“Hey, that’s not all she did,” Jessie said. “She worked over that forty acres the cattle have been moved to so they wouldn’t have to stand in a foot of snow. Sure makes the feeding and watering easier because we don’t have to wade it up to our knees.”

“That girl is a born rancher,” Cody said and waved as he closed the door behind him. He paused on the porch steps and thought about what Jesse said. He and Stevie definitely needed to bury the past and move on with their lives, but Stevie O’Dell could teach even Sonny Ryan a few lessons in stubbornness. If he tried to explain the whole story to her, she would set her heels for sure, and besides, he wasn’t sure he wanted to be completely honest about his excuse for rejecting her. That would mean he would have to voice the reasons out loud, and that would make them even more real.

Out there in the distance, light glowed through the barn window and around the big sliding door like a beacon, but he didn’t want to butt in on Mia and Stevie’s time together. Mia had hit a really rough patch the last year and hadn’t fully dug out from under her mistakes. Her friend Justine had helped, but she was about Mia’s age. Stevie was older and wiser, and then on other hand, Stevie had lost her mother and felt guilty. Sharing their feelings, like women did, would be good for them both.

Tex came out from his doghouse located beside the porch, tail wagging and head down. He butted Cody’s leg with his nose, as if pushing him to start walking.

“Well, old boy, all we’re doing out here is getting colder by the minute.” Cody headed toward the bunkhouse. Frozen grass made a crunching noise under his feet, and a couple of times his feet came close to slipping out from under him.

“I hate ice and snow almost as much as I did sand,” he muttered to the dog.

Tex bounded ahead and rushed into the bunkhouse the second the door was opened. Cody opened the door, Tex rushed inside and curled up in the middle of the sofa.

“Hey.” Stevie stepped out from the kitchen area. “Is that for me?”

Cody handed the plate to her before he even removed his coat. “One piece is. The other one is for my bedtime snack.”

“Thank you, but why wait until bedtime.” Stevie peeled back the plastic wrap, ran her finger through the icing, and then licked it. “We need to talk.”

“About?” Cody could tell by her expression that she didn’t want to discuss the snow, the ranch, or the chocolate cake. Even though he would have liked to have more time to think about the issue, if Stevie was ready to talk, then he’d plow through the discussion as best he could.

*  *  *