Stacy laughed.
“I wasn’t not thinking about it, either.”
Pleased, Rebecca put her arm around Stacy’s shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. “I do appreciate this, Stacy. It saves me the trouble of having to look for someone to take Elsie’s place. You are a lifesaver. You know that, don’t you?”
“It goes both ways, Rebecca.” When the taller woman looked at her quizzically, Stacy decided not to tell her that she needed a job or would need one eventually. Instead, what she said was, “I need to keep busy.”
“Well, we don’t exactly have so much business that we have to turn people away,” Rebecca told her honestly. “This is still Forever. But slowly we are getting outsiders passing through, especially ever since the Healing Ranch was written up in that magazine. That put us on the map, so to speak. Before then, except for the occasional lost person who found themselves in Forever by accident, looking for the right way to get back, I don’t think anyone ever came to Forever on purpose. Not unless they already lived in the general area and were just coming into town for supplies.”
Rebecca was not telling Stacy anything that she didn’t already know.
“All things considered,” Stacy said honestly, “I’m kind of surprised that someone actually built a hotel in Forever.”
Rebecca smiled. “Just between us...me, too,” she told Stacy with a broad wink. “There’s not much to this job, really,” she went on. “I can train you in an hour. Half that time if you’re as smart as I remember.”
They’d attended the same high school together—everyone in Forever did—where Rebecca had been three years ahead of her. But since the classes at each grade level were rather small, it felt as if the students were more like one large family than the typical rivalry between the different grades.
Stacy blushed a little. Compliments were a rare thing in her world. Not that Aunt Kate had been belittling. She just had a way of taking everything over, silently indicating that she didn’t feel that her niece was competent to do things as well as she herself could do them. For a while there, Stacy had begun to believe her.
“You’re being kind,” Stacy responded.
“I’m being accurate,” Rebecca corrected. “Remember, I’m your boss for now. Bosses don’t get anywhere by being just kind. They have to be accurate. I think you’re going to be good for the hotel.
“Okay, let me go over some of the key duties, and then you can get started by going to the diner and getting some breakfast for the two of us.”
Stacy looked at her, curious. “I thought the hotel had that little restaurant on the premises.” She recalled walking by it yesterday.
“It does,” Rebecca told her. “But unfortunately, it’s still closed for repairs.”
“Repairs?”
The other woman nodded. “It seems that yesterday, just before end of day, we had a grease fire. There was some damage done. We’re keeping it closed for now. Just one thing after another,” she said with a sigh. “You don’t mind going, do you?” she asked after seeing the slightly unhappy expression on Stacy’s face.
“Oh, no, no problem.”
Which was a lie. She hadn’t ventured out to see anyone except for Olivia since she’d returned.
But she knew that she’d have to face people eventually and field questions. There was no such thing as “mind your own business” in Forever. But she had really thought that eventually wasn’t going to arrive so soon.
Obviously, she’d thought wrong.
So, after a very brief review of her new duties, which, Stacy felt, anyone with an ounce of common sense could have easily figured out, she found herself walking to Miss Joan’s Diner.
She knew she could have driven there, giving herself a quick avenue of escape once she’d placed and picked up her order, but that was only putting off the inevitable. She had to face the people of Forever who would have questions for her.
It was better to get it over with than to stress over the anticipation of what those questions might be.
You can do this, you can do this, Stacy told herself over and over again, like some sort of a mantra meant to give her strength as she made her way down the streets of Forever to the diner.
You can do this. You can do this.
Finally reaching the diner’s front door, she pulled it open and walked inside. Several people at the counter looked up in her direction. She saw recognition ricochet back and forth on their faces.
You can’t do this.
The babies had both been fed and, thanks to the resourcefulness of Jackson and Garrett’s housekeeper, they had been changed as well, so their whimpering, at least for now, had stopped. The twins had fallen asleep.
Cole took the opportunity to call home. It took several rings before anyone picked up on the other end.
“Hello?”
Cole could tell by the way the greeting had been barked that Connor was in less than good spirits. “Connor, it’s Cole. I’m going to be late.”
“You’re already late,” his older brother informed him.
“I know,” Cole said, an apology implied in his voice. “But it can’t be helped.”
“Everything can be helped,” Connor said impatiently. And then Cole heard his older brother sigh. “Okay, well, what’s the problem?”
Looking at the sleeping twins, Cole moved farther away from them, afraid that if he accidentally spoke loudly he’d wind up waking them up. “You know how Cody came across Devon pulled over on the side of the road and she was about to give birth?”
“Yes?” Connor sounded perplexed.
“And then Cassidy helped save that baby out of the river?”
“I’ve got chores to do, Cole. For both of us, it appears. I know all this you’re telling me. What I don’t know is where you’re going with it.”
Cole took a deep breath. “Well, it seems that it happened again.”
“What happened again?” Cole sounded as if he was coming to the end of his patience.
“I was about to leave the ranch when I found these two babies on the doorstep.”
“Two babies,” Connor repeated incredulously.
“Yeah. They’re twins.”
Connor sighed. “Of course they are. Whose are they?” he asked.
“Haven’t a clue,” Cole admitted. “They were just there, tucked into this huge wicker basket like laundry—breathing, moving laundry.”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line and then Connor finally began to ask, “Cole, did you by any chance, um...”
Cole knew what was coming and immediately headed it off before Connor had the opportunity to finish the sentence. “No, I didn’t, Connor. Those babies are not mine.”
“I’m just going to ask this once, and then we’ll put this to rest,” Connor promised before he pressed, “You’re sure?”
“I am positive,” Cole said with finality.
There was no mistaking the relief in Connor’s voice. “Okay. Then you’ve got to find out who those babies belong to.”
“I know,” Cole answered.