Page 11 of A Cowboy to Call Her Own

Kelley broke the cookie in two and gave half to Hayes then she shrugged. “It’s fine Frannie left early. We’re already well past the lunch rush anyway.”

Hayes frowned around a bite of cookie and said, “I would call it more of a trickle than a rush.”

Truer words. Kelley polished off her cookie half and rewashed her hands. Then she delivered the double-decker sandwich to Luke in a to-go bag and said pleasantly, “You’ll need to leave now. This section is closed.”

Luke tipped his chin toward the stools at the counter and said, “We can eat over there, then.”

Kelley held on to her smile and said, “That’s closed, too.”

Luke eyed her. “You’re telling me the entire dining room is closed.”

Closed to cowboys who made her little sister cry. Most definitely. Kelley kept her words upbeat. “You can give any complaints to the shift manager.” She never blinked and added, “Oh wait. That’s me.” She set the check on the table and smiled all the way back to the small office. Only she lost her moment of good humor after she pulled out the adding machine and began totaling the cost of her sister’s mistakes for the day.

“You do realize that every time you pay to cover one of your sister’s meal mix-ups, you’re really only lightening up your own bank account, right?” Hayes watched her from the doorway.

“Frannie would barely have any money if I deducted each incorrect meal from her paycheck. And she needs the money for her horse. The boarding and the care aren’t cheap,” Kelley argued, hit the total button and tore off the thin printed tally sheet. “Besides, I’m her big sister. I’m supposed to look out for her.”

“Not at your own expense and this is getting costly,” Hayes countered and reached over to answer the retro yellow push button telephone attached to the wall outside the dry storage area.

Kelley glanced at the printed total and cringed. It wasn’t quite as dire as Hayes implied. Still, Frannie was clearly trending in the wrong direction with more mistakes each shift, not fewer. Kelley needed to correct that sooner rather than later.

After all, Kelley was rebuilding her own bank account. The longer that took, the longer she would be living at home and nowhere closer to getting on with her life. Not that she knew her next step exactly. She knew only that it would be big. If only to prove she was every bit as talented as her ex-husband and finally make her mark on her own terms.

Hayes hung up the phone and said, “Boss wants you to meet her at Lucky Lane in an hour.”

“Why didn’t Pauline call me?” Kelley frowned, stashed the calculator back in the side drawer of the metal work desk and checked her cell phone. No missed calls.

“Pauline misplaced her cell phone,” Hayes explained.

“Again?” That seemed to be a common occurrence for the diner owner. And it explained why Pauline had not replied to Kelley’s texts about approving invoices for payment and signing off on purchase orders for the weekend supply delivery. “That must be the fifth time this week she lost her phone and it’s only Wednesday.”

“Pauline has been booked up going on all sorts of dates,” Hayes explained. “It seems she recently put herself back in the marriage mart.”

“What does that have to do with her lost cell phone?” Kelley snapped her fingers and grinned. “I got it. Pauline left it when she was sneaking out on an awkward blind date. If she went back to get her phone, she would have been stuck on her date.”

“Pauline has better manners than that,” Hayes countered.

“When was the last time you were on a blind date?” Kelley tapped her chin and considered Hayes. He was a father of two and claimed to be friends with his exes. Kelley added, “Or any sort of date for that matter.”

“I’ve been on my fair share of dates. Now, never mind all that.” Hayes braced his hands on his hips and eyed Kelley. “You need to focus. This is your chance.”

“My chance for what?” Kelley asked slowly. Because she was not joining Pauline back on the marriage mart. Been there. Divorced that.

“This is your chance to pitch your ideas to Pauline and fix this place.” Hayes pulled a small worn notebook from the wide pocket in his apron and handed it to her.

“What is this?” Kelley asked.

“I wrote down your recipes,” Hayes said unapologetically. “Although I guessed at some of the ingredients. Not that it matters. These are your creations, so you know full well what goes in them.”

Kelley flipped through the lined pages and scanned several recipes. “But this was all in fun.” A few weeks ago, at Pauline’s request, Kelley and Hayes spent an entire weekend deep cleaning the walk-in refrigerator and freezer and then inventorying the entire restaurant from top to bottom. Hayes challenged Kelley to create her own diner menu while they were reorganizing the walk-in refrigerator. Kelley explained, “I wasn’t serious.”

“Well, it is serious now,” Hayes replied, his words firm. “We need more customers around here. We gotta give the locals a reason to come back for more than just your Wednesday mystery bakes.” Hayes pointed at the notebook and said, “There are more than a dozen reasons right inside there.”

Kelley hedged, “But don’t forget Pauline wasn’t all that interested in my ideas for rearranging the cookline to improve the service flow.”

“That was bad timing,” Hayes mused.

“Pauline accused me of wanting to change everything and erase her mom’s very essence from the entire place,” Kelley said dryly.