Ann Roth - A Rancher's Honor

“Lookin’ for you. Can I buy you a beer?”

Dani glanced at Sly. “Rain check on that burger?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Not really. Hey, why don’t you come to Big Mama’s for lunch on Saturday, my treat.” She stood on her toes and kissed Sly’s cheek.

“You won the game. I’m supposed to treat you.”

“But I’m standing you up for Paul. Leave me a big tip on Saturday and we’ll call it even.”

“If that’s how you want it.” Sly resisted the urge to tug on her ponytail again. “You want me to wait around and give you a ride home?”

“I’ll drive her home,” Paul said, giving Dani a winning smile.

“I’d appreciate that.” She took his arm and winked over her shoulder at Sly. “I’ll see you Saturday.”

Chapter Four

Saturday morning, Lana and Sophie sat at a booth by the window in Big Mama’s Café. Locals and tourists loved the busy restaurant, which served great food and was always packed on weekends.

Big Mama’s Sinfully Satisfying Frittata, a favorite of Lana’s created by Big Mama herself, sat on the table in front of her, slowly growing cold. Having been up since dawn without eating a thing, she should have been famished. Instead, her stomach felt queasy. Nerves, and they showed. Usually she had no problem meeting new people and making decent conversation, but sitting here with Sophie, she couldn’t come up with a single thing to say.

If only she were as calm as the girl, who was devouring her cheese-and-bacon omelet as if she hadn’t eaten in days. She looked just like her profile picture, and was on the thin side, with a lean, boyish shape...until you saw her rounded belly. A snug black Mumford & Sons Live! T-shirt hugged her torso and emphasized her condition. At four months along, she definitely looked pregnant.

She stopped eating to shoot Lana a quizzical glance. “What are you smiling at?”

“When my sister was pregnant, she ate like you—as if she had hollow legs.”

“I’ve always eaten a lot, only I wasn’t fat before.”

“You’re not fat now—you’re pregnant.”

“Well, I feel fat.” Sophie slathered a cinnamon roll with butter. “Why aren’t you eating your food?”

Though Lana had never been less hungry in her life, she forced herself to take a bite of the frittata. “It’s delicious.”

After that, the conversation died.

“You’re not at all like your photos,” Sophie said after a moment.

“Is that good or bad?”

“It’s just different. In the pictures you wore pants and a shirt. Now you’re wearing a dress with little blue-and-white hearts all over it.”

Wanting to make a positive impression, Lana had spent almost half an hour deciding what to wear. She’d chosen the dress because it was fairly new and she felt pretty in it. Now she wondered if she’d gone too formal. “A dress is bad?”

“Well, no, but why wear one when you don’t have to?” Sophie wrinkled her nose, causing her tiny silver nose ring to stick out.

“Normally I wear jeans on weekends. In fact, I was wearing my favorites earlier. But I cleaned house this morning, which I do every Saturday,” Lana explained, wanting Sophie to know she kept a tidy home. “Since this is our first meeting, I wanted to wear something a little nicer.”

Sophie gave a slow nod and polished off the cinnamon roll. “I clean the apartment where my mom I and live on Saturdays, too. She works fifty hours a week for us, and it’s only right that I do my part. That’s what she says anyway.”

Lana nodded. “That seems fair.”

“I guess.”

Lana racked her brain for something else to say. “Do you have an after-school job?”

“Not every day. I work part-time at the movie theater near the apartment. I take tickets and collect trash from under the seats. My shift is five to ten on Thursdays and Fridays, and one to ten on Saturdays. That’s how I met Jason. He works in the concession area.”

“I’m guessing Jason is the baby’s father?” Lana asked.

Sophie nodded. “He doesn’t want to be a father, just like I don’t want to be a mom. We’re too young. Now that I’m pregnant, he makes me go straight home after work to get my rest.” She eyed Lana’s frittata. “Are you going to eat the rest of that?”

“It’s all yours. Jason sounds like a sweet guy.”

“Sometimes. Last night he gave his two-week notice. He just got a new job at the candy store at the mall.”

The girl’s carefully blank face made Lana wonder. “Is everything okay with you two?”

“We sort of broke up last night,” Sophie said to her empty plate.

She was obviously hurting. Lana felt bad for her. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Breaking up is never fun.”

Sophie picked at her nail. “I was getting tired of him anyway.” She gave Lana a sideways look. “Did you and your boyfriend break up, too?”

“At the moment, I don’t have a boyfriend and I’m not dating anyone, but I used to be married.”

“Did he cheat on you? That’s what my mom’s last boyfriend did.”

There was no reason to sugarcoat the truth. “As a matter of fact, he did,” Lana said. “He wanted a baby, and when we found out that I couldn’t give him one, he found a woman who could.”

“That’s really jacked up. Is that why you want to adopt—because you can’t have a baby of your own?”

Lana nodded. “I love children, and I’m so ready to be a mother. I know I’ll make a really great one.” Another long silence. “Tell me what you want to be someday.”

“I’m not sure. Maybe a cosmetologist like my mom. She makes decent money.”

“That’s a great career.”

The waitress, a friendly woman named Dani, stopped at the table with a coffeepot. “Ready for your coffee now?”

Lana considered asking for the check instead and putting an end to the uncomfortable meeting. But she wanted a chance to end on a more upbeat note. She smiled. “That depends on Sophie. Do you want something else to drink?”

The girl cast a wistful gaze at the coffeepot. “Coffee, but now that I’m pregnant, I’m not supposed to.”

“How about cocoa?” Dani asked. “We make ours homemade and it’s excellent.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“I’ll have that, too,” Lana said.

“Two cocoas it is.” For the first time, Dani really looked at Lana. “You’re the woman in the paper. Lana Carpenter.”

“That’s right.”

“It’s very nice to meet you.”

When Dani left, Sophie was grinning. “You’re kind of a celebrity.”

“Am I?” Lana laughed. “I never thought of myself that way.”

“You are. Because of your picture with that story, people know you.” Sophie fiddled with her napkin, then squinted slightly at Lana. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“Do you ever wish you had a boyfriend?”

Lana’s mind flashed to Sly. Now, there was a terrible choice for a boyfriend—as Amy and Sheila had pointed out. Lana hadn’t heard from him since he’d stopped by the day care several days ago. He wasn’t boyfriend material. Even worse, he was suing her cousin. At the very thought, she felt cold and sick at heart. Angry, too. Cousin Tim wasn’t the nicest person, but killing Sly’s cattle? No way would he do that.

“Occasionally I get lonely,” she admitted. “But most of the time I’m fine by myself. Between the day care and home projects, I keep pretty busy. Now I want to ask you something.” She cupped her hands around her water glass and waited for Sophie’s nod. “How do you feel about a single woman raising your baby?”

“It’s no big deal.” The girl shrugged. “That’s how my mom raised me.”

And here she was, a junior in high school and pregnant. Lana silently vowed to closely supervise her child throughout his or her teen years—provided she got the chance to be a mother.