Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 90164 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90164 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“Do you know what the hours would be?”
“I’m not positive, but I’m sure you could work it out. I know he’d like to have help either in the mornings to get them off to school, or when they get out of school until dinner time.”
“That doesn’t seem too hard.”
“I don’t think it’s hard at all,” Millie assures me.
“I don’t want to have to quit this job. I like it here, and the whole point is to have both income streams.”
“Well, if he wants you to take afternoons, I’ll switch shifts with you so you’re off work before school lets out.”
I chew the inside of my lip, thinking it over. “It would be nice to have that flexibility.”
“Just go meet with him,” Millie suggests. “You can get a feel for it, and if you like him and the kids, take the job. If not, no harm, no foul.”
“I think that’s a great idea.”
“Awesome.” Millie bounces on her toes as she pulls her phone out of her pocket. “I’m texting him right now to see when he’s available for a chat.”
“Wait. I don’t have a car right now. I don’t have a way to drive back and forth to the ranch.”
“I have a loaner,” Pete says as he dumps his trash into the bin next to us. “You can borrow it until your car is ready.”
Stunned, I stare at Pete in surprise. “Really?”
“Sure. It’s just sitting there. Probably needs to be driven. I’ll park it out front here in about a half hour.”
“Holy shit, you’re all so nice to me.”
“You’re one of us now,” Pete says with a wink and turns to walk out the door.
“Pete’s hot and nice,” I say to Millie as I turn around.
“I know,” she replies with a sigh. “It’s really too bad that he’s married. Okay, Rem says he can meet with you tomorrow morning at around nine, but he’s hoping you can come to the ranch because he has something to do out there afterward. Of course, he does.”
Millie rolls her eyes, and I grin.
“Yeah, I can meet him at the ranch at nine, now that I have a loaner car.”
“Cool, I’ll tell him.” Millie types out her message and then tucks her phone away. “I’ll give you directions to the ranch. It’s not hard to find, but it’s out of town a ways. You’re going to be driving a lot; I should warn you of that.”
“Have you ever been to Seattle? It’s all sprawled out, and if you want to go anywhere, you have to drive a lot. No biggie.”
“Oh, my gosh, the kids are going to love you. I just know it.”
Okay, so the car Pete loaned me is a little old and makes a couple of funny sounds, but it runs, and the heater works, so I’m not complaining. The highway out of town to the ranch is icy in spots, so I’ve been taking it easy.
The last thing I need is to put a car I don’t even own into the ditch.
Finally, I see the sign for the Wild River Ranch that Millie described to me, and I turn into the driveway.
It’s pretty out here, with lots of snow-covered evergreen trees and bushes. There’s a family of three deer next to the driveway, watching me as I roll on past.
The storm has passed, and I’m hopeful for a warm day today to melt off the last of the ice and snow, but I have to admit, it’s just so pretty out here on the ranch, all glittery with ice.
Following Millie’s directions, I stay to the left when the driveway forks. She told me that if I went right, I’d run into her parents’ new house and the tiny cabin that her other brother, Brady, lives in.
Remington and his kids live in the farmhouse, now that he’s in charge of everything on the ranch and his dad has retired. Plus, their parents really wanted a smaller house to take care of.
Just like what my parents are thinking of doing.
I turn to the left and am met with a big farmhouse. It looks like something out of a Currier and Ives painting, so classic and…sturdy. The outside is brown with a big rock chimney. The shutters on the windows are red, and it looks like someone recently painted them over the summer.
There’s a Jeep in the driveway, next to a big SUV that looks like it would easily fit six kids. To the right is a big garage, and since the door is up, I see that there’s a truck tucked inside.
I can just picture this house at Christmastime, covered in lights and garland. The smaller evergreens along the driveway would be gorgeous with strings of lights on them.
And when I gaze out over the field and see black cattle, I grin.
It looks like we should be riding over the snow in a sleigh.