Chapter 20
CHAPTER 20
Three days later, Julie pulled into the parking lot of a grocery store and when she got out, she frowned at Scott. “Why did we stop?”
“I called Manny about an hour back.”
“Okay, but that doesn’t tell me why we stopped.”
“Because we’re in Fool’s Gold. This is the last town before we get to the ranch. I called to see if they needed anything at the store. He sent out a group text and everyone’s been blowing up my phone with items to buy.” He looked at her with a grin when the phone in his hand started dinging again. “We are roughly an hour away from home and not everyone comes into town on the daily. I thought it would be nice to stop and see what was needed at home.” He paused then looked at her in shock. “You will be staying with me in my room, right?”
“Of course.”
“Good, I have an upstairs room, or I did, and Manny and Ann have a room downstairs. I’m not expecting you to cook and clean, because you’ll be working just as hard as the rest of us, but I am asking that you share in the household duties. I love to cook, I can clean, run the vacuum, and dust.”
“I can do all that too, and thank you for not expecting me to do it all. You just said something that gave me a thought.”
“What’s that?”
“Talk it over with Erin and see if we can’t have a cabin with a second floor if you can’t sleep on the bottom.”
“It’s not that I can’t sleep on the bottom, I can, but if there’s something above me, I prefer to be there. Since being captured, and held underground, I don’t like the dark, or the feeling that there are floors above me.”
“Ah, another secret?” She laughed as they hugged and they turned to walk hand in hand toward the store. It turned out that they both grabbed a cart and went through the list item by item. Three hours later they put the last bag in the back of their trucks, returned the carts and headed to home with Scott leading the way.
Julie slowed down to wait for Scott to pull into the driveway to Erin’s Way, and when the road was clear, she followed him all the way to the cabin he shared with Manny, and what would be her new home until the cabin for them would be built. Because of the time of day, it was going on four in the afternoon, several trucks pulled up behind them, and several men and women got out.
“We’re here to help unload,” Pru said as she was the first to arrive. She grabbed a handful of bags and went to the cabin and Julie gave a laugh when Sara opened it.
“Still not able to go back?”
“I just got off the phone, and I can start back on Wednesday. That will give us a few more days together.” She laughed as she came down the steps and helped unload the groceries. The women carried in the bags while the men carried in the cases of beer. Everyone turned as one as someone called out and Erin stood in the doorway.
“I thought I’d come to help. Reid had added to the list of groceries.” She looked at Julie with a grin. “Can you start work tomorrow?”
“I can.”
“Hey,” Pru said, and everyone turned to her. “I have a thought.” The entire area went silent.
After several minutes, Julie smiled. “What’s your thought?”
“Oh, I didn’t say it out loud?”
“No.”
“Oh, I don’t know if this would work, but I thought that with everyone here and eventually everyone will all have their own cabins, what if we had a community pantry like Ann wants to do with the garden, and what I do with my meat chickens and the eggs I gather every day.”
“What do you mean by that?” Erin asked with a scowl.
“With all this construction, why not build another building that could house something like a gigantic cooler like you see in restaurants, and maybe put in a stove or something that Ducky can instruct us on how to can. Then, instead of keeping everything at our places, why not keep it there and treat it like a grocery store? We can still have our own things in our own cabins, but instead of buying ten cases of beer, and trying to find a place to store it, we could store it there. That beer should last for at least three or four months.” She had been looking out in the distance as she talked and when her gaze cleared she looked at the others, then sighed heavily. “Sorry. I was just rambling.”
“No!” Erin reassured her quickly. “I like that idea. We could also have a deep freeze and when I send the cattle to slaughter, we can keep the meat there. Same with your chickens.”
“We need pigs,” Julie said. When they turned to her, she shrugged. “I love pork ribs, pork chops, and pulled pork. I’m not saying we should raise them, but we could look into any local farmers to see if they have any for sale. We can all chip in on the processing fee.”
“Thank goodness you’re starting work tomorrow,” Erin laughed. “I have a list of local farmers and what they raise or do. Some are crop farmers, some run cattle, some pigs and other animals. I really like the idea of having a community pantry. In the long run it should pay off.”
They all agreed and as the groceries were unloaded, and some packed back up to take to the individual homes, Scott made the suggestion of having a BBQ for dinner. The people there jumped at the chance, and when the others came home two hours later, all they had to do was go home and shower. By the time they returned, the meal was ready to go on the table. They sat around, ate, and talked to catch Scott and Julie up on what was going on with the builds. Julie liked that the people that didn’t cook cleaned up, and that some leftovers had been sent back to New Double with Cole, Ducky, and Clem, which he preferred to be called.
Later that night, snuggled against Scott, Julie sighed in contentment. “A year ago, if anyone told me I would be moving to a horse ranch in the middle of Colorado and that I would have the man of my dreams beside me, I would have told them they were crazy.”
“Are you saying that you’re happy?”
“Yes, Scott, I am very happy.”
“Thank you, because I am too. You are the woman for me, and I know you’ll keep all my secrets. I feel that with you by my side I will eventually be able to get over them.” He looked at her with a grin. “Maybe not the shower one, but probably the other two.”
Julie burst out laughing and looked up and when he bent his head, she couldn’t resist and kissed him. “I love you, Scott Gould.”
“Thank god, because I love you, Julie Truman. I can’t wait to build a life with you.” They snuggled into bed in each other’s arms and made plans for the future.