Rising gently from the easy chair, Josh checked on Raider before leaving the room. Stretched out on his side the shepherd breathed steady and easy, sleeping peacefully. Able to leave the animal alone for longer periods of time, Josh padded softly across the room. The moment he opened the door, the tantalizing aroma of coffee and something sweet struck him. Alice. That woman was always baking something, making it very difficult to think about someday leaving the ranch and returning to army food.
Carefully pulling the door shut, eager to find out what had his stomach rumbling, he spun around a bit faster than he probably should have. The floor gave a little wobble under his feet. Not a bad one. Not enough to knock him sideways. Just enough to remind him life wasn’t quite done messing with his balance. Just to be sure, he walked the short distance, one hand brushing the wall.
At the counter, Alice stood slicing a loaf of fresh bread. Cassie sprang from her seat and opening the fridge door, emerged with not one but two sticks of butter in her hand and a grin that shouted heaven was before them. Sleeves rolled up his forearms and jeans already dusty from early morning chores, Kade leaned against the doorway with a mug of coffee in his hands, smiling appreciatively at his wife for reasons that most likely hadnothing to do with his mother’s bread or the butter in Cassie’s hands.
A warm chuckle escaped Alice as she slid another loaf onto the cutting board. “You’d think I never feed that girl.”
“Fresh bread makes everything better.” Cassie shrugged, her smile intact. “Broken hearts, flat tires, government shutdowns.”
“Inner ear trouble?” Josh offered, stepping fully into the kitchen.
Cassie pointed a butter knife at him. “Especially inner ear trouble.”
Stealing a slice of freshly sliced bread, Kade kissed his mother on the cheek. “If you ever stop baking, half this family will collapse.”
“Half?” Alice sniffed. “Try all of you.”
Josh eased into a chair, doing his best to look like getting there was effortless and not the careful, deliberate process that had become his new normal. “If bread counts as medicine, I’m willing to double my dosage.”
“Sit.” Alice slid a plate in front of him. “You need it. You’re looking peaky.”
Shaking his head at his mother, Kade rolled his eyes and walked to the table, taking a seat beside his wife.
Josh loved the way the Sweets interacted, how there was no telling who was kin and who was married-in. Or for that matter, that they had all started out as a marriage plot to save the ranch and found themselves truly happily married. Taking his first bite, the bread melted on his tongue, warm and soft and just the right amount of sweet. If he weren’t in mixed company, he might have moaned.
Across the table, Katie breezed in with her hair pulled up in a way that made Josh momentarily forget how breathing worked. She paused, then inhaled dramatically. “Besides smellingabsolutely heavenly, all this delicious baking is enough to make a girl rethink living in a big city.”
That brought a good chuckle from Alice. “If only I could solve our political troubles with a few loaves of fresh bread or a good blueberry pie.”
Familiar with the kitchen and fitting in as if she’d always been part of the Sweet family morning routine, Katie poured a cup of coffee and to his surprise, instead of taking a seat herself, she slid the warm mug in front of him. “Black, right?”
He nodded. Oddly content that she’d noticed how he drank his coffee.
Settling into the chair across from him, Katie blew into her mug before leveling her gaze with his. “How is Raider doing today?”
“So far so good. He’s sleeping better than he’s slept since we brought him home.” His mind wandered back to earlier in the morning, when he’d taken Raider out for a potty break. Even though the dog was improving, watching him struggle to stand had been hard. The way his back legs trembled, the effort it took just to push himself up from the mattress. There had to be a better way. He needed to call the base hospital and check on his men. By his calculations, Boglioli should be getting his walking papers soon. Assuming his rehab was going well.
Alice settled into her chair at the head of the table, coffee in hand. “You’re frowning. Something hurting? Is the dog too much for you?”
“No.” Josh shook his head. “I’m fine.” If he didn’t consider feeling like the ground was undulating beneath his feet. “Thinking about my men and how Raider’s having a hard time getting up and down. The mattress is low, and every time he tries to stand, he’s straining those back legs.”
Everyone at the table nodded. Narrowing his eyes in thought, Kade pressed his lips together before bobbing his head. “How about an elevated bed?”
Josh waved a finger at his buddy. “Yes. So he can just step on and off instead of pushing himself up from the floor.”
“Elevated?” Katie frowned seconds before her eyes opened wide. “Oh, you mean like a hammock or trampoline.”
“Exactly.” Josh grinned at her. “It would be easier on his back than a mattress as well.”
“Makes sense.” Alice sipped her coffee. “We don’t have anything like that here. I’m sure Clint or Benny could build something but I bet the feed store in town might have something like you want in stock. They carry more than just feed and tack nowadays.”
Katie set down her mug. “What about his food and water bowls?”
All eyes turned to her.
“I noticed when I was setting them down,” Katie continued, “Raider has to bend pretty far to reach them. He sort of braces himself every time, like it pulls at something.”
She was right. The woman was pretty and smart. Another reason she seemed to be making herself at home in his thoughts. Josh had been so focused on the standing problem that he’d missed it completely. “An elevated feeder. Or a dispenser that sits higher.”
