Chapter 10
Florence was up early, looking for gifts to buy online for Lacy and Rory. She’d already bought some things for Frank for Christmas. She just hoped everything would arrive on time. She heard Frank coming down the stairs. Travis was on his phone, trying to get an update on Timothy.
“So what do you think about these items for Lacy and Rory?” She showed her phone to Frank.
“Yeah, perfect. Let me put them on my card.” Then he bought them.
“Will we put our money together?”
“Yeah, whatever you want to do. I’m fine with it.”
“Okay. I’ll put your name on the deed. I don’t want to change the coffee shop’s name because everyone knows it like it is.” She headed to the kitchen to make breakfast and put together breakfast tacos while he made their coffee.
“I’m good with that.”
“I do want to take your last name for my own. I’m just old-fashioned like that.”
He smiled. “I’m glad. I’ll be proud for us to be known as Mr. and Mrs. Everest.”
She figured he would be, and if that made him happy, she was pleased.
Travis left the living room and said good morning to Frank. He began getting them glasses of water.
Frank brought over their mugs of coffee, then set the table.
“They haven’t had any luck in finding anyone matching Timothy’s description,” Travis said. “Everyone is still on the lookout for him.”
“I wanted to end this with him, but what if he left here for good, figuring he couldn’t get to Lacy and it was too hard keeping a cover?” Florence asked.
“It could be, but he seems to be too obsessive. If he can do this to one woman, he can do it to others,” Travis warned. “Plus, we don’t want the situation to escalate. And Lacy would always be looking over her shoulder. So it would be better if we could terminate him and stop the problem.”
“I agree,” Florence said.
“Yeah, that’s the best solution,” Frank agreed.
They ate their breakfast tacos in silence.
“Are you going to open the coffee shop today?” Frank asked.
“Nah, the shops and eateries are closed in town so everyone who wants to can attend the bazaar and eat there. That way, there’s no competition for the Christmas bazaar on that day.”
“Oh, that’s cool. It’s great having a unified cougar-run town.”
“It truly is. Everyone supports everyone else.”
Then Travis got a call. “Yeah, Dan. Near Hal’s ranch?
” He glanced at Florence and Frank. “What? That’s impossible.
” He drank the rest of his coffee. “Is it all right for them to go to the bazaar? Okay. Somebody’s got to be mistaken.
Yeah. Okay, I’ll tell them. I guess Lacy and Rory and everyone out at the ranch have been alerted.
” He sighed deeply. “Good. Talk to you later.”
“What’s wrong now?” Frank refilled everyone’s coffee mugs.
“We’ve had two different people see Timothy—one near the coffee shop, and one near Hal’s ranch this morning, both at the same time.”
“So someone’s wrong.” Florence sipped her coffee.
“Or there are two of them. Identical twin brothers. They would smell the same and look the same. And if they’re close to each other, they might have come out here together to track Lacy down.
” Frank got on his phone. “Hey, Lacy, does Timothy have an identical twin brother?” He put the call on speakerphone.
“He never said anything about him, if he had one. But Dan said that Timothy was spotted in two different locations at about the same time, so unless someone was mistaken and the one sighting wasn’t of him, it might be that he has an identical twin brother.
They’re running together, or have separated forces,” Lacy said.
Florence was on her phone in a flash, looking up Timothy to see what she could learn about him.
“Oh, he works with him in the same PI agency. His name is Manning. It’s on their website.
He looks just like the picture you shared of Timothy.
” That was a real problem. Now they had two to deal with, if both sightings were correct.
So who had hurt Frank? Timothy or Manning?
“Well, the PI agency is going to lose both of their PIs over this,” Travis said.
“He shouldn’t have involved his brother,” Lacy said. “I can’t believe he never mentioned him. Maybe he was afraid I would fall for him instead.”
“Maybe you dated both of them,” Frank said.
Florence had thought the same, but she wouldn’t have mentioned it, afraid she would upset Lacy. She frowned at Frank. He shrugged.
“Oh, I don’t want to even think of that,” Lacy said.
That would make Timothy an even worse boyfriend.
“We’re still going to the bazaar,” Lacy said. “This isn’t going to stop us.”
“I agree,” Florence said. “We’ll just have to be doubly diligent.”
Then they finished the call, and Florence said to Frank, “I can’t believe you told Lacy she might have been dating both of the brothers.”
“She might have.”
“But you know how distressing that would be?”
Frank shook his head. “Yeah. I was thinking of the possibility. I wasn’t thinking about how upsetting that could be to her. I’ll apologize to her when we see her at the bazaar.”
“All right.” Florence appreciated that he could see that he might have been a little indelicate in his comment. Men. He was thinking like an FBI agent without considering who he was talking to.
Rory hugged Lacy. “I’m sure you didn’t date both brothers. Not when Timothy is so obsessed with getting you back.”
“I don’t know. I’m beginning to think I didn’t know him at all.”
“Well, true, since you didn’t know he had a twin brother who worked with him in the same detective agency. They would have to be pretty close if his twin is out here helping him to get you back. He would have had to leave his job too.”
“And from the look of it,” Lacy said, reading over the site, “they own it. So no one is in charge for now.”
“I agree. I’m off to work until we drive into town for the bazaar. What are you going to do?”
“Look for house plans. When you return, we can consider them. We can show Granddad and Mrs. Fitz and see what they think also.”
“All right. That sounds good.” Rory kissed her, then pulled on his jacket, gloves, and cowboy hat. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”
A house was a big deal. She hoped they would agree on a floor plan.
Then she sat in front of the fireplace, the fire crackling, the Christmas tree lights on, and began searching for house plans, hoping she would find something easy to love.
But she kept going back to the idea that she might have been dating Timothy’s brother instead of Timothy. That was a really gross thought. Then again, would he have given her up to see his brother? As much as he was consumed with having her in his life, she didn’t really think so.
If both brothers were out here trying to grab her, that would make it worse as far as trying to keep herself and her family safe.
Then she found a home design she really liked.
It had three bedrooms and three baths upstairs, a guest room on the bottom floor with its own bathroom, a three-car garage, a recreation room, a den, a great room, a large kitchen, and a mud room—all great for kids, and if Granddad and Mrs. Fitz came to see them, they could stay overnight in the guest room.
They could even live with them if they couldn’t manage to live on their own as they got older.
When Rory came in, she went to hug him, but he said, “I’ve got to wash up first. I’ll be right out.”
“Here’s a house plan I really like.” She showed him the floor plan and pictures of one built to specifications. She couldn’t wait to show it to him to get his opinion.
He looked it over. “Yeah, I like that. Lots of room for kids and your grandparents.”
She hadn’t thought of calling Mrs. Fitz her grandmother. She wondered how she would feel about it.
“Let’s get Hal’s approval on the plans, and we’ll get his approval for a spot to build the home on, order the plans, and get a contractor. We’ll probably have to wait until spring to start on the house when the snow melts so they can pour concrete.”
“That sounds great.”
He leaned over and kissed her, but wouldn’t hug her. “I’ve got to clean up.”
“Okay, see you in a few minutes.”
“Are you ready to go to the bazaar?”
“I sure am.”
“Hal and Tracey are ready too.”
Then he hurried off to the bedroom, grabbed some clothes, and took a shower.
When he was all fresh, they made sure that Hal and Tracey were ready to go at the same time.
They drove into town, watching for any trouble, but not seeing any sign of either Timothy or Manning, just Hal and Tracey, they ended up at the bazaar at the big community center. Food stands and various crafts were offered.
Everyone had something different to sell.
Christmas candles, Christmas candle holders, bowl and plate cozies, placemats, table runners, bibs, Christmas stockings, catnip toys, sweaters and snow booties for dogs, quilts and afghans, sherpa throws, gift packs, painted ornaments, braided and latch hook rugs, jars of spices, honey, soaps, magical winter silhouette lanterns, and tons of other items. Some of the items were geared for Christmas, while some were just for any time of year.
Mrs. Fitz also had a booth that Ava was managing with all kinds of desserts on display.
She had already bought some things for Rory, her grandfather, and Mrs. Fitz for Christmas. She hoped to find some stuff for Hal and Tracey for taking her in.
They soon saw her grandfather and Mrs. Fitz and joined them. “We’ll meet up with you to eat at noon, all right?” Lacy asked them.
“Yeah, that will be great,” her grandfather said.
“I have to do some last-minute Christmas shopping.”
“Us too,” Mrs. Fitz said.
Then they separated to search for gifts they wanted to buy. “I want to get something for Hal and Tracey for opening their home to me also,” Lacy said.
“These lanterns are pretty neat. They could set them on their porch.” Rory picked one up and looked it over.
“How many do you think?”
“Six.”
She bought them, and he carried them out to the car. Perfect. She purchased a sherpa blanket for Rory that featured a couple of cougars snuggling and left it with her grandfather so Rory wouldn’t see it. Her grandfather carried it out to his car. Dan went with him to give him protection.
It took Rory forever to rejoin Lacy, and she wondered if he had been shopping for her! And then took the gift out to the car. It was fun buying gifts in secret, but it was hard to do when the recipient was right there. He was smiling mischievously so she figured she had it right.
They looked at handmade wool sweaters, matching blue ones for Mrs. Fitz and her grandfather. Both were blue-eyed and wore a lot of blue.
Rory thought they were great, and after she paid for them, he took them out to the car. Then it was time to eat lunch and figure out what they wanted. Tables were set out for customers to eat at.
They joined her grandfather and Mrs. Fitz to decide on a meal. German sausage, Christmas tree pizza slices, meat pies, whole baked potatoes, mulled wine, crepes, stuffed mushrooms, tacos, enchiladas, and lots of desserts.
“I’m going to get a German sausage and baked potato with the works,” Rory said.
“Cheese and broccoli crepe for me,” Lacy said.
Mrs. Fitz ordered a beef pot pie and stuffed mushrooms. Lacy’s grandfather got Swedish meatballs, green beans, and mashed potatoes. Then they all took a seat at one of the tables.
“Did you get everything you wanted?” Mrs. Fitz asked.
“I think so. What would you like to eat for Christmas Eve dinner?" Rory asked. “I was thinking we could have a rib-eye roast.”
“Yeah, that would be great,” Lacy’s grandfather said.
“I would love that,” Mrs. Fitz said.
“Me too,” Lacy said. It sounded delicious.
“Turkey for Christmas Day? Or ham? Or both?” Mrs. Fitz asked.
“Ham?” Rory asked.
“That works for me,” Lacy said.
They decided ham would be perfect, and figured out who would make which sides.
“We’ll come over after I do chores in the morning,” Rory said.
“That’s perfect. Do you want to have breakfast with us? I could make cinnamon rolls,” Mrs. Fitz said.
“Perfect.” Her grandfather had a real sweet tooth.
“I love them,” Lacy said.
“I do too,” Rory said.
They finished their lunch. Lacy showed the house plans to her grandfather and Mrs. Fitz, and they loved them. Then everyone went home.
“We need to talk to Hal and Tracey about our house plans and learn where we can put the house.” Lacy wished they could start on it right away!
But at least the other ranch hands were giving them some privacy when they needed it.
And she got a kick out of when they all watched a movie together and had buttered popcorn.
The guys' comments about what was going on in the movie were hilarious.
She was used to sitting quietly through a movie, laughing, or maybe shaking her head at dumb things people did.
So she found it fun to hear all their jokes about things, or to hear them tell what was wrong with some scenario or another.
“I’ll call them.” Rory got on Bluetooth and called Hal. “We found a house plan we really like. We’ll show it to you, and you tell us if it’s okay to build on the ranch. And where can we put it when spring is here?”
“Absolutely,” Hal said. “Can’t wait to see it. Come by the house once we all get home.”
“We’ll help you with anything you need,” Tracey said.
“Thanks, we appreciate it.” Lacy really hoped that they would approve the house plans.
When they reached the ranch, they went to Hal and Tracey’s house to show them the house plans.
“Ooh, I love those,” Tracey said.
“I do too. It’s perfect for the ranch,” Hal agreed.
Lacy breathed a sigh of relief.
Rory smiled and rubbed her back. “Thanks. We can’t wait to build.”
“We totally understand,” Hal said. “It’s hard to have much privacy at the bunkhouse for a mated couple. Ted and Stella felt the same way until they had their house built. We both have spare guest rooms, so if you think you would have more privacy that way, we are willing to let you stay with us.”
“I’m fine with the way it is now. The guys are good about letting us have some time alone when we need it,” Lacy said. If they moved in with Hal and Tracey, they had kids. She loved them, but they weren’t conducive to romancing a mate.
With the house plans approved, she and Rory thanked them and headed to the bunkhouse for the night.
Rory hugged her. “Hal and Tracey are the best.”
“They are.”
“I’ve got to get something out of the truck, but you can’t see it.”
She chuckled. “Okay. I’ll take a shower and—”
“Not without me.”
She smiled and kissed him. “All right. I’ll meet you in the bedroom in a few minutes.”
She heard Rory talking with Wyatt and figured he was hiding her gift in his room. And then Rory barged into their room. “Shower time. And then dinner.”