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the house without the eggs, that’s what Ben wanted, but she’d be damned if she ’d crawl back into that coup again and feed herself up to those blood thirsty birds. She wandered around the structure examining it and found that the back wall had two skinny doors on each corner. She opened one and saw that it led to a narrow hall that ran behind the row of chickens. Wire fencing safely separated her from the birds so she entered the aisle. Once inside she noticed the wooden drawers built into the wire wall. She pulled one open and bingo, it was full of eggs. Proudly she reached down and plucked up four eggs putting them in her basket. She moved to the next drawer and found three more, and some more in the one after that.
    She sauntered up to the house proudly carrying the eggs. First challenge completed, she mentally ticked off the scoreboard in her head “Ben 0 Cassidy 1”. She smiled as she entered the kitchen and placed the basket of eggs on the counter. Ben looked up surprised.
    “Any trouble , Miss St. Claire?” He questioned innocently.
    “None at all , Mr. Riley.” Cassidy met his challenge with one of her own. She was determined to show him that she was stronger than he thought.
    “Good morning , children!” Mrs. Owens sang as she came into the kitchen and broke the hostile standoff. “Oh good, you got the eggs! I’ll get started on breakfast right away.” She smiled, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the room and immediately began her breakfast preparations.
    “Ben, why don’t you get Cassidy a cup of coffee?” Mrs. Owens suggested and grudgingly Ben stood from the table and poured her a cup.
    He set the cup of black coffee in front of Cassidy and she looked up at him with a sugary sweet smile. “Cream and sugar please.” She requested coyly.
    His eyes narrowed at her request but obligingly he retrieved the cream and sugar and set them in front of her on the table. She set about making adjustments to her coffee, smiling and feeling quite proud of herself for being a point ahead of him on the mental scoreboard she was keeping.
    Mrs. Owens made a wonderful breakfast of veggie filled omelets, again taking hers with her upstairs to eat alone. Cassidy found it odd that Mrs. Owens and Ben didn’t eat together , but she didn’t comment.
    They ate in silence. As soon as the meal was finished Ben rose from the table and washed the dishes, this time grabbing Cassidy’s empty plate as well. Once the clean dishes were put away he turned to her with that same mischievous grin she’d seen the night before.
    “Hope you’re not afraid of a little work , Miss St. Claire.” He challenged.
    “Not at all , Mr. Riley.”
    “Good . Follow me.” He instructed heading out of the kitchen through the back door. Cassidy clomped after him. Unfortunately Mrs. Owens feet were several sizes smaller than hers so she was forced to wear the ridiculously large clown shoes that Ben had given her.
    Ben led her through the backyard, past the dreaded chicken coup and around to the west side of the house. Cassidy couldn’t believe her eyes. An enormous vegetable garden sprawled before her. She’d imagined a small personal garden, this was a veritable farm. Trellises were draped with vines, and rows upon rows of plants of various shapes and sizes extended out in front of her covering several acres of land. Her eyes widened in surprise taking it all in. She hadn’t even realized Ben had left her side until he rejoined her carrying two five-gallon buckets.
    “Since you demanded a bath last night the well was emptied filling the hot water tanks.” He informed her coolly. “Which meant no water was left to fill the irrigation system for the gardens.”
    “Oh.” Cassidy flushed with embarrassment.
    “These troughs are designed to catch rain-water and supply a secondary irrigation system.” He explained , pointing to the long metal troughs located at the far end of the garden, opposite the large water tanks. “First