Midnight Ride by Cat Johnson

mood.” What Tyler didn’t tell Colton was why he didn’t want to go out. “You should go, though. Hey, you could call Justin and see if he’s up to it. He’s probably going crazy cooped up in his house, not being able to work or ride.”
    “You’re right. Maybe I will give him a call.”
    Tyler wasn’t the kind to give up easily on anything, his interest in Janie included. He’d just have to figure out the smartest way to proceed. There was nothing like good hard physical labor to help a man think. He had a full day of work during which to come up with some plausible excuse to get him back over to her place. A plan he’d hopefully start implementing right after he finished working at Rohn’s today.
    Just the thought of seeing her again was enough to have him whistling while he worked.

Chapter Eight
    Janie entered the cost of the fence post purchase into the ledger under Expenses . Her grandfather had taught her how to keep the records for the ranch. Thank God for that or she’d really be lost now that Tom was gone.
    There was something else she’d recently purchased, but she’d be damned if she could remember what it was. Her grandfather would be sorely disappointed in her. His philosophy had been to never put off what you could do right away. He’d say she should have written down whatever it was immediately after she got home. She knew what she should do. It was actually remembering to do it that was the problem lately. To be fair, she did have a few—or a few hundred—things on her mind.
    Pen poised in the air, Janie tried to remember the forgotten expense, but her thoughts turned toward that morning and Tyler and Colton’s visit instead. She tried to wrestle her mind back to the task at hand and decided it was useless. She’d remember when she remembered or when she came across the receipt in the truck. If she didn’t, then the records would just not be accurate to the penny this year. Worse things had happened.
    Whatever she was forgetting couldn’t be that big, or she’d remember it. With that in mind, she decided it was time to eat. Food might help her waning brainpower.
    After the late start and the visit from the cowboys, the day had gotten away from her. It was now afternoon and the sun was riding low in the sky. It sent beams of light through the office window, making the particles of dust dancing in the air visible. There was nothing she could do about the dust. It was nearly impossible to keep a house on a ranch completely dust free. She’d long ago stopped trying.
    With a sigh, Janie heaved her tired body out of the desk chair. It couldn’t be normal to be thirty-six and feel this exhausted all the time. Of course, it probably wasn’t normal to be this age and a widow, either.
    She headed for the kitchen and the food in the fridge that would comprise her dinner for one. Most people would think it would be easier, not having to worry about cooking for anyone beside herself nowadays. It wasn’t.
    Feeling the loneliness full force, she took out one bowl and one spoon. It was easy enough to scoop a bit of the cold chili out of a plastic container and into the bowl. Three minutes or so in the microwave and her dinner preparations would be complete. No muss. No fuss. And only one dish to wash.
    Yup. Living the easy life, she was.
    Movement out in the drive caught Janie’s attention and interrupted her unhealthy wallowing. A closer look told her there was a truck pulling into the drive. It was the same truck that had been there that morning.
    Her heartbeat kicked up a notch as the vehicle came to a stop not far from the house and the driver’s door swung open. Her pulse quickened further when she realized only one cowboy occupied the cab, and by the look of him, it was Tyler. Here. Alone.
    The urge to run to the bathroom to check how she looked after the long day told Janie she was thinking too much, not to mention the totally wrong things, about this man. She should be grateful he’d