Crossing Nevada

“She doesn’t like it. She wanted a pink coat. Tia—” aka Beth Ann “—got her the red one because it was a better price.” Emma gave a philosophical shrug and then dismissively flipped one of her light brown braids over her shoulder. “You know how she hates red.”

Actually he didn’t, which kind of bothered him. It was common knowledge that Lizzie hated red?

Zach rubbed the back of his neck. “Thanks.”

“What’re you going to do?” Emma asked.

Consult with Beth Ann, no doubt. A new coat simply wasn’t in the cards until he shipped another lot of cattle and he was trying to hold off on that until the prices jumped. He was damned tired of giving away his beef for break-even prices. Last time he sold prematurely, he’d lost money, but he’d needed the cash and had taken the financial beating.

And he’d probably have to do it again before he had all the doctors and labs and hospitals—both local and the one in Reno—paid off.

Lizzie was going to wear her coat once they found it.

As Zach walked down the hall to the kitchen where dinner simmered in a slow cooker he wondered if a red coat could be dyed a less hated color. Purple maybe?

He’d just taken the top off the Crock-Pot when the kitchen door opened and his sister-in-law came in carrying a laptop case. “Hey, Beth Ann.”

“Zach.” She set the computer on the counter then pushed the dark hair back from the side of her face. She looked a lot like her sister, except Karen had been fair while Beth Ann was a deep brunette.

“What’s that for?”

“Darcy wants to borrow it.”

“You don’t need it for studying?” Beth Ann was taking online courses, trying to complete an education degree—or most of it anyway. By the time she got to the point when she would have to take regular classes, Darcy would be traveling to the high school in town, forty miles away, where the community college was located. The two of them could drive together, which would solve another problem—buying a car for Darcy.

“I can use the computer at school tonight and Darcy can take this up to her room and work in peace.” Beth Ann came to stand beside him as he added salt to the stew. “Any luck with the pastures?”

“Struck out.” He put the salt down and pulled the pepper out of the spice drawer, hoping Emma didn’t walk in. She ate more pepper than she realized.

“Really?” Beth Ann asked. “What’s she going to use them for?”

“We never got that far in the conversation.”

Beth Ann cocked her head and Zach added, “The new neighbor wasn’t all that friendly. Hung up on me.”

“Really?” She looked shocked.

“Yep.” The conversation had been over for all intents and purposes, but around here, people said goodbye before they hung up the phone.

Beth Ann took the pepper shaker from Zach when he was finished and dropped it back in the drawer while he stirred the stew. “Susan said one side of her face was bandaged when she came in to rent the post office box.”

“I heard.” Pretty much everyone had heard. Susan wasn’t exactly shy about sharing what she knew.

Beth Ann shrugged. “Maybe she needs some time to settle in. Get used to us here.”

“Maybe.” Zach wasn’t holding his breath. He opened the cupboard and pulled out five bowls.

“Nothing for me,” Beth Ann said. “I just came to drop off the laptop and see if you needed anything from town tomorrow.”

No, because he’d have to pay for it and he was saving his money for important stuff like hospital bills and equipment repairs. “I can’t think of anything.” He put the extra bowl back in the cupboard. “Did you know that Lizzie hates red?”

Beth Ann snorted. “I got that feeling when she pouted all the way home after I bought her a red coat.”

“She, uh, lost the red coat.”

“I think Miss Lizzie and I will have a talk,” Beth Ann said flatly.

“I already had one.”

“I’ll add my voice to yours.”

He shook his head. “I want to give Lizzie a shot at doing the right thing on her own.”

“Fine.” Beth Ann headed down the hall to the living room. “I’ll see how the homework is going before I head on back to school.”

Zach counted spoons out of the utensil drawer. His sister-in-law had been a godsend during Karen’s illness and for the three years since she’d died. And despite the fact that Beth Ann was practically the antithesis of her sister in temperament, she was devoted to raising her nieces the way Karen would have wanted them raised—to the point that there were times when Zach wondered if he was taking advantage, keeping her from having a life of her own. Whenever he broached the subject, though, Beth Ann brushed him off and Zach let the matter drop.

It was a comfortable arrangement—for him anyway—and it worked.

Beth Ann came back into the kitchen with Emma behind her explaining why she had yet to start her social studies report. The beauty of Beth Ann working at the school was that she knew everything that went on in her nieces’ academic lives—much to their annoyance.

“Are you sure you don’t want some stew?” Zach asked as he set the bowls on the table. On the nights they used the slow cooker, it was every man for himself and then the girls cleaned up while he went into his office and ruined his night calculating finances.

Again Beth Ann shook her head.

“You need to eat, Tia,” Emma said, echoing the words Beth Ann so often said when vegetables played a starring role in dinner.

“I’ll eat. I do have food at my place. By the way, you’ll need to find your own way home from school tomorrow.” Beth Ann looked at Zach. “I have language proficiency training in town for the next three afternoons. I leave as soon as school lets out.”

“We can walk home,” Emma said.

“Yes, but can Lizzie?” Beth Ann asked dryly. Lizzie hated walking anywhere.

“We can take our bikes,” Emma said brightly.

“Where?” Darcy asked as she came into the room.

“Tia can’t bring us home tomorrow because she has a meeting in town,” Emma said.

“I can take you to school and then you can walk home or your dad can pick you up,” Beth Ann said.

“We’ll ride our bikes,” Darcy said with an air of finality. She took her position as the oldest seriously and expected to have the last word on all matters. She was a bit like Beth Ann in that regard.

“Lizzie can’t ride a bike in your old coat,” Zach pointed out. It wasn’t difficult to imagine the outcome of a Lizzie/giant coat/bicycle spoke/gravel combination.

Emma and Darcy exchanged looks. “She’ll find her coat,” Darcy said. Emma nodded.

The two girls left the kitchen and Beth Ann smiled slightly. “Problem solved.”