He took it. He read it in the light from the single single lantern hanging near the stall. His expression did not change, which she was beginning to understand was not indifference, but simply how his face operated. "This is a lot," he said. It's what we need to get 10 people through to April without cutting portions.
It's more than I budgeted. Then the budget needs adjusting, she said, or the portions do. I can make the second option work, but I want you to understand what that means. By February, we'll be eating beans 6 days a week, and the men's energy for heavy ranch work drops accordingly. Your choice.
He looked at her over the list. That flat evaluating look she'd already cataloged. How do you know what ranch hands need to eat to work? I've cooked for working men before, she said. You feed them badly, they slow down.
You feed them nothing, they leave. He folded the list and put it in his coat. I'll go to town Thursday. I'd like to come, she said to make sure what's purchased is what I actually need rather than what someone thinks is similar. A pause.
Fine. She walked back to the house. Behind her, she heard him say something quiet to the horse in the stall in a tone he hadn't used with her or apparently anyone else. And she filed that away, too. A man who talked gently to sick animals was not entirely a closed door.
The trip to Red Hollow took them nearly 2 hours by wagon across frozen ground that rattled the wheels and made conversation impractical, which suited both of them fine. The was small, a main street with a general store, a livery, a saloon, a land office, and a scattering of buildings that had the unfinished look of a place still deciding whether to stay. The kind of place where everyone knew who you were after two weeks and had opinions about you by the third. The general store was was run by a broad man and Parker who greeted Gideon by name and assessed Rosalie with the sideways look of someone who hadn't been introduced but intended to form a view anyway. Rosalie moved through the store methodically, checking her list against the shelves.
This asking Harker where items were kept, comparing quality where there was a choice. She was debating between two grades of cornmeal when she heard it. Not loud, barely more than a murmur from near the back of the store where two ken she didn't know were talking to Harker in the particular low voice people use when they want to be heard by their target without technically addressing them. Brought her from Cheyenne. One of them said heard she was let go from the Grand Hotel.
Harker, you know why they let someone go from a hotel kitchen? Harker made a non-committal sound. Stealing. The man said. That's the word from Cheyenne.
Gideon's put a thief in his house. Rosalie did not turn around. Her hands were perfectly steady. She had had two weeks to decide how she was going to handle moments like this one. She had always known it would happen cuz Parish's story had spread the way these things always spread.