Page 9 of A Gift for the Hopeful Cowboy

His heart was making a lot of sense.

Rob shook his head to clear it and retrieved his keys. He shoved the right one into the ignition and started the truck. With one final look at the building, he said, “Good riddance.”

Then he pulled out of his parking spot.

He didn’t need Pippa. He didn’t need a meal put on a plate so beautifully it belonged on Instagram. If Pippa liked the home she’d built out of that restaurant, more power to her. But Rob wasn’t going to stick around and have his attire mocked.

He pulled out of his parking place, wheels squealing. Making a U-turn, he headed straight for the burger joint he’d noticed on his way over.

Quality food didn’t have to come from a five-star restaurant. It just needed to come from a place in business to make decent food for hungry people. He was better off. At least, that was what he kept telling himself as he passed each building on the main road.

For now, he would be content to ignore the feelings of inadequacy he’d experienced while seated at Pippa's restaurant bar. His qualities weren’t measured by the things he wore but by the accomplishments he’d achieved.

Why else would he leave home? He had to prove a point somehow.

CHAPTER FIVE

What had she just done?

Pippa stared at the empty space where Rob had just been and her heart sank to her knees.

No, it sank lower than that. Her heart was on the floor, ready to be stomped on by the next unsuspecting bartender.

What was wrong with her?! She shouldn’t have said that to him. Why was she acting like she was a teenager?

Because Rob words and opinion had irked her and snarky responses were always her go to method for combatting frustration. But their flippant banter had seemed less playful tonight, and she couldn’t figure out why. They were so different. They always had been. They knew just how to egg each other on in ways that made their friendship work.

Unfortunately, they weren’t children anymore, and she hadn’t meant to snub him like that. She should have just kept her mouth shut. Now, he was gone.

“Don’t sweat it, Pippa. Whoever that guy was, he isn’t worth your time.”

She wasn’t thinking clearly enough to place the voice with the name. All she could think about was fixing this problem she’d created. She needed to get Rob back here. At the very least, she needed to apologize to him so he didn’t completely shun her.

She’d gotten the opportunity of a lifetime. Rob’s arrival meant she finally had a chance to tell him exactly how she felt about him. She didn’t have to worry he would be taking some random job in another state, because he was here.

“Yeah, Pippa. That guy is garbage. You don’t need him.”

“Garbage?” She whirled around to face the men at the bar, her eyes staring daggers at all of them.

They shrank back and dropped their eyes. Putting them in their place wasn’t worth the headache it would be to try to explain why Rob was important to her. No one would understand her feelings. She wasn’t sure she did.

Pippa pulled the hand towel from her shoulder and tossed it in a bin that would be taken to the laundry room after their shift. Then she offered the men a smile, hoping they wouldn’t ask her a million questions about what had happened just now.

“I’m going to head out. I’ll send someone else over here to take care of your drinks.”

Pippa hurried through the kitchen and toward the back room where her kitchen manager would likely be working on next week's schedule while things in the kitchen were fairly quiet. She poked her head into the office space and knocked on the doorjamb.

Gerald glanced up from his paperwork. There was no smile to speak of, but she didn't expect one. He wasn't a smiley sort of man. She’d long since given up on him ever returning a smile unless the situation more than called for it.

“I have a favor to ask you.”

If he’d been straight-faced before, he looked quite stern now.

Pippa adored Gerald. He might have been more gruff than her, but he knew his stuff. Her restaurant was so good because her kitchen manager could step in with his vast knowledge of every job in the kitchen. He could cook anything and make it Michelin Star worthy.

He was the best sounding board she'd ever had for all her menu ideas and nothing was ever available to diners without Gerald's tweaks.

Gerald put his document down. “I’ve got things handled. Do whatever it is you need to do.”

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