"No," Carmen said with a smile. "I'll take care of it. Why don't you relax?
He limped away, speaking over his shoulder. "I'll see you after a while."
Aaron and Rob helped her unsaddle the horses and get them into stalls with hay and water. Carmen grabbed a jar and the three of them headed for the creek. She locked the bison out of the pasture surrounding the pond and joined the men by the footbridge. They all removed their shoes and socks and rolled up their pants legs before wading into the cold water.
Aaron immediately spotted a crawdad and went after it. Rob walked gingerly across the rocks, wincing. The water was so cold that it made the rocks seem sharper.
"Here's one," Rob said, leaning over and reaching down. After a couple grabs, he finally pulled a large crawdad from the creek. Carmen started toward him with the jar and the crawdad flipped in his fingers. He yelled and dropped it.
Carmen laughed. "What's the matter, Rob? Did it kiss you?"
It was a term that they had used as children, and it took her back to a simpler time. Josh and Lori had helped her search for crawdads back then, but they weren't using them for fish bait.
I used to catch crawdads in this creek with my friends when I was a kid. We used to fry them for supper."
Her gaze shifted to Aaron and she found him grinning. "I've never eaten crawdads. What do they taste like?"
She considered that for a moment and then shrugged. "Crawdads."
"What are you doing?" A voice said from the footbridge.
Carmen glanced up to find Alex watching her with a perturbed expression.
A quick glance at her watch confirmed it was lunch time. She handed the jar to Rob and grinned. "Put them in here next time. I've got to fix lunch."
She waded to the bank and picked up her shoes and stockings. Padding barefoot across the footbridge, she joined Alex.
"I'm sorry," she said as she followed him toward the house. "I didn't realize it was that close to lunch time. I have some cold cuts for sandwiches."
"I can make my own sandwich," he said, "and they can catch their own crawdads."
She glanced up to find him watching her. He reached for her shoes and she surrendered them.
"I know they can and I'm not required to do that, but I was enjoying myself. I felt like a kid again."