Page 174 of Liberating Lily

But this morning, Jaret had headed out early to check on all the animals and the fences.

“Is he going to be happy that you went and got it yourself?” Lily asked.

“Pfft,” Clem said. “I’ll get back before he gets home. It won’t be a problem.”

Yeah, Lily thought it probably would be a problem, and maybe she’d make herself scarce when Clem did get home in case Jaret wanted to wallop her ass.

She really did not want to listen to that.

Lily was starting to worry that she was cramping their style. The house wasn’t big, and even though she was having a great time, something wasn’t right.

There was a hole in her stomach that nothing seemed to fill.

And she knew exactly what would fill the hole. Only, she couldn’t have him.

Was she always going to feel this way? Maybe she needed to get a job. Something more to distract herself with.

Of course, it would be easier to go job hunting if she had her car, but she’d woken up one morning to find that it was gone. Jaret told her that he’d had it towed to the local garage to have it looked over, but she hadn’t heard anything about it, and she had this sneaking suspicion that he’d had it taken away to trap her here.

But she couldn’t exactly ask him that, now could she?

“I wonder if I should come with you and check how the mechanic is getting on with my car,” she said. “If there’s time, I could check around for any jobs.”

“Uh, no, you can’t do that,” Clem said hastily.

“I can’t? Why not?”

“Because I need you here. Someone has to stay here and mind Chuck Roast.”

“What? Why?”

“He’s feeling poorly.”

“Oh no. He is? Is the vet coming out?” she asked in concern. She and Chuck had a bit of a strange relationship. He hated her, and she felt the same about him. But it didn’t mean she wanted him to be sick or for anything to happen to him.

“Yeah. No, but if he gets worse, I’ll ask the vet to come out. I think it’s just an upset stomach at the moment. Maybe he’s a bit constipated. I might have to help him along.”

How on earth did you help a steer along with his constipation?

Actually, maybe she was better off not knowing.

“Right. Well, okay. What do I do then? What if it gets worse?”

“I mean, you could get a bit of olive oil and massage his butt hole.”

Lily gaped at her. “I’m not doing that.”

Clem started to giggle. “Sorry, sorry, couldn’t help myself. Just a joke. I’m sure he’ll be fine. Just go and check on him every once in a while, and if he seems worse, give Alec a call. You have his number now, right?”

Lily nodded. She had the phone number of every Malone now. Plus, she was in a group chat with all of the women attached to a Malone, and boy, did they know how to chat. Her phone had never had so many notifications.

“Okay, you won’t be long, though, right?” she said nervously. This was the first time that Lily had been alone, it wasn’t that she was scared to be on her own on the ranch, but she just didn’t want anything to go wrong.

Clem smiled at her. “I won’t be long. Remember, Alec and West aren’t that far away. I’d call Alec first. Definitely wouldn’t call Beau or Tanner. Yep, don’t call Tanner unless you want to shoot somebody. Then call Tanner.”

Right. Good to know. Uh-huh. Cool.

She’d just call Alec.