Page 58 of Ironwood Ranch Cowboys

“Sorry,” he says, already scanning for somewhere to set it down.

“That’s Marshall,” Abilene says. “He’s with me.”

“Hi,” I offer.

Marshall nods once, distracted but not unfriendly. “Hi. Don’t take the sweet tea near the edge, it’s a structural risk.”

…Okay.

Another man slips in behind him, taking two of the glasses off the tray before it can tip.

“You say that every week,” he says mildly.

“That’s because every week someone ignores me.”

The second man glances at me and smiles.

“Wyatt,” he says. “Welcome to the mad town.”

“Annie.”

“Good luck,” he adds.

“That’s what everyone keeps saying,” I say.

“Because we’re honest,” a third voice cuts in.

I turn.

It’s Jesse, who I met on my first week here. He’s already grinning, like he’s been enjoying the entire situation from across the room and has now decided to join in, cookie in hand.

“See?” he says, pointing said cookie at me like evidence. “She didn’t run.”

“I considered it,” I tell him.

“That’s healthy.”

“That’s Jesse,” Abilene says, with the long-suffering patience of someone who has accepted her fate. “Hey, where are the twins?”

“I’m delightful,” Jesse corrects. “And they’re ‘helping’ with the cupcakes. So I best not leave them for too long…”

“That sounds ominous,” I say.

“It is,” Wyatt says mildly.

Jesse points at him with the cookie. “And yet no one stops me.”

“Because we’re tired,” Marshall mutters, finally setting the tray down somewhere that apparently meets his exact structural requirements.

I laugh before I can stop myself.

“Come sit with us when you get food,” Abilene says. “If you want.”

Before I can answer, Jesse’s already backing away. “I’m going to go make sure my children haven’t built a frosting weapon.”

“They probably have,” Wyatt calls after him.

“Then I’ll be proud and concerned at the same time!”