Page 18 of The Rancher’s One and Only

“Oh yes. I get really thrown off if I can’t have my same food when I need it.”

She had actually only started doing that recently. And she was relatively proud of herself for managing her own comfort in that way. Because it was the kind of thing that people looked at her weirdly about, but she found it more important to be comfortable than to have people think she was normal.

He accepted her answer, and she watched as he finished his shopping, then collected her bag of coffee beans, and a jug of lemonade. Then a second, for good measure.

“Your grocery store on the ranch isn’t going to open up until you have guests?”

He nodded. “No point doing it any sooner. They wouldn’t sell enough just providing supplies to us.”

“That’s so convenient, though. That you’ll have one there. You can have them stock your favorite things.”

“It’ll be more valuable to have them stock the guests’ favorite things.”

“Sure. But some of those things might be your favorite things. And that will save you a lot of trips.”

“True.”

When they went up to the register, she felt questions bubbling up inside of her, and she couldn’t hold them back when the woman—middle-aged with very bright blue eyeliner—began to scan their items. “How busy would you say this store gets?”

The woman looked at her like she was a total curiosity. “Well, sometimes when the after-work crowd comes by it gets pretty busy.”

“But the locals are enough for you to stay in business?”

“We’re the only store for miles.”

“Still, I would think that it’s very difficult to run a business in a place this size.”

“There are some seasonal fluctuations,” she said. “During elk season—rifle and bow—and then again in the summer when people are camping, white water rafting. Sometimes we attract rock climbers.”

“Oh. That’s probably all helpful. And you’re opening a store at Three Brothers Ranch.”

She looked up at Jax. “Yes.”

“Are you excited about that?”

“Well, I don’t know if excited is the right word. But it is a good opportunity, and we’re definitely grateful that they chose to use us as a location rather than just doing it themselves.”

“Seems like a better idea to bring business to the town, rather than take any away.”

She smiled at Jax. “A lot of people don’t think that way.”

“They don’t,” Ernestine agreed. She and Jax paid for their transactions separately, and then he pushed the cart out to the truck.

“Is there anything else you want to see?”

She looked down the street. “Is the pizza place good?”

“I think so.”

“Should we pick up pizza and take it back to the ranch?”

“We could.”

Which is how they found themselves strolling into a quintessentially old-fashioned-looking pizzeria with bench seats and arcade games from the ’80s.

She was charmed by all of it. Jax ordered pizzas, and then wouldn’t let her pay, and then they started on the drive back to the ranch. “I realize it’s presumptuous of me,” she said. “I can take my pizza and go back to the cabin.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said. “You’re welcome to eat with us. I mean, we’re opening up the place to guests. Plus, you realize the three of us lived in a group home for a long time. Rotated families around forever. Another seat at the table is pretty much second nature to us.”