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He smiled at J.T. “Morning.”
J.T. nodded. “Do you have any bear claws? Betty used to make them and they were great.”
“No. Sorry. I haven’t tried to make those yet. I’ve got several types of muffins. And some donuts.”
J.T. studied the pastries in the glass case under the counter. “I’ll take a couple of those blueberry muffins.”
“Good choice.” He glanced at J.T. while he removed two muffins. “O’Connell, right?”
“Yeah. J.T. We met at the wedding.”
He put the muffins in a small pink box and set it on the counter. “Anything else?”
“A really big coffee. Black.”
Xander went to fill a large paper cup with coffee. “I thought I’d see you guys around town now and then. You must stick fairly close to home.”
J.T. expected the only O’Connell Xander was really interested in seeing around town was Sage. “Yeah. We don’t get out much.”
Xander set the cup on the counter next to the box. “Eight dollars even.”
J.T. handed him a ten. “Thanks.” He picked up the box and the coffee and gave Xander a nod. “We’ll see you around sooner or later.”
“Have a good day.”
Chapter three
"Shut up, and speak for yourself."
J.T. ate one muffin on the way to the ranch and took the other one, along with his coffee, when he got out of the truck after parking near the barn. Sawyer was standing on top of a stack of hay piled on a flatbed trailer. When he saw J.T. he jumped down to the trailer bed, then to the ground.
“I thought we said nine.”
“We did. I had a little Josephina problem this morning. Then I needed to get something to eat.” He took a bite from his muffin. “She damn near burned her house down. Which wouldn’t have been so bad. But the wind was blowing to the east.”
“What happened?” When he got close to J.T., he stopped. “Wow, how big of a fire was this? You smell like a campfire.”
“She started a fire in one of the woodstoves without having the chimney checked out. Filled the house up with smoke.”
“Jesus. And you just had to go and save the day?”
“Like I said. I didn’t want the damn house to catch fire.”
“Right.” He nodded toward the muffin. “Is that from the bakery?”
“Yeah. Really good.”
“Thanks for bringing me one.”
J.T. held out the last few bites. “You can have the rest.”
Sawyer scowled. “No thanks.” He climbed back up on the trailer. “Whenever you’re ready. Don’t let me rush you.”
J.T. finished the muffin and drank some coffee, then set the cup on the hood of his truck. “Let’s do this.”
An hour into the task, J.T. stopped to take a breather. “I thought Dad was going to help us.”
“He and Ember went to Billings on a grocery run yesterday. They should be back this afternoon.”
