Page 48 of The Cowgirl's Secret Love
Karen nodded. “It’ll take me some time to get the details into place, but we can test run a route we might use at Finn’s ranch.”
“Let’s talk about it this coming month—which is a week from Monday, by the way. I don’t think anyone will have a problem with it.” Tansy started on their coffees. “How are things going at the ranch? Is Finn back and overdoing it yet?”
“Just back. He hasn’t had time to start overdoing it.”
“He will,” Tansy said confidently. “Bet you Zach has to sit on him to slow him down.”
That wasn’t a bet any of them would be willing to take. “You’ve been hanging around Lisa too much,” Karen told her.
She waited until the coffees were ready, carrying them back to the table where they’d been joined by Julia’s boss, Brad.
“I won’t interrupt for long,” he said.
Karen waved the comment off. “It’s okay. No use standing by the door and pretending you don’t know us while you wait for your order to be done.”
A big sheepish grin crossed his face. “Well, I don’t know that I’d be pretending. I mean, you haven’t been in town that long. And Julia and I’ve only been working together since April. We hadn’t seen each other for a year before that.”
Julia rolled her eyes, and she leaned forward and spoke in a conspiratorial tone. “We do so know each other. I’ll prove it. That little game of Clue we played the other day. Remember that?”
Brad stiffened.
Karen’s sister forged ahead in spite of his uncomfortable body language. “You remember where your sweet fiancée killed you with a kiss?”
He didn’t say anything, and for a moment Karen worried this might head in some weird direction, but Julia was smiling too hard for it to be anything terrible. “Tell us, Brad. How many people did you actually take out before you ended up with Hanna as your target?”
It took a moment for Karen to figure out what Julia was suggesting. “Wait. I don’t rememberanybodysaying Brad knocked them out. That means—”
“Exactly. It means Brad had Hanna’s name from the first minute of the game and never even tried to get her gone.” Julia leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. “And that’s exactly what I would’ve expected from you, Mister Knight in Shining Armour.”
He looked uncomfortable, glancing around to make sure nobody was listening to their conversation. “It’s not that I didn’t want to win the game, but I was having a good time being with my friends and kind of lost track of time. Besides, it was seriously entertaining to watch Hanna sneak around and surprise everybody.”
Karen might die from the sickening sweetness of that comment. “You’re terrible,” she informed Brad.
“I’m in love,” he tossed back. “Makes you do all sorts of things.”
The sincerity with which he said it rattled her down to her toes. Watching Julia gloat over being right helped keep Karen’s thoughts from sliding down a dangerous path.
Brad visited for a few more minutes before Tansy called out that his order was ready. He glanced between the two of them. “Julia, I’ll see you at the start of your shift. Karen, hope you have a great day.”
He took off to grab two large bags from Tansy, pushing the door open with a shoulder and heading into the beautiful sunny day.
Julia watched him go, a curious expression on her face.
Karen paused. “What’s that about?”
Her sister shook her head as if tossing away thoughts. “Oh, nothing. Just shoving away a few memories that need to behave.”
Which was more intriguing than an answer.
They enjoyed their meal together, then Karen headed back to the ranch as Julia took off in the direction of the fire hall to prepare for work.
During the month Karen had been around the ranch, huge changes had already taken place. All of the outbuildings that were beyond saving had been taken apart. The usable pieces had been salvaged and stockpiled in an area behind the main barn. The rest were stacked in heaps, ready to be burned.
A group was gathered near where the house of ill repute stood. Karen made her way across the yard to find not only Finn and Zach, but a half dozen of the work crew, including the foreman who’d been hired to oversee actual construction.
Cody Gabrielle spotted her and offered a tip of his head even as he kept talking to his crew. The motion was enough to get Finn’s attention, and he pivoted on the spot, crutches under his arms and a weary expression on his face.
Zach waved her over. “Definitely need your help.”
