Chapter 13

Lex followed Amanda into the small building, ignoring the curious looks that passed her way. The younger woman led her into a brightly-lit room with several partitioned cubicles, guiding her to a comfortable chair next to a cluttered desk.

"I would apologize for the mess and try telling you it normally doesn't look like this, but I refuse to lie." Amanda grinned, sitting down at the desk.

Lex leaned back in the chair, crossing her legs at the ankles and resting her entwined hands on her flat stomach. "They say a cluttered desk is the sign of a busy mind…" she grinned, "when do you find time to sleep?"

Amanda stopped her cleaning efforts, and wadded up a piece of paper - throwing it at the smirking rancher. "Oh, you!"

Lex caught the paper in mid air, tossing it back to hit the smaller woman on top of her head and then ricocheting over the partition. "Oops!" she tried to look innocent as a small woman peeked over the wall, glaring. She had short, sandy-blonde curls framing her round face, and appeared to be a few years older than Lex. Her almost gray eyes flicked to the desk with a scowl.

Her demeanor instantly changed when she saw who was sitting at the desk. "Amanda! 'Bout time you got back!" she disappeared, then reappeared a moment later in Amanda's cubicle, encircling the younger woman in a hug. "You look great!" Noticing for the first time that they weren't alone, she gave Lex a tentative smile. "Oh, sorry…I didn't know you had company." She studied the silent woman from head to toe - extremely blue eyes, denim shirt, pressed jeans and worn but well cared-for boots. "You must be Lexington…the whole office has been buzzing about you."

"Really?" the tall woman stood and held out a hand. "You can call me Lex."

The older woman smiled, more genuinely this time. "Lord, my manners are horrible! I'm Wanda Skimmerly…it's really nice to meet you." She shook the rancher's hand.

"Wanda?" Amanda interrupted her babbling, "what do you mean, the whole office is buzzing?"

"Well, when your grandmother called to say why you weren't coming in for a while, she said something about how you were literally pulled from the jaws of death - that's Janet talking, not me." She looked at Lex. "She's the one who spoke to Anna Leigh when she called in."

Lex laughed, then sat back down in her chair. "I'm afraid it wasn't that exciting… I just helped Amanda out of the creek, and then held her hostage until the bridge was rebuilt." She winked at the older woman.

Wanda shook her head. "Uh-huh…if you say so." She looked at Amanda, who was sitting on the edge of her desk. "Well, I'll let you get back to it, then…nice to finally meet you, Lex." She left the cubicle.

"Yeah…nice to meet you, too." The dark-haired woman replied, waving a hand. She glanced over at her companion, who had a smirk on her face. "The 'jaws of death'? Good grief! These people need to quit watching so many talk shows."

Amanda chuckled, but was kept from answering by the buzzing phone on her desk. "Amanda Cauble…" she listened for a moment, then broke into a wide smile. "Hi, Gramma…sure. We'll be right there." She looked at Lex as she hung up the phone. "Showtime." Offering her hand to the reclining woman, Amanda pulled the rancher up out of her chair and led her towards the office.