“Come to the house when you’re done, Fianna,” Shauni called over her shoulder.
“I will,” Fianna said.
“Let’s give your sister some time with Northstar. I’ve got some pumpkin pie in the oven with your names on it.”
“Hmm, there’s not even smoke coming out of the house,” Gwenn joked and stuck her tongue out to Shauni. Her straight, gray hair swished before Shauni’s dark blue eyes when she turned her head to Gwenn.
She smirked and winked. “Oh, I see you haven’t lost your sense of humor in the desert.”
Bree smiled at the memory of the Mills brothers trying to sneak some of Shauni’s food from their plates into napkins to feed the farm animals with later. Shauni’s husband Roger often joked the pigs wouldn’t be nearly as fat without Shauni’s cooking.
With a chef-cook for a daughter, the entire family had been happy when Emmy volunteered to cook instead.
“We saw Emmy in her vegetable garden. How was the latest harvest?” Gwenn asked.
“It could have been better, I’m afraid. Emmy started working at Lucky and I told her I would take care of her garden. But you girls know the only thing I know about food is how to put it in my mouth. Not how to grow it and certainly not how to cook it.” Shauni laughed the loudest.
They walked over to the ranch house with a wraparound porch. Shauni’s dog Rudy came barreling down the porch. The mixed breed sniffed at Bree’s outstretched hand and jumped with both paws against Bree’s upper thigh.
“Sit, Rudy.”
Bree passed the dog that instantly sat down at the command. Bree took a few steps to the man who’d called off the dog. Too bad she couldn’t be attracted to Ryan Moore.
Ryan is the oldest child of Shauni and Roger, and their only son. Growing up in a household with five younger sisters made Ryan even sexier in Bree’s book. How protective he was of his sisters was a total turn-on. She cocked her head to the side and inspected Ryan some more.
Although he was tall, dark and very handsome, she didn’t get that tingle she got from looking at Declan. He opened his arms and pulled Gwenn in for a hug. “Good to see ya again so soon. Your party was so much fun.”
Gwenn hugged the big guy back and said, “It was fun. I hope you could get up the next morning?”
Bree’s sister stepped out of Ryan’s embrace, and he took Bree in for a quick hug. All the Moore cousins got the hug-bug from their mother Shauni.
“You know how our roosters cock-a-doodle-doo, darlin’. A party or not, Ryan still gets his butt in gear in the mornin’.” Shauni smiled at her son before she entered the side entry of the house that lead directly into the kitchen.
Shauni kicked off her boots, leaving them next to the door. Bree followed her lead and almost tripped over Rudy when the dog came running back into the house.
“Rudy, out.”
Shauni never looked over her shoulder to check if the dog obeyed. She stepped over to the oven and mumbled something under her breath about getting here just in time.
“Mom, have you seen my phone? I can’t find it anywhere.”
“Tara Moore, your phone is there where you left it.” Shauni didn’t make a move to help her daughter. Bree grinned. Tara always lost sight of her stuff and then asked others to help her find it.
Shauni opened the oven door and placed the tray with the pumpkin pie on her kitchen counter. Tara said nothing to her mother’s wisecrack. Instead, she rolled her eyes at her mother’s back and shook her head. “Emmy said to leave the pie in the oven.”
“Well, Emmy’s not here to keep an eye out. So I’m checkin’ the pie.”
Tara walked over to her mother and leaned in. “See. The filling is cracking already.”
Shauni narrowed her eyes at the offending pie before her. “Why does this always happen to me?”
“Because you don’t follow instructions, Mom. You never listen.” Tara had the decency to hide her smile behind her fist.
“Cracked or not, we’re eatin’ this pie.” Shauni slid the pie on a plate and placed it on the kitchen table where Gwenn and Bree already took a seat. “I see you all later,” Ryan said while turning back around for the kitchen door.
“You don’t want to take a piece with you?” Shauni started slicing the pie that not only cracked, the bottom also appeared undercooked. Shauni cleared her throat the moment the soggy filling seemed soupier than anything else.
“Right. Well, you don’t know what you’re missin’, son.”