Alyssa woke alone, which was disappointing, but she supposed it was for the best. They didn’t need to flaunt it in front of the family that she and Beau were tearing up the sheets together. Some of them might think it was awkward or unprofessional of them. Or they might even think she was too young or not mature enough to be with him. She was just an intern and he was a fully certified veterinarian. She didn’t plan to become a full veterinarian—sure, she’d looked into it, but another four or five years of college did not sound like something she wanted to do.

Even one more year to get her master’s degree seemed like a lot. She was enjoying getting her hands dirty, so to speak. She loved working with the cattle and the calves, helping with difficult births. She didn’t even mind the branding, dehorning, and castrating that was an inevitable part of all cattle ranches. She’d learned that as a child, when she’d seen it the first time and had been horrified. Her father had sat her down and explained that if a ranch had too many bulls it was dangerous, as bulls could get cranky. She’d seen a bull get cranky a time or two and knew her father was right. It still wasn’t her favorite part of the process, but cattle were raised to eat and that, as they say, is that.

She decided she better get moving because she was pretty sure little Tony got up early and would be raring to go to town. He still took an afternoon nap, so they needed to be done with their errands and back in time for that. As she moved to get out of bed a crinkle sounded and she looked to find a note from Beau. Aww how sweet. It just wished her luck on the phone hunting and replacement and he told her he’d see her when she got back. He had a strong bold handwriting and seeing it made her smile. She folded it carefully and put it in her wallet.

When she got downstairs, Tony was indeed raring to go. She heard Emma say, “Now calm down, Tony. We’ll go when Alyssa is ready and not a moment earlier.”

Tony yelled with joy when she walked into the kitchen. “Lyssa, you ready?”

Alyssa laughed. “Just let me grab a muffin and a cup of coffee, in a travel mug of course, and then I’ll be ready.”

“Yay. Hurry, Lyssa. Burning daylight.”

She laughed again and hurried.

Tony chattered all the way to town, pointing out trees and cattle and birds. Alyssa looked at Emma. “Is he always this excited about going to town?”

Emma rolled her eyes. “No, but he asked me where we were going in town and I wasn’t thinking when I answered, to the phone store.”

“Why does he like the phone store?” Alyssa thought it was a little odd to have a child so excited about looking at electronics.

“It’s not the actual phone store. It’s what’s next to it, which is the D-R-U-G store.”

“Still not getting it.”

“It’s an old-fashioned D-R-U-G store, which means it has a soda fountain and C-A-N-D-Y—a whole buffet of it. Every kind you can possibly imagine. It’s like kid heaven. I have a list to buy for everyone at the house, so we’ll probably end up spending more time there than doing everything else added together.”

Alyssa was shocked. “Everyone in your family asked you to buy them something at this buffet of C-A-N-D-Y?”

Emma nodded solemnly. “Every. One. Plus, some of the guys that live on the property found out we were going and texted me their orders.”

“Seriously?”

“Oh, yeah. Everyone is very serious about C-A-N-D-Y.”

“Mama, why are you spellin’ candy?” Tony asked.

Emma started, “Tony what makes you think I’m doing that?”

“You been teachin’ me my letters and those are the same letters I see’d at the drug store, next to the phone store, where all the candy is.”

Emma shook her head.

Tony continued, “I love candy so I learned to spell it for my Santa list next year.”

Alyssa laughed, and Emma groaned. “I thought it was good to teach him his letters. I thought he was too little to use them to spell things.”

Alyssa patted Emma on the arm. “My little sister, Beth, taught herself to read when she was still in kindergarten because some dumbaaa…, uh dum-dum, bought her a bird encyclopedia and we all hated reading it to her because it was so boring. So, she decided to learn to read it herself. By fourth grade she had an eighth-grade reading level. Looks like you might have the same thing in little Tony.”

“I’m afraid you might be right, but how will I ever keep a secret now?”

“The same way parents all over the world do. They don’t. Unless they’re super clever and use code.”

“Thanks, Alyssa. Thanks a lot.” Emma shook her head.

Alyssa laughed. “My pleasure.”

When they got to town, Emma pulled into a parking space right in front of the drug store and Tony about had a meltdown, he was so excited. Rather than make the little boy wait while she got a phone, Alyssa suggested that they go in to do all their candy shopping while she went in the phone store. Emma gave her a grateful smile and took the hopping Tony into the drug store.

It didn’t take Alyssa long to get a new phone. She wanted one that was compatible with the memory card she had, so she didn’t lose anything. That narrowed the choices and took the wind out of the sail of the salesman who would have been happy to sell her the latest and greatest. She got the newer version of her previous phone, the technician switched everything over, and she was on her way in about twenty minutes.

She went next door into the drug store, which was a marvel in itself. It had everything—from small kitchen appliances to handmade jewelry. Tourist souvenirs sat next to the farmer’s almanac. There was a pharmacy in the back and a soda counter ran along one wall. She decided she could easily spend a week in the store exploring and come out flat broke. She looked toward the front of the store where she found Emma with a pile of candy that was nearly as big as Tony.

Alyssa laughed as she walked over to her. “You weren’t kidding.”

“No, I wasn’t. I might need a wheel barrow to get this all into the car and then into the house,” Emma said sadly. “Tony is still debating his selection.”

Alyssa looked, and sure enough the little boy was carefully examining the candy buffet. She loved that term, candy buffet. “Maybe I can help.”

“Good luck, then.”

Alyssa went over and knelt next to Tony. “So, what are you thinking, big guy?”

“Tryin’ to decide if I want chocolate or gummy bears.”

“Which one do you like better?” she asked.

“I really like chocolate, but I chomp it, and then it’s all gone. Gummy bears are not as yummy as chocolate, but I can’t chomp them. I gotta chew and chew, so I have them longer.”

“I see your dilemma. Did you know that they have chocolate coated candy that has a gummy center, so it takes you longer to eat it?”

Tony looked at her wide eyed. “They do?”

“Yes, some places even have chocolate-coated gummy bears, but my personal favorites are these chocolate-coated raspberry jellies.”

He thought for a minute and said, “I like raspberry jelly on my toast.”

“Well then, how about you give these a try. And if you aren’t happy with them, I’ll come back and buy you something else and I’ll eat these.”

“Yay, I want to try them.” He hopped up and down and clapped his hands in glee.

Alyssa took two packages of the candy, because now she wanted some, too. She turned to take Tony to his mother and noticed Emma talking to a guy that looked angry. Alyssa didn’t know whether to keep Tony occupied and away from the discussion or backup Emma. She was relieved when Emma and the woman behind the counter spoke sharply to the man and he finally walked away, still angry.

Alyssa took Tony to the counter. Emma’s hands were shaking as she paid for the candy. Alyssa said gently, “Why don’t you take Tony to that park across the street. I’ll load the candy in the car and join you.”

Emma gave her a strained smile. “I’ll do that.” She waved her hand toward the woman behind the counter. “This is Katie, she’s friends with the twins. Katie, this is Alyssa our intern this spring. Thanks for your help, Katie.”

“Any time, Emma. Go on and take Tony to the park,” Katie said.

Alyssa paid for her and Tony’s candy. “So, you’re friends with the twins?”

Katie was a short woman with brown hair that turned golden at the ends. “Yeah, we went to school together our whole lives. I wanted to wait until Emma got out of earshot before I said anything. See if you can convince her to get a restraining order on that jackass. He was being threatening. I’m a few years older than the two of them, and used to babysit him, so he backed down when I came to her defense. But I don’t like what he was saying.”

She nodded at the feisty woman. She was little, but she had a strong personality. “I’ll give it a shot.”

“Good. Let me know if I can help. Cade and Chase both have my number, or I’m here most of the time.”

Alyssa said goodbye and then took all the purchases out and put them in the trunk of Emma’s SUV. She didn’t know what was going on, but clearly that guy had upset Emma and worried Katie.

Tony was busy playing on the slide and climbing all over the attached fun area while Emma watched him from a bench on the edge of the playground.

Alyssa went over and sat next to her. “Are you alright? I saw that guy harassing you.”

“Oh, I’m sorry you had to see that. I dated that guy for maybe five minutes back in high school and now he thinks he can harass me about my son. He seems to think I cheated on him with Tony’s father. I only went out with Nate twice before I realized he was an abusive ass and cut him loose. Tony was born a year and a half later, so anyone with any math skills at all can see it was long after I broke up with Nate. But he still harasses me every time he sees me. I’m just glad Tony was busy with you because he doesn’t need to hear that kind of crap.”

“Have you told your brothers about his abuse or gotten a restraining order?”

“No, I don’t want any of the boys to kill him, and I thought Nate would get over it and move on. But after today, I’m considering a restraining order. He backed down when Katie told him to leave her store. I’m not sure he would have, otherwise. He seems to be getting more aggressive.”

“I think it would be a good idea to make it official.”

“Yeah, it might be time to do something. Tony is four years old, Nate needs to move on and leave me alone.”

“Do you want to do that today? I can keep an eye on Tony.”

Emma bit her lip.

“Go ahead. We can play here at the park. And then if you aren’t back by lunch, I’ll take him to that sandwich shop and feed him something.”

“Alright. I think it’s a good idea to get this taken care of. Tony likes grilled cheese, French fries, and milk. Or chocolate milk if he’s being good. But no juice.”

Emma walked off to take her SUV down the street to the sheriff’s office. Alyssa hoped she was doing the right thing by encouraging Emma to get a restraining order. But no one should live under the harassment she’d seen from the guy.