“These will do,” she told him, pulling them off.
Jake took the pair and placed them in the wire basket. “Good choice.”
She quickly tied her tennis shoes, giving him a questioning look. “I don’t think Checkers will care one way or another.”
Chuckling, Jake said, “We’re done. Let’s go.”
Fine by her! She looked up to see Reese and Shay at the counter, talking with Charlie after picking up their purchases. They looked ready to leave. “I want to say goodbye to them,” she said, hurrying ahead.
“Go. I’ll take care of this,” Jake said.
Grateful, she caught them just as Reese had opened the door. Lily called out to them, came up and hugged Shay and then Reese.
“Call me,” Shay urged her.
Holding up her hand, Lily stepped back and said, “I promise. ’Bye . . .”
* * *
Jenna was thrilled to examine every package Lily brought home. Jake had left for the rest of the afternoon, so they were free to look through her new purchases.
“That’s very nice of Maud to do this for you,” Jenna said, moving her fingers across the deerskin gloves.
Lily sat in the chair next to the couch. She had made fresh coffee and filled a thermos for Jake before he took off on his duties. “I’m not used to this, Jenna.”
“What?”
“Someone paying for things I need.”
Jenna gave her an understanding look as she opened the boot box on her lap. “You’re used to working to earn what you buy. And it’s hard to accept things like this from another person.”
“I believe in charity, don’t get me wrong. But all of these things cost money.” Money she didn’t have.
“I spent my life as a teacher, helping children who had so much less than I did growing up. There’s also a charity in Casper I worked with closely that provides children with clothes, shoes and things they grow in and out of so fast.”
“I never had to have charity,” Lily grumbled, scowling at the goods next to Jenna. “I just don’t feel right about it.”
“Well, then, why don’t you go see Maud about doing something about it? Maybe she has something you could do to work it off at the ranch while you’re here.”
Brightening, Lily said, “That’s a great idea!”
Just then, the phone in the kitchen rang. Lily hopped up and ran to get it. “Hello?”
“It’s me, Jake. I’m going to have a ranch truck brought over to the cabin for you to use. I know you have your vehicle, but here on the ranch, or on ranch business, I’d like you to drive it instead. Red and Jim are driving two trucks over there right now. Red will give you the keys to the ranch pickup. You’re to use it as you see fit. Tomorrow morning, we’ll take a ride in it. I’ll show you where the gas pump is on the ranch so you can fill it with gasoline any time you need to.”
“That’s great,” she said, thrilled. “I can take Jenna on trips around the ranch.” She didn’t want to admit that she had so little money that gas, which was high, wasn’t something she could afford for her truck. Going to and from the animal shelter was a long trip for her and she didn’t want to run out of gas.
“You could take her into town, drive to Jackson Hole or do whatever you want.”
Lily felt hope fill her. “This is so thoughtful of you, Jake.” Her voice grew hoarse for a moment. “Thank you.” Had he somehow read her mind or known she was low on gas in her truck?
“You can thank me by making me that cherry pie you made a week ago. That was good.”
Smiling, Lily felt herself going warm all over, her fingers tightening a bit around the phone. “That’s an easy one. I’ll make it for tomorrow night.”
“Good enough. See you and Jenna tonight at six.”
Lily hung up and told Jenna the good news. She saw Jenna’s excited smile.
“You mean we can escape our prison?”
Giggling, Lily remained in the kitchen to start dinner. She had been using her own truck to take Jenna to appointments. “Yes. Isn’t that nice of Jake to do that for us?” Jenna knew about her gas situation and accepted that they couldn’t drive around too much, except going to and from her doctor’s appointments in town. No extracurricular trips to Jackson Hole, for sure. Now, if Jenna wanted to go there to shop or have lunch, they could do it.
“That’s my son,” she said proudly. “Jake has always been a team player.” She set the last package aside on the couch. “Need some help? Now that I can walk reasonably well, if slowly, I’m another set of hands.”
Lily wanted Jenna as mobile as she could be at this stage in her healing process. “Yes, come on up. I thought I’d make us shepherd’s pie tonight. Can you dice the carrots, onions and potatoes for me?”
Jenna got up gingerly, using her cane. “Sounds great.”
Retrieving a cutting board and a good, sharp knife, she set it down further along on the counter. In no time, they were putting the ingredients together. Lily absorbed the familylike atmosphere. She used to help her mother in the kitchen, making lunches and dinners. She loved it. There was a calming continuity to such work, and Jenna was so easy to be around. Lily could imagine after handling the chaos of thirty children in a classroom, she could easily deal with one other person in the kitchen.
“Did Jake get his patience from you?” Lily wondered, glancing over at Jenna, who was neatly chopping carrots into little squares.
“Oh, I think he got a dose of it from both me and his father.”
“Jake reminds me a lot of my father,” Lily admitted, retrieving frozen peas from the top of the fridge freezer.
“Will you visit them sometime in the near future, Lily?”
“I will, yes.” She didn’t want to get into her PTSD because she didn’t know if Jake had ever sat down and had a good, long talk with his mother about his own issues.
“You know,” Jenna said, grabbing a stalk of celery, “now that you’re going to have wheels, you could drive over and drop in to see Maud.”
“You were reading my mind,” Lily said, beginning to make the dough for the bottom of the pie pan. “I really don’t want to take charity. Tomorrow, after we get your exercises done, I’ll go over to the main office and talk with her. I’d love to somehow pay her back for all the things we bought today.”
“I wonder if Jake knows of some job you might fill. You could ask him at dinner tonight.”
Lily wrinkled her nose, taking the rolling pin and smoothing out the pastry dough. “He didn’t see using Maud’s money as taking charity.”
“Maud isn’t the usual ranch owner,” Jenna said wryly. “She and her husband are so generous, I sometimes wonder if they were aliens dropped down here to show us a better way to work with one another.”
“What do you mean?” Lily gently laid the thin dough across the pie tin and then began to pinch the crust together with her fingers.
“Didn’t Jake tell you? Any wrangler who stays on the ranch five years receives a log cabin. He or she has to build it, but a crane comes in and sets up the major bones of it. Then, they also give the wrangler five acres of land around it. The wrangler has a number of areas to choose from, too.” She gestured around the house. “This cabin was built for the other foreman, who retired before Jake took over his job. Now he lives in Maine, taking care of his parents. Someday, he will have his own beautiful cabin here on the ranch when he wants to retire from being a foreman.”
“Jake told me about that wonderful offer from the Whitcombs.”
“And I just found out that they only hire military vets for the jobs around the ranch,” Jenna said, nodding as she scooped up the celery, placing it in a nearby bowl. “They’re the most generous people I’ve ever met. They also give our Casper charity a big donation every January, too. Maud once said they set up trust funds for their four adopted children, and they also plan to disperse a lot of what they have to charities around the country.”
“That’s just incredible,” Lily said in awe. She took another bo
wl, getting ready to make the gravy that would hold the ingredients together. “When I came here, Kassie was telling me that they were the guardian angels of Wind River Valley. Now I know why.”
“You’ll see these five-acre log cabins all around the property. It’s a hundred-thousand-acre ranch, and they have some beautiful areas where the wranglers can choose to put their homes.”
“Why didn’t the other foreman stay here and live in this house? Or does the wrangler have to remain employed at the ranch to keep the home?”
“If a wrangler stays twenty years, they can own the cabin and live here forever after they retire. Jake said the other foreman has his parents in Maine. He’s taking care of them there. His parents will be willing him a large 1930s Victorian, so he isn’t out anything.”
“I’ll bet Jake loves this home.” Lily looked around. “I’d love to live here the rest of my life. It’s so gorgeous. So . . . alive.”
“The first time Jake brought me here,” Jenna said, “I told him this place was a home, not a house. It has three bedrooms; it’s three thousand square feet. This cabin was built to have children in it. I can hear their laughter. I can see them playing on the stairs. I can see a dog for the family, too.”
“I love what you see,” Lily whispered, her heart swelling. “Maybe a cat, too?”
“Of course! I fantasize every time I come here, seeing each child with their own pet. Who knows? Maybe they have two dogs and two cats?” and she smiled dreamily.
“We always had a bunch of animals at our place.” Lily sighed. “When I went to college, I missed my dog more than anything.”
“This place absolutely needs a dog,” Jenna agreed, frowning. She rinsed off the knife and set it in the dishwasher. Straightening, she added, “I know you work at the shelter. Why don’t we go over there someday after you get that truck? I think Jake is very lonely here. He should have someone or something in his life.”
Lily wanted to say that PTSD often made hermits out of those who suffered it. “I think you should bring that up to Jake first. After we leave, he’s the one who’ll be responsible for taking care of that dog. I don’t know if he wants to do that or not. What do you think?” and she saw the older woman purse her lips for a moment.
“You’re right. I’ll talk to him tonight. Let’s see if we can persuade him that he needs a buddy in his life.”
“He seems lonely,” Lily agreed.
“But you know what? Since you’ve been here, Jake actually looks better,” Jenna noted. “I’ve visited him for a week every year and he was never like this.”
Stirring the gravy over the gas stove, Lily said, “What do you mean?”
“He’s more open than before. He used to hide all the time behind those walls he has around him. Mind you,” and she shook her finger in Lily’s direction, “Jake didn’t used to be like that at all. He was far more extroverted when he was younger. Now, he’s a dark man, and you never know what he’s thinking or feeling unless he opens his mouth ... which isn’t often.”
“I’ve found him really closed up, too,” Lily said, sadness in her tone.
“With you here, he’s blooming. Yes! Don’t give me that look, Lily. Don’t you see and feel his enjoyment in having you around? I certainly have seen and felt it. Haven’t you?”
Chapter Eleven
June 29
Jake appreciated the tasty shepherd’s pie the two women had made for dinner. The pie crust was light, buttery, flakey, and he savored it. He listened to them chatting about the day’s activities, and how Jenna’s exercises were, indeed, strengthening her hips and thighs as she continued to heal.
There was something good, something calming growing quietly within him. He wanted to say it was his mother, but inwardly, Jake knew it had to do with Lily also. Somehow, she had melted one of the walls he purposely kept in place because of his PTSD. And even more stunning was that he found his closeness to Lily blossoming almost daily. She wasn’t a burr under his saddle. Instead, he’d found, over the weeks, that his anxiety had dialed way down when he came home after a hard day’s work.
It wasn’t anything special Lily did to make his anxiety level go down and sometimes go away completely. He enjoyed listening to the chats between her and his mother. They got along well, but then, both were the type who were what he’d term easy keepers. He knew he wasn’t one. He was the rock and they were the water that flowed around him. Whatever the dynamics, it worked for the three of them. Even better was that his mother’s health continued to improve, and he hadn’t seen her that happy since his father’s sudden death. His mother was far more positive now, and he felt that was due strictly to Lily entering Jenna’s life.
He wanted to try to understand what, exactly, it was about Lily that made him, well ... happy. Jake looked forward to coming home to this cabin after a long day, whereas before, it was just a box where he lived when not working. Even though he rarely contributed to their conversations, he found them interesting. His mother had a double degree, one in English and one in history. And Lily grooved on history as well. He liked history himself, so when Lily asked a question about ancient Babylon, Jenna was right there in lockstep with her, sharing her deep, broad base of knowledge of long-ago civilizations. He always learned something, too.
“Jake?”
Startled by his mother’s voice, he snapped his head up. “What?” The word came out more growly than he’d intended. He’d been so focused on his thoughts that he hadn’t heard her first call to get his attention. Clearing his throat, he said, “Did you ask me something?”
Jenna laughed and slid Lily a knowing glance. “Yes, I did. You were deep in thought.”
“Shepherd’s pie does that to me.”
Lily laughed gaily, holding his gaze. “Seriously?”
Giving them a grudging grin, he felt his face was on fire. Blushing wasn’t something he did at all. The merry expressions on the women’s faces made him shrug. “I was thinking about some stuff,” he admitted, giving Jenna an apologetic look. “What did I miss?”
“Oh,” Jenna said, “not much. Lily and I were talking earlier today about the possibility of you needing someone here after we leave. Like a dog.”
His brows fell as he cut into the crust of the pie. “Oh.”
“You had a dog growing up,” Jenna reminded him archly. “You two were inseparable.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” he admitted, chewing on the savory pie.
“Aren’t you lonely here?” Lily asked tentatively.
“No.”
Jenna gave him a frustrated look. “You seem happier with the two of us around, Jake. I’ve visited here before and this time is different.”
“But it has nothing to do with a dog.” He stared at his mother and saw consternation come to her expression. “By the time I get home at night, I’m whipped,” he admitted. “I’m not lonely because I’m with wranglers all day long somewhere on this spread.”
“Oh,” Jenna murmured. “Well, I never thought of that.”
Lily looked around the home. “This house is so big, Jake. And just one person lives in it. We thought you might get lonely.”
“Not yet,” he lied. Seeing the concern and sympathy in Lily’s very readable features, he didn’t want to get into why it was necessary for him to live alone. He knew she would understand, but his mother wouldn’t. And he didn’t want to go there with Jenna because even if she knew what his plethora of symptoms did to him, especially at night, after he’d fallen asleep, there was nothing to be done about them.
Crooking her lips, Jenna frowned. “I thought for sure you’d want a companion here, Jake.”
“Maybe growing up,” he said more gently. “But not now. A lot has changed, mostly me, and I don’t need a dog to make myself feel like I have a buddy again.” Because he had loved his dog from his days as a young kid. Jenna looked defeated. Glancing toward Lily, he saw concern in her eyes, but she said nothing.
“What about in the wintertime?” Jenna challenged. “Ther
e’s nothing to do outside for eight months out of the year in this place, Jake.”
He scraped his plate clean. “As foreman? I’m not sitting here doing nothing. There’s horse riding gear, a lot of agricultural equipment that needs upkeep, and it keeps me busy. About three-quarters of our wranglers leave for other jobs in other less wintery states. So, I’m busy from dawn to dusk.”
“I know my dad was always busy in the winter, Jenna, at our potato farm. He was always out in the barn, fixing equipment or repairing the barn itself. He didn’t have anyone else working with him. Sometimes, I’d go out and help him, an extra set of hands.” Lily cast Jake a look. “He worked six days a week in the winter. The demands were just different, but he was busy.”
“Hmmm,” Jenna said. “Okay, I learned something new tonight, too.” She managed a warm smile. “I still think, Jake, that a dog would be a wonderful friend to have when you came to this huge, quiet place at night.”
Nodding, Jake stood up and picked up all the plates. He did this every evening. If the women could do the cooking, he could do the cleaning afterward. “It’s just one more thing I’d have to take care of,” he said. “As foreman, I take care of the employees all the time.”
“I see,” Jenna murmured. “And it does make sense. You have a nice, big flat-screen TV you can watch,” she said, gesturing to the wall where it hung in the living room.
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