“Haven’t seen a lot of stuff like that?” he asked in an amused voice.
“I was an only child and my mother was kind of prissy. I didn’t get moments like this.”
“If you want to crawl under the grain shed, I’ll be happy to pull you out,” Cole offered. “Make up for what you lost out on growing up.”
She took a step closer, biting her lip as she looked up at him. “Or I could pull you out.”
He smiled. “Or…we could wait until Jancey and Chucky go to sleep and pick up where we left off…”
She went on tiptoe to take his face and pull his lips to hers. “I like that option best of all.”
“OKAY. THAT WAS stupid easy.” Jancey waltzed through the kitchen door and put Chucky down on the linoleum. Cole’s eyebrows came together as the poodle pranced around Jancey’s feet, but his sister didn’t seem to notice.
“I got the job!”
Cole jumped to his feet and wrapped his arms around his little sister. “Way to go, kid.”
“Congratulations!” Taylor dropped the spoon she’d been using to stir gravy and gave the girl a big hug as soon as Cole let her go.
“Stupid easy, you say?” Cole’s tone was ultraserious, but amusement lit his eyes.
Jancey gave him a nudge with her elbow. “You know what I mean.”
“I do, and congratulations.” He cleared his throat and indicated the poodle with a quick tilt of his head. “And Chucky?”
Jancey’s smile grew even wider. “He’s mine! Mrs. Clovendale can’t keep up with him, and apparently, her sister isn’t up to keeping him.”
“I don’t know if anyone is up to keeping him.”
“I am.” Jancey went to the counter, where Taylor had laid out the pot roast, and picked up a plate. “I have a job and a dog. This is a great day.”
“Super,” Cole muttered. Now Taylor gave him a nudge, and he winked at her.
Jancey put her plate on the table and took a seat. Chucky jumped up onto the chair next to her, and Taylor was afraid that if she looked at Cole she’d start laughing. So she focused on Jancey.
“Tell us about what happened. Every detail.” She took the chair across from Jancey and did her best to ignore Chucky who peered across the table with his soulful eyes.
“I start on Monday. I was really nervous about not having any references from the ranch, but Jolie—she’s my new boss—told me that if I was your sister, that was enough for her.” She stabbed her fork into the pot roast. “Take that, Miranda.”
Jancey’s joy was infectious, and Taylor found herself wishing that she could share a similar joy soon. Her gaze connected with Cole’s yet again, guessing he knew exactly what she was thinking—especially when his hand found her thigh under the table a few seconds later.
“I have to get a bunch of stuff from the ranch tomorrow,” Jancey said to Cole. “Can I use your truck?”
“The bed is filthy. You’d have to wash it out first.”
“How about the SUV?” Taylor asked. “I can go with you. Help load.”
Jancey considered. “If you don’t mind, that’d be great.”
“Works for me,” Cole said, looking back at his plate. He gave Taylor’s thigh a gentle squeeze before pulling his hand away. “I have an appointment with my accountant in Missoula tomorrow or I’d go with you.”
“I don’t need a bodyguard,” Jancey said darkly.
“It wasn’t you I was worried about.”
Jancey laughed. Landing the job at Culver Ranch and Feed had done wonders for her temperament. Or maybe it was breaking free from the family ranch, no longer having to deal with the stress there.
“I’m going to use my first paycheck to buy a kennel for Chucky. Jolie will give me a discount on both the fencing and the boards I’m going to bury in the ground around it so that he can’t dig out.”
“And then you’ll continue to save for college.”
Jancey blinked at him. “Of course.”
After the dishwasher was loaded, Cole walked Taylor to the bunkhouse while Jancey tapped out messages on her phone. “Thank you for offering to drive her. I don’t want her going to the ranch alone.”
Taylor shifted her course toward the calves. The babies were growing fast, and she was almost as good at feeding them now as Jancey was. “Do you think there’ll be trouble?”
He let out a snort. “I know there will be if Jancey goes to the main ranch and tells off Miranda.”
“Ah. I’m supposed to keep that from happening?”
He smiled down at her. “If you did, I’d be grateful.” He leaned his arms on the top rail of the calf pen. “Jancey has a lot of fight in her, and I think it would be best if she didn’t tangle with Miranda right now.”
“Let things cool for a bit.”
“Yeah.”
“So that you can do the tangling?” He didn’t answer, and Taylor bumped her shoulder up against his.
He turned and smiled down at her. “I plead the fifth.”
“Yeah.” She captured his face between her hands and kissed him. This thing they shared…she liked it. She was comfortable with it, and after dissecting the matter late last night when the wind was leaking through the loose windows and the critters under the bunkhouse were particularly active, she decided that it was because they understood one another. He knew her goals, she knew his. They were comfortable with sharing the time they had. A rare thing and special thing, one she would treasure as life went on and their paths eventually diverged.
* * *
SHE AND JANCEY left for the ranch at the same time Cole headed off to Missoula. She followed his truck down the highway until he entered the freeway and she continued on to the Bryan Ranch. When they got to the place, Jancey’s friend Matt was there, throwing hay to the horses.
“He’s taken over feeding for me,” Jancey explained to Taylor. “He has fence duty, so he can work it into his schedule without going out of his way.” She gave a small shrug. “I can pay him a little more than I thought I could, too, because I’ll make more working at Culver’s.”
Jancey crossed the drive to speak with her friend while Taylor opened the SUV’s hatch and laid the back seat down to make more cargo space. Then she hauled the empty boxes they’d brought onto the porch. The house was locked, so she sat in one of the weathered rocking chairs and surveyed Cole’s beautiful property while she waited for Jancey to finish her conversation.
Once Matt got on his ATV to head back to the guest ranch, she and Jancey got into the house, and Jancey started dumping the contents of her dresser into black trash bags. The clothes hanging in the closet were doubled over and also stuffed into bags, hangers and all. She cleaned out the small bathroom, loading the boxes, and then stacked the books on the shelf by her bed into the last box.
“I think this is it for now.” She propped her hands on her hips and looked around the room. “I’ll get the rest later, if I need it.”
Taylor gave her a sympathetic nod, then grabbed one of the heavy trash bags and headed for the SUV. They’d just finished loading when the sound of an engine brought their heads up.
“Shit.”