Page 3 of Second Chance With a Cowboy

“No. You don’t get to ask me aboutmy life,” she said, all monotony gone from her tone, now replaced with a sizzle of anger. “You made itquiteclear that you didn’t want anything to do with meormy life. So, you don’t get to waltz in here looking all cute and charming in your favorite cowboy hat and start asking questions aboutmylife.”

“I didn’tmeanto do anything. I just came in for some coffee.”

“Well sorry,” she said, stacking the cups with their names printed on them and tossing them in the trash. “There’s no coffee.”

“Wait. What?” The Johnson girl gestured to the large carafe. “I just made a fresh pot.”

“It’s not for him,” Leni told her. “In fact, we’re closed.” She came out from behind the counter and shooed him with her apron, as if he was a sheep, and she was a border collie herding him toward the corral gate.

The kid at the table in the corner looked up from his laptop. “You’re closing?”

“No—not for you,” Leni told him, gesturing him back to his computer. “You’re fine.”

“What about me?” Judy asked, looking up from her book.

“You’re fine, too. Everyone can stay. Except him.” She pointed at Chevy then at the front door. “We are closed to you and anyone else named Lassiter.” She frowned. “Except for Duke. He can come in. You know, I’d do anything for Duke.”

Yeah. Most everyone in town would do anything for his grandfather—including Chevy and his brothers. Duke and June hadn’t even hesitated to take in the three boys after their mother had gone to work at the diner one day. It must’ve been a helluva long shift because she never came back.

“What about the coffee?” Chevy asked, not knowing what else to say. He hadn’t expected her to physically push him out of the shop.

“Get it from the gas station,” she said, placing one hand on his shoulder and the other on his bare forearm as she propelled him out the door. “Tell Duke I said hi,” she said as she pulled the door shut and flipped the sign hanging from it toClosed. She gave him a little finger wave as he backed toward his pickup.

What the heck had just happened? He’d imagined running into Leni Gibbs again a hundred different ways, but it had never gone like that, with her closing down a business and shoving him out the door so she wouldn’t have to even talk to him.

Still, she was back in town. Close enough that he could figure out how to casually run into her again.

She’d said she was only here for a few weeks to help Lorna, but maybe that was long enough for him to convince her to give him a second chance.

Chapter Two

Fifteen minutes later, Chevy strode into the ranch house to where his brothers and Ford’s girlfriend, Elizabeth, sat around the old farmhouse table, and dropped a cardboard holder with four coffees from the gas station secured inside. “Real funny.”

Murphy, his English cream golden retriever, sensing his irritation, got up from his bed by the fireplace and ran over to comfort him by rubbing against his legs. Chevy absently reached down to pat the dog’s head.

Dodge made a disgusted face at the cups. “Hey, this is fromThe Gas and Go.” He offered Chevy an accusatory stare but couldn’t hide the glint of amusement in his eyes. “What happened to my Purple Unicorn Volcano?”

“And my Dragon’s Breath Expresso?” Ford asked.

“Funny. I figured out your stupid trick,” Chevy told them. “Not cool. And I don’t think Leni appreciated it either. So, this gas station crap is all you assholes deserve. And I’m not saying I spit in one of those coffees, but I’m notnotsaying it either.”

“Who’s Leni?” Elizabeth asked, pulling her hand back from the cup she’d been reaching for.

“Oh good, you’re back,” Duke Lassiter said as he walked in and then paused to hang his cowboy hat on one of the hooks inside the front door. Ford’s golden retriever, Dixie, snuck past him before the screen shut and made a beeline for Elizabeth who reached out to scratch the dog’s ears. “Did you bring the coffee?”

Chevy turned and offered his grandfather a disgusted sigh. “Come on, Gramps. Not you too? How did these two jokers con you into playing such a dirty trick on me?”

With his thick white beard, handlebar mustache, and the mischievous grin he often wore, Duke looked like a cross between Sam Elliott and Santa Claus. But he wasn’t grinning now as he used his thumb and forefinger to smooth his moustache while he gazed around the table at his grandsons. “What dirty trick?”

Chevy narrowed his eyes as he studied him then shook his head. “Youhadto know what was going on. You ordered a caramelcrappuccino.”

His grandfather frowned. “Isn’t that what it’s called? Those slushy coffee concoctions?”

“No, Duke, they’re calledFrappuccinos,” Elizabeth explained with a laugh.

Duke shrugged. “Sounds the same to me.” He pulled one of the cups from the cardboard holder, took a sip, then grimaced before setting it back down and heading into the kitchen.

Murphy followed him in, just in case he was planning to offer him a treat or drop any food on the floor. Used to having the golden retrievers around him, Duke maneuvered around the dog as he picked up the carafe from the ancient Mr. Coffee that had sat on the counter for the last twenty years and carried it to the sink. “I’ll make us some real coffee while you all tell me about this dirty trick you played on your brother.”

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