Free The Rancher's Family Wish by Lois Richer Page A

fitted red shirt, cheeks flushed from the warmth of the kitchen, long legs covered in shabby jeans and bare feet.
    “I wanted to bring a couple of things, you know, my share of the meal.” Tanner inhaled the mouthwatering scent of a robust tomato sauce, spices and freshly baking dough.
    “Uh—” Sophie cleared her throat. “A couple of things?” She waved a hand at the stockpile. “You must be planning to eat a lot.”
    Heat singed his cheeks as he muttered sheepishly, “Maybe I got carried away.”
    “You think?” She arched one perfectly shaped eyebrow. Tanner had a hunch Sophie would have liked to send some of the bags home with him, but she couldn’t because the kids were enthusing over the grapes as if they were some kind of delicacy.
    “Thank you for the mints, Mr. Cowboy,” Beth said, her sweet smile lighting up her face. “And for everything. Mama said we wouldn’t have milk for a while. I love milk.”
    “Oh. Good. Drink all you like.” Tanner smiled to hide his concern. Wouldn’t have milk? What did that mean?
    “You can have milk with your pizza, Beth.” Sophie’s voice came out choked. She coughed, regrouped and thanked him again. “You certainly didn’t have to go to all this trouble, though. It’s only pizza.”
    “Homemade pizza,” he clarified and winked. “I wanted to make sure I get seconds.”
    “Seconds and probably thirds.” Sophie seemed tense, off-kilter, as if she wasn’t sure she wanted him here, in her home. “I have a couple of things to do before it’s ready. Would you like to talk to the kids in the other room?”
    “I’d like to help, if I can.” He waited for instructions but it was clear Sophie preferred to have her kitchen space to herself because she shooed him away. “I’ll call when I’m ready,” she promised when he hesitated.
    “Okay.” He followed the kids into the living room and agreed to play a game of checkers.
    The coffee table wobbled when he pressed too hard on it and Sophie’s couch had some of the same issues Burt’s chair had suffered from, so after a few minutes on it Tanner moved to the floor. He saw a number of other problems in the little house that needed addressing—drooping wallpaper, a screen on a window that had come loose and, of course, the stair with the loosened carpet that Davy had tripped over the first time Tanner had visited.
    He made a mental note of all of them, though he figured it would be pretty hard to fix them. Sophie seemed like one of those folks who had a lot of pride and wouldn’t welcome his notice of the problems in her home. Still, maybe with Davy’s help—
    “The pizza’s ready if you’d like to come to the table.” Sophie glanced at him, something dark and worried lingering at the back of her gaze. Then her smile reappeared as her children hurried to the table. When everyone was seated she glanced at Davy. “Would you please say grace?”
    Davy began to protest, then stopped, glanced at Tanner and bowed his head. “Thanks, God, for this good food and for Tanner bringing chocolate bars. In Jesus’s name, amen.”
    “Amen.” Tanner stifled his chuckle and watched as Sophie lifted a huge pizza from the oven and set it on the table. His mouth watered just looking at it. He’d never known you could make a pizza look pretty. This one had happy faces all over it.
    “Would you like some juice?” Sophie asked, the container of orange juice he’d bought in her hand.
    “Just water for me, please. Unless you’ve made coffee?” She blinked in surprise, then shook her head. “Water is fine. Thank you.”
    She served him the first piece, the kids next and then herself. Tanner waited until she was seated, amused to notice Davy hurriedly put down his pizza and waited, too.
    “Please, go ahead,” Sophie said.
    Tanner bit into his pizza, unable to speak for the flavors bursting on his tongue. When he asked about them and Sophie explained, Tanner simply listened to her musical voice, knowing he’d