was trying to reach Rachel and she didn’t pick up. I was hoping Colton could reach her,” Stacey said.
“Oh,” her mother said with a glance that combined intuition and suspicion. “Colton was definitely the man of the hour tonight, wasn’t he?”
Uncomfortable with her mother’s almost knowing expression, Stacey cleared her throat. “Yes, he was.”
A couple days later, Colton went into town to get some special feed and pick up a few things from the Superette for his mom. He would almost swear his mother could sense when he was headed into town because she always seemed to have a list of items for him to pick up from the small grocery—well, the only grocery—in town.
Using the term town might have been an exaggeration. Colton may have lived his entire life in Horseback Hollow, but he’d traveled enough to know his birthplace was more about wide open spaces than tall buildings and city conveniences. The town was just two streets long.
Colton glanced at the list his mother had given him and picked up apples, bananas, onions, tomato sauce and pasta. He hoped that meant spaghetti was in his near future. He added a can of green beans to his basket.
“Hey. What are you doing here?” a familiar voice spoke up from behind him. He turned and saw Stacey standing in the aisle.
“Just picking up a few things,” he said. “What about you?”
“Formula and baby food for Piper,” she said. “I just took something to the post office for Mom.”
She glanced at his food items. “Spaghetti,” she said more than asked. “Are you cooking for someone special?”
Confused, he cocked his head to one side. “Someone special?”
“Don’t be shy,” she said with a coy smile. “Cooking for your lady friend. I have a great recipe for spaghetti sauce, but you need sausage and cheese,” she said.
He shrugged. “I haven’t ever fixed spaghetti before unless it was from a can.”
“Well, you’ve got to do better than that for a woman. If you’re cooking for two, you could add some delicious bread and salad and call it good,” she said. “And something chocolate. Women love chocolate.”
Colton opened his mouth to protest, but she didn’t let him fit a word in edgewise.
“I could help you,” she offered. “Why don’t I give you a cooking lesson? If you’re anything like my brothers, you’ve relied on your mother your entire life for your meals, so you never bothered to learn.”
That was a little insulting, he thought. But true.
“You sure you won’t tell me who you’re cooking for?” she asked.
“My lips are sealed,” he said. It was easy to keep that secret since his so-called lady love didn’t exist.
She gave a little huffy sigh. “Okay, well, I can still give you a few tips on your cooking. Is tonight okay?”
“I guess,” he said, trying to recall his parents’ busy schedule. He thought they were playing bridge tonight.
“Okay, I’ll see you around six, and I’ll help you fix a spaghetti dinner that will wrap your lady friend around your little finger. Make sure you pick up some sausage and fresh Parmesan cheese. I’m assuming you already have beef,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said. He lived on a cattle ranch. He darned well should have beef.
“Okay. See you later,” she said and strode away.
Colton stared after her, distracted by the wiggle in her walk and her cute backside. He gave himself a shake. Why had he agreed to a cooking lesson? Especially for the sake of his imaginary girlfriend? He swore under his breath. This was getting worse and worse.
* * *
Stacey paid at checkout and walked to her car with her purchases. She felt a little cranky and wasn’t sure why. Climbing into her car, she started the engine and headed for her house. She turned on the radio to listen to a few tunes to cheer herself up. It didn’t quite work, though. Seeing Colton at the Superette purchasing food to feed the woman he clearly had a crush on made her grind her teeth. It must be nice to have a man work that hard to please you, she thought. She wouldn’t know because no man had ever tried that hard to make her happy.
Frowning, she tried to push aside her feelings. It wasn’t as if she wanted Colton to be cooking for her. Even though she’d looked at him with a little lust the other night, she’d decided that was an aberration. She couldn’t really believe that she wanted Colton. Stacey told herself she was just lonely for some attention. That had to be it.
She returned home and unloaded her car while Piper napped.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” her mother asked. “You’re awfully quiet.”
“I’m fine. Do you mind watching Piper for a little while tonight?”
“Of course not. Do you have plans?”
“I, uh, offered to give Colton a cooking lesson. He said he’s trying to cheer up an unnamed female,” she confessed.
Her mother lifted her eyebrows. “Oh, my,” she said. “How generous of you. You know Colton keeps such a low profile. It’s easy to underestimate him as, well, a romantic possibility.”
“Not really,” Stacey said. “I’ve heard some rumors about girls that liked him just fine.”
“Oh, really,” her mother said and paused. “Well, I think you’re very sweet to help him prepare a dinner for another woman.”
“I’m not doing that,” Stacey snapped, then deliberately took a breath. “I’m just giving him a cooking lesson. He’s like all my brothers except Toby. He can’t cook worth a darn because his mother has cooked for him his entire life.”
Her mother tilted her head. “Are you criticizing me for cooking for my family?”
Stacey closed her eyes and smiled, shaking her head. She went to her mother and gave her a big hug. “Of course not. You’re the best mother any of us could have. But you have to admit those boys like having their meals put in front of them.”
“You’re right about that,” she said ruefully and returned Stacey’s embrace.
Stacey’s cell phone rang, and she pulled it out of her purse. She didn’t recognize the number. “Stacey Fortune Jones,” she answered.
“Stacey, this is Sawyer. We have a situation here at the flight school. We need your help.”
Stacey’s pulse picked up. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s been an accident. My pilot Orlando has been hurt. The paramedics are on the way, but it will take a while, and the doctor’s not in town.”
“Oh, that’s right,” she said, remembering the same doctor who took care of Toby’s foster children covered the whole town. “I’ll be right there,” she said, and turned to her mother. “I have to go. There’s been an emergency at the flight school.”
“Oh, no,” her mother said. “Is it serious?”
“I think so,” Stacey said grimly as she ran to her room to grab her medical bag.
Pulling into the flight school, she stopped her car and ran toward the figures beside the burning plane. Stacey went into nurse mode when she assessed Orlando Mendoza. She checked his blood pressure and pulse and noted that the pilot kept going in and out of consciousness. He’d likely suffered a concussion, and she could see he’d sustained a compound fracture of his left leg and another fracture of his left arm, so she made a temporary brace for each to prevent