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14. Video Call
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The Rancher's Heart 15. What Was She Playing At?
Mentor was pleasantly surprised to meet his buddy Garth Mowman pulling up at his doorstep in his Toyota SUV, just as his own truck arrived home.Garth ran a goat farm near the other side of town where the rivers and hills were much more in abundance. He and the guy, who was almost two years his senior, had been friends since their teens and he had come to see Garth's family of four as his own too and vice versa.He was also Queen's godfather — he had gifted her the pesky goat kid as a birthday gift."Dude," Garth boomed, slapping his back as he stepped out of the truck. "It's nice to see you too, pal," he said in reply, pumping his hand and slapping him on the back too. "How's Helena and the kids?""They're all good. Helena extends her greetings too."The two friends walked up to the house and shed their outer clothing in the hallway. Mentor was especially glad to be rid of the cashmere sweater. When it had been so cold in the morning, he hadn't expected such a drastic turnaround in
The Rancher's Heart 16. Tingles in the Night
To her disappointment, it was way dark when Everest woke up. What had meant to be a short nap had spun into a long sleep. She groaned when she checked the time to be nine o'clock in the night.Great. Now she'd have trouble going back to sleep later.Her stomach moaned as she got up from the bed and she rubbed at her flat tummy. Her plan to cook up a nice meal on waking up was gone with the evening wind now and she'd had nothing but a bowl of cereal in the morning and a quarter dozen of cakes in the afternoon.Everest then realized her skin was steaming from the heat that had refused to depart with the afternoon. She found herself wishing the small house had air conditioning. Making a mental note to mention it to Mrs Casss, she headed to the kitchen to get a bite of a cupcake.She had planned to muster up the trekking courage to go into town tomorrow and buy a bunch of flavoured frostings to add to the remaining. And if she wasn't able to summon the courage she was going to have them l
The Rancher's Heart 17. Crossing the Line
It was long after Everest was gone that he swam out of the water and climbed to the banks, still tottering from the mortification. As if the first awkward encounter wasn't enough.They said once bitten, twice shy. But, clearly, in his own case, his body had to be ridden with bite marks to learn his lesson.True, he had tried to stay away from the lake for most nights, but he was just used to coming out here to cool off a long day at the ranch.He sat in a pile of his denim clothes and squeezed at his hair to dry. His mind went back to the new neighbour. The girl was probably pissed at him now. If it were him, he'd be apoplectic as well.A long exhale escaped from his lips as he laid back on his clothes and stared at the dark, empty sky. He was going to miss all this. Eventually, he had to stop coming here, he needed no telling. But the inevitability of it still weighed him down like metal kilo bars.The back of his house was extensive enough, there was even a sunroom extension that us
The Rancher's Heart 18. Electricity
Mentor's jaws were starting to hurt slightly from holding them together with so much force. The neighbour's question had him worked up on the inside and he didn't like it one bit. He looked away at the lush sea of grass that spilt out beneath them and breathed deep. How was it her business? Just because she had made his daughter's hair didn't give her the right to ask him personal stuff. He looked back at the tabletop in front of him with a frown. Was she one of those interlopers that felt entitled to everybody's lives?"Oh my God." He heard her say with a soft gasp.That caught his attention and he looked up. There was a frisson of fear lodged in her coffee-brown eyes. She was penitent, knowing she had gone overboard there.She looked down and away and touched a hand to her forehead tiredly. "I'm so sorry. That was so stupid of me. I shouldn't have asked that question. I shouldn't have. . ."With a start that made his heart start to sprint, he realized he must have shown his annoya
The Rancher's Heart 19. Binse's Fix-a-Lot
It was a weekend and Everest was loathing going into town. Maybe picking the house at end of the town hadn't been such a good idea after all. Right now she'd willingly trade the quiet and privacy for the hustle and bustle as long as she didn't have to deal with the tedious trekking. The last journey to town alone still had her muscles sore and aching.But she had no choice but to go. After a cold blast of water from the shower in the sharp morning weather, she had decided enough was enough and had called Mrs Casss about having a water heater unit installed.To her surprise, the woman had readily agreed, acknowledging that the house needed one anyway. But the woman was out of town in the meantime and had given her the number and shop address of a trusted plumber and told her to have him come up to the house to fix a budget estimate.His number had gone to voice mail the three times she had called and she had left a message about what Mrs Casss needed him to do. And now, she admitted wit
The Rancher's Heart 20. Grapevine
Irina shrugged and played with a screw thingy that had come off the fan. "It's probably one of her husband's. You know, they used to run business separately before he bit the dust. Now she owns everything."Vaughn nodded in reply and paused to snatch the object she had picked up. "So, do you tap dance?" Irina asked.Everest shook her head, surprised at the question."Irina," Vaughn said with a tired tone of voice. "Do you have to send all of my customers running? Besides, don't you only take kids?""I know, silly. We could use a teacher though," Irina said, scoping Everest openly. "What with Beverly and Moe pregnant at the same time. Tap dancing is not something you do when you're carrying, and pretty soon they'll be handing in their notice to leave." Irina sighed at the last statement and turned the object in her hands over and over like meat on a spit. Her wandering fingers had found another object from the dissected fan."I'm sure you'll find someone else," Everest said for lack o
The Rancher's Heart 21. None of His Business
Their weekend outing had turned out to be more fun than usual. They had gone shopping and then spent hours at the arcade playing one-on-one games and dancing games. Then they had gone to the new community pool that had just been launched recently and had a good time as well.Then they had paid a visit to Garth's goat farm, where Queen had decided she wanted to come and live in the nearest future. Right in the goat sheds.They were on their way home now and pretty much almost there. Queen was singing a vaguely familiar nursery rhyme and getting most of the lyrics wrong and he hummed along with her good-naturedly.When they finally left the flat expanse of vegetation and Mrs Casss' cottage came into view, he was quick to notice the dirty-white mini-van parked on the road in front of the cottage. Even before seeing the emblazoned signs that announced it was Binse's Fix-a-Lot home service, he knew who it was instantly. It was either Larry Binse or one of his sons, Handy Andy and Barry.He
The Rancher's Heart 22. Nationalities
"Daddy?"Mentor looked up from where he had bent to examine the baking potato pie in the oven. "Yes, sweetheart?"She clutched MeeMee to her chest and he could barely see her face above the big red panda's fluffy head. "I'm hungry.""I'm hungry, too," he replied softly. He looked towards the still-hot roast lamb leg he had just brought in from the grill out back. "Dinner's almost ready, love.""What did you say the meat was again, Daddy? Is it horse meat?"He smiled and closed the oven. He took off his mittens and walked over to the sink to wash his hands. "No, sweetie. We don't eat horse meat.""Why don't we eat Jack meat? Because we're Jew?""What?" Mentor burst into laughter. "Where'd you hear that? Sweetie, we're not Jew. Who said that?""Then what are we?"He made a show of thinking, raising his eyes to the ceiling and tapping a finger to his cheek. "We're half-Greek and half-American. Daddy is, that is," he amended as he remembered something. "You're Greek-American and, um, half
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