by Anna Schmidt
“Maybe I’m not the marrying kind. Thanks for thinking of me, but…”
“Your loss.” Jake stood and downed the last of his beer. “Truth is those two guys seem to have moved on, so you’re off the hook when it comes to me. Thanks for the beer, Cody.”
Cody didn’t miss the way Jake spoke this last in a voice loud enough for others to overhear before setting his empty glass on the table. Jake grinned, offered Sally a tip of his hat, and left. Cody dug in his pocket for change to cover his drink and Jake’s and noticed Johnson leaving once he’d settled his tab. Was he following Jake? Cody handed Sally the money on his way out.
Pausing on the boardwalk, he glanced up and down the street. Jake was crossing the plaza, headed for the rear of the hotel.
There was no sign of Victor Johnson.
* * *
The clock in the plaza was tolling ten when Lily returned to the room she and Emma shared.
“I was worried,” Emma said.
Lily shrugged. “Just needed to do some thinking. I was right downstairs on the veranda.”
“You’ve been in a mood since you stepped out with the sheriff. What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” Lily knew her tone was sharp, so she softened it with a smile. “Seriously, Emma, it wasn’t what you think. He wanted to talk about Jake.”
“So you said.”
Lily changed into her nightgown and sat on the side of her bed to brush her hair. “I know what you’re thinking, and stop matchmaking. You know it’s out of the question.”
“You should have talked to him about that. I mean, he has resources for gathering information, and what if—”
Lily’s grip on the hairbrush tightened. “Can we please just drop it,” she said, the words catching in her throat.
“Of course. I just want you to be happy, Lily.”
Lily turned to face her friend and pasted on a bright smile. “You do know I worry about your happiness as well.”
Emma’s lips tightened. “I’m pretty much a lost cause. But you…and Cody Daniels?”
Lily laughed and tossed her pillow at her friend. “You are impossible.”
Once they had said their good nights and put out the light, Lily lay awake thinking about the sheriff. If she told him about Victor and their past, would he think less of her? Or maybe as Emma suggested, he could help her. She hadn’t told Emma that Victor was no longer off to parts unknown but was in Juniper—in the Palace Hotel, possibly one floor beneath where she slept…or rather couldn’t sleep.
Just as dawn broke and light filled the room, Lily heard a soft knock at their door. Emma’s bed was empty. Lily had slept after all, and Emma was already across the hall in the common bathroom, getting ready for the day. Trembling with fear that the person on the other side of the door might be Victor, Lily pulled on her robe and waited, trying to decide what to do.
“Lily? Emma?”
That was Miss Kaufmann’s voice, not Victor’s. Releasing a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, Lily opened the door.
“Good morning, Miss K,” she said brightly. “Emma is across the hall, and I was just—”
Miss K waved away her explanations. “I need your help. Nancy’s ill, and there’s no one to serve at the counter. I can adjust assignments by the time the dining room opens, but I need someone down there now.”
Just then, Emma opened the bathroom door. Her freshly washed hair was wrapped in a towel. Since neither of them was on duty until later in the morning, Emma had washed her hair, expecting to have the time to sit outside and let it dry in the sun. Miss K glanced from Emma to Lily and chewed her lower lip. Then she let out a long breath and gave Lily her full attention.
“Get dressed, Lily. I need you at the counter in twenty minutes.” And with that, she hurried away.
Lily picked up her toiletries and crossed to the bathroom. “Twenty minutes,” she mimicked the head waitress as she and Emma passed in the hall.
Fortunately, by the time Lily got downstairs, everything was ready for serving the stream of railroad workers, cowhands, and others who would fill the swivel stools surrounding the black marble U-shaped counter. No doubt Jake had heard Lily would be working there so had made sure everything was in its place, ready for her. As expected, the stools filled with customers as soon as the doors opened. For the first hour, Lily was kept busy serving coffee, squeezing fresh orange juice, taking orders for eggs and steak and potatoes, and serving everything up with a bright Harvey Girl smile.
With every cup refilled and every dirty dish whisked away and the place reset, ready for the next customer, Lily relaxed into the rhythm of the job—a job she knew she did well. It was a job she enjoyed more than she was usually willing to admit. The change of pace from working at the counter instead of the more formal dining room was invigorating. She moved from the counter to the kitchen and back again, exchanging banter with Jake and the cooks and dishwashers. She felt her moodiness of the last several days lifting like the low-hanging clouds outside, gray that the sun had finally conquered.
“You’re looking mighty spunky today, Lily,” George, the head chef, said as she hurried into the kitchen to pick up an order. “Ain’t she lookin’ spunky, Jake?”
Jake glanced at her and grinned. “Never saw Lily looking anything but beautiful,” he replied. The chorus of teasing from the kitchen staff made him duck his head and shout with mock gruffness, “Hey, how about filling those orders?”
Everyone knew Jake’s feelings for Lily. Most understood it was a lost cause, but that didn’t keep them from giving Jake a hard time. He handed Lily two plates filled with steaming food—fried eggs, a strip of steak, cubed potatoes browned to a golden crisp. “Sure like working with you, Lily. Nancy’s such a nervous little thing, she hardly ever gives us a smile.”
“She’s new,” Lily reminded him. “And speaking of hard times, how are things with you and…?”
“All taken care of,” Jake assured her as he turned away to bark out an order to a dishwasher who was trying to balance a stack of freshly washed plates.
Lily hurried out to deliver the orders and nearly dropped her tray when she saw Cody seated at the counter next to Victor Johnson. Both men glanced her way. Victor smiled. Cody studied the menu.
She served the breakfast plates to two railway workers and then refilled their cups before heading to the far end of the counter to wait on Cody and Victor. It’s your job, she reminded herself. So smile and get to it.
“Good morning, gentlemen. Coffee?”
“Black,” Cody said, setting his cup upright.
“Lots of sugar,” Victor said, his eyes sending a double message.
What had she ever seen in that man?
Escape.
Lily took their cups and filled the orders at the large silver urns behind her, all the while listening to hear if the two men were talking—were together. “We have a fresh batch of our griddle muffins this morning,” she said.
“Just coffee, thanks,” Cody said.
“Sir?” Lily refused to acknowledge that she and Victor were acquainted.
He smirked. “Griddle muffins, you say. Not sure I’ve ever tried those.”
Lily waited. He was flirting with her, trying to draw her into conversation. From the corner of her eye, she saw the railway workers leave. She needed to clear their places and reset them for the next customer, but Victor was deliberately stalling as he pretended to study the menu. Miss K was crossing the lobby and glanced at the counter, her eagle eye ever on alert for some infraction of the Harvey Company’s strict standards.
“I can vouch for the griddle muffins,” Cody said. “You can’t go wrong with those and a couple of fried eggs.”
Victor scowled at the menu, then handed it to Lily. “You heard the man,” he said. “Bring me the muffins with lots of butter—and honey.”
“Yes, s
ir,” Lily managed and hurried off to clear the dirty dishes and place the order. By the time Victor’s food was ready, she had served two new customers coffee and orange juice and cleared another place at the counter, all the while keeping an eye out for any interaction between Cody and Victor. It could have been coincidence that the two of them sat at the counter next to each other. On the other hand, what if they knew each other—or worse, had known each other before? What if Cody knew her secret? What if…?
“Lily? Order’s up.” Jake was holding a tray loaded with Victor’s griddle muffins, a dish filled with butter, and a small pitcher of honey.
“Thanks.” She took the tray and hesitated. “Jake, do you know that man sitting next to the sheriff?”
Jake shrugged. “He’s staying here. Saw him in the saloon last night. This is the first time I’ve seen him take a meal here.” He frowned. “Is he bothering you, Lily?”
“No. Just wondered.” She hurried away to serve Victor. The last thing she needed was for him to cause a scene, complaining about cold food. Setting the meal before him, she kept her eyes lowered, refusing to meet his gaze—or Cody’s curious glance.
“More coffee, sir?”
Victor grinned. “Sure, sugar.” Lily shot him a look. “Lots of sugar,” Victor added with a smirk.
Cody cleared his throat. “You’re new in town, Mr. Johnson, but I would wager you’ve dined at other Harvey establishments,” he said in a low tone meant only for Victor’s and Lily’s ears.
Victor bristled. “Of course. I travel a good deal. What’s your point?”
Cody took his time draining the last of his coffee, placing a coin on the counter, and standing. “Then I’m surprised at your manner with Miss Travis, sir. The women who work for Fred Harvey are ladies, and they deserve respect.” He fitted his hat low on his brow and nodded to Lily before leaving.
“Well, well, well. That lawman seems mighty interested in you, Lil. Have you been stepping out on me?” Victor was the only person ever to call her “Lil” and now she hated the sound of it.
“Juniper is a small town,” she replied as she cleared Cody’s cup and saucer. “Folks here tend to watch out for each other.”
“The sheriff’s watching, all right.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Does he know you and me are married? Does your boss? Seems to me I recall you Harvey Girls are bound by—”
Lily’s hand shook so badly that Cody’s empty cup rattled on its saucer. “What do you want, Victor? Why are you here?” she hissed and then pasted on a smile when she saw other customers glance their way.
“I’ve got business,” Victor replied as he slathered a muffin with butter and honey and stuffed half of it into his mouth. “And the bonus is you’re here. Never thought we might—”
A cowhand down the way raised his cup, signaling the need for more coffee. “I’m working,” Lily said as she hurried away.
* * *
On his way back to his office, Cody thought about the interaction between Victor and Lily.
Instinct told him they had known each other before this morning. It was something about Lily’s manner. Usually, she was friendly with customers, especially strangers, making them feel welcome and special. She always had a smile at the ready. But with Johnson, she’d been nervous, anxious. And even when she was serving other customers, she’d kept glancing back at Johnson—and at him. Maybe he should talk to her.
He turned back toward the hotel, but the train whistled in the distance. Once it pulled into the station, Lily would be busy with customers for the rest of the morning. Maybe later. Meanwhile, he intended to see if he could find out anything more about Victor Johnson. He headed for the telegraph office instead.
Ellie Swift was sorting mail. “Sheriff,” she said by way of acknowledging him. “Be right with you.”
“No rush, Ellie. Just want to send out a couple of telegrams.” Ellie kept a pad of paper on the counter, and he pulled it closer, perching on a stool while he composed messages to his counterparts in Santa Fe and Tucson.
VICTOR JOHNSON STOP ANY INFORMATION STOP SIX FEET EASTERNER STOP WEARS GOLD RING ON LEFT LITTLE FINGER STOP
He signed it and slid the pad to Ellie. She read the message and glanced up at him. “Needless to say, Ellie, we need to keep this between you and me,” he said. If there was one person he could trust in this town, it was the gray-haired postmistress and telegraph operator.
She nodded and sat down to send out the wires. “I’ll let you know as soon as anything comes back,” she said.
“Thanks.” Cody left and stood for a long moment on the boardwalk outside, trying to figure out his next move. Normally, he would go on about the business of keeping law and order in Juniper, but his mind kept going back to Lily and her interaction with Johnson. If Johnson was somebody from Lily’s past, maybe that was why he’d come to town. Maybe Cody’s instinct that the guy was trouble was right, but he’d been looking in the wrong direction. Maybe Johnson wasn’t casing the town for a robbery. Maybe he was stalking Lily.
But if that was the case, why wouldn’t she come to him? Ask for his help?
Because she’s stubborn, he thought.
Well, Cody knew from experience that stubborn could get a person in a lot of trouble. How many times had he seen a rancher or cowhand determined to handle trouble alone? And how many times had that turned out to be a disaster? Lily Travis struck him as the kind of woman who was sure she could handle herself. Victor Johnson struck Cody as the kind of man who might just prove her wrong.
He made his morning rounds, stopping to hear a complaint from Abigail Chambers who owned the hat shop about damage to her alley-side rear door. “I’m sure it’s those Howard boys,” she ranted. “They’re nothing more than a trio of hooligans, and you need to arrest them and teach them a lesson.”
“Well now, the problem with that, Miss Chambers, is a lack of proof.”
She rattled the doorknob. “Here’s your proof.”
“How many times have I stopped by in the last couple of months to remind you that knob needed tightening?” he asked.
“I’m alone here,” she whined.
It was always her plea. Cody was well aware that the woman saw him as her protector.
“Tell you what,” he said. “Soon as I finish my rounds and take care of some business over at the hotel, I’ll come by and fix that knob for you.”
She lowered her eyelids and gave him a half smile. “Will you stay for cake and tea?”
“That’s a mighty tempting offer, Miss Chambers, but in my position, it wouldn’t do to—”
Her mouth tightened into a hard, straight line that erased most evidence of her thin lips and made her look every one of her thirty-plus years. “And yet you rode out with that Harvey Girl the other afternoon.”
“That was personal. You wouldn’t deny me a little pleasure, now would you?” He gave his best version of a boyish smile.
Abigail released a huff of breath. “I suppose not. She’s certainly pretty—they all are. A girl like me hasn’t stood a chance since that lot came to town.”
Cody fought a smile at her use of the term “girl” and tried to look sympathetic. “The thing about the West is there are plenty of single men around, Miss Chambers. And if you ask me, there are plenty who’d be lucky to catch your eye.” He tipped his hat and moved on down the street.
Since he’d started this job a year earlier, Cody had been surprised at the number of women who seemed to see him as the cure for their loneliness or the answer to their prayers for an unattached daughter. Early on, he’d sat at more Sunday dinner tables then he cared to recall. Frank Tucker had been the one to counsel him against it.
“Unless you’re in the market for a wife, I’d advise you to find ways to avoid accepting any more of those invites,” the owner of the mercantile had said. “You’ve no doubt had some experience with range wars, but
trust me, that’s nothing compared to a bunch of women thinking they’ve got their brand on you.”
It wasn’t long after that when a sensational case involving Lily’s friend Grace had legitimately taken most of Cody’s time and made it impossible to accept invitations, even if he’d wanted to do so.
Grace.
She’d been a Harvey Girl. She’d also been accused—and cleared—of murdering Jasper Perkins, the town banker. She was married now, to Nick Hopkins, the foreman at the Lombard Ranch. Maybe Cody could take a ride out there, have a visit with Grace, see if she knew anything about this Victor Johnson. After all, when Cody’d attended the celebration of Grace and Nick’s marriage, hadn’t Grace hugged him and whispered, “Thank you so much for everything you did to help me. If ever I can be of help to you…”
Cody finished his rounds and then collected his horse from the livery, making sure the blacksmith knew where he’d gone in the unlikely case there was trouble.
When he reached the ranch, Grace Hopkins was hanging wash on a line stretched between a porch pillar and a branch of the ponderosa pine that shaded the small cabin. The house sat some distance from the main house, near a creek formed by a waterfall that cascaded down from the mountains. It was the kind of place a man could find some peace and quiet. Grace shielded her eyes with one hand at the sound of his approach, then broke into a smile and waved.
“Cody!” She started toward him.
“Hello, Mrs. Hopkins,” he called back as he dismounted and wrapped the reins around a hitching post. “How are you?”
“Now don’t you go getting all formal with me, Cody. We’re friends, so unless this is official business, call me Grace.”
“It’s good to see you looking so well, Grace,” he replied.
“Come on inside out of this hot sun. How about a glass of cool water?”
“That would be real nice,” Cody replied as he followed her to the small cabin. Things were neat and tidy inside, and the place had a homey feel without being all frilly, not like some of the homes he’d visited in Juniper. Nick Hopkins was a lucky man.