Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70566 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70566 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
“She still cooks on the weekends. Mondays and Fridays we’re on our own, though.”
“I can cook on those days,” Enid pointed out, interjecting like always.
“It’s not necessary,” I said, tired of the old argument, yet not wanting to piss her off to the point where she quit. I still needed her. I couldn’t believe that she’d come highly recommended by Claudine. “For now. Sorcha always cooks twice as much on Sundays for Monday’s dinners. And sometimes she even sets up crockpot meals. Fridays, no one eats here anyway since everyone’s off spending their paycheck.”
“Oh, okay.” Enid frowned. “I guess if you don’t need me, I’m headed out.”
“Thanks, Enid,” I grumbled. “Have a good weekend.”
Thank God tomorrow was Friday.
I got a little break from her.
Enid left, leaving the food she’d cooked on the stove for us to clean up.
Not that I had a problem with that, but that was part of her job.
“You’re so good with women, Dad,” Catalina teased.
I flipped her off.
Catalina laughed as she walked to the junk drawer in the kitchen and extracted a pen.
She placed it next to Holly’s paperwork and went back to admiring the dog in her hands.
“You’re not keeping it,” I said as I scooped up a healthy portion of the mashed potatoes. “Holly, you eaten yet?”
“Oh, that’s okay. I don’t need…” Holly said as she flipped through the pages. “This says that all my meals are free, too.”
“Well, the ones that get cooked,” I pointed out. “Fridays you’re on your own.”
“I don’t think it’s necessary to add that, too,” she pointed out.
“Enid or Sorcha is already here cooking. Sorcha makes enough to feed everyone, including any extra guests that just so happen to be at the ranch,” I said. “Like right now, I have enough food to feed another eight people. So…food?”
Holly eventually nodded her head.
I reached for the paper plates and handed her one from across the island.
She grabbed it from my hand and nervously twisted it around while waiting until I was completely out of the kitchen and sitting farther down the island before getting her own.
She got a minuscule portion, but I didn’t say anything.
I wasn’t the food police.
I didn’t have to force food down a grown woman’s throat.
I could handle the irrational urge to feed her that was almost overpowering in its intensity.
And, for some reason, I didn’t think that she would be too happy about me pointing out that she looked really skinny.
Too skinny.
“You should come to the fish fry tomorrow.” DeeDee came into the kitchen and immediately walked to the fridge where she yanked the ice cream out of the freezer. “Dad, we need more cookie dough ice cream.”
I eyed the cookie dough ice cream that I’d literally bought yesterday.
“What happened to the stuff I bought yesterday?” I asked.
“Joe happened,” Jetty said as he came into the kitchen with an empty bowl of what looked like ice cream.
“And Cat and I are both on our period,” DeeDee supplied helpfully. “Speaking of periods.” My youngest daughter looked at me. “We need more pads. Though I was thinking about trying tampons. Pads are weird.”
I shook my head. “Just add it to the grocery pickup, and I’ll go into town tomorrow and get it all during lunch.”
Once upon a time, before I became a girl dad, period talk made me uncomfortable.
Now, it was just a part of life.
“I can do the pickup, actually,” Jetty offered. “I have to take Joe to the doctor anyway.”
I nodded. “That’s cool. Thank you.”
Holly’s eyes were wide and curious as she looked at everything going on around us.
She didn’t add to the conversation, but she heard every single word that was said.
She fit seamlessly into the family and didn’t flinch when the girls directed questions her way.
“Holly,” DeeDee said. “What’s the worst thing that you had to deal with this week?”
Holly looked over at Jetty and winced. “Uhhh…”
“I heard about it,” Jetty muttered darkly. “I’m sorry that they called you out to do that.”
“What happened?” DeeDee asked.
Catalina stopped scooping her ice cream to level her gaze on Holly.
“I…”
Holly didn’t have to finish.
Jetty did.
“My parents’ bison were attacked by the same wolves that got your cows,” Jetty grumbled darkly. “My parents let them suffer in agony until Holly got there. She had to euthanize all of them.”
I cursed.
Farming and ranch work wasn’t fuckin’ easy.
In fact, it was really hard.
Sometimes you had to do things you didn’t want to do, and you couldn’t let your animals needlessly suffer. It bothered me to no end to see people who had no clue what they were doing owning animals and—intentionally or unintentionally—hurting them with their ignorance.
“Something needs to be done about those wolves,” Holly said quietly, moving her mashed potatoes around on her plate for a short moment before taking a bite. “Now that they know there’s easy prey here…”