At Home on Ladybug Farm - Donna Ball [10]
All three women smiled, and even Ida Mae, rocking a little faster, seemed to have a smug expression on her face. Lori just rolled her eyes.
“Excellent,” said Lindsay, spreading her hands on the table as she leaned back in her chair. “Now let’s talk about the division of labor.”
Noah folded his arms across his chest. “I knew there was a catch.”
“As long as you brought it up,” Lindsay went on cheerfully, “Noah, you’re in charge of mowing the lawn, pruning the shrubs, and cleaning out the orchard. Also, cultivating the ground for the vegetable garden and building a fence to keep Bambi out.”
He considered that. “How much does it pay?”
Lori gave him a scathing look, and Lindsay replied evenly, “Room and board.”
His brows knit sharply. “I thought Lincoln freed the slaves.”
Lindsay smiled. “Extra credit on your final exam for knowing that.”
Lori exclaimed, “Oh, come on!”
Bridget said, “Did you know forty percent of Americans think Jimmy Carter freed the slaves?”
Cici lifted an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
“I read it somewhere.”
Noah said, still scowling, “Who’s Jimmy Carter?”
And because no one could be sure whether he was joking, Lori just rolled her eyes again.
Lindsay said, “If you want to earn a little extra money, you can start cleaning out the loft in the dairy barn. I need the space to store my canvases. And you still owe me $175.”
She checked her list again. “Lori, I’ve got you down to help Noah dig the garden and build the fence.”
“Wait a minute,” objected Noah.
Lori said at the same time, “I think we should talk about that.”
Noah went on, “I don’t need help from no girl.”
“I’m really not much of an outdoor garden-digging kind of person,” added Lori. “I think I’d be of more help in the kitchen.”
“No one who actually works in the kitchen agrees,” Cici said mildly. “Besides, you need the exercise and the vitamin D.”
“I’ll get sunburned. Too much sun is very hard on fair-skinned redheads, right, Aunt Lindsay?”
“Wear a hat,” advised the fair-skinned, auburn-haired Lindsay. “Also, I really have my heart set on getting the reflecting pool and the fishponds restored this summer. That means they’ll have to be drained and cleaned of debris, then bleached and sealed and maybe even resurfaced. Lori, I thought that would be a good project for you.”
Lori’s eyes went wide, and Noah tried not to grin. “What, are you kidding? All that black gunky water and weeds and bugs? Those pools are gross! Who knows what could be living at the bottom of them? There could be, like, snakes and stuff!”
The three women glanced at each other, and shared the very slightest of shrugs. “Probably not this time of year,” Cici offered. “So I’d get started right away if I were you.”
“But I don’t know anything about building ponds! I wouldn’t know where to begin!”
“None of us knew anything about restoring a hundred-year-old house when we started,” Cici pointed out.
“Or raising sheep or preserving food,” Bridget added.
“Or building garden walls or bringing back an antique rose garden or managing an orchard,” Lindsay added. “The point is to learn by doing. This is your project.” And she beamed at the younger woman. “We know you’ll do a great job.”
“But—”
“We’ll also need you to help with the berry harvest this spring,” Lindsay went on, “which means spreading nets over the bushes to keep the birds out as soon as the blossoms fall off. And we’re all going to have to pitch in to get all of these windows washed, inside and out, not to mention scrubbing the soot stains off the walls.”
“And I know you don’t mind continuing to help me with the sheep,” Bridget said, smiling, “especially with the baby lambs.”
Lori looked slightly mollified. “Well, that’s okay I guess. I like the babies. As long as I don’t have to go tromping across that muddy meadow through the sheep manure in my Doc Martens.”
“Of course not, sweetie,