Indigo blues, p.1
Indigo: Blues, page 1
Indigo: Blues
Adrian J. Smith
Copyright © 2022 by Adrian J. Smith
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover art by MiblArt
Author Note
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Chapter 1
The door on the west side of the hardware store always stuck. Eli kicked her boot against the bottom corner as she held the screen door propped open with her fist. It opened with a loud screech, stopping just short of slamming into the wall. The edge of the shelf Miss Mae had insisted her husband build made a good doorstop.
When she glanced up, Miss Mae’s daughter leaned over the counter with a wicked grin on her face. “Well, look who the wind brought in.”
Eli shook her head as she straightened her back. “I come into town often enough, Cady.”
Cady snorted. “Not enough at all.”
“Whatever.”
“What do you need today?”
Eli sighed. “I need a bunch of stuff. You know, you’re right, maybe it has been way too long since I’ve been into town if I need this much shit.”
Cady chuckled and came around to the other side of the counter so she could help Eli. The hardware store was the only one in town, not that there was much in town, but it was one of the largest buildings outside of the schools and churches. It had two full levels of stuff for Eli to peruse. However, she’d still have to stop by the lumber yard to get the rest of the supplies on her list.
“What are you fixing up?” Cady asked as she took the list from Eli’s fingers.
Cady had been a good friend to her throughout the years despite their age difference. That was Eli’s favorite part about living in small towns. Age didn’t matter. Some of her friends were decades older than her, some a decade younger, but everyone in town knew who she was and had something to say to her—most often, something nice.
Eli’s eyes lit up. “I’ve got a guest coming.”
“For your bed-and-breakfast?”
“Yup.”
“Is this your first guest?”
“No.” Eli bristled. “I’ve had plenty. But the bathroom upstairs isn’t working right, so I figured I would fix it up before doing an overhaul on it.”
“You want to overhaul the bathroom right in the middle of calving season?”
“No.” Eli’s eyes widened. “I don’t want to at all, but I may not have a choice. I need a functional building for my guests.”
Cady didn’t answer right away. Instead, she walked over to one of the pale-yellow painted shelves toward the back of the building to find the nails and caulk and washers on Eli’s list. Eli followed close behind her.
It might have been fully a hardware store at one point, but with business down because people didn’t mind the sixty-mile drive to get cheaper prices at the big box stores, they’d had to make some adjustments. Eli was sure Miss Mae was turning in her grave over it.
The front of the store was a boutique of sorts. It held items from local crafters and whatnot. The back of the first floor was where the hardware part remained. The basement, at the bottom of a ramp that was so damn steep it surely wasn’t up to code, was a thrift shop for locals.
Since Cady had opted to make the changes, the store had thrived. Eli grabbed a hand basket by the counter and let Cady plop items in it for her. That was the full service Cady always gave her, or really anyone. There was barely any traffic, and Eli always wondered how they managed to stay afloat and thrive, but they did.
“Who’s this guest you got coming?” Cady asked.
Small towns were known for being nosy and not respecting privacy, but Eli took pride in not letting her business get out. If a guest wanted to be known, they’d likely be walking around and exploring town. A lot of her guests wanted to get away and hide from people, especially if they were coming in the dead of winter.
“I don’t know. Her name is Sarah, that’s all I know.”
“It’s not right just having strangers come and stay at your house.” Cady didn’t skip a beat as she pulled down another box of washers to check and make sure it was the size Eli needed.
Eli’s jaw clenched, and her heart raced. She’d had that very same argument with her parents a couple dozen times, but ultimately they had left her the house when they’d moved, and everything on the land—ranch and vet hospital—was her property and her business. She’d hired locals who had gone to vet school to come in and run the clinic since that had never been her interest, and she had converted the giant house she’d inherited into a B&B to earn some income while she worked the ranch, which was her true passion.
Not answering Cady’s criticizing remark, Eli bent down and picked up a toilet plunger. She could probably use one of those too, so she slid it into the basket as she waited for Cady to finish figuring out exactly what was on her list.
Her B&B had blossomed since she’d started it. She had weddings booked up through the summer every year for the past three years. Winter was when it was slow, but she didn’t mind. It was good to have the time off from the constant drama of weddings. She could tend to her ranch, make sure all her calves were born and cared for, and bring in her wheat when harvest was done.
Trying to harvest milo while also running her B&B was exhausting, and she’d honestly thought more than once about hiring a second or third hand throughout the summer. Perhaps she should put out feelers to see if any of the local kids wanted to help—though it might be easier to get them to join in the harvest than help run her B&B.
“Here you are.” Cady straightened to stand as she handed over the washers.
Eli took them, examined them, and dropped them into the basket along with the toilet plunger. “You going to the dance this weekend?”
“Gosh no.” Cady chuckled. “That’s for kids.”
Eli wrinkled her brow. “I ain’t no kid.”
“Eli, you’re a drop in the bucket compared to me.”
Eli shook her head. “Nah, Cady, you are not that old. But I’ll let you get out of the dance this time. Next time, though, I’ll expect to see you there.”
Cady laughed as she moved to the next aisle to grab the rest of Eli’s list. They chatted amicably until it was time for Eli to check out. She put it on her account, which she made sure to pay up at the end of every month as soon as they sent her the bill. When she left, Cady gave her a sweet smile, and she headed out the door to her old truck.
She’d brought in the farm truck that day, knowing she was stopping at the lumber yard for some dog food, some feed, and some wood. If she was really going to renovate that bathroom, she was going to need the supplies and she didn’t want to ruin her nice new truck with everything she had to bring back.
It took her less time at the lumber yard than at the hardware store. Cady was a talker, and Eli knew she needed the conversation. As soon as she was back on the highway and bumbling down it, topping her speed at fifty so her old truck wouldn’t fall apart, Eli sorted through her mental to-do list.
As she pulled off the highway and onto the dirt road that would eventually take her home, Eli relaxed. Her new guest coming in was a bit of a mystery. She wasn’t lying when she said business routinely dried up in the winter. There were months sometimes when no one wanted to stay there, but then again, who would want to travel to the her side of Kansas in the middle of winter if they weren’t hunters.
She had cabins for hunters on her property, and those were usually booked clear through. She’d thought about opening the house to them in the winter to increase her profit margin, but she worried about the damage they would do to the facility, which she had tried to make more of an upscale but western style B&B, a small sort of dude ranch.
Eli turned down the second dirt road, her back tires spinning out. She always had to watch that curve. She’d seen far too many cars end up rolling in the ditch—kids hurt, or worse, dead. It was the classic make-out-and-party spot, had been since well before she was born, a tradition passed down from generation to generation.
When she’d been a kid, she’d steered clear of it, not only because she didn’t like boys and it was hard to find another girl who liked girls in her neck of the woods, but also because it was far too close to her house for her comfort. If she had been caught in that position with a girl or boy, she would have had her ears cuffed in no time.
It took her twenty-five minutes to get home from town. It was a long drive, but it was one she loved to make every time. She loved the solitude of living on her own out in the fields—no one to bother her when she didn’t want them to, and the quiet and peaceful air every morning when she woke up.
The four years she’d done in the city to get her degree were plenty enough for her. She didn’t need any more than that. She’d gone to get her vet degree so she could eventually take over her parents’ place when they decided to retire, but when the time had come, she’d balked. She couldn’t do it. While she loved animals, she didn’t want to run a business treating them.
Eli pulled up outside of the large house and smiled. Home sweet home. It was the perfect place for her, and she would have it no other way. Eli wasn’t going to
Unloading the supplies she’d gotten, Eli put everything in its place before she went inside to make herself a quick lunch. She had two whole days to get the bathroom in working order before Sarah arrived at the house, and she would do her best to get it done. She was glad she had learned over her time growing up there how to fix things because it made running her business that much easier.
She had ordered the toilet months before, making sure she had enough cash on hand to do the renovations first. Eli set her supplies inside as she made her lunch. As soon as she was done, she headed into the small, tiled room and sat on the floor. It was going to be a doozy of a job. She’d never installed a toilet before, but she did at least know enough to drain the tank of the old one first.
She read the directions she had pulled up on her laptop. If someone on the Internet could do it, certainly she could. She might not have a degree or certification in plumbing, but she wasn’t trying to re-plumb her entire house, just replace the toilet that had always had a small leak in it with a better, more water efficient one.
Every time she had to stop to take a break and read more instructions, Eli felt as though she was in over her head. She should have done it over the Christmas break when her father was in town. It would have been far easier with his help than doing it on her own, but she’d insisted they relax while there rather than helping her fix stuff she should have taken care of before they arrived.
Instead, since she’d barred him from any work in the house, her dad had taken to doing her morning chores for her. He truly missed his cows. She’d known that was going to happen the moment they’d told her they were retiring out of state to the city. Her father had always been a farmer, and it was impossible to take the farmer out of the man. But to make her mother happy, he had gone. She’d lived in Kansas for more than thirty years while raising their family and running their business. It was her turn to live where she wanted. At least that had been how he’d explained it away.
Still, Eli knew if she wanted a break, she could always call on him to join in and take over for a week while she left to go on vacation. And she had taken that week to sleep in until eight every morning, enjoying watching the sun rise from her bedroom rather than from the fields outside. Eli settled onto the floor, her legs surrounding either side of the toilet as she waited for the water to drain. The next step, after she undid all the bolts and disconnected the lines, was going to be the hard one to do. A second pair of hands, legs, and back would certainly come in handy. Too bad she was on her own with no one else in sight.
Eli stood up and brushed her palms on her dirty jeans. She stretched her back and stared down at the toilet. “Okay, you fool, I’ve got this. I can do this.”
Grunting, Eli shuffled into place so her feet were planted on either side of the basin. She reached down and around the bowl. “I can do this.”
With a heave, Eli pulled upward, using the leverage from her knees to give her a good go, but the toilet didn’t budge. Grunting again, she stood up and then bent down to try one more time. When it didn’t move again, Eli kicked at it with her shoe.
“Fucker.”
The banging on her door surprised her. Cocking her head to the side, Eli left all her equipment on the floor as she left the room. The pounding started again. Eli frowned as she headed down the stairs and rounded the banister at the bottom to get to the front door. She pulled open the large wooden door her dad had handcrafted for weeks on end in the barn whenever he’d had a few minutes’ spare time.
“Bill?”
Bill’s balding head and scruffy face shown through the screen door at her. He gave her a stare and shook his head.
“Don’t tell me they got into your field again,” Eli muttered.
“They did.”
“What even? I just checked the fence two days ago.”
He shrugged. “You know where they always be getting in. You seen the damage they did to it the last time.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Eli closed her eyes. “I’ll be out in a minute to get them. Just let me grab a jacket. How many this time?”
“Just three.”
“Well, that’s something, I guess.”
Eli stepped behind the door to grab her heavy jacket and changed out of her tennis shoes into her muck boots before she headed out the door to join Bill. She didn’t bother locking it as she scratched her head and moved toward her truck.
“Hey, Bill, you know anything about toilets?”
“Why?”
“I need help lifting one. Or two. Just two. I can do the rest.”
He grinned at her as he leaned against the door of his nice new truck. “Renovating?”
“A bit. Getting rid of the leaky toilet my dad installed when I was two.”
Laughing, Bill slapped the side of his truck before he opened the door. “I’ll help you with the toilet if you fix me some dinner.”
“Deal!”
He jumped into his truck just as Eli hopped into hers. It was going to take her probably at least thirty minutes to round up the three cows, assuming they cooperated. If they didn’t cooperate, it could be the longest afternoon of her life and she wouldn’t make any progress on the toilet.
She headed down to the fence line where they always seemed to get out and parked her truck in the middle of the field. Eli slammed the door shut and glared at the cattle lowing around in the pasture on the right side of the land before she shifted her glare to the ones who were on her neighbor’s land, eating the wheat that was beginning to sprout.
“Bailey, Cassie, Donovan, get over here! Now!” she shouted, to no avail, because they were cattle and didn’t give a crap about what she said to them.
She trudged through the mud to the fence line and put her hands on her hips as she shouted at them again. She knew Bill would join up with her if it took her longer than an hour to get a handle on her own cattle, but the ridiculousness of the situation weighed on her. These three always got through the fence, no matter how many times she repaired it. She was going to have to completely rebuild that section and perhaps add in a few extra things to make it less enticing to jump.
Eli planted her hands on the wood and shouted. “Get your butts back over here!”
They didn’t move as they enjoyed the fresh greens of the winter wheat just poking its head through the soil.
“Bugger.” She lifted her body over the fence and let out a groan as she landed on both feet on the other side. Looking over her shoulder at her own truck and land, Eli moved swiftly and with a determined step. She was done waiting for them to come back on their own.
“Bailey, get your butt back here, right now!”
The cow glanced in her direction and went back to eating. Eli shook her head as she charged forward and clapped her hands. That got Bailey’s attention. She shoved at the cow and pushed her toward the fence line. Donovan wasn’t too far off, and as soon as Bailey started moving, he moved. She had the two of them over the fence in no time, but Cassie was going to be another issue.
She was the stubborn one of the three for sure. Eli gritted her teeth as she was determined to get her cattle over the fence and then repair it so it would at least keep them contained for the week until she could figure out a more permanent solution.
“Hey!” she shouted loudly at Cassie. “Cas! Get your butt home. Now!”
Bill pulled up on the other side of Cassie and stayed in his truck as he watched Eli work. She moved from side to side as she coaxed Cassie toward the fence. With loud clapping, she finally convinced Cassie to jump it and go into her field. Sighing, Eli headed for Bill’s truck as he rolled down the window to speak with her.
“Sorry, Bill.”
“I know you’ve tried to fix it, Eli, but you need to find a more permanent solution.”
She groaned. “I know. It’s now top of the list before the toilet.”
He chuckled. “I’ll help you do it after morning chores.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Now keep them home.”
