The aroma of marinara and fresh bread wafted out to meet her the moment she and Tex stepped into the kitchen. Then Stevie got a whiff of something chocolate, and her mouth began to water. Coffee and candy had gotten her through too many long nights to count—from cramming for tests in college, to hours and hours of waiting for a calf to be born, to the times when she couldn’t sleep after her mother’s death—and she had sorely missed it while she and Cody were stranded.

“Hey!” Mia looked up from the counter where she had been spreading butter on the tops of hot yeast rolls. “Y’all made it just in time. We’re about to put everything on the bar and serve it up buffet tonight.”

Mia’s dark hair was pulled up into a ponytail, and she wore faded red sweatpants, an orange sweatshirt, and mismatched socks. Stevie wondered if the girl’s peers in school had called her a giant too. Nowadays, they called it bullying and were a lot quicker to take care of the issue than they had been twenty years ago. Stevie found herself hoping that Mia had never had to put up with those rude comments.

“Thanks for loaning me—” Stevie started to say.

“No problem. Good thing we’re both tall and the same size. As you can see, we all got dressed up for supper tonight,” Mia joked.

“You look beautiful to me.” Stevie remembered coming home crying because some little girl had made fun of her height or of her curly red hair, and her mother telling her that the important thing was to be beautiful on the inside.

The kids who were mean to you are ugly on the inside. You are pretty and smart, and they’re jealous, Ruth had said. Let’s have some chocolate cookies and milk. That will help you feel better.

Mia crossed the big country-style kitchen and gave Cody a hug. “We missed you, Uncle Cody. Dad said your truck is totaled. That’s scary.”

Cody gave her an extra hug. “Truck is, but I’m just fine. Is that lasagna I’m smelling?”

“Nope,” Mia answered. “Mama made rigatoni and Nana made the chocolate cake.” Then she turned around and wrapped Stevie up in her arms for a hug and whispered for her ears only. “Did everything fit okay?”

Stevie nodded.

“Let me know if you need anything else.” Mia took a step back.

“What can I do to help with supper?” Stevie hadn’t been hugged since her mother’s funeral, and warm feeling brought tears to her eyes.

Addy came from the dining room and gave Stevie a second hug. “We’ve got supper covered. Not that you had much choice in the matter, but we’re glad to have you spending some time with us here on the ranch.”