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“No problem. We’ve been checking out the reception area.” And the receptionist, who’d just bent over to reach into the lowest drawer of the filing cabinet.
Toby hadn’t noticed before, but Angie was wearing a short black skirt. Well, it hadn’t looked so short until she’d bent over and those long, tanned, shapely legs stretched out.
Wow.
Sawyer continued to talk, although Toby couldn’t quite wrap his mind around what he was saying. Still, he nodded as if he’d heard every word.
When Kylie, who must have gotten bored looking at the miniature planes with her brothers, wandered over to Angie, Toby was about to call the little girl over to him and tell her that Angie was busy. But without missing a beat, Angie set her up at the desk with a stamp pad and paper, then went back to stooping and bending and flashing those long, shapely legs.
“Aw, so that’s the way the wind is blowing,” Sawyer said, calling Toby out.
“The wind?”
Sawyer lowered his voice to a whisper. “It’s not the airplanes you’re interested in. It’s Little Miss Google. I’d wondered why you wanted to know if she was working today.”
Toby tore his gaze from Angie, ran his fingers through his closely cropped hair and focused on Sawyer. “What are you talking about? Who’s Little Miss Google?”
“Evangeline Edwards, our part-time receptionist and jack-of-all-trades.”
Toby never had been good at lying, so he zeroed in on the subject he’d rather discuss. “Why do you call her Little Miss Google?”
“Because she’s a walking version of the website. If you want any information about anything at all, there’s a pretty good chance she knows it.”
While Toby had never considered Angie to be dumb, she hadn’t struck him as being exceptionally knowledgeable, either.
Had he missed something?
“You don’t believe me? Watch this.” Sawyer called across the open reception room. “Hey, Angie, Captain Schroder called a few minutes ago. Laurel wasn’t around for me to ask, but he’s flying his client’s new Cessna Nav into Horseback Hollow. He wants to know how many feet per minute his descent should be.”
Angie didn’t look up from her work. “If his true airspeed is 75 knots, which is standard for most Cessna Navs on approach, our headwind component here is usually 15 knots. That would make his ground speed 60 knots, which you’d multiply by five for a rate of descent of 300 feet per minute.”
“Thanks. I’ll let him know.” Sawyer gave Toby a little jab with his elbow, then tilted his head and lifted a single eyebrow as if to ask, What’d I tell you?
Toby had no way of knowing if what Angie had recited was true or not, but he figured it must be. Pete the mechanic hadn’t argued the point. Of course, he still had his nose in the newspaper.
Moments later, Laurel Redmond Fortune came through the same back door Sawyer had entered. The lovely blonde greeted Toby with a hug, then gave her husband a kiss. “I’m going to grab a quick cup of coffee in the break room, then I’ll give you guys that tour we promised.”
“Take your time,” Toby said.
As Laurel left the room, Pete lowered the newspaper he’d been reading. “Did you guys know that Herb Walker got busted for drunk-and-disorderly conduct last night outside the Two Moon Saloon?”
Sawyer gave Toby another little elbow jab, then said, “I wonder what kind of bail his wife will have to post for him.”
“Normally, it would be twenty-five hundred dollars,” Angie said, “but seeing how today is Monday and Judge Hanson doesn’t approve of drinking on Sundays, drunk and disorderlies from the night before usually have to post four thousand.”
Angie’s position on her knees, as she placed the last of the papers in the very back of the lowest drawer, gave Toby an excellent view of the rear end Doris Edwards had criticized days earlier. But Toby was so busy picking up his jaw off the floor that he was having trouble concentrating on those lovely curves.
How did she know those random facts?
When Sawyer and Pete started to laugh, Angie finally looked up and clued in to what was happening. “Were you guys doing that Google thing again?”
“What’s a drunk and disorderly?” Kylie asked, reminding the adults that the kids were still hanging around.
“It’s what Aunt Barbara got arrested for,” Brian answered, displaying knowledge beyond his age.
The laughter suddenly ceased, and the adults sobered. Fortunately, Angie swooped in for the save. “Hey, Brian, Mr. Fortune said you could go sit in the cockpit of his brand-new Gulfstream. You can even touch every button and lever. And Mr. Nelson won’t mind a bit putting them all back into place after you guys mess with them to your heart’s content.”
As a whoop went up from the kids, Angie cheekily smiled at her boss and the mechanic.
About that time, Laurel came out of the break room with her coffee. “Let’s go, kids.”
“I call first on talking on the headset to the people in the control tower,” Justin said.
“I get to sit in the pilot’s chair first,” Brian countered, as he followed Laurel out the door.
“Wait for me,” Kylie yelled as she tried to keep up with her brothers, who were already headed toward the hangar with Laurel.
The mechanic and Sawyer both gave Angie a look that promised they’d get even with her. But as far as Toby could see, they’d messed with Angie first.
It was nice to see that she gave back as good as she got.
“Laurel’s going to need my help,” Sawyer said.
“Mine, too.” Pete set aside the newspaper, grabbed his disposable cup and followed Sawyer outside, leaving Toby and Angie alone.
Finally.
“How do you know so much?” he asked.
“I used to watch Jeopardy! a lot with my dad when he was sick, and trivial facts tend to stick in my brain. Plus, I did a lot of internet research when I was trying to decide upon a college major.” She glanced at the clock on the wall, noting that it was four.
She straightened her desk, then shut down her computer. As she reached for her purse, she added, “Learning various oddball things is also a perk to changing jobs frequently. So I ended up knowing a little something about everything. Obviously, the flight stuff, I learned here.”
As she pushed back her chair, he couldn’t help noticing those long, tanned legs emerging from the skirt that no longer seemed too short.
“What about the drunk and disorderly?” he asked. “Is that from a job or from firsthand experience?” Please don’t let her be a party girl, he found himself thinking.
“Do I look like the drunk-and-disorderly type?” She turned back to Toby. She must have noticed his gaze on her legs, because she crossed her arms and said, “Don’t answer that.”
“Sorry.”
She didn’t seem to be actually annoyed, though, because there was a spark of humor in her voice when she added, “Before that temp agency folded, they sent me to work at Señor Paco’s Bail Bonds for a few weeks.”
That was a relief. Not that he planned to actually date her.
Or did he?
“Aren’t you going out with the kids to see the new plane?” she asked.
He’d much rather learn about Angie’s control panel than some stupid airplane’s, especially since it was four o’clock and she was leaving.
Who knew when he’d see her again, which brought out an unexpected sense of urgency, prompting him to blurt out, “Do you want to come over for dinner tonight?”
* * *
Dinner? At the Double H Ranch? With Toby and the kids?
The invitation had come out of the blue, and judging from the expression on Toby’s face, Angie suspected that the question had surprised him as much as it had her.
“I’m not sure what we’ll be having,” he added. “I’ll have to stop by the Superette and pick up something. But the kids need to eat tonight. And if you’re not busy...”
“Actually, I have to stop by there to pick up my paycheck anyway. Do you want me to do the shopping for you?”
“That would be great.” Toby reached into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet and peeled out a couple of bills. “Here’s forty bucks. Pick up whatever you think the kids will like.”
Great. The choice was hers, then?
Not only had she agreed to have dinner with him and the kids, she’d also agreed to plan the menu, which meant she’d be stuck trying to decide what to cook for a hungry man and three picky children.
What had she been thinking?
At least he’d given her the money to pay for the groceries. She wasn’t sure how she would have been able to afford them if he hadn’t.
“Do you know how to get to the ranch?” he asked.
She tossed him a smile. “I’m sure I can find my way there.”
Ten minutes later, she was walking up and down the aisles of the Superette, grabbing packages and cans in record time.
Julia Tierney, who’d been working the check stand, laughed when Angie started laying items out on the conveyor belt.
“What’s so funny?” Angie asked her friend and boss.
“Girl, I haven’t seen you make such quick decisions on what to buy since that time you came running in here after that chili-pepper-eating contest with Mr. Murdock. You grabbed the first bottle of Mylanta you could find and drained it right in the middle of aisle three.”
Sometimes, when Angie didn’t have time to think about it, she could be rather decisive. And her tummy had been on fire that day.
She shook off Julia’s teasing. “I’m picking up dinner for Toby and his kids this evening. And since I’m sure everyone’s probably hungry, I don’t have time to roam the aisles, stewing about what to cook.”
Julia glanced at the items she rang up. “Pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni slices, mushrooms, ham, peppers, onions, ice cream, strawberries, instant bread mix. Looks like you’ll be having homemade pizza.”
“I figured it would be safe, especially if the kids can make their own.”
“That’s clever,” Julia said. “I couldn’t have come up with a better idea myself.”
That was quite the compliment. Julia had always dreamed of going to culinary school or maybe getting a degree in restaurant management, but when her father suffered a heart attack, she’d decided to stick close to home and help out her parents with the store. So she’d given up her dream.
However, now that her father was better, it looked as though her dreams would finally come true. When Wendy and Marcos Mendoza finally opened up The Hollows Cantina in the next month or so, Julia was going to manage it.
“Yeah, well, I’ve learned that if you can’t choose just one thing, it’s best to have plenty of options available.”
“Good idea,” Julia said, as she totaled Angie’s purchases.
“How are things going with the new restaurant?”
“Great. I love what Marcos and Wendy have envisioned, and it’s really coming together. In fact, I was going over some of the job applications we’ve gotten and saw yours. We won’t be scheduling interviews yet, but I wanted you to know that you’re at the top of the pile.”
“Thanks. That’s nice to know.” Angie helped Julia bag her purchases. “Who’s going to take over for you here?”
“My mother’s sister just retired from a cable-television company in Lubbock. So she’s going to move in with my folks and help out for a while. I think it’s all going to work out nicely.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“So tell me,” Julia said. “This thing with Toby and the kids... That’s a little intriguing.”
Only because Julia was in love with Liam, Toby’s brother. And she had stars in her eyes and thought everyone else should, too.
“We’re just friends,” Angie said.
Of course, she’d caught Toby staring at her legs a few times earlier today. And unlike a lot of other men she’d caught gawking like that, he’d seemed to be interested in more than just her appearance.
“Didn’t I once hear you say that you never liked limiting your options?” Julia asked.
Yes, that was Angie. Her father had always told her that life wasn’t an Etch A Sketch. That she ought to weigh each decision carefully, especially when it came to choosing a career—or a spouse.
Otherwise, she could find herself stuck in a really bad place.
She supposed that was why she’d never been able to settle on a college major or to find a job that interested her for very long—or a man worth making any kind of commitment to.
Angie didn’t respond to Julia’s question. Instead, she thanked Julia, took the two bags of groceries and headed for her car.
No, Toby Fortune Jones wasn’t in the running when it came to considering romantic possibilities.
But if he wasn’t an option, then what was he?
The answer came to her as she placed the pizza fixings into her car and prepared to head for the Double H Ranch.
Toby Fortune was one fine cowboy who was far too attractive for her own good.
Chapter Four
After Toby finished overseeing the homework hour, he told the kids they could watch television before dinner. Then he went into the kitchen to check the pantry. It wasn’t as though his cupboards were bare. He could certainly rustle up something to add to whatever Angie planned to cook.
He’d no more than scanned the canned goods in the pantry when he heard a car pull up. Knowing it had to be her, he went outside to greet her.
As she climbed out of the driver’s seat of a black Toyota Celica that had seen better years, let alone days, she reached into the back for the first of two eco-friendly bags. Her hair had been pulled back in a ponytail when she’d been at Redmond-Fortune Air, but it hung loose around her shoulders now—soft, glossy and teased by a light evening breeze.
She wasn’t wearing anything different—just that black skirt and white blouse. Yet tonight, for some crazy reason, he found himself a wee bit... Hell, he didn’t know what to call it—starstruck, stagestruck, dumbstruck...?
