Page 5 of Merry & Wild

“No. I tried once, but I fell and broke my arm. It’s best if I stay off of skis. Do you do it?”

“Nah, no time. I work alot.”

“Are you the kind of rancher that gets up before dawn and doesn’t eat dinner until after dark?”

“You just described every kind of rancher, sweetheart.”

She smiles and, if I’m not mistaken, blushes a little as Heather sets our pizza on the table, along with breadsticks and Joy’s salad.

“This looksamazing,” Joy says, breathing it in. “Smells so good.”

“You two dig in,” Heather says and sets a stack of napkins on the table. “If you need anything, just flag me down.”

“Thanks.” I set a slice of pepperoni on Joy’s plate, then take a piece of the supreme, and we enjoy our late dinner. We don’t even talk much at first because we’re both devouring the food in front of us.

Finally, when the pizza is nothing but a memory and we’re both full, Joy leans back and sighs.

“I shouldn’t have eaten that last piece.”

“Come on.” I toss some cash on the table and reach out to help Joy to her feet. “Let’s go walk this off, shall we?”

“You might have to just roll me back to my car.”

She dramatically grunts when I pull her up, and then we wave to Heather and walk back out into the snowy night.

“The snow is coming down harder,” she says with a frown. “Last I heard, the storm was going to go around us.”

“Looks like it’s not going around us,” I reply, and mentally kick myself for not going home to tend to the ranch. Sure, I have hands who will cover for me, but I don’t like to do it that way.

I should be there.

But then I look down at Joy, and frankly, I’m not ready to leave her yet. What started out as a chore this evening, taking Melissa to town, has turned into a lot of fun.

I like Joy.

“Where do you live?” I ask her.

“Well, that’s complicated.”

I narrow my eyes down at her as we cross the street. “Don’t tell me you live in your car after all.”

“No.” She smiles up at me and almost loses her footing on the ice, but I grab her arm and right her. “Oops, thanks. Stupid ice. Anyway, I don’t live in my car. Not yet.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’ve been renting an apartment for two hundred bucks a month over on Riverside Drive. You know the brown apartments there?”

“Sure. They’re not bad.”

“No, my place is cute, actually. But they’re raising the rent in two months, and I don’t see how I can afford to stay. So, I’ll probably be looking for a new place soon. Moving sucks.”

“It definitely sucks,” I agree. “Why are they raising the rent?”

“Because they can.” She shrugs. “Because more and more people are discovering Bitterroot Valley and moving here, and they’ll pay higher rents. But, if worse comes to worse, my mom said I could hang with her for a while. We’ll see.”

“I was sorry to hear about your dad. He was a nice guy.”

“Yeah, thanks.” She nods and sniffs, her nose dripping from the cold. “Cancer also sucks.”

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