“Thanks,” she said. “Good night.”
“See you in four hours,” he told her.
Stevie raised up on an elbow. “Why are you getting up? I can feed Dixie without your help.”
“The fire,” he answered and held up four fingers.
“I understand.” Stevie shivered. “If you don’t wake up, you can trust me to kick you until you do. I do not want to freeze or starve or lose a cria, for that matter. That stove is our lifeline right now.”
“Yep, it is.” Cody closed his eyes and wished for his king-sized bed and nice warm blankets at home.
* * *
A pile of hay in a barn stall would have been more comfortable than the lumpy mattress and cushion Stevie had to use for a pillow. She flipped from one side to the other trying to find a position that was semi-comfortable and had just drifted off to sleep when her alarm went off. She tiptoed around Cody, who was curled up in a ball and trying to use his coat to cover his whole body.
Dixie was sleeping soundly with her newfound feline family, and Stevie hated to wake her, but the little thing needed nutrition every four hours. After the night was done, she could put the alpaca on formula and extend her feedings to five hours, but until tomorrow at noon, she would get colostrum.
“Please let the hembra on Sonny’s ranch adopt her,” Stevie mumbled.
Cody sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Is everything all right? Dixie still alive?”
“She’s fine. I’ll put a stick of wood in the stove since I’m up already. Go back to sleep,” Stevie said.
“Okay, thanks.” Cody pulled the coat back up over his shoulders.
Stevie checked the water she had put on the stove before she went to bed. It was entirely too hot, so she stepped around Cody and filled the bottle half-full of cold and then added what was on the stove. What she wouldn’t give for a flashlight couldn’t be measured in dollars and cents. There was one in her van, but opening and shutting that squeaky door out into the barn would wake Cody again, so she used the tiny bit of light from the window to get the mixture right.
Dixie was already on her feet and butting her head against Stevie’s leg by the time the bottle was made, and she sucked her bottle dry with her little tail straight up in no time. When she finished, she flopped back down with the cats and didn’t even wiggle while Stevie changed her diaper.
Cody sat up, felt around in the dark until he had a stick of wood in his hand, and shoved it into the stove. “That should keep us warm until morning.”
“I said I would do that,” she told him.
“The alarm on my watch woke me,” he mumbled and curled up again.
He must have been in some tough places to condition him to catch sleep in bits and pieces like he was doing. Once Stevie was awake, for any reason, it took a while for her to go back to sleep. She stretched out on her mattress and, like Cody, covered up with her coat. She glanced over at Cody, lying between her and the stove. As the heat from the stick of wood began to fill the room, he pushed the coat off his shoulders.
Cody Ryan had always been a stand-up guy—kind, a little on the shy side, and true to his word. He lived by the cowboy code of ethics that hung on the wall out in the bunkhouse. She had admired that in him even when they were just kids in elementary school. When he broke up with her, she still respected him for his honesty.
She couldn’t make out his features, but then, she didn’t need to. She had dreamed about him regularly for years even though she had moved on—or thought she had. With his chiseled face, those steely blue eyes framed by those thick brown lashes, and all that blond hair that he usually wore just a little too long, he had taken her breath away when he passed her in the halls of Honey Grove High School.
Finally, her eyes grew heavy and she slept.
The vibration on her wrist awoke her, and there were Dixie’s little eyes peeking over the side of the bed at her. “Good morning, little one.” She reached out and petted the tiny animal.
“I think your baby wants food,” Cody said from the kitchen area. “The water is warm on the stove. I’m going to open the door to let Dolly and the kittens out into the barn. We’ve got to figure out something for the door. The cat either has to get out of here or else we have to make her a litter box.”
Stevie stood, stretched, and rolled the kinks out of her neck. “Thanks for warming the water. We could wire the door open a crack so that the cats can come and go as they please but Dixie can’t get out.”
“If she was in a natural setting, she would be in a stall with her mama, right?” Cody asked.
“Yes, and the mama would be near her for warmth,” Stevie answered as she made a bottle.
“So, she could come back in here when she got cold. I’m sure she would follow the cats wherever they go.” Cody refueled the stove. “What I wouldn’t give for a good hot shower can’t be put into words.”
“I can’t snap my fingers and make a shower or hot water appear out of nowhere, but I do have an extra toothbrush or two in the van,” Stevie said. “I’m glad to share with you if that will help.”
“Definitely,” he answered. “What else have you got out there?”
“I’ve got a go bag for when I have to spend the night with a cow that’s having trouble birthing a calf. It’s got extra clothes, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and deodorant,” she answered. “Don’t you carry a duffel bag with you?”
“Nope, just my doc bag,” Cody said, “but I would love to borrow one of those toothbrushes.”
“Nope, you can’t borrow one,” she said.
“Why not?” Cody asked.
“You can have it to have and to hold for all eternity, because borrowing it means you’ll give it back, and I don’t have any need for a toothbrush you have used,” Stevie said. “Other than to clean the toilet with, maybe.”
“How long are you going to hang on to the past?” Cody asked.
“Me? Hold on to the past or hold a grudge?” She raised her eyebrows. “Never! Why would I be angry with you? You warmed up the place before I got here, gave me the sofa last night, got the water ready for Dixie’s bottle, and even did the cooking.”
“So, we’re not going to talk about the elephant that’s been hanging around all these years?” he asked.
“I killed that elephant years ago,” Stevie said. “Speaking of animals, other than her legs being longer, Dixie isn’t much bigger than your cat. I bet Dolly even weighs more than Dixie.”
“You are changing the subject, and the elephant is not dead,” Cody argued.
“Yes, it is.” Stevie might consider herself strong and smart, but she still got a lump in her throat when she remembered the way she had felt that night when Cody told her that he didn’t have room in his life for a relationship. “Someday we might be good enough friends to talk about you breaking my young heart, but someday is not today. Go ahead and prop the door so she can romp and play in the barn with the cats. We’ll see how that goes before we make her stay in the house while they get to go out and play.”
Cody put on his coat, crossed the room with the cats right behind him. He waited on the other side of the door to see what the cria would do. When Dixie had sucked down all her bottle, she slowly made her way across the room, sniffed the air out in the barn, and returned to her blanket behind the stove.