Free Crashing Into Tess by Lilly Christine Page A

you can imagine, he’s much more patient
with the single girls than I am. He wasn’t feeling well, so I
covered the bar. Vicki came in with a bunch of friends. She
knows we work together. You’d think she’d appreciate the
time her kid spends at the office with us, and play nice,
especially since she’s Bea’s niece, but that’s not Vicki. I
heard much more than I wanted to know, Tess. I’m telling
you, open your account on Main Street. Out of sight, out of
mind. You don’t want to give her any ammunition. ”
“Thank you for that. It’s sad for Cassie, though. Was
her mother always this way?” Tess asked, pouring fresh
coffee.
“Vicki? I wish I had something nice to say, but Vicki is
just miserable, as far as I can tell. I’ve only been around
since right after Cassie was born, but best I can figure, she
took Jake for all she could get from the start. The worse it
got at home, the more Lotts and I saw of him at the tavern.”
Alice poured milk and sugar in her coffee and stirred.“The
custody situation with Cassie just tore him apart, but things
seem to have settled down in the last six months.” Flashing
a devilish grin, Alice said, “Jake usually stops in Friday
nights around seven-thirty when Cassie’s at her mom’s, for
a beer with Lotts. Let’s head to Green Forks after dinner.”
“Oh, to add fuel to the fire?” Tess rolled her eyes. “I’m
not even sure I should make the effort, Alice. He hasn’t
called.”
Alice sipped her coffee.“Hey, Doc made me promise to
do what I could to keep you around. I take my work
seriously, and Jake’s the best Green Junction has to offer.”
Then, at the look on Tess’s face, she said gently, “He’ll
come around, don’t worry. This coffee is great.”
“My sister sent fresh roasted beans and a grinder from
New York as a housewarming gift. I’ll give you some to
take home. Lotts will love it.”
*****
    On Monday afternoon, Doc introduced Tess at the
regular business meeting of the Rancher’s Alliance. The
crowd of more than two dozen ranchers included two
female sheep ranchers, and a woman who raised dairy
goats.
    After chatting with everyone and listening politely
through the meeting, Tess faced the room, nervously
narrating a power point presentation on freeze branding.
Jake stood in the back, as appealing and friendly as he’d
been at Green Forks on Friday night. He gave her a big
smile of encouragement when she began, but by the time
Ron had circulated the sign up sheet for an on-ranch
demonstration, he’d disappeared.
    I have to just forget him. Ignoring a stab of
disappointment, Tess packed up the projection equipment
and carried it to Ron’s truck.
    “You did a nice job with that presentation,” Doc said
afterward, over coffee at the diner.
“Thanks, Doc. It was great to meet the ranchers. I don’t
have much experience with an actual branding operation,
so it was a relief that the questions were easy.”
“You can get practical experience this week if you want
it. Jake McGreer has some late season calves he’s branding
on Thursday. He’d like you to stop by, if you’re interested.
You can learn the technique he uses now, before the spring
rush. You been over to his place?” Doc asked, in his now
familiar laconic drawl. She shook her head. “You’ll see the
very best procedures. He runs a clean, professional
operation.”
“I thought he didn’t sign up because he wasn’t
interested in freeze branding.”
“The McGreers have been freeze branding for ten,
twelve years, at least. His dad always had a real forward
thinking, independent streak, and from the looks of things,
Jake’s following suit. They’re both smart men, and damn
hard workers. No one at the place works like Jake. That is
the way it is with most of the successful ranchers around
here, you’ll find. It’s six, seven days a week, easy,” he said.
“Thanks for suggesting it Doc, I’ll definitely go. It’ll be
great to see a real