Page 7 of Fumbling for Affection

“Wouldn’t be too hard to put one in.” While Lucas didn’t know anything about the restaurant business, he knew that wouldn’t be too hard didn’t equate to cheap or affordable. But maybe this could be his ticket into the family business? They didn’t want his help in their farming operations, but he could do this. His sister had grouched about outgrowing her sous chef wings for the last year, and she despised the head chef at the resort. Maybe this was a chance for them?

They’d grown up on a farm about an hour from Cascade City, in the heavy agricultural area known lamely as the valley. No descriptor, like lush or beautiful or heavenly. Just the valley. The home of hard-working farmers who didn’t have the time, inclination, or energy to say more than what was needed.

His family were among the first settlers in the area. They’d grown food to fuel the miners on the other side of the mountains during the gold rush days. They’d provided sustenance for the railroad crews that connected the growing towns and cities on the West Coast. And now, his family sold to the big food distributors and had pick-your-own berry fields and an apple orchard. It was a big and busy operation, but Lucas’s father insisted that he and Lucas’s older brother, JJ, managed fine without him. He stressed Lucas needed to focus on his football career and finding his place in the world because it wasn’t at the Rodriguez farm.

He saw himself joking with future diners and hearing his sister barking orders in the kitchen. The farm-to-table concept was popular, and he didn’t think there was one in Cascade City. This could work. They could do this. He bit back a grin.

Lucas picked up a punch card with the store’s information on it. “Is this good for your contact information?”

“You know someone who might be interested?” Jack asked, plucking it out of Lucas’s fingers and scribbling his phone number and email address on the back.

“Maybe. What’s your timeline?”

“End of the year would be good. Get out before the worst of winter, you know?” Jack’s face was neutral, but it looked like he was fighting a smile. Like he was as hopeful about this as Lucas was. Helping Jack out would help him into the family business. They both had a lot to gain if Lucas could finesse a deal.

“I’ll be in touch.” Lucas tucked the card into his wallet. “And, Jack, let’s keep this between us, okay?” Jack nodded, shook Lucas’s hand, and pushed the cup carrier toward him. Lucas didn’t like secrets and subterfuge, but he didn’t want the other buyer sniffing out a threat and presenting Jack with a contract and earnest money. No, the only one doing that was going to be him.

His drive to the farmers’ market was swift and uneventful—a good thing, since his focus had been everywhere but on the road. Thoughts of a future Rodriguez restaurant filled his mind. By the time he parked at the farmers’ market, he’d imagined a string of successful restaurants down the West Coast.

He locked his truck and made his way into the market, nodding and smiling at the vendors, most of whom were nearly sold out of their wares. Lucas followed Jack’s instructions and kept to the outer ring, even though he wanted to dive further into the market and see what everyone sold. He’d seen the usual fruits and vegetables, plus eggs, cheese, bison meat, and sourdough bread, a loaf of which was tucked under his arm. The chewy sample had left a tang in his mouth, and he couldn’t resist buying one.

Lucas heard Maggie’s laugh before he saw her. She was with a customer. He felt like a creeper as he neared the Thistlestone Ranch stall, but he didn’t want to interrupt her or alert her. He needed to time it so he could slide behind the customer, forcing Maggie to deal with him. Too much time and she’d escape, like she had after the hike. Too little time and one of her grandparents might offer to help him.

The woman paid, and they laughed while Maggie bagged up her purchases. Lucas slid into position. Her grandmother’s back was toward him and her grandfather was busy disassembling some shelves. Maggie would have to talk to him.

Maggie cursed her hair as she blew her long bangs out of her face and focused on stapling the coupon to the top of the bag. She’d misplaced her hair tie. Somewhere. For all she knew, she’d left it at home. Between baking late last night, getting up early this morning to finish the mini-cherry tarts, endless trips to Penny’s car to load all her baked goods, and then meeting her grandparents at the market as the sun greeted them, she was tired. And hot. And cranky. And had an afternoon shift at Brewster’s looming ahead of her.

At least sales were strong today. She was almost sold out of baked goods and Nanna only had a few jars of honey left. This customer had bought the last of their feta cheese and honey-lavender goat’s milk soap.

“Thank you, and I hope you enjoy everything,” Maggie said as she lifted her head and saw Lucas smiling at her. She gasped and dropped the customer’s bag right on top of her remaining cherry tarts. The sticky filling clung to the bottom of the bag as she lifted it. Dammit! Why does he always have to humiliate me? she thought, swallowing her rage.

“Oh, jeez. Sorry about that,” Maggie said to the woman, blinking rapidly as she opened the bag. She wouldn’t look at Lucas, because if looks could kill, he’d be a dead man, and she looked horrible in orange. Almost as bad as she did in her lavender Thistlestone Ranch T-shirt. The only one who looked good it in was Nanna with her salt-and-pepper hair color.

Nanna hurried over and handed her an empty bag before sweeping the mess aside. Maggie knew her face matched the color of the cherry goo.

“Totally understandable when an attractive man shows up.” The woman looked at Lucas like he was the best thing at the market. She flipped her hair and stepped closer. Maggie rolled her eyes. The woman needs a higher bar for what makes a man attractive. It took more than symmetrical facial features—which science proved to be a factor in attractiveness—thick, wavy dark hair, bronze skin, and espresso-colored eyes to turn Maggie’s head. A man also needed to be taller than her. Which Lucas was.

Maggie growled at the back of her throat. So, he ticked all her boxes, so what? He was still a thorn in her side, a burr under her saddle, and a rock in her shoe all rolled into one. She could admit he was attractive without being attracted.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Lucas said, shifting back. “But, knowing Maggie, it was the coffee that caught her attention.”

“Well, you caught mine.” The customer leaned toward him with a predatory gleam in her eye. Lucas stepped back and hit their tent’s support leg. The structure jerked to the right. Lucas looked at Maggie in alarm. First, he destroys my tarts, and now the tent. He’d destroyed her peace of mind years ago, so that didn’t make today’s list.

“Here.” Maggie thrust the bag between them, hoping to stop the lady’s advances, Lucas’s retreat, and keep their tent from toppling. But instead of side-stepping the lady like she’d wanted him to, Lucas ran around the pole and jumped over the empty boxes lining their stall, landing behind the display table next to her.

“Now I’m even more impressed,” the woman said. “I’m at the market every Saturday at about this time. Maybe we’ll meet again.” She winked before walking away.

“Enjoy,” Maggie called to her, remembering her customer service skills. Lucas standing next to her scrambled her brains. She crossed her arms over her chest and turned to him. “Lucas.”

“Maggie.” They stared at each other. Lucas shifted his weight from one foot to the other. His eyes traveled across her face and down her arms, where her hand gripped the stapler. It clunked against the table, breaking their standoff.

“You’re on my side of the table.”

“I brought you coffee.”

“Three coffees?”

“I didn’t know what you’d like, and Jack said—”

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