to pack up my condo, which is why I asked Jimmy to hurry with my car. I have to get back and get everything out before my lease is completely up. I’ll put it in storage and then I’ll either move on out to Washington or I’ll find a way to make things work in the Keys. Of course I could move to New York.” She laughed. “I have options.”
“I can see that,” his voice sounded less chipper to her than before and she wondered why. She thought he would be happy that she was still going to try to make a life for herself somewhere.
“I can open my own bakery…well, probably not in Key Largo.”
He nodded. “You’re good at what you do. I hope it works out for you.”
“Thanks,” she popped another grape into her mouth.
“You can open a bakery anywhere you know?”
“I know. That’s the great thing about it…but I do have to think about finances and living arrangements plus renting a shop. You know, I need to find out about taxes and papers that I’ll need to file in whatever city I move to. Every place seems to have different laws so I need to find the one where I can make the most money with my bakery while keeping my sanity even with the city and state laws.” She chuckled. “The business plus the baking is going to be all on me for a long time. I want to make sure I do it right. Jimmy says my car should be ready by the end of the week so I’m going to hit the road.”
“I guess you’ll never come back.”
“Are you kidding me?! I love it here. I’ll come back to visit you. That’s what friends do. And I hope you’ll come visit me wherever I land, Dean.”
“Yeah,” he said softly. “That’s what friends do.”
33
A Rancher’s Love ~ Capri Montgomery The end of the week brought Jimmy with her car and Zoe packed up her bags, put them in the car and made sure she printed out written directions before she left Dean’s ranch. The guys threw her a going away party, and gave her cute little gifts to remember them by. They even gave her a picture of all of them together, Dean included. She was going to miss this place, and these guys and even Dean, but he had said he would come visit her once she got settled.
She gave them all one last hug before getting in the car, wiping the tears from her cheek and driving off; back to the Keys she had to go, leaving this little slice of heaven behind.
34
A Rancher’s Love ~ Capri Montgomery Chapter Five
“W hy didn’t you ask her to stay?” Guy tried to hold his tongue with Dean, but it was getting increasingly difficult. Zoe had been gone three weeks and in those three weeks, Dean had become as moody as a mare in heat. He was sad, they all knew it, but instead of him brushing off that sadness he let it hit him hard. He worked harder, and had fewer words to say to anybody. He didn’t break for lunch. Even Jasper was getting worried about him. She said it seemed a lot like when Daisy died, and she was right. Dean had gone through this when Daisy died and unfortunately it had almost killed him. Guy knew he had to do something soon.
“Go eat lunch, Guy.”
“Going,” he grumbled. Clearly he wasn’t going to convince Dean to come eat with them. The guys missed him at the table. He was pulling away, and only a few people had seen him do that before—his parents, Jasper, Doc, and Guy were the only ones who were around him when Daisy died, so they were the only ones who could know this mood that he had now spelled trouble.
“He won’t come again?” Jasper placed her hands on her hips.
“No; he won’t come.”
“He’s going to make himself sick. He won’t eat. He barely sleeps. He’s going to work himself into the grave trying to get her out of his mind.”
“She hasn’t called?”
“She called after I left and she left a message. But he told me when he called her back she was out.
They keep playing phone tag…and this morning,” she sighed and shook her head. “This morning he tried to call her at home and her phone was