She would have to consider that more later because it was time to go to the ranch house for supper, but the idea had stuck firmly in her mind. She would be like a hound dog pup with a soup bone—bury it but keep going back to dig it up and think about it for weeks—until she had a satisfactory answer.
Cody was slouched on the sofa, his boots propped up on the coffee table when she went out into the bunkhouse living area. He turned off the television and laid the remote to the side. “Are you hungry?” he asked. “You sure look a lot less cranky since you’ve had some rest.”
“You read people pretty good, Dr. Cowboy,” she said with half a smile, still trying to figure out if he could possibly change from bad to good.
“Thank you.” Cody stood. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
At just two inches shy of six feet, Stevie had always felt like a giant among the other kids she had gone to school with, especially the girls. But Cody was taller by a good six inches, and she felt especially feminine when he picked up her coat and helped her put it on.
“Jesse brought the ranch work truck down for us to use. I thought we’d take a side trip to the barn and check on the livestock,” he asked.
“Since when have cats become livestock?” Stevie teased.
Cody straightened her collar, and as his fingers brushed against her neck, she felt a tingle shoot straight down to her toes.
“This is a ranch. Cows are animals. Alpacas are animals. Cats are animals. Cows are livestock. Even that bad-tempered donkey we keep around is an—”
Stevie raised a palm. “I get your point, and yes, I would love to go check on Dixie and the cats.”
Tex hopped down off the sofa and followed her outside while Cody put his own coat on. The sun had done very little, if anything, to melt the snow. If it didn’t warm up soon, Stevie was afraid she might really be living at the ranch until spring. When she opened the truck door, the dog jumped in ahead of her and settled in the middle of the bench seat.
“Looks like you’re pretty familiar with this truck, Tex,” she said.
When she’d closed the passenger door, he put his head in her lap and looked up at her with begging eyes. “You are so spoiled,” she said, and patted his head.
“Yep, he is.” Cody slid behind the wheel. “And he loves this truck better than my new one or any of the tractors. He missed Henry a lot when he retired. Do you remember our old foreman, Henry?”
“Of course, I do. He was one of the wisest ranchers I’ve ever met. I’ve only been out here on vet business a couple of times since he left, but I’ve missed him too. He always had a joke or a story to tell me. I imagine Tex was lost without him,” Stevie said.
“So, you had already met Tex?” Cody asked.
“Not formally,” Stevie answered. “We had just seen each other in passing. I think he likes me.”
“Of course he does,” Cody said. “You’re petting him. I’m wondering how he’s going to tolerate the cats.”
“You’re going to be nice to them, aren’t you?” Stevie sounded like she was talking to a baby, but she didn’t care if Cody liked it or not. “Yes, you are. You’re not going to chase them or try to kill them, are you? Has he”—her tone changed—“ever been mean to cats?”
“Nope, but then the barn cats are wild, so they run from anyone who gets close to them, especially Tex.” Cody drove slowly from the bunkhouse to the barn and parked beside an end door. “Thought it might be better if we go through the tack room rather than opening up the big door.”
When Cody stopped the engine and got out of the truck, Tex followed him. The dog took time to turn a patch of snow yellow and then waited for someone to let him in the barn. He dashed inside ahead of Cody and Stevie, ran through the tack room, and headed toward the stalls.
Stevie and Cody made their way to the left side of the barn and stopped at the stall where Dixie and her new little sister were curled up next to each other in a bed of straw. Sunflower Ranch seemed to be a place for adoptions. First the three sons, then Addy and Mia, even though no one knew at the time that Mia was truly Sonny and Pearl’s granddaughter. Then the twin boys Jesse and Addy had adopted, and now, they were giving Dixie a home.
And you too, Stevie’s mother’s voice whispered softly in her ear.
Stevie ignored the voice and said, “I’m so glad that the mama took her.”
“Seems like adoption is a way of life on this ranch,” Cody said with a smile.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Stevie admitted.
“Look over there behind Dixie.” Cody pointed at the sleeping crias.
Stevie moved over a couple of feet and saw a pile of fur cuddled up to Dixie’s back. “Well, now that surprises me. I would have thought the hembra—Maggie, right?—would have thrown a fit over cats next to her babies.”
“As many times as they’ve all crawled all over Dixie, they probably smell like an alpaca,” Cody suggested.
“You’re probably right.” Stevie nodded in agreement.
“Did that hurt?” Cody asked.
“What?” Stevie was a little cold, but she wasn’t hurting anywhere.
“Admitting that I might be right?” Cody raised an eyebrow.
“It doesn’t mean that you’ve always been right,” Stevie told him.
“No, but I am today. Dr. Smarty-Pants just said so,” Cody said with a big grin.
“Speaking of being right,” Stevie said, “I’m glad that I was right when I told Dale that the alpacas here would adopt Dixie. He didn’t think they would.”
“I’m glad they did too,” Cody said. “I’ve kind of gotten attached to the little girl, but I’d rather she be raised by her own kind than in the bunkhouse with us.”
“Me too,” Stevie said, but the way Cody’s eyes were boring right into hers, she wondered if he wanted to say more. “What are you thinking about?” she asked.
“That I’m already missing being stuck in that old barn,” Cody said. “I believe that’s the first time since I went to college that I didn’t have some kind of control over the next thing, whether step or decision, in my life.”
“Me too, again,” she whispered. “Think we’ll look back on those days in a few years and consider them good memories?”
“I will,” Cody admitted. “Guess we’d better get on to the house, or supper will be cold.”
“After what we’ve been through, I’d eat it right out of the fridge,” she said with a grin. She started back toward the other end of the barn with Cody right behind her. Just like last time, as soon as she opened the door, Tex hopped into the truck and flopped down in the middle of the seat. Stevie slid in beside him, and somewhere out of the clear, blue sky a country song by Cross Canadian Ragweed came to her mind. The song had come out right after Stevie got her bachelor’s degree—hardly seemed possible that was thirteen years ago.
“What are you thinking about so hard?” Cody pushed Tex over a little bit to make room for himself.
“A song just popped into my head,” she said. “Ever listen to Cross Canadian Ragweed?”