“Yuma Town, Colorado.The whole town has offered to protect me, so you don’t have to worry about me.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“See you soon.Love you.”Then he hung up.
“Great.”Lacy finished her dinner.
“I’m glad you called him.”
“Yeah, but now he’s coming here to protect me.So you know him?”
“Frank Everest?Yeah.We often didn’t agree on cases.”
“So you didn’t date him?”
Florence laughed.“No, dear.We were both married at the time.I wouldn’t have dated him for anything even if we hadn’t been married.”
Lacy laughed.She felt more lighthearted than she had in months.She was glad she was here.She never expected to hear anyone say that about her grandfather.Almost everyone really liked him, and she wondered what the beef had been between the two FBI agents on the cases.
“Ready for some dessert?”Mrs.Fitz was going to take their empty dishes into the kitchen, but Lacy quickly did the honors.
“Yeah, sure.”
“Sugar cookie cheesecake bars?”Mrs.Fitz brought out the Christmas tree dessert plates and then added the cheesecake bars, covered in red and green sprinkles shaped like Christmas trees.
“Hmm, that looks good.I love cheesecake.That’s something I need to make for the holidays.I never thought of having little cheesecake squares decorated for Christmas.”
“I love cheesecake and had to figure out a way to include it for the holidays.”
“This has been so much fun.Thanks so much for allowing me to stay with you and work for you.”
“I’m glad to do it.”
After eating dessert and cleaning up, they headed to bed.
Despite feeling relatively safe at Mrs.Fitz’s house, after Lacy took her shower, she shifted into her cougar and slept on top of the comforter in her furry form—just in case they had a break-in.
“Hey,Rory, we didn’t expect you to return to the ranch that soon after you went in to have a meal and pick up supplies,” Wyatt said as Rory retired to the bunkhouse with the other ranch hands for the night.
“Yeah, we figured you might even take Lacy to a movie,” Blaze said.“Did she turn you down?”
Rory knew he should have stayed in Yuma Town longer, to make it look like he’d had a date with her so the other guys wouldn’t immediately go after her.“She was having dinner with Mrs.Fitz since she’d been so gracious to hire her and let her stay with her at her home.”
“Yeah, sure,” Blaze said, laughing.
“I’m telling Ted I’m picking up supplies for the ranch next time,” Wyatt said.
Rory had to make sure he got to see her first!But he didn’t want to make her feel they were obsessing over her, even though they all wanted to see more of her.He realized he didn’t even have her telephone number, so he could message her.
It was getting really late when he got a call from Mrs.Fitz, and since he never got calls from her, he figured something was wrong.“Hi, Mrs.Fitz.What’s up?”
“Lacy has gone to bed, but I just wanted to tell you, and you can share with the other fellas that she has had a stalker ex-boyfriend following her.I know you all want to date her, but just keep in mind that she might be a little shy about it until she feels more comfortable with her surroundings.”
“Oh, yeah, of course.”So that changed everything for him, and for the other guys too as far as pursuing her.
“You might not have checked the cougar site, but Dan posted the picture of her ex.If you see him, be sure to report it to the sheriff’s office.”
