Home. That word sounded odd to her ears. Sarah pulled out some chicken, spinach, ham, and cheese that she saw right in the front of the fridge. Rummaging around the pantry, she found potatoes in abundance along with onions. It didn’t take her long until she had a plan formulated. It took her a bit longer to find the dishware, and she hoped Eli wouldn’t be too offended by her taking everything out and making them a meal that should last a night or two.

  She’d just put everything into the oven when Eli pulled up outside with her truck in tow. Sarah’s heart rapped in her chest, reminding her she wasn’t quite over her nerves from the previous night. She sipped a glass of water as she set the timer on the oven, twice, because she messed it up the first time. Turning to face the walkway, she waited for Eli to head inside.

  Instead of coming in the front door, like Sarah had assumed she would, Eli walked around the deck toward the back, which led straight into the kitchen. Sarah watched as Eli passed each window completely unaware that she was being observed. Sarah drew in slow deep breaths, her stomach twisting in new and unexpected ways. She was intrigued by Elijah Wilson, proprietor, and semi-owner of what seemed to be multiple businesses. Eli certainly seemed to have her head on straight.

  Eli opened the door and stopped sharply when she glanced up to see Sarah staring straight at her. “Uh...hi?”

  “Hey. I made dinner. Figured if I was cooking you could eat, too.”

  “Oh. Thanks.” Eli’s lips thinned, and her eyes squinted.

  Sarah couldn’t decide if it was a good sign or not. “It’s just something I make for myself all the time and then freeze to eat it over the week. I don’t cook as often as it may come off.”

  “All right.” Eli straightened her shoulders. “What is it then?”

  “Stuffed chicken and scalloped potatoes.”

  “From scratch?”

  Sarah nodded.

  “Dang, you’ve got talent.” Eli laughed. “You can cook any time. I don’t even care if you burn it. Anyone who knows how to do that without a recipe can cook anything any time they want in my kitchen.”

  “You have a nice kitchen.”

  Eli did give a full grin at that as she walked over to the wide double sink and turned the water on to wash her hands. “Thanks.”

  “Do you have to go out again?”

  “Not until middle of the night to check on the heifers.”

  Sarah gnawed on her lower lip again as her head bobbed up and down. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from Eli. No matter how much she tried to tell herself to do it, she couldn’t. She was such an enigma. Her hair was in long braids down her back, and Sarah had to resist the urge to reach up and pull on one. Eli’s blue cotton button up hid everything underneath it well enough, but her jeans were tight and high on her hips with a dark black belt holding them in place.

  When Eli turned around to grab the towel and dry her hands, Sarah turned her face to the ground as she knew a blush worked its way into her cheeks. She had just about been caught red handed ogling Eli, much like she’d caught Eli doing it the night before. She was better than this. She had to be.

  Eli planted a hand on her hip and popped it out to the side as she stared Sarah down in the same look Sarah had received the night before. “I’m going to shower this nasty off me, but I’ll be back up in a bit for dinner. It sounds delicious.”

  “I’m not guaranteeing anything.”

  Laughing, Eli stepped toward the back door and opened a second door Sarah hadn’t noticed before. “It’ll be wonderful if only because I didn’t cook it, but I’m betting it’s good beyond that.”

  She disappeared, and Sarah was left on her own, only this time, it didn’t seem quite as lonely.

  True to her word, Eli came up the stairs about thirty minutes later. Her wet hair was strung down her back as she sported a clean shirt and baggy sweatpants. Eli’s shoulders were broad, her hips wider than Sarah had originally thought, but her dark eyes were right there, pulling her in.

  “Should be ready in another twenty minutes.”

  Eli nodded. “Good. We can go get your car tomorrow.”

  “You said that.”

  “Did I? Sorry. Lack of sleep.”

  “Is there a store in town?” Sarah stayed in place at the counter in the center island.

  Eli moved to the fridge and grabbed a glass bottle of beer, popping the top. She held it out to Sarah. Sarah took it, staring down at the label to see if she’d like it before shrugging and knocking back a good sip. Whatever it was, it was excellent. Eli grabbed another one after Sarah muttered her thanks.

  “There is, but it’s small. You’re not going to find a whole lot there if you’re looking for something specific.”

  “Caffeine.”

  Eli chuckled. “Coffee not your thing?”

  “No. I’ll drink it in a pinch, but I much prefer something a bit stronger.”

  “They have some of that, but options will be limited.”

  “I’m not picky.”

  “So you said.” Eli leaned against the fridge, the beer bottle to her lips as she stared directly at Sarah, her gaze slipping up and down Sarah’s body. If Sarah didn’t expect otherwise, she’d say Eli was checking her out—again.

  Repressing the shudder that wanted to move up and down her spine, Sarah took another sip of the beer. “Sorry I missed breakfast. I’m not much of a morning person.”

  “Well, since it is just you, I can either not make breakfast and you can be on your own, or I could change the time.”

  Sarah nodded. “I’ll rephrase. I don’t typically eat breakfast. Ever.”

  “All right then. No breakfast it is. Makes my job easier.” Eli turned to the oven and bent down, trying to see what was inside and giving Sarah an excellent view of her ass.

  “You still never answered me.”

  “What?” Eli stood up straight.

  “You never answered my question.”

  “What question was that?” Curiosity and confusion echoed on Eli’s face.

  Sarah’s lips thinned. “How old are you?”

  “What does it matter?”

  “Curious.”

  Eli set her bottle on the counter and stood right across from Sarah before she shook her head. “How old are you?”

  “Forty-one.”

  “Wouldn’t have guessed that.”

  “Hmmm. You?”

  “Twenty-eight.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really. Why would I lie about that?”

  Taken off-guard, Sarah’s spine stiffened. “I didn’t think you would. I just...I thought you were older than that.”

  “Most people do when they meet me.” Eli grabbed her beer and took a long swig of it. “I thought you were a lot closer to my age.”

  Sarah shrugged as she stared at the tiled floor in the kitchen. She waited for the timer to go off, willing it to end the conversation much faster. “Is there anything to do in town?”

  “Uh...there’s a sausage supper thing at one of the churches tomorrow night.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Fundraiser of sorts.”

  “Is it good?”

  “It’s not bad, for a small town. It’s nothing fancy.”

  Sarah rubbed her lips together before she pulled her lower one between her teeth. “Are you going?”

  “Hadn’t decided yet. Depends on what happens here.”

  “I mean, if we’re going to be in town to get my car...”

  “Are you asking to go?” Eli put her bottle down again, turning to face Sarah fully.

  When Sarah finally got brave enough to move her gaze from Eli’s bare feet up to her hips, over her chest, and then up to her face, she gulped. “I guess I am.”

  “Then yes, we can go.”

  “Okay.”

  The timer sounded through the kitchen, drawing Sarah’s attention back to the oven. It was just the distraction she needed in that moment. It was going to be a long few weeks if she couldn’t figure out Eli. One minute Eli was sweet and the next she was sharp and brusque. It was confusing as hell, and unfortunately, as much as she had wanted to be the only one here, she really wished she had someone else with her to distract and buffer the two of them.

  Chapter 7

  Dinner had been pleasant enough, the conversation quiet but the food was excellent. Every time Eli thought she was making progress in pulling out the strands of who Sarah was, Sarah would pull back into herself. She wasn’t surprised. Someone of her position, even if she wasn’t the most popular and well-known musician in the world had to be careful, but Eli had hoped being at the house would help in some ways to ease that tension.

  It probably didn’t help that she herself kept sending mixed signals. Eli had to keep reminding herself to rein herself in, to pull away from the flirtatious and inappropriate, and back toward being a good hostess. She’d called Mrs. Hargrave after dinner to ask if they could meet later in the day, which wasn’t a problem since they were also planning on attending the sausage supper.

  The alarm had gone off way too early for her liking, but three in the morning was a necessary evil that time of year. Instead of rain that night, it had started snowing. It was light enough she could at least still see a good distance if she kept the lights off on her truck, and she could see the barn from the house. However, it also made it that much more dangerous for her cows to be giving birth and for the calves who were born.

  She made her way out to the pasture, picking a new place to stake out for a few minutes as she followed the movements of her cattle from a distance. They were used to her, knew her truck, and often when they heard the vehicle, they would come running. Betsy was the first one to see her and come forward. She was the old maid of the group, and Eli had chosen not to inseminate her for the past few years, knowing Betsy’s time was coming to an end.

  Eli had kept some of her calves, sold others—mostly the bulls. She needed to keep the cows so she could breed them in the future. It was a system she had continued from her father when he’d been the main rancher there for years, though his operation had been much smaller since he’d also been the town vet and didn’t earn most of his income off the cattle.

  Betsy shoved her face into the window of the truck, and Eli laughed. She partly rolled down the window to rub against Betsy’s neck, cooing at her. “What are you doing, girl? I don’t have any hay for you tonight.”

  Betsy snorted.

  “Oh, get off your high horse. You’re not the most important one around here.”

  Laughing, Eli shoved Betsy’s face out the window and cranked the handle to raise it and keep the snow and cold out. Sure enough, one of her cattle down the way was giving birth. She paced back and forth and looked agitated. Other cows surrounded her in the cold.

  Eli put her truck in first gear and stepped on the gas while releasing the clutch. She moved slowly through the field until she could get a closer look. Snow fell around them, sticking to the fields below, but most of her cattle continued to eat and mosey around.

  “Carmen, is that you?” Eli squinted to try and make out the different markings on the cow as she paced. “You rascal, you would give birth today, wouldn’t you?”

  It took Carmen another ten minutes before she finally laid down on her side, her legs stiff and her breathing heavy. Eli held her breath as she watched. The other cattle backed away, giving Carmen space, but didn’t go that far off. Eli was on the edge of her seat as she watched.

  This was one of her favorite parts of ranching. Even if it was tedious. Watching her cattle do what they were supposed to do, and then seeing the fun little runts run around. They were so energetic and playful when they were young. Smart. But they certainly got stupider as they got older, and fast.

  Carmen’s breathing picked up, and Eli witnessed her pushing the calf out. All in all, it took less than five minutes for the calf to be born. Carmen, however, didn’t move like she was supposed to. She got up and then stood over the calf. She didn’t bend down and check on it, didn’t start to clean the babe off or anything.

  “Come on, Carmen, don’t do this.”

  Eli checked the seat next to her to make sure she had everything she needed. With the temperatures dropping, she wasn’t going to wait too long to see if Carmen was going to do what she needed to. Maybe one of the others would come by and teach Carmen what to do next. It was her first year calving, but if this was how it went, Eli was going to have to reconsider inseminating her next year.

  Another minute ticked by. Eli grabbed the bag next to her as she jumped out of her truck. If she didn’t get the sack off the calf quick, it could die. She walked rapidly the rest of the way to where Carmen still stood, probably in shock from what had just happened. Eli patted Carmen’s neck and tried to lead her down to the calf on the ground, but she didn’t budge.

  “Come on, cow. This isn’t the time for this.”

  Kneeling down, Eli pulled at the sack with her bare fingers to move it from the calf’s face and nose. Then she rubbed the calf’s chest to make sure it woke up. When its tiny hooves rustled against the grass, Eli focused on Carmen. Standing up, Eli stalked over to her cow and patted her back and then shoved her hand with the blood from the sack in front of Carmen’s nose to get her to smell.

  “Carmen, deal with your calf already. You made it; you take care of it. That’s the deal, remember?”

  Carmen didn’t really move or even acknowledge anything Eli said, not that she expected her to—she was a cow after all. “Come on, girl. Just check the baby out.”

  The cow made no move. Eli tried for another few minutes before she bent over the calf and pulled the rest of the sack off. She tried again and again to get Carmen to pay attention, but the cow wanted nothing to do with her offspring. Giving up, Eli draped a blanket over the calf’s body and rubbed him until he started to move. It took longer than she’d hoped it would, but eventually the calf stood up on its wobbly feet.

  “Well, what am I supposed to do with you now?” Eli curled her hands under the calf’s body and heaved as she lifted. Shoving him into the passenger side of her truck, Eli let out a grunt as she shut the door. The heat would help the baby out. Until then, she was going to remain annoyed with Carmen.

  With the heat in the truck on full blast, Eli drove to her lower pasture to check on the cattle there. With nothing amiss and no other cows giving birth that she could see, she headed to the barn. The small calf next to her, much smaller than she’d expected from Carmen, nudged his nose into her face.

  “Stop it,” Eli muttered and pushed at him. She was going to have to figure out a name, assuming it lived through the next few nights. Carmen had looked fine, but she would have to make sure to check on her the next day and maybe bring her up to the barn and see if she’d like to reclaim her offspring when she was a bit more rested. If not, her nightly duties were now also going to include bottle feeding a newborn.

  She made it to the barn and wrapped her arms around the calf, bringing him inside. She settled it into one of the stalls and removed the blanket after rubbing the calf’s body some more to finish getting some of the blood off. She’d have to clean him up better assuming Carmen still wanted nothing to do with him in the next few days. Until then, she needed the calf to smell like his mother.

  Eli headed for the side of the barn where she kept a lot of her supplies. Mixing up a bottle, she shook it as she walked toward the stall.

  “Here, calfy calfy calfy,” she called.

  Inside stood her tiny little calf, already working his way into her heart. Eli stepped inside and settled against the wall. She squeezed a little bit of the formula onto the end of the nipple so the calf could smell it. It didn’t take too much longer for the calf to latch on and give a good suck.

  “Perfect,” Eli muttered in praise. She held onto the bottle hard, knowing that as the calf figured out what was coming out, the sucks would become more and more powerful. She patted the calf’s head and praised him even more as the minutes ticked by. Going out in the night had been worth it for sure.

  Sarah had seen the headlights in the distance come back from the fields and stop at the barn. Her throat constricted with nerves as she watched Eli grab something and bring it inside. Curious, Sarah squinted to try and see what was going on, but she couldn’t make it out.

  She stared at the door to her room before making a rash decision. She hadn’t left the house all day, and she needed to get out. The snow was beautiful and didn’t look to be falling too heavily, and she knew the path to the barn, thanks to Eli walking that way earlier. It would be a perfect excuse.

  Grabbing her jacket, Sarah flung it over her shoulders while she dipped her bare toes into her boots. She turned the lights on in the house as she went through it to the main floor then out the back door by the kitchen. She smiled as the snowflakes kissed her cheeks and her eyelashes. It was almost a perfect night.

  She made her way to where she’d seen Eli disappear earlier that day. One part of her wanted to turn around and go back to hiding in her room while the other part told her to keep trudging forward. She listened to the quieter but more adventurous side of her brain.

  She was stepping as well as she could, but it was hard to make out where she was going, especially considering she hadn’t walked that way before. She slipped on one particularly steep part of the incline and landed on her ass and her hand. Cursing, Sarah groaned and looked from the barn to the house. She was about halfway there. She could do this.

  Gnawing on her lip, Sarah pushed herself up, her toes curling in her leather boots as she took the next step, being far more careful now. She reached the bottom of the hill and felt much better being on even and flat ground. As she reached the partially open door to the barn, she pushed her way inside and immediately covered her nose. It smelled like something else inside, a mix of sweat and shit, literal shit.