped.

Loud crying moos and the sounds of cowboys whistling while urging the herd forward filled the line, drowning out his brother's voice.

"What?" Trent hollered into the phone.

"She's there?"

"Who is here?"

"M...the cleaning gal. She's there?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Trent huffed. "I've been in the horse barns all day."

A long sigh came over the other end. "You could go look."

"Fuck." Trent looked down at his muddy boots. "Just a minute." Laying his phone down on the railing, he hopped up and down while yanking off one boot and repeating the process for the other. Picking the phone back up, he put it to his ear while he made his way back into the kitchen.

"I'm back."

"What the hell was that all about?" Chase chuckled.

"I was taking my boots off."

"Why?"

"Because...well...shit...the floor is clean and they weren't." Ignoring the laughter from his brother, he peeked out the front window. "Does she drive a blue Ford Explorer with some kind of...," Trent paused, narrowing his eyes at the hood of the vehicle. "What the hell is that thing?"