The waitress laughed. “It’s too fun watching people’s first reactions. Just wait till you try them. You’ll surprise yourself with how much of that stack you eat. They are addictive and ain’t none better in the state—or the world, I’d venture to say. It’s her special ingredient that she refuses to give up.”
“Okay, and on that note, I’m digging in. I am starving, so I’ll make sure I balance out the carbohydrate overload with the strips of bacon included. Thanks.”
“Sure thing. Enjoy.” The waitress hurried off to take a check to another table.
Rita poured syrup on top of the stack and then sliced into them. She took a bite and a smile came to her mouth as she chewed, and her eyes closed as she finished the first bite. “Amazing. Amazing. Amazing,” she managed as she barely swallowed and then dug in for a second bite.
He smiled. “Yup. Right on all counts.” He dug in and they ate for a few minutes until they began to fill the dent in their hunger. He knew they’d eat more, but both of them slowed on the pace of chugging them down. “Amazing.” He chuckled, copying her statement. “We are in agreement about that.” He picked up his coffee and took a sip.
The waitress saw him and stopped by with a pot to top off their cups. She grinned. “You’re doing Dixie proud—you’re halfway to finished.”
“And not stopping yet.” Rita took a sip of coffee. “Thanks. I love them.”
The waitress gave a thumbs-up and headed off to refresh others’ coffee.
He took a breath. “So, here’s the deal, now that we’re letting the first half settle before we finish these off. I’m hoping you’ve kind of gotten to get to know me a little bit better and figured out that I’m not the terrible guy I probably made you think I was last night. And I don’t think you are the person I thought you were, and I am very thankful for that. I’d like it if we could just forget the whole incident. We started out on the wrong foot and I’d like us to start fresh.”
She held her cup with both hands cupped around it and looked at him over the brim. “I agree.” She lowered the cup and smiled at him.
He really did like that smile. Jake had not been off on his figuring out that Levi was attracted to this pretty woman. Because it was true. She was doing all this crazy stuff because she wanted to make life better for her little boy. Wasn’t as if she were doing something illegal. Just irritating.
“Okay, so, this morning, I talked with my brother Jake. He’s my youngest brother and he’s a good fella. He came up with a great idea. We’ve got a big cattle sale coming up. But the not so fun part is somebody’s got to take the pictures of all the cattle. Now, if you’re a photographer and you enjoy that sort of thing, I guess it would be fun. Me having to find somebody willing to come take all those photographs isn’t fun. So, we were thinking maybe we would hire you on for a month, and you can take all the pictures of our cattle that need to be taken.
“Then there’s this other issue that we have. We bought a new ranch just recently. The final sale went through and we have some plans for that ranch, and we need professional photographs of the different portions of land—the parts that would stand out and make the land special. Valuable to anybody for gorgeous land and not just cattle land. Anyway, it’s in Montana, and we need somebody to go out there and take those pictures. Now the plan is I’ll fly out there with you and give you the tour while you take the shots. I need to check the land out, too, since I haven’t actually been out there. Jake went initially and the rest of us bought it off his recommendations. I’m eager to see it. It’s supposed to be gorgeous, and I do have a love affair with pretty ranch land.”
She set her cup down and he wasn’t sure what she was thinking. She looked stunned, so he continued, “It’s easily a month’s worth of work. No charity involved, and a cabin and meals provided for you and Toby. I’ll pay you well and will do some upfront if you need it, and along the way. If we need to keep you on for longer, we’d like to do that too, if you have the time. And how would you feel about a business in Fredericksburg? You know, that’s kind of the mecca of Hill Country and a lot of weddings go on there. We own some very prime real estate on the main street, and we’d make you a good deal on rent.”
“Why would you do that?” Her voice was barely audible.
“Because you’re nice and we really want to rent the place out to somebody who might want to stay long-term. There’s a particularly good spot that’s got an apartment above it and that might be the perfect situation for you and Toby. At the end of the month, you could lease that from us at a low price. You’ll have enough money saved up because you can live on the ranch while all this stuff is going on and bring your little boy out to live with you. The cabins are very nice. And food is provided at the chow hall morning, noon, and dinner if you want it. Or there is a kitchen in the cabin if you prefer to cook. We have guests who stay in the cabins from time to time, but we have plenty and no guests right now.”
He smiled, hoping she’d take the job. Hoping she’d be around long enough for him to get to know her better.
Rita looked shocked. “It’s a very generous offer and exactly what I need, but really, are you serious?”
“I’m serious as a heart attack. We really do need these jobs done. And I need to see the Montana ranch, so it’s as if you were meant to be here. Take the job.” He wanted to put his hand on hers and urge her to take the job, but he kept his hands firmly on his side of the table.
Her face was one of complete confusion. He could see her mind working behind those beautiful eyes of hers as she probably thought about all the things he had said and most likely weighed all the different elements of her own life. He waited patiently, letting her think all she wanted. He took another sip of his coffee. He really hoped she said yes.
Was it wrong to hire her because he wanted to help her but also to get to know her better? The thought of spending a whole week in Montana with her sounded especially nice. He could be a gentleman and wanted her to learn that about him. He wasn’t always the idiot she’d met last night. He wanted a chance to prove that to her. From what she’d said last night, she hadn’t been treated right by her last couple of bosses and he wanted to change that for her. He could be a real good guy and then, when she wasn’t working for him any longer, maybe she’d go out with him.
He liked the plan; he liked it a lot.
And one of the things he liked the most about it was they’d be away from all the craziness and nobody would even know that they were hanging out together. They’d use a private jet service to get them out to Montana and back, and the rest of the time they’d be on his ranch behind iron gates. He was in his old truck, and had come out of the ranch on one of his hidden exits, and they were eating at an off-the-beaten-track diner, ensuring that if there were any leftover vultures hanging around who’d waited at the entrance to the wedding venue then they wouldn’t latch onto him.
“I’ll take the job.”
He grinned—couldn’t help it. His smile spread across his face and probably wrapped around his ears, it was so big. “Well, that makes me very happy, as you can tell by my smile.”