Brooks was quiet for a moment, but then his eyes darted to mine before returning to Mr. Powell. “Thank you. I appreciate the invitation.”
“Good. I was about to head to the barn,” he said. “Your brother just shoed Mirabelle and I want to check her out.”
“Great, I’ll come with you,” Brooks said.
The two of them walked shoulder to shoulder toward the barn, and I pondered what had just happened. But then I smiled as I realized that even though Mr. Powell wasn’t my father, it was impossible for him not to be protective over me because I was Hadley and Salem’s friend.
I walked into the ranch house and took a deep breath. Itsmelled of biscuits and peppered gravy. Muddy was at the stove, an apron tied around her waist. She looked at me over her shoulder.
“Good morning,” she said.
“Hi.”
She chuckled. “You could have used another few hours of sleep, couldn’t you?”
“Is it that obvious? Never mind. Don’t answer that. I’ve got jet lag,” I reminded her.
“Right. Did you stay at the apartment last night?”
I came to stand next to her. “Are you asking because you’re trying to make polite conversation, or because you already know the answer and you just want me to say it?”
She grinned. “Pour yourself a cup of coffee. You hungry?”
“Starving,” I said. “No, I didn’t stay at the apartment last night.”
“Why not?”
I went to the fridge and pulled out a carton of cream. “Brooks is not exactly stoked on the security system for the building.”
“There is no security system.”
“That’s why he’s concerned. Same with the locks. He said they’re flimsy, so he’s changing them today.”
“A bit overprotective, don’t you think?”
“Yes. But he’s got some things in his past that make him . . . cautious. It’ll make him feel better, so I’m going with it.” I shrugged. “So the apartment idea. Whose idea was it? Yours or Lucy’s?”
“Mine,” she said. “I called Lucy and as soon as I suggested it, she thought it was a great idea too.”
“Why hasn’t the store been rented?” I asked. “She said a couple of businesses have been there over the years, but nothing seems to stick. Doesn’t seem like good business sense to leave it unoccupied, though.”
“There’s more to life than money.”
“Yeah, I guess it’s easy to say that when you have it,” I quipped.
“Oh, money comes and goes,” she said. “We’ve had years on the ranch where we didn’t know if we would be able to make it. Can you imagine? This ranch being in the family for generations, and one bad year and it’s all gone. Thank God we never had to sell.”
“Wow. I had no idea.”
Muddy shrugged and plated food before handing it to me. “To answer your question about Lucy—she didn’t just want a tenant, she wanted therighttenant. She was willing to rent it to Gracie. Seemed like a good idea, you know, with it being right next door to Sweet Teeth. Shame they didn’t want to expand.”
I sat down at the table and cut into the flaky biscuit. “Homemade?”
“Is there any other kind?” she asked.
“I don’t know why I even bothered asking.” I shook my head. “I know what you’re trying to do.”
She grabbed her cup of coffee and took a seat next to me. “What am I trying to do? Fill you full of biscuits? You need another ten pounds if you’re going to weather the winter comfortably here.”
