“Has he been dating anyone?” Nellie asked as she reached for a cookie.
“Not as far as I know. Not seriously anyway. Not since that girl he dated in high school, Bethany. She was a lovely girl.”
“She moved away, didn’t she?” Betty asked.
“Yes, she went off to cooking school somewhere in New England. I hear she’s a chef somewhere in New York City now,” Gertrude said.
“Speaking of chefs, has Ryder hired a new one yet?” Ruby asked.
“No, and I think he’s been under a lot of stress after what happened.” Gertrude made a face as if she’d tasted something unpleasant.
“Yes, that really was shocking,” Maude said.
They all nodded in agreement as it had been quite a scandal.
“Marcia’s been doing the cooking again, right?” Ruby asked.
“Yes, but that’s just temporary, until they find a new chef,” Gertrude said.
“You know, it’s funny you mention Bethany. I could have sworn I saw her a few days ago at the grocery store,” Betty said.
“She may be home visiting her mother as I know she’s been sick. I don’t expect that she’ll stay long, unfortunately,” Ruby said.
Gertrude was silent for a moment and looked deep in thought. “I’ll talk to Marcia. She’s friends with Bethany’s mother. She can find out for us. It’s a long shot, but you never know. Maybe we’ll get lucky and Bethany will decide to stay a while….”
* * *
Chapter One
You look tired. Is the new computer system still driving you crazy?” Ryder Quinn leaned back in his seat at the bar of Quinn’s Pub. He was worried that his mother was working too hard. He and his sister Maggie had bought her out last year, and she was supposed to be retired. But, given their recent drama, he was grateful for her help. It was Friday night, almost midnight, and the restaurant was empty except for the three of them.
His mother sat up straight and gave him ‘the look’.
“Ryder Quinn. You should never tell a woman she looks tired. Ever. I’m fine. And I am getting used to that silly computer of yours. Maggie, honey, I’ll take a splash of that new chardonnay.” Even though the pub was closed, Maggie was still behind the bar, wiping the counter down.
Maggie laughed.“Mom’s right, Ryder. Don’t ever say that.” He watched as she poured two glasses of wine, put one in front of their mother and brought her own to the other side of the bar. She settled into a chair between them and smiled at her mother.
“I heard a lot of compliments on Mom’s food tonight. The regulars don’t want her to ever leave.” His mother looked pleased to hear it.
But Ryder still felt guilty that he was going to be away for the whole weekend. “It’s not fair for her to be in the kitchen all day every day though. I can cancel my trip. I’m sure Brad will understand.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Your college roommate is getting married, and you haven’t had a day off in weeks. I can cook in my sleep. You know that,” his mother assured him.
He also knew by the tone of her voice that the discussion was over.
“No one misses Gary’s cooking. He’d really been letting things slide,” Maggie added. It was true. Gary did a fine job at first, but over the past six months, it seemed as though he wasn’t trying as hard. His specials were lackluster and even standard items didn’t seem as good as they used to be.
“Gary and Suzanne have to turn up, eventually. Have you heard any updates from the police?” his mother asked.
“Nothing yet.”
Maggie sighed. “I still can’t believe they were stealing from us and for so long. I considered Suzanne a friend.”
The betrayal stung for all of them. “Gary and I used to have beers together after work. I never suspected it,” he admitted.
“No wonder they were so insistent that we didn’t need to computerize,” his mother added dryly.
“I still can’t believe we missed it.” Ryder lifted his glass and took a sip. The beer was a new one, a local IPA and was his current favorite.
“Suzanne used to always brag that she made more tips than anyone else,” Maggie said. “I never thought much of it, but it makes sense now.”
His mother chuckled. “And she always made those elaborate birthday cakes for everyone. Probably so no one would suspect she was up to anything.”
Ryder sighed. “They were clever about it too, not taking enough that it would be noticed.”
He’d only discovered their scheme by accident when he picked up a handwritten order off the kitchen floor. It was lucky for him that it had missed the trash can. It was a week after the new computer system had gone in and there shouldn’t have been any more handwritten orders for the kitchen. He’d matched up credit card receipts at the end of the night for the order amount and there wasn’t one, which meant the customers had paid in cash. But, the amount of the order wasn’t in the register. It was as if it had never happened.
That’s when he realized that Suzanne had pocketed the cash and that Gary was in on it too as he threw the order slip away as if it had never existed. Ryder took a long hard look at his orders and profits for the past few months and realized the deception had been going on for a long time.
He’d questioned them and both vehemently denied any wrongdoing. But the next day, neither showed up to work, and no one had heard from them since. That was two weeks ago and while Suzanne was easily replaced, it was taking longer than he’d expected to find a new chef.
“Any promising resumes come in?” he asked hopefully. He’d called all the local schools and posted an ad for a chef and put it in the Quinn Valley newspaper and online as well. His mother had insisted on handling the hiring since she was the one that had designed their menu and was the only true cook in the family. Ryder managed the day to day running of the restaurant and Maggie handled everything related to the bar.
His mother nodded and for a moment he thought he saw a flash of a smile, but it was gone just as fast. “They have been trickling in. I have a few interviews scheduled for tomorrow morning. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Oh, that’s great news.” The job market was tight and there weren’t many qualified people to choose from in Quinn Valley. It was a small town, like the neighboring one, Riston, and while there were a lot of tourists that came to stay at the inn and enjoy the hot springs, there weren’t a lot of year round residents. He’d also posted ads in the Riston and Lewiston papers, hoping to cast a wider net of applicants.
“Have you closed out the month yet?” Maggie asked with a worried look. He nodded. He knew what she was really asking was if things were looking up. Unfortunately they were not.
“It was pretty dismal. Down another ten percent from the month before. I won’t be taking a check again this week.”
“Well, if you’re not taking one, I won’t either,” Maggie said.
“I’m happy to help you out, if you need a short-term loan,” his mother offered.
“No!” Both he and Maggie said at the same time and then laughed. “Thank you, but we want to do this ourselves. I know we can turn things around,” Ryder said. It was important to him and to Maggie that they were able to run the business on their own.
His mother reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. “I know you can. I have complete faith in both of you. This is just a blip, a minor hiccup to get past.”
That was one of the things he’d always loved about his mother. Marcia Quinn was one of the most positive people he knew. And she’d helped to install that belief in all five of her children—that with hard work and the will to succeed, they could do anything.
He looked around Quinn’s Pub, at the gleaming dark wood bar and beams, the soft leather chairs and cheerful watercolor paintings on the walls, and the big windows that let in plenty of daylight and even now, a bit of moonlight. Quinn’s Pub was a family restaurant with a bar area that closed at eleven sharp every night. On the weekends, they had local live music and during the week, they ran specials an
d fun events like music bingo to bring people in.
When his mother ran the restaurant and was in the kitchen, they had a reputation for excellent comfort food and a strong base of regular customers. But since she’d retired and Gary took over the kitchen, business had slowed. It wasn’t an immediate slow down, but rather a decline that almost wasn’t noticeable at first. And it wasn’t helped any by Gary and Suzanne skimming some of the profits.
Some of the customers were starting to come back though, now that word was getting around that Marcia Quinn was in the kitchen again. But Ryder knew that he needed to get someone good in there as soon as possible so they could start rebuilding and so his mother could enjoy her retirement. He smiled thinking about what being retired meant to her.
She still came by the restaurant every day, often bringing a batch of homemade ravioli that they could run as a special or a batch of her blueberry muffins that they ate together for breakfast before the day got underway. He knew that she still liked to keep her pulse on the business and to visit with her children.
“Ryder, I have one request I’d like you to agree on before you head out for the weekend?” His mother took a sip of chardonnay and smiled, waiting for him to respond.
“What’s that?” He was ready to agree to anything.
“If I meet someone and want to hire them, I want your permission to do so.”
“I don’t get to meet them first?” As the general manager, he felt like he should be involved.
“If we have to wait around for you, we could lose a good candidate. Besides, I believe the last hire was yours?” Ouch! She had him there. Gary had been his pick.
He sighed. “Of course. I trust you. If you meet someone that knocks your socks off, by all means hire them.”
“Thanks, honey. I’ve always been good at reading people. I’ll find us someone.”
Ryder relaxed and began to look forward to his weekend away. The restaurant would be in good hands, and maybe his mother would surprise him and find someone that could start right away. Anyone would be better than Gary.
* * *
Read the rest! Buy or read free in Kindle Unlimited.
Click here to go to Amazon.
Sneak peek—Six Months in Montana
This is a personal favorite and the first book I published, five years ago. I think of it as a modern marriage of convenience story as childhood friends Christian and Molly agree to marry for six months, so he can inherit his family ranch and she’ll then return to Manhattan and her dream job. This book is currently free and is the first in a series of five books, available everywhere.
This is a joke right?” Christian Ford looked at his lawyer and best friend, Travis Jones, in disbelief. Now he understood why Travis had insisted that he come by his office for an official reading of his grandfather's will. “Are you seriously telling me that he changed his will less than a month before he died, and added this condition?”
“I’d love to tell you I’m kidding, but your grandfather was very clear about what he wanted.” Travis added, “I tried to talk him out of it. Told him you haven’t even seen her in years. But he was insistent, said he ran into her at the market last month. She was home for a quick visit, and they got to chatting.”
“Doesn’t she live in New York City now?” Christian hadn’t seen, or thought of Molly in years.
“She does. Works for one of the large hotel chains. Sounds like she’s done pretty well too.”
“So this makes absolutely no sense then. Her life isn’t here.” Christian glanced around the office, not really seeing the varnished dark wood bookcases, or the view out of the window behind Travis, which overlooked Main Street in Beauville, Montana, a small town just outside Bozeman. Main Street served as the center of town, and most of its small shops and businesses were along this stretch.
“Your grandfather seemed to think she’d be better off here.”
“It’s absolutely ridiculous. She’ll never agree to it. Why would she?”
Travis leaned back in his plush leather chair and picked up the will, shuffling the pages until he found the passage he was looking for.
“Well, you just have to stay married for six months. She’ll be free to go after that if she wishes, and it might be worth her while.”
“Have you called her yet?” Christian was having a hard time wrapping his head around this. His grandfather had always marched to his own drum and had had plenty of ideas about how Christian should do things, but he’d never meddled to this extreme before.
“I spoke with her briefly yesterday. She’s on her way here, meeting us in an hour at Delancey’s.”
“We’re not meeting here, in the office?” Delancey’s was the best restaurant in the area.
“Given the situation, I thought the least we could do is buy her dinner.”
* * *
Molly Bishop was tired and annoyed, though admittedly curious. It had already been a long day. She'd juggled her schedule a bit, going in to work earlier so she could duck out and catch a four o'clock flight. She made it, just barely, and it was an hour into the flight before she felt herself finally starting to relax. With the two-hour time difference between New York and Montana, she'd just about make it to dinner by seven.
She'd also arranged for someone to fill in for her tomorrow and, truth be told, she could use this short break. Molly loved her job as assistant general manager at the Clarendon Hotel in Manhattan, but on a good day it was stressful, and lately there had been more fires than usual that had needed to be put out.
The hotel was an impressive one, but it was old and badly in need of renovating. In the past few months that had become painfully evident, as one major breakdown after another had needed attending to: the water heater had burst in the basement, creating a huge mess; two stoves in the kitchen had stopped working in the same week and, most damning of all, a famous reviewer had described the Clarendon online as 'old and drab, like a beautiful woman who is unfortunately showing her age'.
Molly thrived on the pace and excitement of running a top hotel in New York City. The energy there was like nowhere else. Things were always happening, and she was right in the middle of it, making sure that everyone who stayed at The Clarendon was well taken care of. That was noted in the same critical review: ‘Though the hotel is desperately in need of a face lift, their standard of service remains as excellent as ever’.
Molly put a copy of the review in her scrapbook and had high hopes for her own career review next week. She was overdue for a promotion to general manager, the dream job she had been working toward for years, and it felt like it was finally about to happen. Obviously, it couldn't take place unless there was an opening for her to move into, but the current GM had been with the organization for seven years, a long time in the hotel world, and Molly hadn't been able to help but notice that Paul had recently been in several hush-hush meetings with the hotel’s owners. Change was definitely in the air.
When the plane landed and Molly stepped outside, she immediately felt the sense of peace that always swept over her when she returned to Montana. As much as she loved New York, Montana still felt like home. The air here always had a calming effect on her. She tensed up a bit though, as she got into her rental car and started driving toward Beauville. Travis hadn't said much on the phone, just that there was something in Christian Ford's grandfather's will that concerned her, and that they should meet immediately to discuss it.
She couldn't imagine why Christian's grandfather had thought to include her in his will. When she’d run into him last month at the grocery store, it had been the first time she'd seen him in almost ten years. Once they’d got to talking though, the years had fallen away, and it seemed like only yesterday that she and Christian had been next door neighbors and best friends. They’d even shared a dog. Toby had been a stray that showed up one day and stayed, going back and forth between Molly's house and Christian's. When Molly was just fourteen, her father had died suddenly of a heart attack, and although Uncle Ric
hard, her father's brother, lived in Beauville, her mother had had no other family in the area. They’d moved to New York two months later, to Brooklyn, where her Aunt Betty lived, and it had been decided that Toby would stay with Christian. Once a dog had enjoyed all that Montana could offer, how could he live in the city? It had made perfect sense at the time…But now Molly saw dogs everywhere she went in Manhattan.
Molly pulled into Delancey's parking lot at a few minutes before seven. It looked like they were doing a good business for a Wednesday night. Delancey's was one of only three restaurants in town and was without question the best. They were known for steak and Molly's stomach rumbled at the thought of it. She'd missed lunch and hadn't eaten on the plane, except for a small bag of pretzels.
She grabbed her purse and headed into the restaurant. Travis and Christian were already seated at a corner table and waved her over. She recognized Travis immediately, as she'd seen him briefly the last time she was in town. Both her mother and Aunt Betty were living here now. They'd come to visit one of her mother's friends a few years ago, and after just minutes in Montana, Aunt Betty had fallen in love and easily talked her mother into moving back to the area. Aunt Betty loved to entertain and half the town was at her most recent party, including Travis.
Both men stood when Molly reached the table, and Christian pulled out a chair for her. He held out his hand and said, "Thanks for coming." Molly shook both of their hands before settling into her seat. She was surprised that Christian seemed a little nervous. It had been many years since she'd seen him, and he'd grown into an impressive looking man. He smiled and she caught her breath. He still had the cutest dimples, and when he smiled the effect was devastating. Molly had heard that he'd done very well running his grandfather's business and, over the years, had expanded, so that now he had almost fifty men working for him. She must have imagined that he looked nervous.
The Wedding Photo Page 8