Page 37 of Ride a Cowboy

“Not much. My mother fell and sprained her wrist a couple days ago.”

“Oh no. I’m sorry to hear that.”

Janice shrugged. “She’ll be okay. Your cousin, Tyson, wrapped it up for her.”

Macie wasn’t sure if she was being oversensitive or if she was genuinely detecting a tone of disgust in Janice’s voice when she mentioned Tyson’s name. Ever since Tyson’s unusual relationship with Harley and Caleb came out, the trio had been dealing with some fallout from the judgmental assholes in Maris.

“Tyson is a great doctor. Your mom was in good hands.”

Janice’s smirk and dismissive hmpf proved Macie wasn’t imagining things. And just like that, her willingness to play the good hostess dried up. Nothing got Macie’s back up quicker than someone insulting her family.

She pushed her glass of tea aside and reached for a wineglass. “Did you stop by for a reason? Is there something I can do for you instead? I’m really not sure how long Hank will be gone.”

“Why do you call him Hank?”

The question took Macie aback, even though it wasn’t the first time it had been posed. A couple of her cousins and her sister had remarked on it when she and Hank first started dating. “He asked me to.”

Janice frowned. “Why?”

Macie sat across the table from Janice and took a quick sip of her wine. “I don’t really know why. I assume it’s because he thinks it would be weird for his girlfriend to call him by his last name.”

“Sharon called him Coop.”

Macie hadn’t expected that. She’d figured Hank’s request had been based on the fact he missed hearing his first name from his wife. “Oh.” Macie wasn’t sure how else to reply to that and Janice wasn’t someone she felt comfortable sharing confidences with anyway.

Janice gestured toward her blanket. “Are you living here now?”

Macie tried to decide if Janice was just making conversation or if this was some sort of third degree. “No, I haven’t moved in.” And then, because there was something in Janice’s gaze that tweaked her, Macie added, “Yet.”

That word seemed to take the wind out of Janice’s sails. “Do you expect Coop to propose to you?”

Janice’s tone wasn’t rude, in fact all her questions were posed in a very sweet voice. Even so, Macie found her annoyance growing with each prying question. Her personal life really wasn’t any of Janice’s business.

“We’ve only been dating a month.”

Janice nodded as if that was somehow the correct answer. Like there were right or wrong responses. Macie took a bigger drink of wine, not missing the way Janice watched her actions closely.

She was sorry she’d given Janice a full glass of tea. She was ready for the woman to leave.

“Do you like to cook, Macie?”

Macie was getting whiplash from this woman’s questions. “No. Not at all. I’m actually a disaster when it comes to making anything edible.”

Again, Janice seemed pleased by her answer. So she was two for two in this weird quiz. Macie wondered what the grand prize at the end would be.

“I see. Sharon and I both loved to cook. We spent a great deal of time in this kitchen, fixing meals for Coop and Porter and the other hands. And I can’t begin to count the number of meals I’ve brought over to Coop in the last year.”

Macie toyed with the stem of her glass. “That was neighborly of you.” Macie wondered how many he’d eaten, given the fact he was in the restaurant most nights, chowing down on the daily special.

“I suppose you’ll take over the restaurant business from your father when he decides to retire.”

Macie nodded slowly. That was the plan. And pretty much everybody in Maris knew that. “Yeah. With Adele.” And her cousins.

“Work must take up a great deal of your time.”

It used to. Simply because Macie was a people person and it wasn’t like she’d had that much going on in her real life. As such, she’d worked longer hours behind the bar because—sad as it sounded—it had been her happy place. In the last month, that had changed completely. Her new happy place was anywhere Hank was. “The hours aren’t terrible and they’re pretty flexible.”

“Even so, you have to admit that having a full-time job and being a rancher’s wife would be extremely difficult.”

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