plans?”
Tiffany laughed. “It brought relief from the boss from hell.”
“Not as in, you were fired, I hope.”
“I quit, actually.”
“Oh, Tiff, I feel awful.”
“Don’t. I’ve been aching to do it for months. That call from Jeremiah was just the push I needed.”
Bridget laughed. “I can just see you marching into her office.”
“That’s exactly what I did.” Tiffany grinned. “I would have given anything if you could’ve been a fly on the wall and seen the look on Witch Hazel’s face when I told her in a nice way to kiss my you-know-what, that I was outa there.”
“I just hope you didn’t make a mistake.”
“No way.” Tiffany’s grin strengthened. “I don’t anticipate ever being in that position again.”
“You lovable idiot.”
“That’s me,” Tiffany quipped, peering at her watch. “Look, I’d better get going. I’m surprised a nurse hasn’t been in and run me off.”
“As badly as I hate to see you go, Taylor’ll be in from play school soon, and I’d like for you to be there.”
Tiffany leaned over again and kissed her friend on the cheek. “You hang in there, okay? Everything’s going to be just fine.”
Later, as Tiffany walked out into the bright sunlight, she paused and took several deep breaths. Bridget had to be all right. She just had to.
“Hey, squirt, what’ve you been doing? Making mud pies in your ears?”
Taylor giggled, then gazed up at Tiffany. “You’re being silly.”
“I’m being truthful, young lady. I don’t think you’ve had that washcloth anywhere near that part of your body.”
Taylor giggled again, but she made no effort to shift the rag to her head, which Tiffany saw as her first challenge with this precocious six-year-old.
In fact, all the way to the ranch from the hospital, apprehension had gnawed at her. What if she’d bitten off more than she could chew? Hell, what she knew about children could fill a thimble. But since she had no choice, she had to make the best of the situation, no matter what.
Jeremiah and Taylor had both come out to the car to meet her. The first time she had seen the child, with her doelike brown eyes and long, shiny hair, Tiffany had fallen under her spell. Taylor seemed to have bonded with her as well.
Now, two days later, with Jeremiah and Bridget at the hospital in Las Vegas, that love affair was threatened, and all because of mud pies in the ears.
“I couldn’t find Piper Girl,” Taylor was saying.
Tiffany shook her head. “What did you say?”
The child repeated her statement
“Who is Piper Girl?”
“My kitty.”
“Ah, I see.”
“She sleeps on the foot of my bed.”
Great. Tiffany hated cats, but she would bite her tongue before admitting that. “So, I wonder where Piper Girl is?”
“In the barn, eating a rat.”
“Swell.”
“Would you go get her and bring her inside?”
“Only if you promise she won’t eat me.”
Taylor threw her a look. “She doesn’t even bite. She’s a sweetie.”
That remained to be seen, Tiffany told herself, then said out loud, “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll get the kitty if you’ll let me get rid of the mud pies.”
“Oh, all right,” Taylor said, handing Tiffany the cloth.
A few minutes later, a powdered-down Taylor was in her bedroom, putting on her pajamas. Tiffany watched her for a minute, then said, “I’ll be right back, hopefully with kitty in tow.”
Garth Dixon tightened the girth, then climbed into the saddle. Although the horse snorted and nodded its head indicating it was ready to go, Garth didn’t nudge the animal into action. He simply sat there lost in thought. He didn’t want to do this chore. He didn’t want to do anything that required an effort, and being neighborly certainly required that.
As it was, he’d put off doing the favor Jeremiah Davis had asked of him to the point that he couldn’t indulge himself any longer. That didn’t mean he had to like it.
But again, if he was going to live in this place, he should work on his attitude, which meant he shouldn’t mind helping someone out, especially a man whose desperation had been clear even on the phone. Garth guessed he would feel the same way if his wife was laid up in the hospital seriously injured.
Well, on second thought... A jerk of his head veered him off the track. Just do the good deed and get it over with, he told himself. It was such a small thing and here he was making a big deal out of it, which was par for the course. These days even getting out of bed was a big deal, not to mention his poor attitude, something he refused to apologize for.
Sighing, Garth finally nudged the horse and moved in sync with its big but graceful body, the pace leisurely as he guided his mount through the wooded, fertile valley toward the Davis ranch.
Though he continued to nurse his sour mood, he couldn’t ignore the beauty and peace that surrounded him. Still, it wasn’t peace he sought He’d already had enough of that to last him a lifetime.
A short time later, Garth ambled onto the Davis property. Having decided to check the barn before heading toward the house, he dismounted and went inside.
After looking around and finding nothing amiss, he breathed a sigh of relief. Once he checked the house, he could get back to his cabin in the woods.
He smiled a bitter smile.
Tiffany was halfway to the barn when she stopped for a moment, noticing, not for the first time, how liberating it felt to be here and away from the evils of her former job. She stared into the distance, taking in the beauty of the fertile valley, including the surrounding rolling hills and distant mountains. Maybe this was the panacea she had needed to get her life back on track, though she would give anything to have been here under different circumstances.
Refusing to dwell on the negative, Tiffany made her way into the barn, ruing the deal she’d made with Taylor. With nightfall fast approaching, the barn gave her the creeps, not to mention having to cart that cat back to the house.
She was about to call out “kitty, kitty” when she
