Forever Santa (15 page)
“Between you and me, my money’s on your mom.”
Alex glanced at Doc Johnson before picking up the metal crutch leaning against the bed. He hoped Doc was right, otherwise they’d be eating cherry pie for months while his mom perfected her recipe.
He gripped the crutch and took a tentative step toward the door. The metal rod felt flimsy in his hands. As if it would snap if he leaned too heavily against the armband. He hated using it, but after spending more than an hour riding this morning, his leg wasn’t up to holding any more of his weight than it had to. “I’ll make an appointment with the receptionist.”
“You do that,” Doc Johnson said. “And remember what I told you. No bull riding. If I hear any stories about you parading around an arena, I’ll get in my truck and find you.”
Alex left the hospital feeling like a hangman had just tightened the noose around his neck. For the last five years he’d ridden as a professional bull rider, notching up more prize money than his father or grandfather combined. Being relegated to sideshow status wasn’t easy, but then standing up for more than a couple of hours didn’t go down too well either.
He limped across to the red truck parked under the shade of a tree. Gracie, his happily married half sister, had a book propped open between the steering wheel and her pregnant body.
For the first time that afternoon he smiled. “What are you reading?”
Gracie jumped. “You’re going to send me into labor if you sneak up on me like that.” She took a deep breath and closed the book. “Mom used to read me this story when I was little. It’s called,
The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
How did your appointment go?”
“Not good.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Nope.”
She stared at him long and hard. “You’re going to get ulcers if you keep everything bottled up inside that head of yours.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He threw his crutch on the backseat and walked around to the passenger side of the truck.
Gracie frowned at the grin he sent her. “You’re limping worse than when I dropped you off.” When he didn’t answer she pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes. “Okay. I get the message. But next time I’m going to keep pestering you until you tell me what’s going on.”
That’s what Alex liked most about Gracie. She never pushed him further than he was prepared to go. Well, hardly ever, and never about things that cut deep.
Gracie wiggled back in her seat, trying to get comfortable. Only he didn’t know if that was possible. At five-foot-one, there wasn’t a lot of spare room for the baby that was filling her stomach to overflowing.
“Are you ready to go home?” she asked.
He shook his head. He’d been staying with his parents on their ranch outside of Billings for the last couple of months. Gracie and Trent’s ranch was halfway between his parents’ ranch and Bozeman. As soon as his mom saw him she’d want to know what Doc Johnson had said and he wasn’t ready to talk about it.
Before he spoke to anyone he needed to work out what he was going to do for the next few months. He sure as hell didn’t want to limp around his parents’ ranch, getting in everyone’s way.
“In that case,” Gracie said, “I vote for hot chocolate and cake. It’s Mud Cake Monday at Angel Wing’s Café and if we hurry Tess should still have some left.”
And that was the second thing he liked about Gracie. She knew the way to a man’s heart.
Forever Cowboy - Available Now!
BOOK SEVEN IN THE MONTANA BRIDES SERIES
Written by Leeanna Morgan
“I’m in trouble.” Jordan leaned toward Tess, the owner of Angel Wings Café, hoping no one heard the desperation in his voice.
“Shouldn’t you be having this conversation with your brother?” Tess slid a couple of muffins into a paper bag and pushed them across the counter.
“It’s not funny.” Only he wished it was. But unless his brother had developed a talent for cooking, even Trent wouldn’t be able to get him out of the mess he was in. “Trent’s taken Gracie and Jessica on holiday. I’ve got a family of five arriving in two days’ time for a ranch vacation and no one to cook their meals.”
“Where’s Mrs. Davies?”
“She’s gone to look after her sister and won’t be back for a couple of weeks.”
“Can’t one of the other ranch hands help?”
“Frank’s got the best baking skills of all of us, but he’s limited by what he can throw in the microwave. What about Annie?” Jordan hoped Tess would take pity on him and loan him her part time baker. There wasn’t one food group that Annie didn’t know how to cook and he needed her on the ranch.
He smiled at Tess, using the dimple in his cheek for extra leverage. If he didn’t find someone soon, the Buchanan’s wouldn’t be able to come. Then he’d have other cancellations to handle before Mrs. Davies, their housekeeper, made it back to Bozeman.
“I know what you’re trying to do, and it won’t work.” Tess shooed him away while she served the next person in line. He liked Tess and he liked what she’d created inside her café. The food was great and the atmosphere was relaxing. It was about as different from the ice cream parlor that used to be here as anything he’d ever seen.
He waited until the last person had paid their bill before stepping forward. She’d have to give him credit for perseverance. He was a desperate man and he’d do nearly anything for his business.
“I can’t help you, Jordan. Annie only works mornings and Kate does a few hours in the afternoon. Even if all of us were able to help, we wouldn’t be able to keep up with what we need for the café and do the meals for the ranch. Have you thought about putting a notice in the newspaper?”
“By the time it’s published and I go through all of the applicants, Mrs. Davies will be home. Please Tess, it’s only for two few weeks.”
Tess crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You can put that dimple away because it’s not working.”
“Not even a little bit?”
Tess laughed. “Maybe a little, but the answer is still no. What if you put a poster in the front window? There might be someone looking for work.”
Jordan wasn’t holding out much luck of that happening, but he didn’t have a choice. “I’ll head across to the library and use one of their computers. Can I bring the poster straight back after I’ve finished?”
“You bet. I’ll even give you a glowing reference if anyone asks.”
And that, thought Jordan, was probably the best he could hope for. He’d copy a few extra posters for the other stores nearby and tape them to their front windows.
Then he’d go to the bookstore and look for a recipe book for beginners.
***
Sarah stared at the poster in the front window of Angel Wings Café. In a few minutes she’d be meeting Tess and Sally for coffee. She didn’t have much time before Sally arrived, but it would be enough to ask Tess about the short-term position on the Triple L Ranch.
For the last year she’d been working on Alex Green’s ranch, cooking for the ranch hands and keeping the place clean and tidy. It wasn’t what she wanted to do for the rest of her life, but she was happy. She had a savings account that was slowly growing and a lot of ideas about what she’d do with that money when the time was right.
The doorbell jingled as she entered the café.
Tess turned toward her with a smile. “You’re the first to arrive. What can I get you?”
Sarah grinned. For the last six months they’d had a competition to see how many coffee combinations Tess could make in less than ninety seconds. So far Tess had won each round, but Sarah had a feeling this one might tip the balance.
“I’ll have a grande decaf, extra-hot soy Americano with extra foam.”
Tess raised her eyebrow. “Are you sure?”
They’d been down this road before, too. Tess would try and psych her out of a coffee she thought would take too long to make. “I’m positive. It’s a big one,” she whispered.
Tess shook her head. “You’re going to lose.”
Sarah grinned at her friend. “We’ll see. When you’re done figuring out how to make my coffee, you can tell me about the job you’ve got advertised in your front window.”
“Are you interested?”
“I’m doing the same type of thing on Alex’s ranch, so helping another ranch for a couple of weeks shouldn’t be a problem. I could make lunch and dinner for both places at the same time. It’s just the housework that might suffer.”
“And we all know how much you enjoy housework,” Tess said.
“My expertise is baking, not cleaning the windows.” Sarah pulled her cell phone out of her tote bag and flicked to the stopwatch app. “Are you ready to show me how awesome you are?”
“After I’ve whipped up this coffee I’ll tell you about the Triple L. And if you promise not to sulk because I won, I might even tell you about Jordan.”
“Who?”
“Jordan McKenzie.” Tess looked at the coffee machine, then opened the fridge and took out the soy milk. “He manages the ranch vacation business on the Triple L.”
Sarah frowned. “Are you telling me this to distract me from what you’re doing? Making my coffee without starting the stopwatch has to break at least one rule.”
“I didn’t know we had rules.” Tess grinned. “I wouldn’t dream of cutting a few seconds off the finish time.” She flexed her fingers and rolled her shoulders. “Okay. I’m ready to blow you away with my coffee making prowess.”
Sarah held her finger above the start button. “I’ll wish you luck because you’re going to need it. On your marks…get set…go!”
Tess’ hands flew in front of the coffee machine, packing the espresso grounds down, twisting the filter onto the machine before letting the fresh espresso dribble into the mug below. “How am I going for time?”
“Forty-five seconds.”
Tess grabbed a carton of soy milk, heated and frothed it in the machine. With the other hand she poured hot water into the espresso, added the frothed milk and yelled,
“Stop.”
Sarah looked at the top of her coffee. “You even did a pretty flower in the foam.”
“I aim to please. How did I go?”
“One minute, twenty-eight seconds. You won again.”
Tess high-fived Sarah before pushing the mug across the counter. “You’re going to have to come up with a weird combination to beat this barista.”
The doorbell jingled and Sally walked into the café. She sniffed the air. “What coffee did you make today?”
“Grande decaf, extra-hot soy Americano with extra foam.”
“Impressive. How did Tess do?”
Sarah sighed. “She won.”
“Sounds like you’re going to be buying the next meal at Charlie’s Bar and Grill.”
“I’ve still got another ten days to find a coffee that outwits the maestro.”
“Not going to happen,” Tess said with a smile. “What would you like to drink, Sally?”
“Hot chocolate.”
“Are you sure you don’t want that with a cinnamon and cream swirl on top? I could even do low fat, half strength.”
“Not me,” Sally said. “I’m an all or nothing kind of girl.”
Sarah took her coffee to a table close to the front counter. “Is that why you’re trying to offload one of your puppies on me?”
“I’m not offloading.” Sally sat beside Sarah. “I’m trying to re-home them. They were left in a bag on the side of the road behind the youth center. I’m not allowed to take anymore animals to mom and dad’s place, so I thought Alex’s ranch would be perfect.”
“I wouldn’t know what to do with a dog.”
“I could teach you.”
Sarah shook her head. “I’ve got no idea where I’ll be living in twelve months’ time, so I’m a pet-free zone at the moment.”
Tess arrived at the table with Sally’s hot chocolate and a glass of orange juice for herself. “What have I missed?”
“Sally’s trying to convince me to take one of her puppies.”
“Shame on you, Sally Gray. I thought Alex had already taken a puppy?”
Sally grinned. “He has, but I thought I’d try convincing Sarah to make it two. He’s got lots of space. Besides, with his wedding only a month away he’ll have more on his mind than another four-legged friend.”