“What’s that mean?”
“It means that it’s an hour’s drive into town, figure thirty minutes in the grocery store, then an hour’s drive back. Then you have to consider how long it will take to make what you want.”
“Crap, so it could be four hours before we eat?”
“It could.” He saw her disappointment and made a quick decision. “How about this instead?”
“What?”
“What if we go to my cabin, I’ll cook us dinner, I have steak, baked potatoes, and fixings for a salad. I’m off on Sunday, we can spend the rest of the week getting our grocery lists together, and we can go to town then.” He saw her thinking, then smiled. “You know, you don’t have to only cook one meal at a time. If you have a couple of recipes you’d like to try, we can get the ingredients for them, then batch cook them Sunday.”
“What’s that?”
“It means you cook more than one item. You’d cook a batch of things, and you can freeze them for the rest of the week.”
“I like that idea. I agree with everything you said, I only have one more question.”
“What’s that?”
“Do you know how to make cookies?”
“Not from scratch,” he laughed. “That’s something you’re going to want to talk to Lois about.”
“Why?”
“That’s baking, and baking is different from cooking.” He saw the frustration in her expression and wrapped his arms around her. “We’ll figure this out.” They left the barn, and he led the wayto his cabin. As soon as they entered, he told her to make herself at home and he went to shower.
They spent the next few hours cooking the meal he said he had, and Tony let her do most of the work, and she only burned one edge of one of the steaks. He grinned when she said she would eat it, because she was the one who had burnt it. They talked as they worked, getting to know each other better. By the time Staci left for the night, they both admitted how much they had enjoyed their time together and looked forward to spending more time together on Sunday. Tony said he would be there bright and early to take her to the grocery store.
CHAPTER 13
“Is that everything?”Tony stood off to the side in the last aisle of the grocery store looking between their shopping carts and lists. He looked at Staci with a raised brow when she didn’t answer him. He grinned when she was staring into the freezer that contained the ice cream. He walked over and when he looked through the clear glass, he made a sound, opened the door with a grin, reached in, and withdrew two cartons of the same flavor.
“What did you get?”
“Coffee with espresso pieces.”
“Oh, that sounds good. For me, it’s a toss-up between that and two others.”
“Why pick only one. You never know when the mood might strike, so how about have a variety of flavors on hand, then you can choose once you’re home.”
Staci looked at him with a grin, and picked out the same flavor he had, but only one, then she withdrew a plain vanilla, a chocolate with brownie pieces, and one with dark cherries. She placed them in her cart, then they went to the check out together. Before they arrived, Tony’s phone went off. He paused to look at it, then answered.
“Erin, what’s up?” He watched Staci as he nodded, then nodded. “Okay, I can do that. I’m glad you caught me, we’re about done.” He listened some more and when he hung up, he smiled at Staci. “As you heard, that was Erin. She asked me to go to the front desk and pick up an order for her.”
“Do you know what it is? Not that it matters, but I’m sort of curious because there seems to be everything on the ranch now.”
Tony laughed and explained what he had learned from Ann, Cole, and Clem about what Erin did at the grocery store. Along with what he saw first-hand when he was here with Lois. They walked to the front of the store, to the service desk.
“Hi,” he said with a charming smile. “I’m here to ask you for help in picking up an order.”
“What’s your name?” the girl behind the counter asked.
“My name isn’t important, but it’s Tony Jacobs, I’m here to pick up the order of apples and carrots…” he didn’t finish before the woman laughed.
“Erin Riceman.”
“Yes.”
