The Rancher's Rules

She’d come very close to regretting that decision today.

“One apartment manager laughed so hard when I told him how many pets I had that I’m sure he had a seizure.” Zoe’s lips were getting numb. “Doesn’t it cost an awful lot to heat up the outdoors with your one little furnace?”

He got the hint. Stepping back, he waved her inside. “Come on in. We can talk about your situation in the house.”

“I’ve got to get everyone else.” She turned around and headed to her truck. Wayne at the garage had fixed the doo-hickey and it ran better than new. She lifted the canopy window and called back over her shoulder. “The cats are in the cab. Would you get them, please?”

She ignored Grant’s less than pleasant rejoinder.

He came out of the house just as Zoe led Snoopy inside, carrying her birdcage and Bud’s home. Grant took one look at her pets and grumbled, “I thought you would take care of Bud, not show up on my doorstep with a zoo.”

She smiled. “Consider it a return on your investment.”

He frowned at her before opening the cab door. He pulled out the cat carrier. Zoe went around to the back of the truck to get Maurice. The goat had not liked the ride out to the ranch. She pulled him toward the house. “Come on, Maurice, you’re going to like Grant’s place. It’s warm and cozy.”

“And it is not open to goats. He can stay in the barn.”

“But Grant…” Zoe let her words trail off at the implacable set of Grant’s features. At least he wasn’t sending her to the barn. “Let’s go, Maurice. I’ll get you some nice, snuggly hay to curl up in.”

Grant snorted.

Zoe led Maurice to the barn and settled him in as quickly as possible. She didn’t even stop to visit with the horses on her way out. Coming in through the back door, she felt warm air blast her. She looked around the kitchen. Grant had already put the teakettle on to boil. Smart man, not to mention self-sufficient. He kept a minimum of domestic staff, and none of them stayed over in the house.

Though the foreman’s wife did most of the housework and cooking, she lived with her husband in a house on the ranch.

Grant turned toward her and she nearly went back out the door. His expression could have tamed a grizzly. It didn’t take long for Zoe to get miffed herself. Some friend. She could not help it that she did not have a place to live. A tiny voice reminded Zoe that she could have refused Bud. It was Grant’s idea, she retorted to her conscience.

“I put your suitcases in my old bedroom.” He did not sound nearly as mad as he looked.

“Thanks.” She gave him a tentative smile. “I really appreciate this, Grant.”

“What happened? When I left, you and Mrs. Givens were sitting down to tea. I can’t believe she would evict you this close to Christmas.”

“Mrs. Givens hates rodents.”

Grant’s expression did not lighten. “Bud is a hamster.”

He was annoyed with Mrs. Givens. Zoe should have realized sooner, but she’d been in panic mode ever since her eviction notice.

“Hamsters are rodents.”

“Why didn’t she just tell you to get rid of the hamster?”

“She hit the end of her rope with me, I guess. Said she thought the next thing I’d bring home would be a snake. She never got over the iguana in the bathtub.”

Grant narrowed his eyes. “What about your classroom?”

Zoe pictured the look on her principal’s face if she showed up with another animal and laughed. “I already have more class pets than any other kindergarten teacher this side of the Cascades.”

“I still don’t understand why she would just kick you out like that. You have rights. Besides, Mrs. Givens likes you.”

“Snoopy kissed her.”

Grant’s eyes widened, and then he laughed.

Zoe smiled, feeling hopeful for the first time since getting evicted. “I’m glad you find it amusing. Mrs. Givens didn’t. She thought it was time for me to find a place to live that would accept my weird need to have so many pets.”

Grant’s laughter dried up like a creek bed. “She said your tender heart toward animals was weird?”

The teakettle whistled. Zoe scooted around Grant to move it off the burner. “No, she didn’t call me weird. She didn’t have to. Grant, most people think my tendency to collect pets like other people collect dust bunnies is a bit strange.”

“There’s nothing strange about it. You have a soft heart, that’s all.”

“Tell that to my dad.” She hadn’t meant to say that. She didn’t like to dwell on her relationship with her dad. He had never understood her, and she was not sure she would ever understand him.