She hadn’t even looked over the menu, though she didn’t need to. Everything on the menu cost cash, and she had very little. “Oh, I ate before I came. I’ll just have the coffee.”
She could leave behind a couple of dollars for her part of the coffee and the tip. And then she would hope she had a granola bar in her purse because otherwise she would have to wait until her late shift at Trio. Zane had made one meal per shift part of her compensation package when he’d first hired her. Probably because she’d sat in his office during the interview and her stomach had growled so loud the man had noticed.
She blamed Zane Hollister for her hips. She’d been somewhat skinny before she’d started eating meals that weren’t the cheapest ramen she could find.
Of course Ty showed up at least once a week with a casserole dish in his hands. His mom made them for him, and he always shared because there was so much, and he usually ate at the resort anyway.
Her stomach growled at the thought of Ty’s mom’s cheesy enchilada casserole.
Rachel frowned her way as Stella started for the kitchen to put the order in. “Really? You’re not hungry?”
Damn her stomach. “I’m good.” She needed a distraction because of all the women at the table, Rachel was the one who would sniff a problem and then bloodhound her way to the root, and she didn’t want to talk about how sad her bank account was right now. The good news was she had something that would interest all of them far more than why she hadn’t ordered the pancakes with chocolate chips she adored. “Actually, I’m not good. I’m confused, and I need to call on the matriarchal counsel of Bliss.”
Every head at the table turned. It was a fancy way of saying I’ve got a problem and I want the wisest women in Bliss to help me.
“Honey, did you get taken?” Cassidy Meyer sat at the end of the table, her steel-colored hair in its normal bun. She was a slender woman on the higher side of sixty. She’d very likely ordered her pancakes with beets. She would have done that because beets, as everyone who had come through Bliss knew, were a preventative against all sorts of alien incursions. This was what she got for living close to what alien hunters called the Alien Highway. “It’s mating season for the reptilians, and I know that there are those romance novels about women and their gentle velociraptor lovers, but that’s nothing but alien propaganda.”
Cassidy and her de facto husband, Mel Hughes, were very invested in the alien fighter community. She was on the board to ensure that the Winter Festival remained strictly for humans.
“Some of those monster romances are quite beautiful. You have to view them as a metaphor. Some of those stories are just a way to say that all beings of goodwill can get along.” Nell Flanders was around to ensure the Winter Festival didn’t harm the earth. So when she thought about it, Earth and space were both represented here. “It doesn’t matter if your genitals are barbed. It’s what’s in your heart that’s important.”
Cassidy frowned Nell’s way. “Says the woman who has never been penetrated by a barbed penis.”
Rachel’s eyes were suddenly bright with glee. “Does a piercing count?”
Nell gasped.
This was the other reason she’d agreed to be the group’s secretary. There was always good gossip.
Rachel shrugged. “Henry whined about it a lot. Told Rye he might never ride a horse again. Girl, I just said we should all high five you for getting your man to do that.”
“How about we get back to the problem at hand?” Hope turned Lucy’s way. “What’s going on? I’m sorry we haven’t talked recently. I’ve been working on getting the ranch ready for winter, and it’s been a lot.”
Hope was a sweet woman and they were friends, but Hope had Beth. That was her bestie. They were both out at the Circle G and shared a life that orbited around ranching. Their husbands were partners.
She hoped River got home sooner than she estimated. It hit Lucy hard how much she’d missed her. Phone calls weren’t the same as sitting with her closest friend and sharing their troubles and a bottle of cheap wine. She could use River’s sound judgment on what to do about Ty.
There was nothing at all to do about Michael. He’d made himself clear. But she still didn’t understand.
“Why would a man be nice to you, like really, really nice to you and then not…” She struggled for how to put this in a ladylike fashion. “Not want to spend the time with you that a man would normally get for being so nice to you. I mean, not that anyone owes someone for being nice. That came out wrong.”