The Maverick

by Jan Hudson

“Well, bless his sweet heart,” Cass whispered as she continued laying out the King Ranch chicken casserole and shrimp Portofino and salads and decadent desserts. “How thoughtful. Maybe there are a few decent New York lawyers, after all.”

  AS IT TURNED OUT, the tile floors in the bathrooms and kitchen were fine, but those in the serving area and office were a lost cause. Cass and Sunny shopped around and selected a laminate wood floor that looked like old planks and promised to wear like iron. The installers arrived on Thursday to lay down the new surface.

  Their mother and Aunt Min were arriving on the same day. The twins had only a few hours notice to air out the town house their mom and aunt shared a few blocks from the café. They called a maid service to clean and change linens. Sunny stocked the pantry while Cass bought flowers and a couple of plants to brighten up the place, which had been closed for months.

  Cass placed a vase of irises on the hall table and stepped back to admire them. “I wish we could have talked them out of coming,” she said to Sunny. “They were having a wonderful time in France and could have stayed another few weeks at least.”

  “When have we ever been able to talk those two out of anything? They still think of us as their babies.”

  Cass sighed. “I know. They worry. What time is their plane due?”

  “Three o’clock. We’d better get going. They’ll be exhausted, and the time difference is going to be hard on them. I hope they slept some on the plane.”

  “Fat chance.”

  They locked up and headed for the airport.

  “We got another one of those letters today,” Sunny said as they drove.

  “What letters?”

  “The one from the guy in New York offering us an obscene amount of money for Chili Witches and the surrounding property. He upped his offer by ten percent.”

  “You’re kidding. After my reply to his last offer, I certainly didn’t expect to hear from him again. Let’s just ignore this one.”

  “Don’t you think we should mention it to Mom and Aunt Min? After all, they’re the majority stockholders of the company.”

  “I suppose so,” Cass said, “but you know their answer. They’d sooner sell a kidney than part with Chili Witches. The guy probably wants to raze the buildings and put up offices or, God forbid, another condo high-rise.”

  “I thought the high-rise craze had passed.”

  “Nope. Rumor is it’s coming back with a vengeance. POAC is a watchdog for irresponsible destruction and building, and we keep our ear to the ground. If we hadn’t been on our toes last month, some idiot would have leveled an entire grove of pecan trees and put in a car wash.”

  “Cass, a car wash is a legitimate business.”

  “Of course it is, but we worked with the guy to reconfigure his layout and be able to save most of the trees. It not only made for a more attractive place, but now he can also bill his business as eco-friendly, and eco-friendly is in.”

  “Well, good for POAC,” Sunny said. “And good for you, tiger. Sic ’em.”

  CASS THOUGHT HER MOTHER and aunt had never looked so lovely—even after a grueling overseas flight. Gloria and Minerva O’Connor weren’t twins—Aunt Min was older by a year and a half—but they looked very much alike. Both were still trim and a couple of inches shorter than Sunny and Cass. The streaks of gray in their strawberry-blond hair had disappeared in the months they had been gone, and they both had new short and fashionable haircuts instead of their old styles, which was usually some sort of convenient twist. They both looked ten years younger than their sixty plus.

  “You look fantastic,” Cass said, hugging her mother, then Aunt Min. “What have you done to yourselves?”

  Gloria beamed. “I highly recommend retirement. And the new French makeovers helped.” She fluffed her hair. “Like it?”

  “I love it. Aunt Min, are you sure you haven’t had a face-lift?”

  Min chuckled. “Absolutely not, but we went to this lovely salon for skin treatments.” She rubbed her cheek. “Soft as a baby’s butt. Feel.”

  “You’re right, and you both look so rested. Were you able to sleep on the plane?”

  “We were,” Gloria said. “You two, on the other hand, look like you’ve been dragged through a knothole backward. But not to worry, we’re here to help handle things.”

  “There’s nothing to handle,” Sunny said. “Everything has been dried out and checked out and approved. The new floors are going in today and the contractors are coming tomorrow for some minor repair work.”

  “What about…?”

  “Supplies have been ordered for the kitchen,” Cass said, kissing her mother’s cheek, “and the cooks and kitchen help are coming in over the weekend to see that everything will be ready for business on Monday.”

  Gloria looked at Min. “See, I told you our girls could handle the situation.”

  “Ha!” Min said. “You were chomping at the bit to get here. Same as me. We have Sunny’s wedding to plan, anyhow. We just came back a little early.”

  Sunny sighed. “I’ve told you. There’s nothing to plan. We’re going to have a simple wedding with only family and a few friends.”

  “We’ll discuss that later,” her mother said, clearly intimating her preference for a more elaborate do. “Even small weddings take preparation. We’re eager to meet Ben.”

  “He’s eager to meet you, too,” Sunny told her. “He’ll probably be over for dinner tonight.”

  “Good, good,” Min said. “Come on. Let’s get our bags and stretch our legs. We love Europe, but it’s wonderful to be home. I’ve been dying for a big plate of barbecued ribs. Did you know you can’t get a decent barbecued rib in France? For all their culinary expertise, they’ve never managed to make a good old Texas barbecue sauce.”

  “Or a good bowl of chili,” Gloria said as they walked toward the baggage carousels. “And forget enchiladas. Of course, we could make our own chili and enchiladas, but we didn’t have a proper barbecue pit.”

  Cass laughed. “I’m surprised you didn’t build one and open a barbecue joint and a chili parlor.”

  Gloria and Min glanced at each other. “We’ve considered it,” Min admitted.

  “Don’t you dare!” Cass said. “You’re retired.”

  Gloria sighed. “I know. And I love having time to paint.”

  “Tell you what,” Sunny said. “Let’s get you settled, and you can come over and see my new house tonight and have a big barbecue dinner.”

  “I’ll vote for that,” Min said. “That’s one of my bags. The one with the red tassel.”

  After the bags were collected and loaded, the two older women insisted on stopping by the café before they went home. Cass and Sunny were eager to check out things, too, so they made a swing by the place. The assistant manager and two of their waiters were moving chairs and tables back inside from where they’d been stored in Cass’s apartment. What wouldn’t fit there were in Sunny’s garage, courtesy of friends with pickups.

  “Oh, I like the new floor,” Gloria said.

  “So do I,” Min added. “The old one had seen better days, anyhow. Was the wiring damaged?”

  “Luckily, no,” Cass said. “At least nothing major. Everything has been checked out and is working fine. We hired a restoration company who got right on it. They had the water pumped out and the fans going almost immediately. The registers and computer equipment are stashed upstairs in Hank’s living room, and Griff hired a moving company to move the office furniture and file cabinets to Sunny’s storage unit.”

  “Who’s Griff?” Gloria asked.

  Trust her mother’s antennae to go up.

  “He’s a guy I’ve been dating.”

  “And why haven’t we heard about him before? Is he local?”

  “No, Mom, he’s not local, and I’ve only been seeing him for a couple of weeks. It’s nothing serious.”

  Gloria’s eyebrow rose, and she glanced at her sister. “What does he do?”

  “He’s a lawyer.”
r />   Gloria’s eyebrow went even higher.

  GRIFF, THE SWEETHEART, insisted on providing the barbecue dinner. Cass was surprised he didn’t suggest having it catered. He’d been überhelpful and attentive during their crisis at Chili Witches, certainly more solicitous of her than Daniel had ever been—and they’d been engaged. Maybe all New York lawyers weren’t tarred with the same brush.

  Sunny had invited Ben and Jay over, as well. Their mom and aunt were itching to meet the groom. Cass was sure there wouldn’t be any objections to him; Ben McKee was a dear. And she couldn’t imagine them not liking Griff as well. He was a first-class charmer.

  Chapter Ten

  It was Jay who stole the show. Both Gloria and Min fell in love with Ben’s little boy, who was especially delightful in relating his Montessori class’s trip to a goat farm.

  After the men left, Gloria said, “Jay is a little doll. And, Sunny, I like your Ben very much.”

  “He’s a wonderful father and will make a good husband for you,” Min said. “He obviously adores you.”

  Cass waited for comments about Griff, who had been charming and solicitous as usual. None came. She finally said, “Griff was very sweet to provide our dinner.”

  “Yes, he was,” Gloria agreed.

  Min began clearing coffee cups. “The ribs were among the best I’ve ever had. Just suited my taste.”

  “What did you think of him?” Cass asked directly.

  “He has beautiful eyes,” her aunt said. “Reminds me a bit of Paul Newman.”

  Cass had lived with these women long enough to recognize a runaround when she heard it. “But what about him as a person?”

  “I don’t know him well enough to have an opinion yet,” Gloria said, busying herself with cleaning up the remnants of their meal.

  “Don’t bother with that,” Cass said, taking the bowl from her hand. “We’ll clean up later. Come on, Mom. Don’t dillydally.”

  “About what?”

  Cass chuckled. “About Griff.”

  “He seems a bit too…”

  “Slick,” Aunt Min chimed in.

  “I was going to say ‘prep school,’ but that, too.”

  “Oh, come on, you guys. You’ve been in France and loved it there. The French wrote the book on snobbery. And Griff’s no snob.”

  “That’s only in Paris, and only a few people,” Min said. “The French are quite nice folks. And Griff is quite nice, too, I’m sure. We just need to get to know him better. He’s not a Texas boy.”

  “True,” Gloria said. She yawned hugely. “My, my, look at the time. I think jet lag is catching up with me.”

  “Me, too,” Min said, managing a yawn of her own. “I think we’d better get along home. We can talk all day tomorrow while we’re setting things straight at the café.”

  AFTER SHE AND SUNNY HAD dropped off their mother and aunt, Cass said, “Obviously Mom and Aunt Min don’t like Griff. How do you feel about him?”

  “The question isn’t how do any of us feel about him. How do you feel about him?”

  “I’m not sure. Sometimes I’m crazy about him, and at other times I feel like he’s a little too…”

  “Slick?”

  Cass laughed. “Well, yeah. But I’ll tell you this. He’s hell on wheels in bed.”

  “Cass! You haven’t already…”

  “Yep. I have. And the man turns me on like a house afire.”

  Sunny chuckled. “There’s something to be said about that.”

  “For sure. And it’s not as if we’re into any sort of permanent commitment. Griff has made some noises about moving to Austin, but I suspect when his business is finished, he’ll hightail it back to New Yawk, and I won’t see him again until he’s back on business.”

  “How does that make you feel?”

  Cass thought for a minute. “Ambivalent.”

  “Hmm. Exactly what is Griff’s business? I mean, I know he’s a lawyer, but what brings him to Austin?”

  “I don’t know, and he won’t say. Confidentiality issues, I assume. I suspect he may be a consultant to some high profile firm or another. Being a lawyer, I understand the need for tight lips, and I haven’t pried.”

  “The cop in me makes me curious.”

  “I’ll admit to a little curiosity of my own. You know, I almost had a heart attack at dinner tonight when Jay said your dog was very much like Dr. Skye’s dog.”

  “Lord, I know,” Sunny said. “Ben pulled that one out when he casually mentioned that Dr. Skye was a vet, and changed the subject. I could have kissed him. But, sis, sooner or later, probably sooner, we have to break the news to Mom about meeting the Outlaw relatives. Had any great revelations on just how we’re going to broach the subject?”

  “Not a one.”

  “Me, either. And we still have to tell them about the offer on our property, but let’s worry about it tomorrow. I’m pooped.”

  ON FRIDAY MORNING, Cass packed her bag to move back to her apartment and her own bed. All the utilities were on again and the tables and chairs stored there had been moved out. Since the alarm system had been restored and upgraded, and Hank would be next door at night, she didn’t have any qualms about staying alone, and she was sure Ben and Sunny would welcome a bit of privacy over the weekend.

  Even though she and Sunny had tried to discourage them, her mom and Aunt Min were determined to pitch in at the café to get things up and running. Sunny was taking them by a leasing agency to pick up a car, while Cass went ahead. The new baseboards were almost down by the time she arrived at Chili Witches.

  And Griff was there. Looking as if he’d just come off the jogging trail, he smiled when he saw her. “Good morning.” He gave her a brief kiss.

  “Been out for a run? I’ve been missing my time on the trail.”

  “I jogged here instead of around the lake. Thought I’d see if you need me to help with anything. I’m supposed to have a meeting later, but I can reschedule if there’s anything I can do for you.” He caught her hand and touched it to his lips.

  “Nothing, but thanks. The new baseboards look good, don’t they?”

  “Look fine to me, but I’m no expert on baseboards.” He glanced up from where he was nibbling her fingers, and grinned. “I do, however, excel in some other areas. Could I take you away from all this tonight? I can make reservations at Hudson’s on the Bend.”

  “Oh, could you?” She beamed at the mention of the unique restaurant in one of the outlying areas near Lake Travis. “I haven’t been there in ages. Are you ready for rattlesnake or wild boar?”

  He wiggled his eyebrows slightly. “I’m feeling adventurous, to be sure.”

  The double entendre wasn’t lost on her, and his tongue between her fingers brought a sudden visceral response. “Are you now?”

  “I am.”

  When a throat cleared and a male voice behind her said, “Ma’am?” Cass turned to find one of the carpenters.

  She tugged her hand from Griff, and said, “Yes?”

  “I have a question about something in the office area.”

  “I’ll be right there.” To Griff, she said, “Pick me up here about six-thirty.”

  “Here?”

  “Upstairs in my apartment.”

  “Do you think staying there is wise?”

  “Of course.”

  He started to say more on the subject, but she was sure her expression stopped him. “Could I mooch some water from you?”

  “Sure.” Cass pulled a bottle from the cooler, and Griff chugged it down. “Want another for the return trip, or do you want a lift back to the hotel?”

  He gave a little twitch of a smile. “Oh, I think those old bones can make it.” He kissed her cheek. “See you this evening.”

  “DAMMIT!” GRIFF SLAMMED down the phone and pulled on his jacket.

  Sometimes Walt could be such a jackass. Sometimes? Hell, how about all the time. He was getting fed up with his partner. Griff had spent most of the day checking out a couple of sites that would
work perfectly well for their building project, both of them cheaper than the O’Connor property appraisal and both available. But for some obscure reason, Walt had his mind set on the Chili Witches site, and Griff was having a hard time trying to steer him in another direction. Not only was the O’Connor property more expensive, Walt had just taken it upon himself to send them a registered letter upping his previous offers. Stupid.

  When Griff had said, “Walt, let me handle this in my own way,” he’d only laughed in that irritating way he had and remarked that Griff’s way didn’t seem to be working.

  “Dammit!”

  He’d hoped to gently bring up the subject of selling the property to Cass after their night together, but the flooding emergency had scotched the plan. He intended to ease into the subject tonight…or tomorrow morning if he got lucky.

  He sensed that Sunny would be more amenable to selling out than Cass would. Cass was the one committed to saving old Austin. Their mother and aunt, he wasn’t so sure of. The pair of them were sharp old gals. They reminded him of his mother. The whole thing would have to be handled with finesse and not the ham-fisted way Walt worked. Sometimes Griff wondered if Walt wasn’t losing it.

  When he got back to New York, he was going to call a meeting of the partners and have this out once and for all. Things weren’t working lately. Maybe he was simply tired of living out of a suitcase, but as the front man for the firm, travel was a reality of his position. What were his options?

  DELIGHTED TO BE BACK in her apartment, Cass dressed for a night out with Griff. She dabbed on a bit of the lovely French scent her mom had brought her, then stepped into her black heels. Just as she gave her outfit a final check, the doorbell rang. Her heart did a little flip, and she had to force herself to walk slowly to the door. She even checked the peephole before she opened it.

  It was Griff, looking like a million bucks. Make that ten million.

  “You look lovely, dear.”

  “Thank—” Ohmygawd! Her heart almost flew from her chest. Who said that? She hadn’t even opened the door.