Page 23 of One Lucky Cowboy

Jill’s mouth watered. How was she supposed to choose?

She gave a small squeal of delight when she saw homemade dog biscuits atop the case. Lily would love them. She snapped a photo of them, too, making sure to include the image of an adorable dog featured next to the biscuits.

“Well, hello, dear. I’ve been waiting for you to stop by,” the woman behind the counter said by way of a greeting.

Jill vaguely recognized her from the wedding as Mae herself.

“Me?” Jill smiled, pointing at herself.

“Well, of course. You’re Maggie’s best friend, Jill, right?” Jill nodded. “We’ve been hearing about your visit from the bride herself and were looking forward to getting to know you better.”

“Yeah, it turns out I’ll be here a month or so, so you’ll probably be seeing me quite a bit.” Especially since Jill didn’t see many restaurants on the main drag.

“Perfect. You’ll have to join our little Friday-evening gathering. We play cards and chitchat about the goings on in town.”

Jill offered up a smile.

Here was the small-town charm she’d been expecting. Only she knew that with it came the darker side to everyone knowing who you were—they tended to butt into your life with unsolicited advice. No, this was cute, but give her the anonymity of a city any day.

“What can I get you?” Mae asked.

“I’d love a loaf of the sea salt bread, half a dozen of these doggie biscuits, and then how about—” Her gaze sped over the menu outlined in chalk above the display case. “I’ll take a Waldorf salad, sweet tea, and two vanilla tarts to go.” Mae rang her up, praising her choices. “Um, make that three tarts,” she added at the last minute. Better to have something on hand if she ran into Jax by way of an apology.

Did a vanilla tart say, “Sorry I tried to kiss you after I cajoled you into helping me save my career?” She hoped so or she was out of ideas.

She paid and then sat down, the tarts wrapped in a cute blue bag.

Jill gazed out the window, her lips painted in a frown as she wondered how she was going to pull off the miracle that was building their company while working with a man who drove her to distraction. What had she gotten herself into?

“What’s troubling you, doll?” Mae asked her, dropping off her salad with a heavenly and enormous slice of rosemary bread.

“Oh, nothing.” Jill pasted on a smile big enough to hide her shame. “Just having a moment. That salad is making me forget about my problems, though.”

Mae sat across from Jill. She put her chin in her palms, her eyes wide. Gossip was as much on the menu as the best crunchy loaf of rosemary sea salt bread Jill had ever tasted, so she was wary of the attention.

“I’m guessing it’s boy trouble?” she asked Jill.

Maggie’d once said that Mae was a finely tuned radio, her frequency always dialed into Deer Creek’s drama. Jill, an outsider, didn’t appear to be an exception, unfortunately.

“Um, why do you figure?”

“Because you and Maggie have been doing well with the business, right? I heard what you did for the Steiner boy, and it was quite the save. You should be celebrating.”

She was proud of her spectacular work with Steel Born but wasn’t sure it warranted celebrating just yet.

“Maybe. Yes. I mean, it’s good news, but nothing worth until the ink is dry on the contract. I don’t want to jinx Maggie or Bennett.”

“You know, there’s a whole slew of girls at the high school here who’re so proud of you and Maggie. You’re changing the game, showing that women are just as capable as a man in this business.”

“Thanks, Mae. It’s pretty cool that we’ve managed to stay female-owned and operated in today’s climate.” And all the more reason she had to fight to keep it that way. The last story she wanted to add to the narrative was that women could have a family or a career, but not both.

Mae was quiet for a moment, and Jill was half-convinced she’d shifted the conversation from men to work.

Until Mae sat back in her chair. “Okay. Enough shop talk. Tell me about the boy,” she said.

Damn. The thing was, Jill could use some insight into the youngest Marshall brother. But it was a risk talking to Mae. She knew everything about everyone. But she also shared everything she knew with anyone who asked.

Curiosity eventually won out.

---