Only Yours (Fool's Gold #5)(44)

The woman, about her age, but much prettier, smiled. “Yes. And you’re one of the triplets. I’m sorry, I can’t tell you apart yet.”

“Montana.”

“Right.” She tilted her head, as if studying Montana and hoping to find a difference.

Montana grinned. “If it helps, Dakota is pregnant, so for the next few months she’ll be easy to find.”

“Great. Thanks for the tip.”

Heidi had golden blond hair she wore in two braids and large green eyes. Green eyes that made Montana think about Simon, which she didn’t want to do.

“You and your grandfather bought the Castle Ranch outside of town, right?”

“That’s us.”

“How are you settling in?”

“We’re figuring it out as we go. The house needs a complete renovation. I don’t think anyone has lived in it for a while.”

Montana tried to remember who had lived there last. “Old man Castle died ages ago. Maybe twenty years or so. I can’t remember. He had a family living there. The mom was the housekeeper and her three boys worked the ranch. It wasn’t much, even then. I don’t know what happened after that. When he passed away, the family left. There was talk of someone from back East inheriting, but no one ever showed up.”

“The place looks like it.” Heidi wrinkled her nose. “I remind myself I’ve lived in worse. At least the plumbing and electricity work and the roof will last another couple of years, but seriously, when was the last time you saw an avocado-green stove?”

Montana laughed. “Once. In the movies.”

“If you want to see the real thing, let me know. I have one.”

Montana hadn’t heard much about Heidi and her grandfather. “Are you running cattle on the ranch?”

Heidi shook her head. “No. I’m not big into cows. There are a few roaming around. They’re wild or feral or whatever it is cows get when no one is around to take care of them.” She paused. “I have a few goats I milk and I use the goat milk to make cheese.”

Goats? “Your name is Heidi, you live with your grandfather and you have goats?”

Heidi laughed. “The irony is not lost, believe me. The difference is Glen, my grandfather, is very friendly, so I won’t have to act as a liaison between him and the villagers.” She glanced around the bookstore. “I’ll bet Morgan has a copy here. When was the last time you read Heidi?”

“I think my mom read it to me and my sisters when we were pretty little. Wasn’t there a girl in a wheelchair?”

“I sort of remember that.” Her smile faded. “My mom read it to me, too. It’s a good memory.”

Sadness replaced humor and Montana had the feeling Heidi had lost her mother a long time ago. Having suffered through the death of her father, she knew what that was like.

“Do you get to town much?” she asked. “We have a girl’s night out, or sometimes in, every few weeks. Just a bunch of us getting together to talk. If you want to give me your number, I can let you know when the next one is and you can join us.”

“I’d like that.”

Montana pulled out her cell phone and took Heidi’s number.

“Are you and your grandfather okay out there by yourselves?”

The humor returned to Heidi’s expression. “Despite the hideous appliances, we’re doing great. This is the first real home we’ve ever had. We always traveled around a lot. I can’t tell you how good it feels to finally be settled. We have a lot of plans for the ranch.”

“I take it they don’t include cows.”

“Probably not. But I want to expand my herd. I plan to create a cheese empire.” She laughed. “Plus, we’re both really loving Fool’s Gold. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming. And in an unexpected turn of events I can’t decide if I’m okay with or not, my grandfather is quite the hit with the ladies of a certain age.”

Montana wasn’t surprised. The man shortage had been mitigated by several new businesses and lots of guys moving to town, but few of them had been past middle age.

“It’ll keep him young,” Montana told her.

“As long as I don’t walk in on him having his way with one of them, I’m good with it.”

Montana reached for the Regan Hastings book and grabbed two copies. “Let me buy you this. Sort of a welcome-to-town gift.”

“Wow. This is why I love it here. Let me just announce to the universe, I’m never leaving. Wind, snow, a herd of locusts, I’ll outwit them all.”

“I like that—a plan. Did you know that Fool’s Gold was originally settled by a group of Mayan women? They called themselves the Máa-zib. It means something like few men. I heard they kept men as love slaves.”

Heidi grinned. “Don’t you miss the good old days?”

“All the time.”

MONTANA TOLD HERSELF not to be excited about the clinic with Simon. Kids were getting their stitches out—that was hardly a reason for her to want to break into song. The thing was, she was far more tingly about seeing him again than thinking about kids, which probably made her a bad person.

“Something else I have to work on,” she told Buddy as she opened the back door of her car, stepping to the side so he could jump out.