Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,66

decorated with skulls.”

“Hmm. Maybe a frontier version of a rock garden, but with skulls.”

“We live in apartments,” Candice said.

Wondering if she should warn Tolya that Lila Gold might start a fad for using bleached animal skulls as garden art or let him find out for himself, Jesse handed lists to the two women, then pointed to the heavy cardboard boxes she’d piled in front of the counter. “You have the lists for the Prairie Gold ranch, the dairy farm, and the vegetable farm. Check the expiration dates on everything I’ve listed and take what isn’t going to keep much longer. We’ll use those jars and cans of food first.”

They looked at the shelves in the general store and hesitated.

“You two settled into your own places?” Jesse asked, correctly guessing the reason for the hesitation.

Lila nodded. “First thing Candice and I did after taking two of the one-bedroom apartments was select furniture and household goods. It will take a few days before our stuff is delivered, but once we’re moved in, it sure would be nice to heat up a can of soup at home if we’re working late at the saloon and don’t finish up before the hotel dining room stops serving meals.”

Jesse nodded. Give it a few more days and the hotel wouldn’t be serving free meals to anyone who wasn’t staying at the hotel, so wanting to stock up was sensible. “Take a couple more of those boxes to fill up for yourselves.”

“Thanks, Jesse,” Candice said.

Lila Gold had the same confident bounce as Barb Debany, but Jesse had a feeling that Candice Caravelli had known some dark times and felt other people’s kindness more deeply because of it.

Lila and Candice were already busy filling up boxes when the four Simple Life women who were heading out to the ranches came in to select supplies for each ranch. While there was nothing wrong with any of the women—Jesse admired their courage in taking on a new life in an unfamiliar part of Thaisia—only one of them felt adaptable enough to not only embrace a different life but also be able to live comfortably with men who didn’t share her beliefs and traditions. That was the woman she’d insisted go to the ranch that would be run by Truman Skye. Truman would have enough challenges without being undermined by the person who was supposed to be the cook and housekeeper.

She didn’t get a feeling about whether the other women would succeed or fail, but she was certain she didn’t want them working for Truman.

“We’re trying to find out what companies are still in business and what kinds of foods are available,” she said. “Until we find out, we don’t want to waste what is here. When you get to the ranches, you might find a pantry full of moldy food or a pantry full of canned goods you can use. Because we don’t know, you’re each welcome to fill up four of those cardboard boxes with supplies free of charge. All we ask is that you take only what you will use. Keep in mind that each ranch will have a foreman and six to ten men who will be looking to you to provide their meals. Also, if any of you want to have a dog at the house to keep you company and warn you when something approaches the house, we have plenty of food in bags and cans, and someone will fetch those for you from the feed store.”

Two of the women looked sour, as if they anticipated working hard enough to feed whatever had to be fed and didn’t need something else depending on them. The housekeeper for the Skye Ranch, however, looked happy about the possibility of having a dog or two for company. Jesse would ask Tobias to go with the woman to look at the available dogs.

Once the Simple Life women started making their selections, Jesse stepped away from the counter, intending to fetch a few more boxes from the back room. Instead, she grabbed her suddenly throbbing wrist and turned toward the door as a group of strangers walked in.

There was nothing obvious about the two men, but Jesse felt certain that they were lovers at the very least. That shouldn’t have produced a strong feeling of impending danger. No, what confused her—and scared her—and caused that fierce ache in her wrist, were the four children who were with them, two boys and two girls, all under the age of ten.

One man