Page 46 of Samuel

“When did you have the time to…”

“After I left your apartment. I went over to John and Abby’s to grab the fridge, and called Daisy to ask what some good snacks were to have on hand. Oh, she’s going to stop by this afternoon and drop off a batch of brownies. Then I drove into Rogersville last night to the twenty-four hour grocery store and got some of the snacks I’ve seen you eating.”

Her brown eyes went wider than he’d ever seen before. “You didn’t have to do all this.”

He just shrugged. “I don’t sleep much anymore. It wasn’t a big deal.”

“It’s a very big deal to me. Thank you. Icantake care of myself, though.”

“Just because you can, Bluebell, doesn’t mean you should have to. I hate that I have to go. But I expect to see a dent in those snacks when I get back this afternoon. I wouldn’t be upset if you saved a brownie for me, though.”

She eyed the basket, worrying her bottom lip between herteeth and Sam had to stop himself from rushing across the room to pull it free.

“Hey, either one of you ever see anyone on the ranch who shouldn’t be here?”

Zeke’s head whipped up from the post he was shoving in the ground. “What do you mean?”

“Just, have you ever seen someone here, like a delivery guy, or a supplier, and maybe they seemed out of place?”

“Is there a problem we need to know about?” Derrick asked.

“I don’t fucking know, that’s why I’m asking.”

“Well, I haven’t seen anything like that.” Zeke offered. “If I had, and they were acting shady, the gunshot would be your first clue.”

“Okay. If either of you notice something, come tell me right away.”

Derrick and Zeke exchanged some sort of concerned look between the two of them, and nodded.

“Sure thing, Boss. You worried about Sylvie’s safety? Or Evie’s?”

“The ranch is safe, guys. It’s not about that.”

“We don’t need to be on high alert like after Abby was attacked?”

“No.”

“Be a little more cryptic, Boss.”

“Shut it, Zeke.” Derrick elbowed him in the side.

“Hey, Evie!”

Daisy walked into the office with Grace rightbehind her. That was a nice surprise. “I got a panicked phone call from Sam last night and thought I was going to have to rush over here.”

She set a covered plate on the corner of her desk. “Brownies. Eat them all before Sam comes to hog them. He’s not pregnant, so don’t feel bad telling him they are all for you and the baby.”

Evie laughed. “He shouldn’t have bothered you. I just had a hard time eating anything yesterday and got a little dizzy.”

“I was like that with Jack.” Grace smoothed her hand over her belly as she sat down. “Of course, living with my abusive ex through almost nine months of pregnancy was probably the culprit of that.”

“Grace! I’m so sorry.” Evie’s heart broke for her friend.

She waved her hand. “It’s not something I like to think about. But these damn hormones keep making me relive it because I’m so happy being with Jackson this time. He missed out on nearly everything with Jack’s pregnancy because of me.”

“He wouldn’t be happy to hear you talking like that.” Daisy reached out and covered Grace’s hand with her own.

“That’s why it’s a good thing this is girl talk and whatever we say to each other is protected under the sanctity of that.”

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