Curvy Girls Can't Date Cowboys - Kelsie Stelting Page 0,40

would listen.

Wasn’t that exactly what I was trying to do tonight? To have my voice heard? My stomach swooped with nerves. I had no idea how my dad would react.

“How are your grandchildren?” I asked Janet. She could talk about them forever. I definitely wasn’t in a rush to have the conversation I needed to have my father.

“Good,” she said. “Anna lost her fourth tooth, and her parents got her an iPad.” She rolled her eyes.

“Is there any chance she’s tutored by Rory Hutton?” Rory had mentioned her tutoring student losing a bunch of teeth.

“Why, yes!” Janet said. “You know her?”

“She’s one of my best friends,” I answered.

“She’s a wonderful girl. And her mom comes here quite a bit.”

I couldn't help thinking if Rory's mom was a trained health educator and shopping here regularly, what did that mean for Ray's farm and his way of life? Thanks to him, my world had expanded in a big way, revealing issues I didn't even know existed.

I didn’t like worrying about the world’s issues. I didn't like being uncomfortable at all. In fact, I'd spent almost all my time after my illness trying to enjoy life as much as possible. Now I had these complicated moral questions hanging over my head.

Part of me hated to admit that I disliked Ray for even bringing these things to the forefront. But now that I knew, I couldn't ignore it.

“I'm going to go back and find my dad,” I told Janet and gave her half a smile before waving goodbye.

Midway through the store, I found my dad and a guy who looked almost my age stocking shelves with a cart full of cans. In his Ripe T-shirt, I could see his defined muscles flexing with each movement. Holy biceps.

“Hey,” I said, if only to get my jaw off the floor.

Dad came over, gave me a big hug and with his arm still around me, said, “Ginger, this is our new stocker, Knox.”

Knox turned a smile on me that almost made my heart stop. And I’d misjudged him earlier. He had to have been in college, judging by the fullness of his five o’clock shadow. How had he landed a job here when usually it was older people looking for some extra cash?

I could not wait to tell Cori about this. She would be all over him.

And then I realized they were looking at me, waiting for me to talk. “Hi, Knox. Do you go to school nearby?”

“Brentwood U,” he said. “In my second semester.”

“Nice.”

Dad tightened his grip on me. “Why don't I go get Janet to help Knox, and you and I can hang out?”

Although old Ginger would have balked at Dad’s protective show, new Ginger had bigger things to worry about than hanging out with a cute guy. “Sure,” I said. I gave Knox a wave. “Enjoy your first shift.”

He sent me another thousand-watt smile and said, “The time is Ripe to live a healthy life.”

Laughing, Dad turned and said, “He’s already fitting right in.” When we reached Janet, he asked her if she would go back and help Knox, and then we continued to his office.

It was in the corner of the store with one-way windows so he could do his work and still keep an eye on everything happening. I sat in one of the rolling chairs, and he took the other.

“What's up, kiddo? How was your weekend?”

Eventful, I wanted to say. “Fine,” I said instead.

“Good,” he replied. “Your mom was really worried about you.”

“Isn't she always?”

“Good point.” He chuckled and was quiet for a moment.

I said, “Dad, can I ask you about something?”

“Sure,” he answered. “Anything.”

I glanced down at my hands and my worn fingernails that I was always chewing too short. “Why did you and Mom decide to go with the whole organic, cage-free thing?”

He scrubbed his face and smoothed his beard. “You know, when you got so sick, your mom and I were worried, and we couldn't help but think it was our fault. That we'd done something wrong, fed you something wrong, had something bad in our house, and your mom began researching everything she could to make sure that it didn't get worse for you. And that it didn't happen to the others.”

“And she landed on food?” I asked.

“Partially,” he said. “You know, that's why we changed all the carpet to hardwood flooring and swapped out our cleaning supplies for gentler chemicals. And your mom learned that there was a real niche in this space. People in our