скачать книгу бесплатно
“That’s not enough,” Reno said firmly as he went up close to the board and scanned the notices. When he found the one he was looking for, he put his finger right next to it. “There. That’s the job for you. A housekeeper for Mrs. Hargrove. Room and board included.”
Chrissy walked over to look up at the small, neatly penned notice that Mrs. Hargrove had tacked to the board. She Chrissy shifted Justin in her arms so she could read the announcement better. “But her job only pays seventy-five dollars a week plus room and board.”
“I’ll pay the extra ten,” Reno said. Lester must have read Mrs. Hargrove’s notice and decided to outbid her. “That way you won’t lose money by working for Mrs. Hargrove.”
Chrissy tipped her head up at him suspiciously. “Why would you do that?”
“Yeah, why would you do that?” Linda asked along with Chrissy.
“Ah.” Reno ran his hands over his hair. He was guessing Mrs. Hargrove hadn’t told Linda about their plan. “Because Mrs. Hargrove is an older lady and she needs the help more than Lester does.”
Reno hoped Mrs. Hargrove never heard about this conversation. She didn’t think of herself as old, and she’d snap at anyone who implied she was not able to take care of herself.
Chrissy was still looking at him funny.
“And I know Mrs. Hargrove can’t afford to pay you any more herself because she’s on Social Security, so I want to help.” Reno smiled. “She’s been good to me, and I want to do something for her.”
“I noticed the other day that her porch needs fixing,” Linda offered.
“Thanks. I’ll go take a look at it.” Reno gritted his teeth. Whose side was Linda on? “I should have checked the porch myself before I headed down to Los Angeles. Those old boards usually have problems about now.”
“She said you usually do it and don’t take any money for it,” Linda said.
“In the past we’ve settled it with her giving me a plate of her homemade chocolate chip cookies.”
“Well, of course, if all she has is Social Security, she can’t afford to pay anyone,” Chrissy said thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t feel right taking any money from her, and I don’t need cookies. I’m sure I can help her with what she needs when I’m not working at Lester’s.”
“But you can’t work at Lester’s,” Reno said. He could see the question in Chrissy’s eyes and knew it was on the tip of Linda’s tongue. He needed to focus. Ah, he had it. “He’s a single man, and it wouldn’t be proper for you to live in the same house with him alone.”
Chrissy’s face turned red. “I hope you’re not suggesting I would do anything but bake pies for the man.”
“No, I didn’t mean that at all.” It had to be about sixty degrees inside the café. There was no reason for Reno to be sweating. “I just mean you have to think of Justin.”
“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of Justin,” Chrissy said coolly.
“Besides, you’re talking about Lester,” Linda said as though he’d suggested Chrissy was willing to date a troll.
Reno bowed his head in defeat. “I’ll pay you a hundred dollars a week plus room and board to work at the Redfern Ranch.”
“Doing what?”
“Well, I like pies, too—and there’s the house.”
“You don’t need a housekeeper. I can’t take a job that’s just charity.”
“I have the calves to feed.” Reno looked up and thanked God silently. Yes! That was it. “The poor things need someone to take care of them, and I’ll have to start plowing any day now. Who’s going to take care of them?”
“Don’t they have their mothers to take care of them?” Chrissy didn’t look convinced.
“Not these calves,” Reno said mournfully. “They’re all alone in the world. No mother. No father.”
Reno hoped his prize bull forgave him although it was true that the animal had never shown any interest in his offspring, so the calves actually had no father when it came to having someone care for them.
“Oh, the poor things,” Chrissy whispered as she glanced down at Justin, who was sleeping in her arms. “It’s bad enough not having a father, but not having a mother, too, would be just awful.”
Chrissy broke off with a stricken look at Reno. “I’m sorry, I forgot about your mother.”
Reno stopped the triumphant war whoop that wanted to come rushing out of his mouth and he managed to wince instead. “It is hard. Not everyone understands.”
“Of course they don’t,” Chrissy said soothingly.
“So you’ll take on the feeding of the calves?”
“Well, I suppose it is more important than baking pies for Lester,” she agreed. “Although his would have been more convenient, since it was room and board.”
“My job includes room and board, too,” Reno offered.
“Oh, no, you convinced me that wouldn’t be proper.”
“Oh, it’s different with Reno,” Linda said smoothly. Reno thanked her with a smile until she added, “Mrs. Hargrove was saying that he admitted in the post office the other day that he feels only family feelings for you on account of the fact that you’re almost cousins.”
“Almost cousins?” Chrissy asked faintly.
Reno could see Chrissy was surprised. He was shocked himself. “I don’t remember saying anything quite like that.”
“Oh, well, Mrs. Hargrove goes for the essence of what a person says,” Linda said with a wave of her hand. “You know how it is—sometimes you’re not even sure what you mean, and then Mrs. Hargrove sums it up for you and it’s right on the nose.”
“I see.” Chrissy swallowed. “Well, I’ve never had an almost cousin before…”
“What about Garrett? He’s your cousin,” Linda said as she adjusted the salt and pepper shakers on a nearby table. “Just pretend Reno is Garrett.”
“I could do that, I guess,” Chrissy said.
Reno frowned. He didn’t like the fact that Chrissy could make a promise like that so easily. He sure couldn’t promise to see her through the eyes of a cousin any day soon.
“I don’t see why you’re looking for a job anyway,” Linda said as she moved to another table and swung out a chair for Chrissy to sit down. “If that guy in Vegas is the baby’s father, shouldn’t he be paying enough child support to take care of you both? I thought you said he had a trust fund or something.”
“He does,” Chrissy said as she sat in the chair. “But it’s complicated. To get child support, I need to claim he’s the father, and if I do that, I’m worried Jared’s mother will have a better case to get custody.”
“But you’re the mother. She can’t just take your baby away from you.”
“She’s already got some attorney trying to find out things about me so he can say I’m an unfit mother.”
“And if that doesn’t work, he’s trying to scare her into giving up Justin,” Reno added. “Someone set fire to Chrissy’s mother’s house just before we left L.A.”
“You’re kidding?” Linda said as she looked from Reno to Chrissy. “Some lawyer would do that?”
Reno nodded. “He might not do anything himself, but he’d pay people to cause some damage.”
“Wow.” Linda frowned. “He’s serious. I thought he was just some kind of crazy guy who wrote letters to stir up trouble.”
“I still have the letter,” Reno said as he patted his shirt pocket. “I’m keeping it in case we want to get a restraining order on him or something.”
“It’s not the lawyer I’m worried about—it’s the people he hires that scare me,” Chrissy said. “I’m glad Justin isn’t old enough to walk or crawl. I’d be a nervous wreck every time he went out to play.”
“Oh, surely the lawyer will give up after a while. He can’t care that much,” Linda said.
“It’s Jared’s mother who cares. And she never gives up. Oh—” Chrissy stopped in surprise and turned toward Reno. “I never thought about that—that’s why you didn’t want me to take the job at Lester’s and stay at his place, since he’s not married. You were worried Mrs. Bard might use it against me in a custody battle.”
Reno grunted. He should have thought of that. “You can never be too careful.”
“Well, you don’t need to worry about Mrs. Bard when you’re in Dry Creek,” Linda said firmly. “We’ll take care of you and Justin. We keep an eye out for strangers.” Linda paused. “Well, except for a few times when things have gotten out of hand.”
Reno grimaced. He could tell from the look on Linda’s face that she was remembering the time a stranger had come to Dry Creek and dressed up as Santa Claus so he could get close enough to the woman who was playing the angel in the church Christmas pageant to try to shoot her. Come to think of it, Linda had felt sorry for the man in the Santa Claus costume and given him a free spaghetti dinner from the café before the pageant.
Linda looked at Reno. “I guess she’d be better off out at your ranch.”
Reno nodded. “My dog, Hunter, doesn’t let strangers get too close unless I give him the all-clear sign.”
And I’ll be there, Reno thought. He remembered that what had saved the angel was that Pastor Matthew had risked his life to save hers. Even Reno had been touched by their story of love and happiness.
“I don’t really think the lawyer would send someone up here. Do you?” Chrissy asked as she looked from Reno to Linda. Justin seemed to sense his mother’s fear, and started to fuss.
“Of course not,” Reno said quickly as he scowled at Linda.
“You’re perfectly safe here,” Linda added when Reno finished.
“It’s just that I keep hearing that music playing in my head,” Chrissy said as she put Justin to her shoulder and looked over at Reno. “Remember after the fire, there was that black car with a few guys in it, and they were playing those old songs from the sixties—it sounded like a CD or something. I remember because they were playing that song—how does it go…the Mrs. something one—”
“Mrs. Robinson?” Linda asked as she stood up from the table. “I don’t believe it. They’ve called here.”
“Who?” Chrissy asked as she started patting Justin on his back.
“Some guy called asking how to get to Dry Creek, and he had that music playing in the background. I think he was on a cell phone—we don’t always get good reception here if someone is on a cell. Usually we don’t even get the call, but sometimes it comes through and sounds faint like this one.”
“They called here?” Chrissy looked over at Reno.
Linda nodded. “We finally got the phone for the café listed under Dry Creek Café, Dry Creek, Montana. We thought we should ask for reservations for our new dinner section.” Linda motioned to the three tables in front of the window. “I’m so sorry. We never would have gotten a listing if we’d known.”
“Did he say where he was when he called?” Reno walked over to the window and looked out at the road leading into Dry Creek. He saw a puff of dust in the distance, but it looked like a pickup.
“He asked for directions from Salt Lake City,” Linda said, and then looked over at Chrissy. “And I invited him to try the café while he was in town. He said they would, so he must have someone with him.”
“We should call the police,” Chrissy said, and then bit her lip. She stopped patting Justin on the back, and he started to cry. “Of course we can’t do that. No one’s done anything. It’s not a crime to play sixties music.”
“We’ll tell our deputy sheriff anyway. He can keep an eye out for strangers,” Reno said as he held his arms out to take Justin. “And we’ll tell the men at the hardware store. Not much gets by Elmer and Jacob.”
Chrissy gave the baby to Reno, and she stood up and started to pace.
“You’re safe here,” Linda said. “We have a neighborhood watch program going—well, not the official thing, but we watch who comes and goes. Not that there’re many strangers anyway.”
“I do feel safer here than in Los Angeles,” Chrissy admitted. It made sense that there would be fewer strangers here and fewer chances for mischief. “My nerves just need to settle down.”
Chrissy stopped pacing at the window. She could see the Dry Creek church across the street, and the Big Sheep Mountains were in the distance. The Montana landscape didn’t offer many places for a criminal to hide. She should feel safe here.
Then she glanced over at Reno. He was rubbing Justin’s back.
Maybe she was relaxing too soon. The lawyer wasn’t the only man she needed to worry about while she was here.
Chapter Seven
Reno was just about as content as a man could be. The midday sun was shining in the café window with enough force that it might even be drying up some of the mud outside. If it did, Reno would have an easy drive to the ranch.
Not that mud was on his mind too much. Chrissy was sitting across the table from him, and she had a happy flush on her face. They had both just eaten a couple of the best hamburgers Reno had ever tasted.
Life didn’t get any better than this, Reno decided as he leaned back in his chair.
Everyone had calmed down after Linda decided that maybe the man who had called on the phone was Jacob’s nephew, who was planning to visit the old man in a couple of days and be there for Jacob’s big birthday party.
“I’d forgotten he might call,” Linda said again as she held Justin up and smiled at him. “Pastor Matthew told me they wanted to have a birthday party at the Elktons’ barn and asked us to provide the food, so of course Jacob’s nephew had this number.”
“If you need help with the party, let me know,” Chrissy said before she took one of the last French fries from her plate and dipped it in ketchup. “I can help you handle a hungry crowd.”
“Oh, that’s a relief,” Linda said. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage everyone, even though we’re going to have a limited menu. Grilled steaks and baked potatoes mostly, since that’s Jacob’s favorite dinner. Besides, it’s a good menu for cowboys, and they’re inviting the whole crew at the Elkton ranch.”
Reno frowned. He wasn’t sure he wanted those cowboys to get a close-up look at Chrissy. “Maybe I should help instead. You know how those cowboys are when there’s a party.”
“I’ve worked in Vegas,” Chrissy said as she picked up the last French fry. “I can handle anything.”
“Maybe you can both help,” Linda suggested as she laid Justin over her knees and started to rub his back. The baby gurgled in delight. “We’ll even be able to pay decent salaries.”
“Oh, you don’t need to pay me,” Chrissy said. “It’ll be fun to have a party.”
Some of the joy went out of Reno’s day. He supposed Chrissy’s disappointment in Dry Creek was inevitable, but he didn’t like to think about it. “This might not be your usual party. Besides, we don’t have parties very often around here, so you wouldn’t want to get used to it. Mostly it’s a pretty boring place.”
“I don’t know about that. We’ve had a lot of weddings in the last year.” Linda eyed Reno suspiciously. “I don’t know if those are exactly parties, but they have sure been fun. You don’t want to sell this place short.”
“Well, I guess there have been the weddings,” Reno acknowledged. Maybe if he was lucky, there would be another wedding to help keep Chrissy entertained. Women sure liked weddings. He looked over at Linda. “I don’t suppose you and Jazz are planning to get married any time soon?”
Linda’s smile tightened. “Jazz and I are no longer engaged.”
“What?” Chrissy said. “Why didn’t you say something? Here we’ve been chatting away about all my problems and—oh, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Linda said. “We just realized we have incompatible goals. It’s really for the best that we found it out now, before we went to the trouble of getting married.”
“How incompatible can your goals be?” Reno had always pictured Linda and Jazz as a sensible engaged couple who agreed on what they wanted out of life. “I thought you two were planning to buy the Jenkins place and raise cattle. Isn’t that what this café is about? Saving up enough money for that ranch?”
Linda lifted her chin and then bent to rub Justin’s back some more. “There’s more to a marriage than which piece of land to farm and what cattle to buy.”
