Page 21 of Misadventures Of A Single Mom

I enlightened her to all that had happened in the past few days, highlighting the garage sale, the gnomes, the discovery of the vial, the return trip to the garage sale house and the explosion. I left out my attraction to Ty and the kiss we’d shared. No sense in getting her all wound up about my sex life worse than she already was. Besides, even though she’d promised, I didn’t want any more boxes ending up on Ty’s doorstep.

“Humph,” Goldie replied. That's all she said on the matter for over an hour. A group of twenty-something women came in seeking ideas and gifts for a bachelorette party. One of the offerings Goldilocks provided was an in-home sex toy party. It was like a Tupperware party but for sex toys. Some ladies were too embarrassed or skittish to come in the store so it often led to a bit of Sex Ed for grownups as well. Sometimes a long winter makes for dull, dark nights and Goldie’s parties could sure liven things up.

I’d shared the toy party idea with Goldie to drum up new clients a few years before. She took to it like a duck to water and I’d been volunteered into this new branch of the business. It kept me occupied a few nights a month.

I arranged with the ladies to show up at the bachelorette party next month and vowed to make it extra special. Another day on the job.

“I think you need to be careful. Someone out there isn’t happy,” Goldie said when we closed up. She turned off the lightsand we walked out to our cars together. At one in the morning, all was quiet. The air was cool, probably in the low fifties, and I had goose bumps on my arms. A big temperature drop from the pool earlier. It had been a full day and I was exhausted.

“Nothing that’s happened has anything to do with me,” I replied. “I only found the vial. I didn’t try to sell it. Besides, there aren’t any more vials. It’s all over. I’m not getting any more gnomes.” I wasn’t going to tell her I’d already decided to go out to the Rocking Double D ranch and talk to the owner. Some shady things were going on and I wanted to warn whoever ran the place about Morty, tell them how I’d gotten involved and that I wanted to steer clear in the future. Maybe I could watch them fire the thieving Morty while I was there.

Goldie pursed her lips, but didn’t say more. “What time do you want the boys in the morning?”

I usually slept late and enjoyed some quiet time to myself when she and Paul had Zach and Bobby sleep over. Maybe I could make the morning more productive by heading out to the Rocking Double D instead of hitting the snooze bar on my alarm.

“I might go for a run and get some errands done. Think you can keep them until after lunch?” Run! Ha! Maybe I’d run out to the ranch and do some investigating. In my car.

The next morning,after a peaceful and child-free night, I stood at the kitchen counter and sipped my coffee. I’d showered and dried my hair. The door to the covered patio was open, fresh air coming in. The cool night had turned into a soft, clear morning. Blue sky. The weather was perfect. It was supposed to be in the eighties today, although it was barely seventy so far. Usually I’d wear my typical shorts and T-shirt but since my plan was tovisit a working ranch, I knew long pants and sturdy shoes were practically required. I wore jeans, a white tank top and my Frye boots. Hopefully, they would keep the horse poop and whatever else was in the dirt out there from getting on me. Besides, it was the closest to cowgirl-wear I had.

I did a search for the Rocking Double D ranch on my cell and was surprised to find it had an actual web site. It was said to be a premiere horse ranch, raising quarter horses, breeding and selling them. I knew nothing about horses other than identifying one when I saw it. They came in brown, black, white and some were spotted. No stripes, as that was apparently reserved for a zebra.

I called Kelly and she answered on the first ring. Kids screamed in the background. “Hey,” I said.

“Hang on a sec,” she replied. “Liam threw up on Hank’s toy truck an hour ago and he hasn’t recovered.” I didn’t know if she was talking about Liam or Hank. A door slammed, then quiet. “Okay, I went out front.”

“I just wanted you to know I’m going to go out to the Rocking Double D ranch this morning. I need to find Morty and get to the bottom of this whole vial thing. Meet the owner of the ranch, tell him what I think is going on. I wanted at least one person to know who wouldn’t yell at me.”

“Be careful. Just because I don’t yell doesn’t mean I don’t worry about you.”

“At least your worry doesn’t come with shouting and a guilt trip.”

Kelly laughed.

On my phone, I pulled up a different link about the ranch, the one from theChroniclewhich talked about the birth of triplet cows. “I see the article about the triplet cows,” I said with the phone on speaker. “You were right about all of it. It says the ranch belongs to Drake Dexter. Know him?”

“Only as the owner of the ranch, nothing else. Sorry.”

“This is a horse ranch, but there’s got to be a cow or two in order for the blessed triplet birth to have occurred. So what do you think? Was the semen in the vial from a bull or a horse?”

I heard Kelly’s muffled voice and something about ice cream for breakfast. “Sorry. Um, if the ranch is famous for its quarter horses and offers studs for breeding, I’d have to assume it was from a horse.”

“Would fancy horse semen bring in lots of money?”

Kelly snorted. “Make sure you don’t say ‘fancy horse semen’ when you meet Drake Dexter. You might insult the man, and your intelligence.”

“Good point. Would horse sperm bring in more money than bull semen?”

“I have no idea.”

“I could ask Ty’s parents. They’re cattle ranchers so they’d be the experts.”

“Speaking of Ty…why don’t you just ask him?”

“Because if he knew I was going out to the ranch today he’d get angry. He doesn’t want me messing around with all of this.”

“Aww, so romantic!”

“Romantic? I don’t like being told what to do,” I grumbled.

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