Page 246 of Cowboy Daddies

She was crap at cooking. She was crap at laundry. Today, she’d done some washing and hadn’t thought about the fact that she shouldn’t mix her whites with colors.

And, yep, now Jeb’s white sheets were streaked with pink.

Oops.

Casey was starting to worry that she was crappy at everything. It didn’t help that she hadn’t seen Jeb much. He’d been busy with the ranch. However, it was Friday evening and she’d hoped that Jeb would come home in time for dinner.

Which is why she’d attempted roast beef.

Turns out she really shouldn’t have tried roast beef.

Getting up, she walked to the oven again. This time she stood to the side as she opened it. Not as much smoke erupted from it this time.

Whew.

Reaching for a towel, she drew the tray out and placed it on the top of the stove. When she checked under the foil she could see that the top of the meat was dark. And all the vegetables around it were shriveled up and black.

“Maybe I could scrape the top off and it would be fine underneath?” she said to Wyatt.

He shrugged.

It was Friday, the last day of his suspension, and she was going to miss him when he went back to school on Monday.

Today they’d gone looking for tadpoles in the creek. They’d found a couple of frogs which had been exciting. And then they’d decided to start building a fort.

On the ground because she was a good girl and knew how to listen. She was certain that Jeb was going to be proud.

But that had all made her a bit late to get dinner on. So she’d turned the oven up high. Which, in hindsight, probably hadn’t been a good idea.

Casey got a sharp knife and cut off the top of the meat. Underneath, though, it was bloody.

“Uh-oh,” she said, stabbing it. “Why is it hard? Oh no, it’s still frozen! I thought being in the oven would unfreeze it?”

Wyatt shrugged. “I’ve never cooked meat before.”

“Me neither,” she said.

“Yeah, that’s kind of obvious.”

Shoot. “What am I going to do?”

“Order pizza?” Wyatt said hopefully.

“Do they deliver out here?” she asked.

“Yeah, but you have to give a good tip.”

“Well, that’s fair enough. Let’s do that, huh?” It would cost her when she didn’t have a lot of money. But she hated to think how much that piece of beef that she’d ruined cost.

Maybe there was a way of fixing it. What if she put it in the oven on a really low heat? Only she was scared to use the oven again.

What if she burned the freaking house down?

After ordering a couple of pizzas, she tidied up, then answered a message from Jordan. Her friend had wanted to send her some money for her car, but Casey had turned her down. She could do this herself.

She and Wyatt opened up the windows and doors to let some fresh air in. The back door opened just after she’d figured out that the lingering smoky smell seemed to be coming from her.

Awesome.