Page 63 of The Rancher’s One and Only

“It’s my Labubu. My knockoff Labubu. Remember, I bought it in the grocery store.”

“I remember, but it wasn’t on the nightstand the last time I was here.”

“No. But I was looking at it the other night. I accidentally left it there. I didn’t know that you were going to spend the night.”

“Well, it’s scary.”

“They’re not scary.”

“They have sharp teeth.”

“But they’re not biting you.”

She grabbed it off the nightstand and flung it onto him. He jumped, and tried to catch it, and it rebounded off of his chest before falling onto the floor. “Oh well. It has met its untimely end.”

She made an exasperated sound and rolled over him and off his side of the bed naked, grabbing hold of her cursed doll before pulling it back up against her chest. “Don’t. I love him.”

“That might be the deal-breaker.”

“You’re very intolerant.”

“I think we both know that’s not true. And you’re going to have to explain to me why Jurassic Park is bad and that’s good.”

“This,” she said, holding it out at him, “has nothing to do with my chosen profession.”

“Well. Still.”

“I just think you’re mean.”

So he tackled her. Flat on her back, and bit her on the shoulder. “It might not bite. But I do.”

She made a comical wailing sound. “You’re mean!”

But she was smiling. He had never had this before. Never…felt playful with much of anyone. He was suddenly out of body, out of mind. He didn’t know what this was. It was the strangest, most intense experience of his life, and it was happening in a glass cabin with a scientist. A scientist who had a whole separate life from him. Who lived a whole different reality. He rolled away from her, and looked up through the ceiling at the stars, before turning the lights off so he could see them better. “You looking forward to the Oregon Trail thing?”

“Yes,” she said, though her voice was muted as if she’d had the same thought. That this was an awful lot for two people who were going to have to say goodbye, and maybe that wasn’t the best thing for either of them. But right now, he wasn’t sure either of them were making the smart choice. They were making the choice that felt good. Maybe they both deserved that. At least for a little while. But it would end at the end of the month. At least she was clear on that. He’d been honest. That was all he could do. All he could do except enjoy his time with her.

Chapter Twelve

It was floodplain day, and Jax wasn’t feeling all that keen about it. So much bureaucracy, and for what? Granted, he wanted everything to be safe; it was just that he had been sure that they were safe the first time, and he had sort of had the feeling that the guy from the county had a little bit of a grudge against him, for no reason other than his own feelings.

But before that happened, he decided to go and visit Ernestine at her dig.

It was becoming increasingly dug out, more and more piles of rock forming. And she was altogether giddy with her new discoveries.

“This is just even richer than I imagined.”

“I’m glad.”

“Yes. My equations about elevation and soil content were so accurate. I mean, with respect to the hypersonic imagery. But, I figured this out on my own.”

“What kind of equation do you do?”

“It’s complicated, because it isn’t entirely math. It’s math, but it’s also based around my knowledge of where we have found things like this before, in what kind of soil and also extrapolating what I think the migration patterns would have been at different points in the year.”

“Got it. So you’re really good at figuring out elevation.”

“Yep. On-site.”