“How do I look?” Ivy twirled around so Tory could see, her full skirt flaring out as she turned.
“I think the white patent shoes might be a bit impractical for a ranch, but you look very pretty.”
Ivy smiled. “You look pretty, too, Mama.”
“In jeans and a white cotton blouse? I don’t think so.”
“Yes, you do. Your hair always looks like fire. I bet Josh likes it.”
Tory felt her face heating up. “Where did that come from? Josh is my boss. I work for him. There’s nothing more to it than that.”
Ivy seemed to relax. Her daughter was thinking of Damon, how nice he had seemed in the beginning and how rotten he had turned out to be.
“You ready to go?” she asked.
“I’m ready.”
A soft knock sounded at the door. Tory checked the peephole, saw Josh on the porch.
She pulled open the door. “Good morning. I was just getting ready to leave.” She had already cooked his breakfast and made him a sack lunch. “Is there something you need?”
“I was thinking maybe you’d be smart to leave Ivy with Mrs. Thompson and go into town by yourself. If someone’s looking for you, they’ll be looking for a woman and a kid, not a woman on her own.”
It was a good idea. At least for a while.
“Mrs. T. lives just off the highway at the end of the road from the ranch,” he said. “A big two-story white house that sits back in the trees. It’d be right on your way.”
“She told me she lived there, but I’d have to call her, find out if it’s okay.”
“I talked to her earlier. She’d love to have Ivy come over for a couple of hours.”
Josh was right about one thing. The fewer people who knew she had a child, the safer they would be.
“Okay. I’ll drop Ivy off and pick her up on the way back.”
She looked up at Josh. She needed money for his groceries. She hated to ask him for an advance, but she had to pay for her own food, as well.
She opened her mouth, but he was already pulling an envelope out of the back pocket of his jeans.
“Money for groceries and whatever else is on your list. Just bring me the change and receipts. Also, there’s three days’ pay for the work you’ve done.”
She relaxed as she accepted the envelope. “Thank you for that.”
“It’s your money. You earned it. From now on you’ll get paid every week, just like Noah and Cole.”
She nodded. When he looked at her with those amazing blue eyes, she had a hard time looking away. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
She went inside and got Ivy, went out to the Chevy and settled the little girl in her booster seat, then went around to the driver’s side and slid in behind the wheel.
Half an hour later, with Ivy safe in Mrs. Thompson’s well-kept older home, Tory arrived in Iron Springs. She gassed the car, topping off the tank as she hadn’t been able to do in days, all the while keeping an eye on her surroundings, a habit she’d developed after she’d left Phoenix.
Parking in the lot in front of Iron Springs Food and Pharmacy, she took a moment to pull her red hair into a ponytail, then stuff it beneath the Texas Rangers’ baseball cap she had bought at a truck stop on I-20 in Abilene.
She should probably dye her hair instead of trying to hide it, but it was her best feature and she was vain about it. Her long red curls had nearly reached her waist when she was with Damon. On the run, she had decided to cut it very short, but it had simply been too painful. So, like giving up her name, she had cut it shorter but not changed it completely, refusing to let Damon win.
She checked her image in the rearview mirror. The bright color wasn’t completely hidden, but it wasn’t that noticeable, either.
She did the grocery shopping, buying enough to last a week, then ran an errand for Josh, stopping at Miller’s Mercantile to pick up a bottle of horse liniment he had called ahead to order. Mrs. Miller, the owner’s wife, was a little too chatty, but nice.
