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)
“It is,” DeeDee said. “Oh, my god. This is like the best thing that I’ve ever put in my mouth!”
“She’s not lying,” Jetty said around a mouthful. “I don’t have enough words for how great this food is.”
“I went home with her once and we had Tex-Mex nearly every single time we went out to eat. So she could fill herself up on it before we came back to college. This is a pretty good replica, of course, but it’s not nearly as good as the stuff at the restaurants.”
“We’ll have to go to Texas and experience this in person one day, Daddy,” Catalina ordered. “We’ll need like three days. One day to fly down there. Eat that night. One day to experience the great state of Texas, and then we fly home.”
“I think I can handle three days for more of this,” Denver muttered, his gaze going out the front window. “Shit.”
I looked to the side to see a police cruiser coming to a stop at the front of the house and a white Beemer pulling to a stop directly behind it.
Juliana.
There was also a golf cart flying across the manicured lawn, heading right for the cruiser.
“Shit,” Denver groaned.
“What’s Grams doing here?” Joe asked. “Didn’t you take away her driving privileges?”
“Sure did,” Denver muttered as he reluctantly set his plate down, looking furious.
He walked out of the house, passed by the big-ass sheriff with his permanent scowl, and marched right up to his mother.
“Uh-oh,” Catalina murmured.
“What?” I asked.
Catalina started eating pieces of chicken off her dad’s plate, which was now in her hand. “Grams hit a stump last month, and they took away her driving privileges. She moves pretty slow now, and doesn’t have the reaction time to be driving anymore. She got a concussion from that incident, and Dad, Uncle Sawyer, and Aunt Sorcha decided that she wasn’t allowed to drive anymore. Not even the golf cart. Needless to say, Grams was pissed. But she understood. Looks like she might’ve forgotten.”
She opened up the window between the front porch and the living room, and we all watched on as the confrontation ensued.
“Sinclair Anderson Windsor, now’s not the time for berating me,” she urged. “Let’s first talk about why this woman is back on my property when she’s been trespassed.”
What?
That was news to me.
“Grams got her trespassed when she came back onto the property and tried to steal Gram’s Christmas Cactus off our porch.” Catalina kept me up to date. “Mom’s not allowed to be here anymore. Not even to pick us up.”
“Whoa,” I breathed.
“I’m here because that man stole my dogs! I’m pressing charges.”
Grams ignored her and looked at the sheriff.
“Sheriff Black.” Margery nodded. “It’s nice to see you again. How are you?”
Sheriff Black’s scowl softened as he looked at the old woman. “I’m doing good, Margery. I’m sorry to intrude.”
“Oh, you’re never an intrusion, Sheriff Black.” She eyed the man up and down. “It’s always a really nice day when I get to see a man that looks mouthwatering in uniform.”
I swear to all that was holy, Sheriff Black’s cheeks pinked.
“Where are my dogs, Sinclair?”
“I don’t have your dogs,” Denver replied. “I’ve been running cattle all afternoon. I literally just got back to the ranch.”
We all looked to the side of the house where you could see the dogs still lying in the sun, looking exhausted and happy. Brodie’s tail thumped slowly with his excitement.
Dead asleep, he was still in a great mood.
“You do,” she accused. “I got a doorbell alert that showed you sent the girls in to take them.”
“I didn’t send anyone anywhere.” Denver crossed his arms. “Black, she needs to get the hell off my property.”
Black nodded and turned to the woman. “Time to go, ma’am.”
“You would choose him. Your precious club president over doing the right thing.” Juliana sneered at the sheriff. “I’ll just go over your head.”
“You go to the station, and they can give you a number for who to call,” Black suggested with not an ounce of facetiousness. He was completely serious. “It’s time to go now.”
Juliana gave a look around the place, spied us in the windows, and her face changed to completely passive. “Fine.”
Then she left.
The sound of the spoon Catalina was using to scrape her dad’s plate clean of food was the only thing you could hear in the silence that followed her departure.
Hours later, I remembered the papers that I’d forgotten on the kitchen counter of the Windsor Ranch house.
I almost got up to go retrieve them, but eventually decided that they could wait until morning.
I didn’t want to overthink tonight, anyway.
At least, not about my mom.
A certain sexy cowboy, however…
TEN
I have nothing in common with people who wash, dry, fold, and put their laundry away all in one day.
—Denver to Holly
DENVER
I felt lighter than I had in months, and that had everything to do with the woman currently laughing her ass off as she saddled up a horse to ride.