Page 101 of Roping Her In

Nikki finished up with introductions with Ellen, and she held Daisy by the hand as she met Ty and Joelle. Then Ty came over and said, “I’ll be out to do your chores later today.”

“Thank you,” Alex said. “And if it’s too much, just let me know. There are so many people willing to help.”

“It’s not too much,” Ty said. “I’ll just put Grant in the sling, and we’ll get it done.” He grinned and turned toward the back door of the IFA. He led the way inside, and Finn once again fell silent among all the chatter between Joelle, Henry, and Nikki.

Voices came out of the conference room down the hall as well, and Finn’s heart grew in size with every step he took. He could distinguish voices and laughter, and he knew Smiles and Rock had both come to today’s meeting, as had Conrad and JJ and Tate. He heard Dawson’s lower drawl, and his brother Brandon’s laughter.

He tilted his head as a more feminine tone met his ear, and he assigned it to Hailey, and then he heard one he didn’t know. It couldn’t be Libby, as Finn knew the sound of his sister’s voice as if it were his own.

He finally gained entrance to the room and found Smiles standing next to Bev Russell. She wore a smile as well, but her eyes flitted around as if she was mapping the room for the exits. Finn currently stood in the only one, and he smiled and stepped over to her.

“Howdy, Bev,” he said. “I’m not sure if you remember me. I’m Finn Ackerman.”

“Oh, everyone knows you, Finn,” she said, her voice filled with pleasantries.

“I invited her,” Smiles said. “Though I know she works at the clinic and isn’t technically a ranch owner. She gets called out to a lot of our places, and I thought she might like to be here for a round of introductions.”

“We’ve got a lot of that going on today,” Finn said, as Alex and Nikki both held a little girl now, and were talking to the Walkers.

Smiles’s gaze went that way too, and he said, “Oh, cattle and cutting horses, they got the girls,” and he abandoned Bev and beelined down the table and around the top of it to meet them as well.

Finn stayed next to Bev and nodded. “That’s my brother-in-law, Alex Baxter. He’s out at Coyote Pass.”

“Sure,” Bev said. “I haven’t been there, but he brought his dogs into the clinic once.”

Finn nodded. “That’s his wife, Nikki, and they’re fostering those two little girls. They just picked them up on Tuesday.”

“Wow,” Bev said, and she couldn’t tear her eyes from the kids either.

“It’s kind of a big deal for them,” Finn said. “They’ve been trying to get a foster placement for about a year now.”

She smiled, and it definitely seemed softer around the edges. “I’ll have to tell them congratulations when they’re less overwhelmed.”

Finn nodded and edged back against the whiteboard as more Glovers arrived, and then Paul and Jake started carrying in sheet trays holding aluminum pans.

“It’s a burrito bar,” Paul called. “Make way.”

Libby and Rusty came right after them, and she started setting out shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, tortillas, and utensils, while Rusty lined up the ranch dressing, guacamole, sour cream, and salsa.

Jake peeled back the foil on one of the containers and said, “This is sweet pork, and it’s from Sweet Southern.”

“And we’ve got steak too,” Paul said, and he peeled back the foil on his tray. “And there’s rice and beans.” A third tray had been split in two, with the Spanish rice on one half and the refried beans on the other.

“Do you guys eat at every meeting?” Bev asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Finn said. “We’ve come a long way since we started.” He chuckled and looked at her. “Do you want me to get you a burrito?”

She didn’t look at him, and Finn followed her gaze across the table. “Ah, it looks like Smiles is already on it.”

“Yes,” Bev murmured. “He’ll take care of me.”

All at once, Finn realized that the woman Smiles had his eye on all these months was Beverly Russell, and while he hadn’t heard that they’d started dating, it was clear that something hot and sparkly existed between them.

“Right,” he said. “Well, pick a seat. Any one works. We don’t have assigned seats.”

“Yes, we do,” JJ drawled. “That’s Finn’s right there on the end. The others are open.”

Finn shook his head, but he got in line to get a burrito. He was glad he did have a saved seat, because the room was packed today.