“Victoria Francine and Willow Amelia is what I heard. They both sound a little too normal for Kelsi, though, don’t they?” Debbie couldn’t help but grin, wondering why neither baby had Bigfoot or Sasquatch in her name.
“A little, but we’re not going to act like we even noticed the names are normal. Now that Mr. and Mrs. Weston are back, I’m sure they’re already causing a ruckus. They know a couple of their children’s life-mate choices, but not all. It’s going to be a hectic few weeks while they’re here getting to know everyone.”
Debbie frowned. “I’m kind of nervous about meeting them. I mean, I’ve heard only good things—except when someone mentions how much they’ve tried to control lives from afar. That doesn’t sound pleasant at all.”
Frank frowned. “Well, they do and they don’t. I don’t think they ever really intended Bob to marry Kelsi. I think they were just trying to light a fire under her. They have a spy somewhere on the ranch, and no one has been able to figure out who it is. As soon as one of their kids starts seeing someone, they know. So when Kelsi started seeing the sheriff, they knew. I think they knew she needed to marry Shane.”
“Those two do seem good together. I mean who else would put up with Kelsi’s wackiness? The sheriff seems so down to earth and serious.” Debbie unlocked her front door, happy for her habitual neatness. As a child, she’d thrown things everywhere, but now that she’d been showing houses for almost half of her life, it was easier for her to keep everything spotless all the time.
She immediately went to the kitchen to pull some meat from the freezer for supper. She dug through until she found chicken, thinking she’d make a chicken pot pie. She knew he liked home cooking, because of how much he loved Bob’s food. It was odd to feel as if she was in competition with her son-in-law for who was the better cook.
She stuck the chicken into her Instant Pot, knowing she’d be better able to cut it after it was cooked, before walking into the living room where Frank was waiting patiently. The man seemed to have the patience of a saint. “What do you want to watch?”
Frank shrugged. “I have no idea. What do you like to watch?”
“I usually stick with three shows. I watch Lazy Love, Gilmore Girls, and When Calls the Heart. I have them all memorized, but I love them so I keep watching them over and over.”
He frowned. “So describe each show in one sentence for me so I can decide which one then.”
Debbie’s eyes gleamed with the challenge. “For Lazy Love: Spoiled debutantes get dirty on the ranch. For Gilmore Girls: Difficult family relations make for great sarcasm. For When Calls the Heart: Schoolteacher goes West and falls for Mountie.”
“Hmm. From those descriptions, I say Gilmore Girls. Gotta love sarcasm.”
Debbie settled on the couch, close to him, and grabbed the remote, flipping through the Smart TV until she found her Netflix and more importantly, Gilmore Girls. “Give it a chance, but I think you’ll like it.” She settled close enough to him that her left side was pressed against his right.
“I think I could stare at a blank TV and be happy as long as you were sitting this close.”
She shook her head, laughing. “You sure do know how to turn a girl’s head, don’t you?”
“You’re still looking forward, so I’m really not sure.”
“Frank?”
“Yes?”
“Leave the humor for the professionals, please. I don’t want to have to hurt your feelings by groaning at your jokes.”
He settled his arm around her shoulders, pulling her even closer. “I’ll do my best.”
“I’m starting with episode one, which begins with Lorelai begging Luke to give her more coffee. Lorelai and her daughter Rory live to eat at Luke’s Diner and drink all the coffee in the entire world.”
“Good to know.” He wasn’t watching the show though. Why would he bother? She was right there—and to him, she was more beautiful than any actress, and more entertaining than any show. She was his dream woman, and soon he’d be able to tell her. He just had to figure out how.
After work on Monday, Debbie decided to wander over to Jaclyn’s house. She liked Frank a lot—already picturing a future for them together—but she worried that she was betraying Dale by even contemplating another relationship. She knew it was silly, but she couldn’t seem to shake the feelings.
She stopped at the little house with the snow-covered gnomes in the yard. “Hi, Jaclyn?” She’d met the other woman while she was there for Christmas, and she’d liked her, but now…well, she felt like she was seeing her in a professional capacity.
“I was expecting you.”
Debbie knew better than to ask. The woman knew so many things she shouldn’t, and she always blamed it on the gnomes and fairies. She stepped closer, eyeing the front door. She knew Miranda had gone in to speak to her, so she was perfectly safe. It just felt weird. “I was hoping you had some time to talk.”
Jaclyn hooked her arm through Debbie’s. “Not only time, but I’ve made snickerdoodles and tea.”
“Sounds delicious,” Debbie said, quickly checking the time on her phone. She was meeting Frank at the restaurant on the ranch for dinner and some dancing. She hadn’t danced since she taught Scott how so he wouldn’t embarrass himself at prom.
Before she knew it, Debbie was settled on a couch with a bunny on each side of her and one perched on her shoulder. She could see several others hopping happily through the house, but there was one sitting on the television that she found disturbing. It was a small gray bunny…must be a baby…and it was staring at her as if it could see right into her soul.
Jaclyn poured them both tea and gave her some, offering her a plate filled with snickerdoodles. “Oh, don’t mind Pepper. I think she’s got some fairy in her, and she’s making sure I get their point across correctly. So how do you like working at the ranch? I’d be happy to bring one of my bunnies over if you wanted to let the children play with it.”
Debbie hadn’t thought about that. She’d have to research the laws on bringing an animal into the facility. “I’ll think on it.”
“And the ranch? I hear you were there when Kelsi had those beautiful little girls. I remember being with Kelsi’s grandmother in the waiting room when Kelsi was born. Twins are a blessing, aren’t they?”
“Aren’t all babies?” Debbie asked, smiling.
“Well, of course, they are, but there’s something special about twins. I don’t think Kelsi’s are identical, which should make her and Dani very happy. Those girls never did take to being twins until just recently.” Jaclyn studied Debbie over her teacup. “But enough talk about babies. Let’s get down to why you’re really here. Frank.”
“Am I so transparent?” Debbie felt the heat rising to her face. It was odd having a relationship with the entire ranch watching.
“Well, Frank already came to talk to me, and the fairies told me when you were here at Christmas that you’d be in a relationship with Frank someday.”
Debbie leaned forward, causing the bunny perched on her shoulder to scramble onto her back and then to the arm of the couch, looking at her reproachfully. “Then why do I feel so much guilt for my feelings for Frank? I feel like I’m doing something wrong by dating someone other than my kids’ father.”
“What would Dale have wanted?” Jaclyn took a bite of a cookie as she asked.
“Dale? How’d you know his name?”
Jaclyn shrugged. “The fairies or your daughter. Or one of the gnomes. Gorgeous George has a great deal more insight into love and romance than most of the gnomes. Especially now that he’s hooking up with Beautiful Bella. I think the fairies have given him some extra insight to make up for what happened to his predecessor.”
Debbie bit her lip to keep from asking. Questioning what happened to a gnome’s predecessor didn’t seem like something she should do. “Well, I’m glad the fairies are granting extra insight. You wouldn’t want a war between the fairies and the gnomes simply because the fairies are so much more gift
ed in love.”
“You’re very insightful.” Jaclyn shook her head. “But I think if your Dale would have disliked the idea of you falling in love with another man twenty years after his death, then he wasn’t worthy of you. And let’s face it, you’re a bright woman. If Dale hadn’t been worthy of you, you’d have forgotten him long ago. No, your Dale was a good man.”
“Have you ever been in love, Jaclyn?” Debbie wasn’t sure where the question came from, but she felt compelled to ask it.
“Well, of course I have. He died before we could marry. He was a police officer, much like your Dale.” Jaclyn raised her hand to stop Debbie from responding. “I know your man was in the Air Force, just like your Frank was. Sounds like Scott is heading in that direction as well. You and your flyboys.”
Debbie shrugged. “I guess that’s what I’m drawn to.”
“How did you enjoy your helicopter ride yesterday?”
Debbie didn’t want to know how Jaclyn came by her plethora of information. “It was wonderful! I loved seeing the area from the sky that way. Frank is a wonderful guide and a fabulous cook.”
Jaclyn grinned. “His team didn’t hold a candle to yours in the snow sculpting contest, though.”
“I just wish I’d known I had a woman in labor helping build that silly Bigfoot.”
“You can’t blame yourself for that. Kelsi…well, sometimes I think twins only get half a brain. She certainly acted as if she was mentally deficient for participating while laboring with twins, don’t you think?”
“You might have a point.” Debbie couldn’t outright agree with Jaclyn. It was one thing for a woman who had known Kelsi all her life to speak that way about her. It was another thing for a new employee of the ranch.
“Oh, you know I do. You’re just too diplomatic to admit it.” Jaclyn sighed. “As for you and Frank, you need to follow your heart. That man has a whole lot of feelings all bottled up inside. You need to let him express them, or he might just explode.”
Debbie frowned. “I do?”
“Yes, and you’re going to be late. Go to the restaurant—eat, dance, and be merry. Have a wonderful time, because you deserve happiness in your life, Debbie. You raised a wonderful girl whose snickerdoodles don’t hold a candle to mine.”
“You’re right about that. I want the recipe!”
Jaclyn shook her head. “All right. Off with you. Give me my bunnies back.”
Debbie set down her teacup and plate, heading for the door. Jaclyn certainly made it clear when she was done talking to someone. “Thank you for your time, Jaclyn. And thank the fairies for me, would you?”
Jaclyn seemed to find something hilarious about her words as she shut the door in Debbie’s face.
Debbie shook her head, not knowing what to think. She wasn’t sure if she knew anything more after their discussion than she had before it.
Chapter Nine
After she got back from lunch on Wednesday, Debbie had a meeting for her newly-hired teachers. As she was talking about what she expected of each of them, the door to the school age room—where the meeting was held—opened and she glanced to see who was there. There stood a couple who looked to be in their mid-fifties.
Debbie stood up. “May I help you?”
The woman shook her head. “No, thank you. We’ll just sit here quietly and listen.”
“I’m afraid this is a meeting for staff only.”
“Would you welcome Wade Weston to this meeting?” the man asked, looking amused.
Debbie frowned. “Of course I would. But you’re not Wade Weston.”
He stepped forward and offered his hand to shake. “I’m Wilber Weston, Wade’s father.” He nodded at the woman beside him. “This is Bobbi Weston.”
Debbie shook his hand, feeling like an idiot. Now that he’d said it, she could see the resemblance. “It’s nice to meet you. Go ahead and have a seat.” She sat back down and glanced at her notes, thinking about everything she’d thought was imperative to share in this meeting. The Westons would be bored to tears listening. For a moment, she considered skipping several points, but then she took a deep breath and continued on as planned. She wasn’t there to entertain the owners of the ranch. Her job was to make sure the children were safe when they opened in a week and a half.
As she went through the details, she felt the Westons’ eyes on her, but she never flinched. She made sure each of her teachers knew to be there on Friday for their CPR and first aid training. “I want everyone to have training for every age. I don’t care if you’ll only be working with school-aged children. There will be babies in the building. You will know how to stop them from choking, as well as the correct way to administer CPR. Any questions?”
When Mrs. Weston raised her hand, Debbie nodded to her. “Yes, Mrs. Weston?”
“I would like to attend the class. I have three grandchildren, soon to be four. I feel like it would be best if I knew CPR as well.”
Debbie nodded. “I can add you in. The ranch is footing the bill anyway,” she said with a grin.
Mrs. Weston nodded. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
After the meeting was over, the teachers went to their individual rooms to start personalizing them. It was the first day they’d all met. Debbie was cautiously optimistic that there would be no back-biting among the teachers, though she’d never worked in a child care facility where everyone had gotten along well.
She was gathering up her notes, planning to go and speak with Belle—her assistant manager—for a bit when she realized that the Westons were still watching her. “Is there something else I can help you with?”
Mrs. Weston walked around the table to where Debbie was seated. “First I want to thank you for being there for my girls when I couldn’t be. I know Kelsi and Dani would have been fine, but Kelsi really wanted me to be there. I still can’t believe we didn’t make it. That freak snowstorm that blew in still has me angry.”
“Oh, you’re very welcome. I guess it was good practice for when my daughter has her first.”
“Second, we’d like a tour of the center. Especially of the baby room and the school-aged room. We’ll have three granddaughters spending time here soon.”
“Three? Has Belinda said she’s having a girl? I hadn’t heard yet!”
“Belinda doesn’t know yet—or at least that’s what she’s saying. No, I’m talking about Maddie’s daughter Vivian. She’s going to be in the school-aged room when she’s here.”
Debbie smiled. “I’m thrilled you already think of her as a granddaughter. She’s a sweetheart.”
“She is. We’re both excited to have grandchildren coming out of the woodwork all of a sudden. I think us going away for a while helped our children to realize it was time for them to finally settle down. I know I’ve thought so for years.”
Mr. Weston stepped close to his wife and put his arm around her. “Now for the tour, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course not.”
As Debbie spread her arms out, showing them the school-aged room. She efficiently explained why she’d ordered each of the things there. “There are going to be children of the ranch employees bussed in after school, but then they’ll come and join the school-aged children of the guests. Our center will be open from five in the morning until midnight, which are long hours. During the week, we’ll have three shifts. The weekends we’ll only be open from ten until midnight, so there’ll be two shifts on the weekends. There are three managers. I’ll be here from five until three, and then my assistant manager will be here from three to midnight. On the weekends, there will be a resident college student for the morning and another for the evening shift, and Belle and I will each be on call every other weekend. We want to make sure one of us with more experience is always available.”
She led them through the school-aged area, with one section for students wanting to do homework, a video game area, a library area, and a game area. “There’ll be organized activities and even some ‘field trips’ that involved s
leigh rides or hay rides, depending on the time of year. The two teachers for the school-aged children have been elementary teachers, but have chosen to stop teaching full time—both of them have preschool aged children and want to be with them. We allow them to do that.”
Mrs. Weston smiled. “It seems like you’ve thought of everything.”
“Actually, most of it was already in place before I arrived. I added a few things here and there, but your children did a fabulous job thinking of just about everything that would be needed for the type of facility we’ll run.” She closed the door to the school-aged area and led them to the baby room. “This is the room for the infants. We’ll have a four-baby capacity, but we may want to expand that immediately. I’m trying to decide. The problem with four babies is that three of the spots will be taken up by your grandchildren almost immediately. But four is the maximum allowed to be taught by one person at a time. If we go to an eight-baby capacity, then we’ll need two teachers at all times, but we’ll also need twice the space. But most parents aren’t bringing babies that age to a ranch like this, so we’re still trying to decide. I may wait and see how many infants we get in the first month or so and decide from there.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Mr. Weston said with a frown. “And if we hire two teachers per shift, and only need one, we have people out of work. That’s not fair to them. Yes, I see how it happens. Maybe you could have a couple of people who could be on call?”
“Maybe. I can look into that, but I do worry that they would find something else if they weren’t called in often. We’ll of course have two people per shift during the summer and the Christmas seasons, but I’m not sure about the rest of the year.” Debbie walked over and showed them the lesson plans that would be implemented based on the babies’ ages.
Mrs. Weston picked up one of the pillows that was on the floor in a little circle. “These are so sweet. Where did you get these?”
Flyboy's Fancy (River's End Ranch Book 21) Page 9