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Arlene gives me one final, sharp gaze as if she's trying to set me on fire with her eyes.
Once they’re gone, I exhale the breath that had been strangling my lungs.
After I get my groceries in the back of the SUV, another familiar face approaches me, but this time, it’s a friendly one.Tracy, the woman who helped me pick out my new clothes, is headed my way.
“Hey, Tracy!” I call out.
“Hey, Andi! How’s it going?”
“Good. Just getting stuff for dinner.”
“Same here,” she smiles.
We make a bit of small talk before I realize that Tracy is probably the closest thing I have to a friend in this small town.
“Do you want to go get drinks or something sometime?” I ask.
Her face lights up. “I’d love that!”
We exchange phone numbers before going our separate ways. I’m not always great at making friends, so I jumped on the opportunity.
I turn down the radio on my way back to the ranch and think about the events of the day.
But I quickly try to push the thoughts from my head. I have a big night to prepare for.
Chapter Twenty-five
Jonas
“Alright, Taylor, let’s call it a night,” I call to my companion, who has been helping me check on some of the calves.
“Easy for you to say when you have a beautiful woman waiting for you at home. You just want to get out of here and go see her.”
“You’re damn right I do,” I say with a laugh. “Have youseenAndi?”
“Hell yeah, man. I can’t say I blame you. How is she handling working here?”
I smile. “Really great. She seems to have some great ideas for this place.”
Taylor stops walking and looks at me. “Joe, you have never let anyone give you any input about this place. What makes this girl so special?”
He’s right. I’ve worked way too hard to let anyone else tell me how to run my business. I’d rather try to go at it alone, and if I fail, then it’s all on me. But Andi’s input means something to me.
I suddenly remember Taylor asked me a question “As much as I want to handle everything myself, I realize I can’t do what I love on the ranch while also doing all of the other stuff that goes along with it. And Andi has a background in office management and marketing, which will probably be pretty damn useful.”
“Hey, I get it, Jo. Just asking. It’s good to see you happy.”
“Thanks, Tay.”
We go our separate ways as he heads for his truck, and I head inside, excited to get to my woman. But before I even get to the deck, I hear Beau barking from inside the house.
Barking like something is wrong.
I sprint onto the deck and pull open the sliding glass doors. When I yank on it, smoke comes billowing out into the evening air.
My heart thumps in my chest as panic sets in. Thankfully, after that wave of smoke pours out, the room is clear enough to see. My eyes are drawn to Andi standing in front of the stove yelling obscenities at the small fire. She throws a towel on the flames, but it catches fire too.
“Hush, Beau,” she pleads at the still-barking dog.
