Beau shrugged. “Man, that’s above my pay grade, but if you figure it out, don’t forget how you deal with it, because someday, I might need that advice too.” He tossed the last bag over onto the pile in the truck’s bed and headed back into the store. “Let’s get you an invoice made up, and don’t tell Mia that I asked about where to take her.”

“My lips are sealed, but only if you never mention that I said Stevie was cranky,” Cody agreed.

Beau tapped a few keys on the computer, and two copies of the invoice rolled out of the printer. “You’re all ready to go. I hope Stevie gets over her cranky spell soon.”

“Me too.” Cody signed one copy, handed it back, and took the other with him. “See you next time around.”

“Thanks again for the advice.” Beau said.

“Sure thing.” Cody waved and disappeared back through the supply room. He stepped down the concrete steps to the ground, got into his truck, and turned the radio on to his favorite country music station.

*  *  *

Stevie had spent the whole morning and part of the afternoon vaccinating cattle on a ranch way out beyond Dodd City. When she finished, she was tired, dirty, and hungry. She drove home with the radio blaring and planned to drag out her laptop that evening and enter all the invoices she had stuffed in an envelope on the front seat of her van—right after she had a long, soaking bath. That way, she could get her billing done early the next week—maybe for the last time in Honey Grove if she decided to take the Australia job.

The rich aroma of roast beef met her when she entered the bunkhouse. She wasn’t even aware that Cody had put it in the oven since she had left earlier than he did that morning. She took long oven mitts out of a drawer and put one on each hand, then brought the blue granite roasting pan out of the oven and removed the lid. The potatoes, carrots, and onions were all done perfectly, and the roast fell apart when she tested it with a fork.

She left it on top of the stove, turned off the oven, and headed straight to the bathroom, where she adjusted the water in the tub and dropped her clothing on the floor. Days had passed since she fell through the floor and had to have stitches in her leg, and in those days, she had only had a shower each day with a plastic bag taped to her leg.