Her gaze was suspicious as she asked, "Have you been talking with my grandfather?"
"Why do you ask that?"
"Because you're beginning to sound a lot like him!" She turned back to the loose dirt before her and attacked it with a vengeance.
Ted guffawed and took another swig of his beer.
"You old rascal! Caleb I swear you only get more intriguing with age."
I shrugged, but I couldn't erase the proud smile off of my face at my accomplishment. I picked up my pair of binoculars and gazed again up close at the pair of individuals hard at work at the dig site. Deshavi was beginning to noticeably drag. Poor girl, I thought, without really meaning it. Trent was accomplishing something I hadn't in years, which was to get Deshavi to perform honest labor.
She must really want the money to put herself through this torture. Something had happened, I mused to myself. I didn't know what it was, but it had scared her enough to embark on this venture with all her effort.
Ted commented from where he viewed the pair through his binoculars, "So since her most obvious weapon is off the table, how do you think she'll snare him?"
"Not sure. I'd say we're looking at her best strategy, the classic 'companionship best buddy couldn't do without me don't you want to experience more with me', approach."
Ted sub commented, "A brutally effective strategy, if I do say so myself."
"Think he'll fall for it?" I asked.
"Oh from the way he's soaking up the sight of her, when she's not looking, I'd say he wants the prize as bad as anyone ever did. He'll fall for it, but it will be a well thought out and managed surrender, instead of a complete route on his part."
I put my binoculars down and studied Ted, "Ted it's not too late! I can ship Deshavi out of here and your grandson can remain free from heartbreak."
Ted glanced over at me, "Don't you dare! Your granddaughter may be many things, but somewhere in her runs the blood of one of the best men I have ever known and that I have been fortune enough to call my friend! Blood speaks for itself Caleb and yours is red clear through."
He put the binoculars back up to view the distant pair again. "And besides, this is the most fun I've had in years!"
"I think I've had enough relationship building for the day." Deshavi said, as she wiped a smeared drop of sweat from her brow with one dirty hand.
Trent looked up as she laid her shovel against the side of the ditch. She looked exhausted and yet even more beautiful than when she had first come. She had dirt smears all over her face and her hair had come free of the braid that it had been bound in. Her shirt and pants were scuffed up with soil stains and her designer boots would never be the same again.