Chapter 13
“Is that everything?” Tony stood off to the side in the last aisle of the grocery store looking between their shopping carts and lists.
He looked at Staci with a raised brow when she didn’t answer him.
He grinned when she was staring into the freezer that contained the ice cream.
He walked over and when he looked through the clear glass, he made a sound, opened the door with a grin, reached in, and withdrew two cartons of the same flavor.
“What did you get?”
“Coffee with espresso pieces.”
“Oh, that sounds good. For me, it’s a toss-up between that and two others.”
“Why pick only one. You never know when the mood might strike, so how about have a variety of flavors on hand, then you can choose once you’re home.”
Staci looked at him with a grin, and picked out the same flavor he had, but only one, then she withdrew a plain vanilla, a chocolate with brownie pieces, and one with dark cherries.
She placed them in her cart, then they went to the check out together.
Before they arrived, Tony’s phone went off. He paused to look at it, then answered.
“Erin, what’s up?” He watched Staci as he nodded, then nodded. “Okay, I can do that. I’m glad you caught me, we’re about done.” He listened some more and when he hung up, he smiled at Staci. “As you heard, that was Erin. She asked me to go to the front desk and pick up an order for her.”
“Do you know what it is? Not that it matters, but I’m sort of curious because there seems to be everything on the ranch now.”
Tony laughed and explained what he had learned from Ann, Cole, and Clem about what Erin did at the grocery store. Along with what he saw first-hand when he was here with Lois. They walked to the front of the store, to the service desk.
“Hi,” he said with a charming smile. “I’m here to ask you for help in picking up an order.”
“What’s your name?” the girl behind the counter asked.
“My name isn’t important, but it’s Tony Jacobs, I’m here to pick up the order of apples and carrots…” he didn’t finish before the woman laughed.
“Erin Riceman.”
“Yes.”
“Okay, yes, we have them often. Let me call the stockman and have him bring the order to the front. Would you like me to check you out here?”
“Can you do both of us? We’re together.”
“Sure,” she said, but her expression showed disappointment.
She quickly rung them out, and by the time their groceries were bagged, a young man appeared with a cart holding several boxes.
Since Erin had already paid for the order over the phone, he just followed them out to Tony’s truck.
They loaded everything, and were under way in twenty minutes from talking to the service desk cashier.
“Tell me again why we have so many apples and carrots?”
“Remember when you were at the barn and Ann handed you that small container of carrots to feed Champ?”
“Yes, what about it?”
“Where do you think they came from? Lois will be planting a garden in the spring, and she has a patch already set aside for carrots. With all the horses on all three ranches, it’s my understanding that what we picked up today is a monthly order.
The last time I came to town was my first day here, that was four and a half weeks ago, I helped Lois purchase groceries for everyone.
We picked up an order like this for the carrots and apples back then. ”
“So, all those boxes are treats for the horses?”
“Yes, I’ll drop them off at the community pantry on the way to my house. If you can wait, we’ll drop them off, along with my stuff, then go over to your place.”
“I can wait.” They rode in silence to New Double and when they arrived at the building of the community pantry, Tony grinned and pointed.
“Looks like Erin put the word out we were coming.” He backed up and before he even hopped out of his truck, the tailgate was down, and an assembly line formed to bring the boxes of horse treats into the cooler.
Staci got out and inspected the buildings, and it was Cole that explained what it would be like once the jars and shelves were full.
Back in the truck, and on the way to Tony’s cabin, Staci only shook her head.
They both carried in his groceries, put away the perishables and then went quickly over to Staci’s cabin at Broken Two.
They both carried the bags in, and both put the food away.
It was Tony that explained how to divide up the large packages of meat she had purchased into smaller, more manageable packages.
“I don’t know about you, but if you cooked this all at once, you would be eating chicken for two weeks straight.”
“As much as I like chicken, I don’t think I’d like that.”
“That’s why I’m dividing it for you. Same with the pork chops, and the other meat you purchased.” They worked together, but before placing the wrapped packages in the freezer, he looked at her with a raised brow. “Where are those recipes?”
She went to the other side of the kitchen and withdrew the pages. With them in her hand, she went back to him and they read them together. He kept two of the smaller packages of chicken out, and put the rest in the freezer, making sure they were properly and clearly labeled.
Over the next few hours, they laughed, joked, and cooked three different dishes.
There was enough food to last Staci for three weeks, but she insisted for their supper, they take a helping of each dish, and when he went to leave for the night, she insisted in dividing it all us so he took half home with him.
“When we run out,” she said sheepishly. “We can do this again. I had fun, thank you.”
“So did I,” he said and because it felt right, he pulled her in for a hug, and ended up kissing her. It was a long kiss, and when they broke apart, it left them both breathless.
That weekend set the pattern of them calling each other every night, and they spent every Sunday at the other’s home cooking recipes that they found on the internet during the week. Lois still had to reach out to her, but Staci was okay with that. She liked and enjoyed her time with Tony.
On the Monday before Thanksgiving weekend, Staci sat at her desk in her office, and picked her up ringing cell phone. Thinking it was Tony, she didn’t bother looking at the caller ID.
“Hello,” she answered with a laugh.
“Staci? Staci Hardt?”
“Yes, who is this?” Staci’s demeanor quickly sobered when someone asked if it was her name.
“It’s Paula.”
“Oh, hey, how are you? I haven’t talked to you in a while. What’s up?”
“I’m going to cut right to the chase, Staci. This is serious.”
“Let me guess, the Professors from my former team want something from me.”
“Correct on the first try,” Paula said with a heavy sigh.
“I don’t know where you moved to, and I don’t want to know, but they have gone to court to try and get an injunction for you to cease working on what your grant allows you to.
They say they have new evidence that you are working with stolen property. ”
“That’s bullshit.”
“I know that, but we have to deal with it. As your lawyer, I have one question for you.”
“What’s that?”
“Are you still residing in the state of Washington?”
“No.”
“Shit, okay, then I can only practice here. Wherever you are, do you have access to a lawyer? A good one?”
Staci started to say no, but then she heard Katherine’s voice in the background, and grinned.
“I do. Write these two names down.” Staci gave them to Paula, and laughed.
“I’ll wait for you to do a quick Google search on them.
” Staci heard fingers tapping over the keyboard, then her lawyer and friend swore beneath her breath.
“Holy shit, Staci, you know Jason Black?”
“I’ve met him.” She didn’t elaborate any further, and waited for Paula to speak again.
“Holy shit, did you know that he just took on the FBI and won?”
“I had heard something about it, but not all the details. Is he any good?”
“Honey, if you can get him to represent you against these professors, then I would hire him yesterday. Because I was your lawyer back when they tried this stunt before, I was tagged by their lawyers. I have all the information for this new lawsuit. Is your e-mail the same as before?”
“Yes, and like I said, I no longer live in Washington state.”
“Okay, and again, I don’t want to know where you live. Since I won’t be representing you, then I don’t need to know. I will, however, keep you updated with anything that comes in.”
“Can I give Mr. Black your contact information?”
“Yes, please do.” They made sure Staci had given her the correct information, and Paula said she had send the report, and told her how many pages to expect.
As soon as they hung up Staci accessed her e-mail, and instead of reading the report, she printed it off.
Once she had the copies in her hand, she started reading and didn’t get past page two before she jumped to her feet, went to her file cabinet, and started to pull the files she had used in her case against these assholes a couple of years ago.
When she had everything stacked up on her desk, she went out and saw Katherine sitting at the front desk.
“Oh, hey,” Katherine said with a smile. “I saw you were on the phone and didn’t want to bother you. Your lunch is in the break room.”
“Thank you, I’m too upset to eat right now. I’d like to ask you a question.”
“What’s that?”
“How well do you know Jason Black?”
“Well, he is dating and living with my mother, and he’s a good guy. No red flags, I don’t know him well, but I like him and know that he’s a good person.” She studied Staci and leaned back in her chair. “May I ask why you’re asking about Jason?”
The two women turned as Caleb walked in and Staci turned to him. “What is your opinion of Jason Black? Not that I’m doubting Katherine, I’m just wondering.”
“Great guy, ruthless lawyer. In my opinion, I won’t ever want to be in court against him. Did you know that he took on the FBI and won?”
“I had heard that,” Staci said on a giant sigh. She slumped into one of the chairs to the side and shook her head. “You have my permission to discuss this with Katherine later, because I don’t want to rehash everything right now.”
“What’s up?” Caleb leaned against the edge of Katherine’s desk and laid his hand on Katherine’s shoulder when she wheeled her chair to sit beside him.
“Paula called me.”
“Fuck me,” Caleb said with feeling. “Let me guess, the assholes?”
“Yes, they say they have new evidence that I stole my ideas from them. Because Paula was my lawyer back then, they sent her everything for this new lawsuit. I printed it all off and only read the first two pages. She’s good.”
“What did she do?”
“She filed a motion for continuance because I no longer live in the state of Washington. The judge granted it. I now have six months to fight this. She shook her head sadly. “I haven’t read it all, and I gathered all the papers from the last lawsuit. Now, I have to bring myself to ask Jason or Ilsa if they would represent me.”
“Well, we can’t help you with that,” Caleb said.
“I’m not telling you what to do, but I would recommend you talk to him as soon as possible.
I do know that both he and Ilsa like to be able to do their own research.
When they took on the FBI, they researched for a good six months before they filed any injunctions or got any arrest warrants issued. ”
“Okay, I got all that. I’m not saying I’m stupid, but there are times I don’t really know the proper way of doing things.”
“What do you mean?” Katherine asked gently.
“I’m going to talk to Ilsa and Jason, however, this is where I don’t know the proper way of doing things.
Do I go over to Erin’s Way and barge in their office and talk to them?
Do I call them? Do I wait until they get home and go knock on their cabin door?
Do I ambush them in their driveway as they are getting out of their car?
It’s not like they have an office that I could call and make an appointment.
” She sighed and scrubbed her face in frustration.
“When I was served papers before, I knew immediately to call Paula. I’m confused as to how to do this. ”
“I got this,” Katherine said as she wheeled her chair back to her desk, picked up the phone and dialed.
“Hey, Mom, quick question. Are you and Jason taking new clients?” She paused as she listened, nodding as she did.
“Yes, Staci needs to talk to you and Jason.” He paused again still nodding.
“Okay, I’ll tell her.” She hung up and looked over at Staci.
“They are taking new clients. I don’t know if you know this, but Mom is an excellent attorney also. She was second chair with Jason when they took on the FBI. Anyway, they are done for the day, and they’ll be here in thirty minutes. They’ll stop by your office.”
“Thank you,” Staci said as she jumped to her feet and rushed over to Katherine to give her a hug. “I’m going to go call Tony to see if he can be here. I don’t want to keep him in the dark about this. Not that he can do anything, but he can be aware of what I’m going to be facing.”
“Good for you,” Caleb said with a grin, wiped a fake tear. “I’m proud of you, you’re growing up.”
“Brat,” Staci said with no heat behind it. She rose and went back to her office to call Tony.