“I bet them rustlers thought you were loony as a pole cat, comin’ straight at them with those kitchen knives.” Ty waggled his eyebrows at her.
But Jett didn’t crack a smile. He looked down at his plate and cleared his throat.
Crazy Hoss had dropped by for a visit with Fern and Gene Aimstock because Annie had kicked them out of the Moose Dimple Café. It was the first Monday of the month, which meant Annie and Meg were doing a deep clean of the café.
Marlee served them, too, hands electric with nerves. She shot another look at Jett’s serious face.
Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; an outsider and not your own lips.
Marlee pressed her lips together as one of the verses she’d read that morning surfaced above her nerves. Maybe mentioning her awards was a little overkill.
Crazy Hoss took a bite, and then closed his eyes and groaned.
Fern took one look at him, and shoveled three quick spoonfuls into her mouth.
“Spongey and crisp at the same time,” Ty said around a mouthful of cobbler.
“Chewy, peachy, sticky goodness is what it is,” Fern said before stuffing her mouth again.
Marlee sat down with a mug of coffee, a smile warming her face.
She might not be a five-star chef yet, but she knew how to put out good food. The look of joy on someone’s face when they ate her food always filled her with little prickles of pleasure. This is what she’d come here to do: prove once and for all that Marlee Donovan was no failure.
“Stick-in-your-teeth caramely goodness is what it is,” Gene said.
Marlee sighed with content. That was high praise indeed, coming from Gene Aimstock, who rarely spoke. Normally, his wife did all the talking and the poor man couldn’t squeeze in a single word.
But today, Fern’s mouth was crammed with cobbler.
“Gooey snuggled under a blanket of…I ain’t even got the words for it,” Crazy Hoss said.
“Maybe you are a little touched in the head,” Fern said to Marlee. “If you can cook like this, you must be mad to come out here and cook for a bunch of cowpokes. Girl, you should be workin’ in a five-star restaurant.”
“My mouth can’t get enough,” Ty said.
“You done spoilt my taste buds, that’s what you done.” Crazy Hoss stared down at his empty plate. Then he picked up his spoon and licked it clean.
Marlee glowed and took a sip of her hot coffee. She glanced at Jett, and her glow faded.
The man sat there like he was playing a poker game, instead of enjoying the best dessert of his life.
Even Crazy Hoss noticed.
“Whattsa matter, boss?” Crazy Hoss asked. “Don’t like peaches?””
Marlee’s hands trembled. She nearly sloshed her coffee, so she set her mug down. Dread squelched elation. “You’re not giving me the job.”
Jett looked at her, his expression pained. “Let’s talk about this later.”
She folded her arms. “Now is a good time for me. And you have nothing to do right now but eat peaches, so spit it out, cowboy.”
He didn’t say anything. Instead, he poked at the cobbler.
Marlee sniffed and tossed her curls back. He shouldn’t have a single bit of cobbler left on his plate. It was that good. Everybody had said so.
“You might as well say it.” Crazy Hoss sighed. “The lady asked you fair and square.”
Jett cleared his throat. “I can’t hire you, Marlee.”
“Yes.” She glared at him. “You can. You just won’t.”
He winced. “I can’t. You have no trail-ride experience except for the last one. We have several cattle drives a year. With the ranch understaffed, we’re going to need a chef who can also work as a good cowhand.”
“I can learn. And I wasn’t doing too badly by the time this last drive was over.”
Jett tensed. His lips flattened into a thin line. “Too dangerous.”
“But—”
“Even for experienced hands, it’s dangerous. Look what happened last time we went up.”
“Yeah,” she said, her voice raising. Her throat burned. “That was great experience. I was the one who saved your hide, if I remember right.”
He shook his head. “I know, but I have to make the right decision for the Paycoach family. I can’t give you the job just because you’re crazy enough to charge rustlers in the dark. You also need experience.”
“I’m experienced. I’ve been on a cattle drive already.”
“Your safety is my responsibility—I can’t feel good about…you might get hurt.”
Marlee blinked back tears, spine buzzing with anger. “I should have known you’d be too stubborn to change your opinion of me. All you saw that first day was a city girl who needed to toughen up in the saddle. Well, I did that, but I’m still not good enough for you.”
She shoved away from the table and marched toward the kitchen.
The scuffle and stomp of boots behind her said he’d followed her, but she ignored him, heading for the big double doors.
He grabbed her elbow and turned her toward him before she got there. “It’s okay. I’ve thought this through. You can get a job at the Rockspur outfit. They’ll probably be hiring a cook soon, and the chef there won’t do cattle drives.”
Marlee stared. The man had a lot of nerve to plan her future. A lot of nerve to decide what Marlee Donovan was and was not capable of.
“You sure they’re hiring, boss?” Crazy Hoss hollered from the other end of the mess hall.
Jett’s face reddened. “It’s easy enough to double check,” he mumbled.
Marlee gasped.
“You’ll be safer there, Marlee.” He stepped closer, his voice soft and pleading.
She twisted away from him and backed up a step. “You don’t get it, Jett Maddox.” Biting her lip to hold back a sob, she fled to the kitchen before he could see her hot tears.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Marlee stared at Jett’s office door and tightened her grip around the strap of her knife case.
The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him; though he may stumble he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand.
Failing her working interview at the Paycoach ranch was a big stumble, all right.
Lord, I’ve failed completely. Please hold me up.
Marlee hitched up her knife roll, picked up her suitcases and then pushed into Jett’s office.
He cleared his throat and stood up when he saw her.
She set her suitcases down.
“Marlee,” he said. His face tightened.
The smile she gave him nearly cracked. Tension spread all the way along her jaw and through her neck and shoulders.
“I wrote a letter of recommendation.” He handed her an envelope, and Marlee stared down at it.
She didn’t need a letter of recommendation. She needed a job.
She needed to not have to go home and tell Dad that he was right about her being a failure.
More than that, she needed to stay here.
Here on the Paycoach ranch.
Here in Looking Glass Lake.
Where she felt like she was family, and where the stars seemed so close she could touch them at night. Where people ate her food until their bellies ached, told her it was the best they’d ever had, and weren’t afraid of gaining a little weight.
And where a dark-eyed cowboy bragged on her around the campfire, showed her how to ride a horse the gentle way, and gave her his heart every evening in a mug of cayenne-laced hot chocolate.
Okay. Maybe that last part about his heart had been her imagination.
Whatever the case, it was over now.
“…and your last check,” he said.
He handed the check to her, and she looked up. His face was drawn tight in weary lines, eyes darker this morning. Heavy.
She drug her gaze away from his and focused on the check.
It was larger than she’d expected.
He poked a
finger down his collar. “For working the cattle,” he said.
She raised her brows. That didn’t completely explain the amount. It was far more than she should have received for cooking and working the cattle. “Looks like guilt money to me,” she said.
“Nope.” His nostrils flared, and his eyes flashed. “No guilt here. You came out here and didn’t know our needs had changed. It’s only fair that we pay your travel expenses.”
She shoved the check in the pocket of her jeans and fought a swirl of emotions.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves.
Tears pricked and she blinked rapidly to clear them.
He’s the one being conceited, Lord, she argued silently.
But she knew it wasn’t true.
Jett was right. Silas and Cassie’s deaths had changed the ranch’s needs. Her own needs paled in comparison when she thought of it that way. Maybe he was right to guard the family’s ranch so fiercely.
But that wasn’t the problem.
The problem was that he thought her so incompetent, he’d fired her.
Marlee sniffed and hitched up her knife roll.
If she was careful with the money, she might be able to make this last through the next two months while she hunted for another job. She’d have to cut back a lot, but anything was better than having to move back in with Mom and Dad.
Anything was better than once again proving she would always be the baby of the family in need of rescuing.
“Nice ridin’ with you,” she said, her voice flat. Then she picked up her suitcases and lugged them to the door. Her throat burned.
She’d thought they had an understanding. She was proud of everything she’d learned. She was even starting to look forward to the next cattle drive in the spring.
She had started to think that maybe God had brought her here to find not only a job, but also a family and the kind of man she’d thought only existed in her dreams.
Except it had turned into a nightmare.
And the man of her dreams thought she was a failure.
She opened the door, but it knocked a suitcase over. She bent to yank it aside, but stopped when she saw Jett’s boots.
He’d come to take her suitcases.
She almost didn’t let him. But he tugged gently, and she finally let go.
He carried her suitcases out, both handles crammed into one hand.
Outside, Crazy Hoss waited with the truck running. The old man was heading back to the Moose Dimple Pharmacy and Café today, and had volunteered to drive Marlee to the train station.
Jett swung her suitcases in the back of the truck. She ignored him and went to open the truck door, but he stopped her.
His rough hand closed over hers on the handle. She froze, keeping her back rigid.
Maybe he was going to stop her.
Please, God, let him stop me.
Her heart pounded with longing.
Maybe he was right. Maybe she could swallow her pride and check with the Rockspur ranch to see if they’d hire her.
“Marlee—”
She squeezed her eyes shut. All he had to do was say something—anything to let her know he really wanted her to stay in town.
Well…that and maybe he was sorry for humiliating her in front of everyone.
But she sat there, staring at his hand for what felt like forever. His knuckles were chapped. Worn and seasoned from sun and wind and cold.
Apparently, he had only that one word left to say to her, because he didn’t say anything else.
So she tugged on the handle, and hoisted herself up in the truck, keeping her gaze free of his.
Those black eyes could lasso her so easily, and she wasn’t sure he’d be gentle with her heart, since the last time, he’d dashed every hope.
She shut the door firmly.
Crazy Hoss cleared his throat.
“All set?”
Marlee nodded.
As Crazy Hoss pulled away from the ranch, Marlee kept her gaze straight ahead.
Jett was getting smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror now—a part of her past.
It was time to remind herself that good chefs might serve a variety of dishes, but regret wasn’t one to linger over.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Crazy Hoss unloaded the suitcases on the train station platform. Since the train wasn’t going to arrive for another few hours or so, it didn’t take him long to talk her into going to the Moose Dimple for a complimentary lunch.
At the Moose Dimple, everyone crowded around her.
Fern Aimstock was there, and so was Meg. Even Annie, and Grand-Etta. Grand-Etta had just returned from visiting family in Boise, and she wanted to hear about Marlee’s daring rescue of Jett.
Meg and Annie swooned over the romance of it.
“Usually it’s the man riding to the rescue, but not Marlee Donovan,” Anne beamed.
She dished an extra helping of peach cobbler onto Marlee’s plate.
“I heard about your amazing peach cobbler, so I took a stab at it. What do you think?”
Marlee tested the cobbler. “It’s delicious,” she said.
“It’s good, all right,” Crazy Hoss said. He was on his second helping. “But Marlee’s is a whole world better. Hers is crispy and chewy all in the same bite but in different places.”
Marlee flushed, and snuck a peak at Annie.
Annie grinned, unfazed. “It’s all I’ve heard since you made it,” she said. “So I didn’t really think I could out-do you.”
“I wish you would stay.” Meg sighed. Her gray eyes glowed, her freckled face rapt with love for her animals. “You’d love my horses. I’ve just gentled a new mustang that would be perfect for you if you wanted to ride with me. She’s a deep cinnamon brown, and has a sweet nature with only a tiny dash of feisty. A lot like you,” she said shyly. “I haven’t named her yet, but I think Cobbler has a nice ring to it, don’t you?”
Marlee swallowed a lump. She covered Meg’s hand with hers and smiled.
“Yeah, I wish you’d stay, too,” Annie put in. “You could teach me how to make your amazing cobbler, and we’d put it on special here at the café every year during peach season. You’d be famous, and with a dish like that, I’m sure the resort would hire you in a flash as soon as they open.”
Marlee’s heart lurched. If only she could stay here in Looking Glass Lake.
Crazy Hoss grunted. “I always said cowboys are dumber than bricks when it comes to romance.” He blew out a breath in disgust, stirring his gray whiskers. “But once they get the hay outta their brains, you’d never find a more loyal kind of man.”
“Then Jett just might need our help getting the hay out of his brains,” Fern declared. “Anybody can see Marlee would be a great choice for that ranch, and an even better choice for him to marry up with.”
Marlee pushed away from the table. The train didn’t come in for another forty minutes, but the talk was starting to get a bit uncomfortable for her.
Any more of it, and she was sure the skin on her cheeks would set in a permanent blush.
“Well, I didn’t give him the choice to marry me,” she said crisply. “And as much as I’d love to stay in this little town…” She swallowed. “He’s made his choice, and I have a train to catch.”
It was hard. Almost as hard as watching Jett fade away in the rear view mirror. But she did it. She hugged everyone and said goodbye, and trudged across the dusty street to the train station…even though that meant leaving her heart behind in the Moose Dimple Café to do it.
* * *
Marlee wasn’t a bit surprised when Fern followed her to the station.
“Don’t you worry one little bit,” Fern said. She sank down in the bench next to Marlee.
The two women watched as a bird hopped down, pecking at the ground near their feet.
“I told Crazy Hoss to go and get Jett. If he hurries, he’ll have time to get here before your train a
rrives.” Fern sat back and folded her hands over her round tummy. She tipped her head back, gazing up at the sky and smiling. “Ah, I do love a clear blue fall afternoon.”
Marlee pressed her lips together. “I wish you wouldn’t have done that,” she said.
Fern gave Marlee an unruffled smile. “When you’ve lived here awhile, you’ll realize what everyone else does.”
“What?”
“It’s hard to stop me when I get a good notion to fix a gal up with her man.”
Marlee rolled her eyes. “He’s not my man.”
Yeah. That was the problem.
He wasn’t her man. She’d started to think of him as…well, as at least a possibility. A possibility for something thrilling. She’d started to imagine maybe long horseback rides and spring and fall roundups where they’d sit around a campfire inside a circle of warmth while wolves howled and crickets sang and stars flickered overhead. Maybe even sleigh rides in winter.
And maybe one day, they’d ride out to the meadow, but this time Jett in a tux and she in a long white gown flowing down the back of her horse.
And then maybe one day they’d have their own ranch. They’d have quiet dinners after a long day working under open skies. There would be a patchwork quilt on their bed, and a big commercial oven in the kitchen.
They’d have a barn cat and two cow dogs.
They’d go to church on Sunday morning and look at seed catalogs and dream together on lazy Sunday afternoons about where to plant the heirloom tomatoes and whether they should build a tack room onto the barn.
But those were romantic notions that belonged in fairytale books.
If fairytale books had cowboys in them.
No, Jett wasn’t her man. She’d gotten way ahead of herself when she started putting Jett in those dreams. He’d never said he wanted to be there. He’d never kissed her. She’d just gotten carried away with the dream.
“You don’t have to claim him to be your man.” Fern chuckled. “It doesn’t work that way. God’s the one who decides.”
Marlee traced the carved leather of her knife roll. She’d chosen that design because the scrolls and roses had reminded her of the west, and she’d been excited about starting a new life out here.
Love on the Range: A Looking Glass Lake Prequel Page 12