You are talking to yourself again, the voice in her head reminded her.
“I know, but I’ve got to figure this Australia and Oklahoma City thing out and make up my mind about one or the other, or neither before I talk to Cody about it,” she muttered.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Maybe Jesse was right, Cody thought as he drove his new pickup truck into town to buy a load of feed that morning. He had been too busy to actually go into town and look at trucks. He had liked the one he had totaled enough that he asked the dealer to order one just like it. Since the Ryans had always bought their vehicles from the same dealership with the same business, the manager even offered to deliver the one they had on the lot to the ranch. Cody had planned to have Stevie with him when he took the first ride in it, but she and Mia had gone off on a vet call, and besides she’d been acting strange for two days now. She had said she needed to talk to him about something when he got home from Dallas, but when he remembered to ask her about it, she was evasive, and distant.
For the past few days, she’d been distant and almost cold toward him. She’d answered his questions with a simple yes or no, and when he teased her about it, she just shrugged it off.
“What did I do wrong?” he muttered as he backed the truck up to the loading dock of the feed store, got out, and went inside.
“Hey!” Beau Martin came from behind the counter. “What can I do for you today?”
“I need as many bags of feed as you can possibly load on that truck out there,” Cody said. “And put them on the ranch bill. How are you today, Beau?”
“I’m good.” He beamed. “Mia and I are going out tonight. Dinner and a movie over in Paris. Got any suggestions for a good restaurant?”
Cody almost said Sonic for burgers, but he didn’t. “You want fun or fancy?”
“I want to impress her,” Beau answered, “so I guess fancy.”
“If you really want to impress her, ask her where she would like to go and what movie she would like to see.” Cody had been surprised when Stevie wanted to watch The Ranch and when she kept talking about a Sonic date. “Sometimes it’s not where you go or where you eat but just getting to spend time together.”
“Well, that would sure enough take the worry out of the evening. Thanks, Cody. I appreciate it. She’s so beautiful, and way out of my league. I don’t want to blow things with her by…” He paused. “By taking her someplace cheap and making her feel like she’s not worthy of a five-star restaurant.”
“You are so welcome,” Cody said.
“I’ll get right on that feed, and I’ll get an invoice made up soon as I get it all loaded.” Beau started for the storeroom.
Cody followed right behind him. “I’ll help with that.” He hoisted a hundred-pound bag of feed on his shoulder and tossed it over in the bed of the truck.
“Is this a brand-new truck?” Beau asked as he tossed a bag over the side. “Last time you came for feed you were driving an older truck.”
“Yep, just got it delivered a little while ago,” Cody answered. “I’ve been using the ranch work truck until we could rescue my old truck and the insurance claim could be filed.”
“And you brought it to the feed store?” Beau was visibly shocked. “If and when I can afford to buy a fancy truck like this, I hope I’ll be taking Mia out for a ride in it, not messing it up with ten bags of cattle feed.”
Cody bit back a grin. “With that in mind, do you think you should be taking advice from me about where to take Mia for supper tonight?”
Beau shook his head. “Nope, but that was good advice.”
“Well, what would you do when you would like to take your girlfriend out for a ride,” Cody asked, “but she has been cranky for two days?”
Beau shrugged. “Man, that’s above my pay grade, but if you figure it out, don’t forget how you deal with it, because someday, I might need that advice too.” He tossed the last bag over onto the pile in the truck’s bed and headed back into the store. “Let’s get you an invoice made up, and don’t tell Mia that I asked about where to take her.”
“My lips are sealed, but only if you never mention that I said Stevie was cranky,” Cody agreed.
Beau tapped a few keys on the computer, and two copies of the invoice rolled out of the printer. “You’re all ready to go. I hope Stevie gets over her cranky spell soon.”
“Me too.” Cody signed one copy, handed it back, and took the other with him. “See you next time around.”
“Thanks again for the advice.” Beau said.
“Sure thing.” Cody waved and disappeared back through the supply room. He stepped down the concrete steps to the ground, got into his truck, and turned the radio on to his favorite country music station.
* * *
Stevie had spent the whole morning and part of the afternoon vaccinating cattle on a ranch way out beyond Dodd City. When she finished, she was tired, dirty, and hungry. She drove home with the radio blaring and planned to drag out her laptop that evening and enter all the invoices she had stuffed in an envelope on the front seat of her van—right after she had a long, soaking bath. That way, she could get her billing done early the next week—maybe for the last time in Honey Grove if she decided to take the Australia job.
The rich aroma of roast beef met her when she entered the bunkhouse. She wasn’t even aware that Cody had put it in the oven since she had left earlier than he did that morning. She took long oven mitts out of a drawer and put one on each hand, then brought the blue granite roasting pan out of the oven and removed the lid. The potatoes, carrots, and onions were all done perfectly, and the roast fell apart when she tested it with a fork.
She left it on top of the stove, turned off the oven, and headed straight to the bathroom, where she adjusted the water in the tub and dropped her clothing on the floor. Days had passed since she fell through the floor and had to have stitches in her leg, and in those days, she had only had a shower each day with a plastic bag taped to her leg.
She wanted a bath. No, that wasn’t right. She needed to feel warm water around her so she could think. She had removed a lot of stitches from animals, and taking them out of her own leg couldn’t be a bit different. She went to the utility closet where Cody stored all his supplies, and found a disposable suture removal kit. In no time at all, she had removed the stitches, and the little black spider-looking things were lying on the vanity. The tub was nearly full, so she turned off the faucet and sunk down into the warm water.
“I will never take a bath for granted again,” she said with a long sigh.
She vowed that before she got out, she would have her mind made up about Australia. She would tell Cody about the offer and her decision over supper. Maybe then she would have some peace.
“We can see if a long-distance relationship can work,” she said. “We would have two weeks before I have to leave, and I’m talking to myself again.”
That comes from being an only child, the voice in her head whispered.
Was that what had defined everything about her? she wondered. Including her problem with making a decision. Growing up, she hadn’t made friends very easily, especially after being made fun of by her classmates. In college, she had been of those nerdy students who studied all the time and didn’t have time for close friendships.