Page 45 of If the Boot Fits

Ida Mae’s face swiveled toward Samantha. Her brows lifted.

“A job. At the Three Cedars. Helping Mrs. Stewart with the cooking and keeping house. Jimmy can come, too. There’s a spare room off the kitchen. It’s small, but it stays nice and warm in the winter. Daddy would pay you ten dollars a month on top of room and board. Mrs. Stewart loves children, and I just know she’ll dote on Jimmy. You can start as soon as you like. Monday, even.”

Ida Mae started shaking her head, and Samantha scrambled to adjust her argument.

“Or you can wait. You still have a few months to enjoy being at home with your mother. The job will be there whenever you—”

“I can’t.” A tear trailed down Ida Mae’s cheek as her head wagged. “Heaven knows I want to. A job and a roof over our heads? Mama and I have been praying for the Lord to open a door somewhere. But not at the Three Cedars. Not with Leroy there. Smirking at me every day. Tellin’ tales about me in the bunkhouse. I don’t want my son growing up to think his mama’s a . . . a loose woman.”

Samantha bit back a groan at her own thoughtlessness. How could she have forgotten the most important point?

“Leroy Thompson no longer works at the Three Cedars.”

Ida Mae’s head came up with a sharp jerk. “What?”

“My father fired him last night after finding him . . . engaged in unsanctioned behavior on Three Cedars property.”

Ida Mae’s expression hardened. “Engaged with a woman, you mean.”

Samantha nodded.

“Where were they?”

Heat climbed up Samantha’s cheeks. “In a small cabin over by Dry Creek Gulch.”

A bitter laugh echoed loudly in the quiet room. “The love shack? Oh, that’s rich. He bragged all the time about how secret that place was, how not even Eli Dearing knew it existed.” She raised a brow. “How’d your father find him?”

“Let’s just say his bragging came back to haunt him.”

Ida Mae didn’t need to know about Clint. Goodness, Samantha was still scandalized over her little brother knowing about the goings on in that cabin. Best not to give Ida Mae any other potential reasons to balk at accepting the position.

Satisfaction over Leroy’s downfall hardened Ida Mae’s face for a moment, but in a blink her expression softened, and Samantha saw the friend of her childhood reflected in the woman before her. “You did this, didn’t you?”

Embarrassed, Samantha shrugged. “I might have planted the bug in Daddy’s ear that Leroy’s character did not reflect well on the Three Cedars brand.”

A twinkle danced in Ida Mae’s moisture-filled eyes. “Planted a bug, huh? If I know you, that bug was the size of an elephant.”

“Ida Mae Forrester! Are you implying I lack the feminine grace of nuanced conversation?”

Ida Mae chuckled. “Nuance has never been your gift, Sam. But defending those who are fortunate enough to call you friend?” Her face sobered. “That’s where you excel.” She clasped Samantha’s hand and squeezed it tightly. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough for what you’ve done for me and Jimmy.”

Now Samantha was the one with damp eyes. She blinked as she squeezed her friend’s hand in return. “My father is the one who deserves your thanks. The job offer was his idea.”

“I’ll be sure to thank him on Monday when I show up for work.”

Samantha left the Forresters’ house feeling lighter than she had in ages. She hummed a jaunty tune as she drove the wagon home, her mind busy making plans for sprucing up the room off the kitchen before the new occupants arrived. Distracted as she was, she didn’t hear the hooves of the galloping horse behind her until the rider was practically upon her. She tightened her grip on the reins, determined to keep the Morgans to a walk. One runaway carriage in her lifetime was plenty.

The reckless cowboy seemed to slow just a bit as he drew abreast of her. Samantha glanced to her left. He looked like a bandit—black bandanna tied around his face, black hat pulled low over his eyes. He raised his arm. Samantha gasped and turned her face away. But it must not have been a gun in his hand, for a burlap sack dropped onto her feet an instant before the horse and mysterious rider sped away.

Heart about to beat out of her chest, Samantha reined in the Morgans as she examined the sack at her feet.

Something inside it moved.

Yelping, Samantha shifted in her seat, ready to kick whatever it was out of the wagon and into the road.

Then she heard the rattle, and every muscle in her body froze.

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