Page 37 of Second Chance With a Cowboy

Mack grunted. “Too long to tell on the way into town.”

“Fair enough.” Chevy spent the rest of the ride filling him in on the details of theBeans, Brews, and Bandsfestival and how he could help them and the girls out that day.

Leni was standing in the driveway when they pulled up. She waved as Chevy hopped out and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her to him and capturing her mouth in a kiss.

“I’ve been thinking about doing that all morning,” he told her when he finally pulled away.

She offered him a wry grin. “Were you also thinking about grabbing my butt? Because you’ve certainly got a firm grip on it.”

“As a matter of fact…” he said, giving her ass a squeeze before letting her go. He gestured to the cowboy who had gotten out of the truck and was standing awkwardly in the yard. “This is Mack. He’s the guy from Texas. He’s gonna be helping us out today. Mack, this is my girl, Eleanor Gibbs. She’s an aerospace engineer and works on rockets and spacecraft for a living.”

“Cool,” he said.

“Good to meet you,” she told Mack, nodding his direction. “You can just call me, Leni. And that’s my sister, Lorna.” She pointed to her sister, who had Izzy’s car seat looped over one arm as she wheeled herself out onto the porch with the knee scooter and was contemplating the railing.

Chevy moved toward her, but Mack was already ahead of him, taking the steps two at a time to reach Lorna.

“I got this,” he said, gesturing to the knee scooter and offering her his elbow.

“Well, aren’t you just the perfect gentleman?” she said, as she took his arm.

“Lorna, this is Mack,” Chevy said, taking the car seat and smiling at Izzy as she gurgled and grinned up at him. “Hello sweet girl,” he said to the baby, who had already stolen his heart.

Leni had already said hello to Murphy and finished packing the final totes in the spaces he’d left for her in the bed of the truck by the time he’d grabbed the base to Izzy’s car seat and got her secured in the back seat.

They’d carted everything they could down to the fairgrounds the night before, and Maisie and Dodge had picked Max up earlier that morning and taken him out for pancakes to make it easier for Leni and Lorna to finish the final preparations for their booth.

Mack offered Lorna the front seat of the truck and helped her into the cab then found a spot in the truck bed for the knee scooter before climbing into the backseat with Leni and Izzy.

“This is Isabel,” Leni told Mack. “But we call her Izzy.”

“Well, hello, Miss Izzy.” He held his pinkie finger out and a grin creased his face as she wrapped her tiny hand around it.

“You’ve been here less than thirty minutes, and looks like you’ve already made a friend,” Chevy said, winking at Leni as he ribbed Mack. Then he dropped the truck in gear and let out a whoop. “Who’s ready to go eat some chili?”

Chapter Eighteen

Leni was already exhausted, and the day was only half over. Lorna and Elizabeth had been in charge of spooning up the samples of chili and passing out the judging sheets while Leni and Emily sold hundreds of water bottles.

Lorna was right. The blue and white water bottles were a huge hit. The crowd loved them.

It had been Leni’s idea to send Emily over to the fairgrounds early, and she and one of her sister’s had prefilled the first few hundred bottles with water, tea, or lemonade, leaving enough room at the top so all they had to do was put in a scoop of ice before handing it to the customer.

They’d enlisted Chevy and Mack’s help when they’d run low, and two of them seemed to constantly be filling the water bottles while the other two were selling them.

The cookies were a hit as well, especially the homemade dog biscuits, but thankfully they had stayed up late the night before, and with Chevy’s help had them all prepackaged and ready to go before they’d gone to bed.

With his charm and good-looks, Chevy was a natural born salesman, and he talked almost everyone who walked by their booth into buying either a water bottle or a cookie, and usuallyboth. He’d also seemed to be getting along well with Mack, who seemed to fit right into the Lassiter clan, joking around with Dodge and Ford, and pitching in to help wherever he was needed, whether that was dishing up chili with Duke or helping Elizabeth make more lemonade.

Duke, Dodge, and Ford had mainly manned the Lassiter booth, helping the girls out if they needed something, while Chevy and Mack had seemed to run back and forth between the two. And from the comments they’d been hearing, their two chili recipes were among the favorites of the festival.

The Lassiter family’s team name wasChili Con Carnage, and Duke had filled his chili with fresh vegetables and spices he’d grown on the ranch.

Lorna’s recipe was more traditional, but Leni had added her own flair, and they both agreed that the recipe, even with the added sugar, was an amazing entry. Although Leni had wanted to name their teamRocket Fuel, Lorna had convinced her to keepRed Hot Chili Preppers, the name she’d used the year before. Leni had conceded, since the band had always been one of their favorites.

There were several other teams who were big contenders and giving them a run for their money. The two breweries were calling themselvesNetflix and ChiliandCan’t Handle the Heat. A rowdy group of bull-riders and barrel racers, who were sampling more brews than beans, had dubbed themselves theRoughstock Rumble, the retirement home who had entered this year wereThe Has-Beans,the horse rescue ranch run by Bryn Callahan in Creedence, the next town over, deemed themselvesThe Stew Crew, and Carley Chapman, Lorna’s hairdresser and friend, had put together a team with her hair salon, also in Creedence, called theSpice Girls.

The Presbyterians and theirHeavenly Heatteam were mainly trying to beat the scores ofDivine Delight, the Baptists who’d been bragging about their chili recipe for months.

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