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Kyle slipped out the door for his day of work, while Alexis went into the office her father had used. She booted up his computer and immediately went through all of the timecards, making sure each one was there before she started typing in the amounts of the checks.
At lunchtime, Joyce and Rebekah came to the study. “How much longer before you’re ready for lunch?” Rebekah asked.
Alexis usually worked through her lunch hour, so she was a bit surprised by the question. “I can take a break anytime,” she said.
“Good,” Joyce said. “Come on.”
The ladies had made a chicken alfredo pizza with bacon bits, and it was just coming out of the oven. “I was hoping we timed it well,” Rebekah said.
“I can take off anytime,” Alexis said, which was true. It was hard for her on Fridays to get all her work done, but she would make an exception this week while Joyce was visiting.
The three of them sat at the table, and talked, laughing often. It was just over an hour later when Alexis realized how long she’d been away from her desk. “I have to get back or everyone will not be getting a check tomorrow, and I have a feeling that the men would be unhappy about that.”
Joyce nodded. “I don’t know why they think they need to be paid for riding around on a horse all day and taking care of cattle. Kyle told me that after his first day working at Scott’s ranch. But he sure was ready for his paycheck when it came.”
Alexis nodded. “Sounds like Kyle.” She hurried off and worked as quickly as she could for the rest of the day, getting her tasks done just as Kyle came in at the end of his day.
“I left the pile of paychecks on the corner of the desk in the office.”
He nodded. “Did they distract you?”
She nodded. “I took an hour lunch, and I do take lunch some days, but never on Friday. But it was fun.”
He nodded, understanding exactly how she felt. She wasn’t one to have fun when there was work to be done. “She goes home Monday morning,” he reminded her.
“I know. I’m truly enjoying her company, but I feel like I’m having to work at double speed to get everything done as I should.”
“Makes sense,” he said.
Supper that night was off-menu completely, but it was delicious, and Rebekah agreed to join them for a change.
“What is this?” Kyle asked after stirring the meal with his fork.
“Thai curry,” Joyce told him. “I’ve been experimenting with it, and I think I got it just perfect.”
“It’s good,” he said, still more toying with it than anything else.
“You need to open your mind to other culture’s cuisines,” his mother said. “I had this in a Thai restaurant not too terribly long ago, and I loved it so much, I just had to learn to make it.”
“I really like it,” Alexis said.
“Good. I’ll leave the recipe with Rebekah, and she can make it for you then.”
Alexis knew she’d need to make something for Kyle after the other women were asleep. She had kept up a supply of frozen meals for occasions just like this.
The women thankfully went to bed early, and she found something more to his liking in her stockpile of foods. “Do you think one meatloaf with mashed potatoes will be enough or should I make two?”
Kyle stood and watched her from the door to the garage. “I think I’ll need two.”
She hurried inside and put one in the microwave, planning on him working on that one while she cooked the second. “I didn’t realize they switched the menu until after you got here. I’m sorry!”
He shrugged. “My mom kind of changes everything whenever I see her. I should have expected it, but I hoped she respected you enough not to do something like that in your home.”
“It didn’t matter to me. I enjoyed it.”
“Mattered to me,” he said, taking the first tray of meatloaf to the table and sitting down with it. “Does your mom do things like that?”
Alexis shook her head. “She never has. I think she knows that I do things differently than she does, and she doesn’t mind at all. She thinks I should do things my own way.”
