Read Online Honey Kisses (Romance on the Ranch Series #2) by Verna Clay - Free Book Online

phone
number."
    Dixie reached for a notepad and jotted the
number down.
    After Ann left the coffee shop, she pondered how
she could get Jackson to eat with them. She decided that being straightforward
and asking him to join them would be the best plan. When she got home, she was
going to call Sarah and give her the scoop on her own matchmaking efforts. She
turned the ignition in her paint challenged Corolla and pulled away from the
curb feeling depressed.
    Being honest with herself, she knew Jackson was
fly-paper to her both emotionally and physically. The man lit a fire that Jerry
had extinguished years ago. If Jackson and Dixie got together, she'd never be
able to continue working at the Triple T. Her heart couldn't take that kind of
hit.
    A couple of hours later she finished shopping
and drove back to the ranch. She unloaded the flats of pansies for the front flowerbeds
she'd found at markdown prices, and then she made three trips back and forth to
unload the rest of her purchases. Jackson wasn't around, but that was just as
well because he would chide her about working on her day off.
    She put her purchases away and then let herself
out through the mud room and walked the short trail to her cottage. She usually
drove by way of a side road, but the late afternoon sun setting clouds aflame
with oranges and reds, made her want to enjoy a walk before sunset. She had
just entered her homey cottage when her cell phone rang. Reaching into her purse
pocket she looked at the caller ID—Molly. "Hi Granny, I've been missing
you."
    "Hello, dear heart. I've been missing you,
too. How's the job coming along?"
    "Wonderful. I've got the house running
smooth. Now I'm working in the gardens."
    "If ever there was a homemaker, it's
you," Molly said sincerely. "And how is your hot cowboy?"
    "Granny!"
    "Ann, I may be your grandmother and up in years,
but I'm not blind or dead—which brings me to the reason for my call."
    "What's that?"
    "I've decided to have an affair with
Newt."
    Ann choked and couldn't catch her breath.
    "Get a drink of water, sweetie. I'll
wait."
    "Just a minute," she gasped, and put
the phone on the counter. She reached for a glass and stuck it under the faucet.
After a couple of swallows she got her breath back and picked up the phone.
"I'm back," she rasped.
    "Good, dear. Now, as I was saying, I've
decided that Newt and I should have an affair. We hit it off great while I was
there and he's put the giggle back in my gaggle."
    "Are you sure about this?"
    "Honey, I ain't gettin' younger. Course I'm
sure. Can you put me up for a week? Do you think that cowboy of yours would
mind?"
    "Granny, he's not my cowboy. He's my
employer."
    "Oh, fiddle-dee-dee. That man can't keep
his eyes off you and visa-versa. Do you think he'll mind if I visit my only
granddaughter?"
    "No, I don't think so."
    "Good, cause I already got my bus ticket.
I'll be there next Saturday. You can pick me up at the depot at one-thirty. One
more thing. Don't spill the beans about me comin' to see Newt, cause timing has
everything to do with the outcome of a rain dance." Molly giggled, "How's
my cowboy lingo? I've been studying the language on the internet."
    After Molly hung up, Ann plopped in a kitchen
chair—Molly and Newt, lovers—she covered her mouth and snickered.
    * * *
    Ann switched the crock pot on. She'd come across
a recipe for Slower-than-Slow, Slow-Cooker Chicken Dumplings. She heard
the mud room door open and turned to see Jackson enter the kitchen carrying a
squirming kitten. The tiny black and white ball of fluff with bright green eyes,
and a black circle around one eye and a white circle around the other, captured
her heart. "How adorable!"
    "I found him wandering by the river. He doesn't
belong to any of our barn cat mothers. If I hadn't caught him, he'd probably be
a coyote's breakfast right now. I can't leave him with the barn cats because
the new mother might not take a liken' to him. How would you feel about keeping
an eye on him