She shrugged. “They had a smaller than small ceremony, no reception, no honeymoon. Didn’t seem right to wait a whole year to celebrate.” She straightened, stretching her back left then right, before setting the cake she’d just sliced across the middle onto a pile of other cake layers. “I considered waiting a month, but this made sense for Kade’s favorite. A seven-layer cream cake.”
His gaze shifted from the stack of half cakes on the side to the whole one on her left that was obviously the next one for her to tackle. “I’m guessing you’re not using whole cakes to avoid creating the Leaning Tower of Pisa.”
Her chuckle made him smile. “Good observation.” She pulled the last cake over. “Don’t tell me you bake too?”
He came within a flash of telling her that his wife had loved to bake. Instead he merely shook his head, remembering how that woman loved to tinker in the kitchen. The house always smelled of cinnamon, or vanilla, or some combination thereof.
One palm flat on the top of the cake, she slowly sliced through the middle of this last layer. “Preston tells me that we’ve just about caught up with your back salary.”
“Yes, ma’am, but I told you—”
“Don’t even go there,” she cut him off. “And that’s not the reason I asked you to stop by.” She set the sliced cake aside. “Apparently, we have enough breathing room that we can hire one full-time ranch hand for you.”
“For me?”
She spun about to face him. “Well, for us, but since you’ve been doing the bulk of the full-time work around here with sporadic help from my children and me, I think—we think—you should be the one to interview the candidates.”
He knew his eyes had to be bugging out of his head. He’d worked here less than a year. Was a lowly ranch hand. He had no business making those kinds of choices for the family. “I don’t—”
Her hand shot up, and once again she cut him off. “And you might as well know, you’ll be made foreman.” And just like that, a huge smile spread across her face at the exact moment her arms crossed in front of her, practically daring him to argue.
A smile slowly teasing the corners of his mouth, he slapped his hat against his thigh and lifted his gaze to meet hers. “Thank you, ma’am. I won’t let you down.”
“You haven’t yet. I doubt you ever will.”
He had to ask himself, would she think that way if she knew the truth about his past?
“I still think it would have been more fun on horseback.” Cassidy hopped out of the four-wheeler.
“Trust me, when we’re done working the line, you’re going to be darn happy that we can get back to the ranch quickly on a cushioned seat and not a leather saddle.”
“If you say so.” Of course she believed Kade, but she’d lived in too many households with too many young boys, not to want to give them a little grief along the way. Even someone as nice as Kade. And the man was very nice. Of course, she’d thought so from the first moment she’d noticed him and he’d come to her rescue. Had she not felt totally safe and secure with the man she’d known less than twenty-four hours, she would never haveagreed to this crazy scheme. Which, if she were being honest, didn’t seem so crazy anymore.
“You’re smiling.” Kade hefted a toolbox out of the back of the four-wheeler and stood there staring at her. “What’s got you so happy?”
Her gaze scanned from left to right. “Who wouldn’t be happy out here?”
“A lot of people,” he sort of scoffed before walking the tool box over to the broken fence line. “Especially folks raised in the city and used to a gas station on every corner and a shopping mall within walking distance.”
She shrugged. “Convenience is nice, but it doesn’t compete with this beautiful sky and warm sunny days.”
“Wait till winter hits and all you can see is miles and miles of snow.”
“Snow’s pretty.”
Kade chuckled. “You always find the bright side of things. Don’t you ever just want to rant?”
“Sure, but what’s the point?” She’d spent plenty a night crying about where she lived, or what she had to deal with, or that last year in the system wondering how she was going to survive on her own, but none of her tears changed anything. Walking behind him, she came to a stop at the downed post. Together, they held it up as Kade used his clippers to cut off the damaged wire and restrung the post.
If she did say so herself, she thought she was improving at the fence line. She’d fumbled too often the first day they went out to help, and the second day she’d cut her fingers up, even with gloves. Today, she thought she was doing darn good.
“You’re smiling again.” This time he had a grin almost as wide as hers.
Shrugging, she met his gaze. “I think I’m getting better at helping.”
“No thinking. You are.”
She shifted for a better grip on the post. “Mathematical things come pretty easily to me, but I’ve never had to work much with my hands. It’s nice. Though my back doesn’t always agree.”
