Forever's Affection (Forever In Luck Series Book 3) (18 page)

He
busted out laughing. Reaching over, he turned out the kitchen light. “Alright,
the Rooster says the limits are hugging and kissing. The rest they will work on
when the two of them are not so tired.” Turning her, he put his hands on her
shoulders and massaged them as he nudged her towards the bedroom, moving her
along. “The rooster wonders about a code word for the bedroom for when things
get clucking crazy.”

Stopping,
she turned her head back and leaned into him, putting a kiss on his jaw. “The
hen thinks this is the smartest, kindest rooster she’s ever met, and thinks
scrambled eggs would be a good code word because her mind gets scrambled.” Then
she turned back and started walking again.

Putting
his hands to her waist, they walked in tandem down the hall. “How about one for
when the hen likes what the rooster’s doing and wants to keep going?”

Smiling,
liking this little game, she said, “How about sunny-side up for when things are
going good, and when things are going a bit fast and need to slow down she’ll
say over-easy?” Grabbing a nightgown from the dresser drawer, she turned to him
as he pulled off his shirt. Oh my…

Reaching
for the fly of his jeans, he stopped, noticing that she stood looking at him
and smiled. “I always did like eggs, and I like the way you’re looking at me.
We good?”

There
was a lot to appreciate here, she thought, as she looked at his broad, muscular
chest and the line of dark hair that started at his navel and disappeared
behind the waistband of his jeans.
“Sunny side up for sure.”
She sighed, and he actually
blushed
a little.

“Come
on, you keep looking at me like that and I’ll be hard boiled.”

“Well,
I always did like deviled eggs,” she teased.

He
groaned as he unbuttoned his pants. “You keep this up and I’ll be kicked off
the ranch for being too cocky.”

She
laughed. “Perish the thought.” With that, she clicked off the light.

CHAPTER 9

Two
weeks later, Dani stood in the kitchen of the ranch house staring at the lump
of meat on the counter. What the hell was it, and what was she supposed to do
with it? Kris had been spending more and more of his evenings at the ranch, and
she suspected he was getting tired of cereal, because while at the last rodeo competition,
she came home to a freezer full of meat.

Problem
was she didn’t know how to cook, and she couldn’t follow a recipe to save her
soul. And even if she could, it’d be pointless, because unless you knew what
words like mince and dice, or sauté and broil meant, it was hopeless. Or her
personal favorite, cook X over medium heat until you get Y, then turn the heat
down to get Z, while you stir constantly, with the pointer of don’t overcook.
How was one supposed to know what constituted overcooked?

She
heard Coco barking outside. Stepping to the window, she saw Linnie’s car parked
out front. Dashing to the door, she whipped it open just as Jules was about to
knock, and said, “Help, I can’t cook!”

From
the shocked looks on their faces, she’d obviously startled them,
then
they both busted out laughing. “It’s not funny,” she
said, frantically. “How can you laugh at a time like this? I got this hunk of
meat on the counter and I don’t know what to do with it!”

More laughing.

“Oh
forget it,” she snapped at the two of them with disgust. “You two are of no
help. Now what the hell am I going to do?” She carried on, talking to herself
as she ignored them.

Linnie
spoke up, trying to keep from laughing. “Oh
my gosh
,
the look on your face, that was hilarious. How about we come in? We can help
you better if we see what we’re working with.” Then she started giggling.

Stepping
aside to let them in, Dani shook her head unconvinced of their potential to
help the situation, but right now she’d take whatever help she could get. “Come
on in, and good luck with that,” she said flatly. “It’s rather hopeless I’m
afraid.” They started laughing again as she closed the door. “Junie’s napping,”
she explained, as she led them into the kitchen. Pointing to the beast of meat
from across the room, she said with obvious disdain, “It’s
that
.”

Jules
and Linnie started laughing again, and she glared at them.

Jules
reached out and touched her arm. “We’re sorry, we really are. We’re being rude,
forgive us. You’re perplexity is quite endearing. What do you know how to
cook?”

“
Ahhh
.”
Dani had to
concentrate. “Umm, frozen pizza…can of soup…just add water pancakes, and I can
boil a potato,” she finished proudly. Then her eyes lit up. “Oh, and as far as
meat goes, fry the hell out of it or grill it till its shoe leather, then we’re
good,” she proclaimed with a firm nod of the head, only to add in all
seriousness, “plus, I can make a mean trout, but then you don’t have to do much
to it but gut it. Quit laughing!” she demanded, crossing her arms over her
chest and glaring at them again. “Kris is starving and you two are laughing.”

“Stop,”
Linnie, said, between jags of laughter, “
stop
, my
bladder is about the size of a pea right now.” She pulled a chair over and sat,
wiping her eyes.

Dani
looked at her tummy. That was going to be one big baby, but then from the size
of the father it was no wonder. “When’s your baby due?”

“Six
weeks. Oh man, thank you for that, I needed a good laugh. And trust me, Kris is
not starving. They eat when they’re done milking, morning and night,
then
lunch in between, and Jules has been making and taking
food out to them when they’re in the fields.”

Dani
stood a little taller.
“Really?”

Jules
nodded and looked on her with compassion. “Kris has the appetite of a horse, if
he doesn’t get enough to eat, we’d all know about it. And “that,” as you call
it, is a standing prime rib roast.”

Dani
stared at her a few moments, thinking about what she’d said. The statement
being lost to her, she shrugged her shoulders. “Is that supposed to mean
something? Because I don’t know what a standing prime rib roast is.”

Smiling,
Jules answered with an encouraging nod, “It’s one of the best cuts of beef
there is to be had. Where did you get it?”

Turning,
Dani opened her freezer. “There.”

“I
thought there was more room in the freezer!” Jules exclaimed, eyeing the mother
lode of meat.

Mortified,
Dani said, “I’m sorry, I came home one day and it was here. I assumed it was
his way of telling me he was tired of cereal. I didn’t realize he took your
food, please take it back.”

Both
Jules and Linnie shook their heads.

“Keep
it,” Linnie said. “We have two large freezers full, and then the one over the
fridge upstairs. When we run low, dad keeps a cow from going to auction. We
have plenty, trust me.”

Closing
the freezer and opening the fridge, Dani said, “Does that go for milk and
cheese too, because every other day it just shows up.”

They
both nodded with a smile.

Linnie
reached out and gave her arm a squeeze. “It’s for you and
Junie,
and we have plenty. Eat, drink, and enjoy. He wants you to have it, and he has
it to give, so don’t worry.”

Closing
the fridge, Dani took a deep breath and let it out slow, relieved to know Kris
wasn’t starving and counting on her for sustenance. Looking at the counter with
trepidation, she said, “So what do I do with
that
?”

“Simple,”
Jules said, trying to keep a straight face, “bring it to room temperature, put
a rub on it, sear it in a really, really hot oven, then turn it down and roast
it to one hundred twenty degrees, take it out and let it rest for twenty
minutes, or until it is one hundred thirty degrees. Then while the roast is
resting, deglaze your pan and make au jus, slice and serve.”

Dani
simply stood looking at her, thinking and blinking, not able to make heads or
tails out of what she’d just said. Giving up, she turned to Linnie and said
flatly, “Do you know how to do what she just said, because I don’t?”

Smirking
Linnie answered her. “Slather seasoning all over the outside, blast it in a
four hundred and fifty degree oven for an hour, then turn the oven to three
twenty-five and let the meat sit there baking for a while longer. Take it
out,
put it on a plate, leaving it sit for another twenty
minutes while you add a little water to the juice and drippings left in the
bottom of the pan making a dipping sauce. Cut and eat.”

Dani
stood chewing on her bottom lip letting it all soak in, determined to make this
work. Nodding confidently and ready to take on the world, she said, “Okay,
okay, I think I got it. Salt and pepper the hell out of it, blast it, bake it,
wait, get the ketchup, pray no one dies,
then
eat.
Perfect, I got this, thanks for the help.”

Jules
and Linnie busted out laughing again.

“Oh,
Dani, you’re priceless,” Jules said, while holding her stomach, laughing. “I’ll
help you get set up, where do you keep your seasonings?”

Dani
pointed to the salt and pepper shakers on the counter. “Unless you need more,
that would be up here,” she said, opening a pair of cupboard doors, taking out
a large container of salt and a big can of pepper.

Walking
to the cupboard, Jules opened the doors wider and looked inside, then said with
astonishment, “There’s nothing here but cereal, sugar, salt, pepper, and
ketchup. Dani, I don’t want to insult you, so please don’t take this the wrong
way, but do you need help buying groceries?”

Swallowing,
Dani answered feeling small, “There’s peanut butter behind the sugar, jelly in
the fridge, and I have bread and potatoes too. I catch fish, and once hunting
season comes, there will be meat for the freezer.”

Jules
looked to Linnie with concern. “I’ll run to the farm and be right back.” Then
she turned and left.

Obviously,
what she had wasn’t the right thing. “Why’d she go? You don’t have to feed us.”

“Dani,”
Linnie
said,
her tone calm and gentle, “let’s talk.”

Panic
flared in her. “Did Kris send you over here again?”

Linnie
shook her head,
then
looked directly at her. “Kris
hasn’t said anything, but I will tell you this, he’s happier than we ever
remember seeing him, and that’s thanks to you and Junie. No,
it’s
like Jules said, we don’t want to offend you, but we see things that indicate
you may need some guidance. Jules left to get stuff to cook with, and because
she’ll use any excuse to drive now that she has her license, but also because
you may feel more comfortable talking to just one of us to start. I assure you,
you can trust us.”

Not
wanting to admit her truth, she answered, “I just never learned how to cook is
all.”

Linnie
raised an eyebrow, unwilling to let this sleeping dog lie. “Is that all,
because we could get you a cookbook and then all come over for dinner. There’s
more isn’t there?”

They
knew! Turning to the window, her back to Linnie, she stood looking outside. She
hated being stupid. Well, at least I’m not dumb, she thought, then laughed,
finding that funny, because smart people thought the two were one in the same,
but when you were like her, the two were about as different as night and day.

“You
don’t have to be alone in this, Dani, we will help you. If you tell us, we can
and will help you.”

Grin
and bear it, she’d done it all her life. “Fine, I don’t know how to read.
There, I said it. I can’t read or write. I know you know. I can’t read a
recipe, or a menu, or names on packages, and I can barely sign my name. Does
Kris know?” She wanted to die.

“Yes,
and it doesn’t change his feelings for you one bit, he still cares for you
deeply. Can you afford groceries?”

“It
doesn’t matter if I could, because I can’t read the directions, and I never
learned to cook to know what to do even if I could read the directions. Unless
there are pictures on the packaging, I don’t have a clue what it is, but then
again, I don’t know what to do with it. So yeah, grocery stores are a
nightmare, as are food shelves, because I get a bunch of stuff I don’t know
what to do with, and then feel guilty because someone’s going hungry when I’m
sitting with food I can’t cook. So, I hunt and fish, because then I know what
I’ve got, and I buy milk, bread, eggs, fresh fruit,
plain
stuff like that.”

“How
about literacy groups, are they helping you?”

“Yes,
I try to go a couple times a week, but it’s in St. Croix and it can get
expensive driving back and forth. Now that I’m competing again, and with Junie
here, I need to watch my expenses more closely. Not to mention I’m short on
time with horses to train, rodeo’s to work, and all Junie’s appointments, I
just don’t have all that much time. Her speech therapy and counseling
appointments come before anything else.”

“I’m
only working two days a week, and soon I’ll be on maternity leave, plus I’ll be
taking four months off. We could work on this every day, I would tutor you if
you’d like, and Jules would love to teach you how to cook, it’s her passion.”

She
knew Linnie was just trying to be kind, but man, she hated being a burden, and
she felt like she’d already asked too much of them. “That would be an
imposition, you’re all busy and you’ll have a new baby to care for, it would be
too much to ask of all of you.”

“You
didn’t ask,” Linnie said, refusing to take no for an answer. “We’re offering,
and we’d be happy to do this. Should we give it a try? We can always stop if
it’s not working.”

Would
there ever be a day when she wasn’t a charity case? Probably not, so suck it up
and get over it, right? Turning back to Linnie and looking at her solemnly, she
answered her with some reservation, “Alright, if you’re sure.”

Reaching
out and touching Dani’s hand, Linnie reassured her. “I’m very
sure,
consider it our way of thanking you for making Kris so
happy. We’ll talk to Jules when she comes back. As you get to know us better, you’ll
come to realize that Jules is incredibly intelligent, more so than the average
smart person. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if she already knew what to
do and had a plan in place. She speaks several languages.”

Shocked,
Dani’s eyes went wide. “Honestly? You’ve got to be kidding.”

Linnie
held up her left hand. “No lie, she finished high school early and was in
college and through pharmacy school in record time.”

Dani
stood thinking about that,
then
shook her head. “Damn,
some people have all the luck.”

There
was a knock and the door opened. Jules popped her head in and sang out, “I’m
back.”

Heading
to the door, Dani, reached for the bag of food items. “Here, let me help you.”

Walking
in the kitchen, Jules tested the waters, “I hope I didn’t keep you two waiting
too long.”