Page 8 of Serious Cowboy

Callie’s mouth curved into an ironic smile. “I don’t have a concussion, Zeke. Like I said before, I’m fine. I wouldn’t let you take me home to be alone if I honestly believed anything else.”

He assessed how directly she’d stared into his eyes, heard the iron in her voice, and nodded. “All right.”

The rest of the trip was uneventful since the snowplows were in action once they hit the streets more regularly driven. She resided in a quaint little cottage of a home with a craftsman style façade and covered front porch. It suited her. But once he pulled in the driveway, she remained.

“Can I take you to lunch? It’s the least I can do after you helped me out,” she said.

He was shaking his head before she finished her sentence. “Not necessary. Um, I can take you back out there tomorrow to check on your car, if you’d like.”

Zeke expected her to turn him down, to say that Tim or Amanda would help her get her car, but she didn’t.

“Oh, that would be lovely.”

Too late to back out of it now. “Just uh… give me a call then, I guess.”

She handed over her phone, and he put his number in and sent himself a text. It worked.

“Lunch, though,” she brought up the notion again rather than opening her door. “I really would like to take you out to eat. I’m so thankful you came along to help me.”

“You don’t owe me a thing.”

Her smile came back, bright and beaming as ever. “I disagree.”

“I—” he tried to come up with a better, more solid objection, but she interrupted him.

“I’m not taking no for an answer.” She crossed her arms over her chest, her wide grin now stretching from ear-to-ear. “So, tomorrow’s Saturday. Where can we meet?”

Sensing that he would lose this argument no matter what, he gave in. What harm could spending a few minutes with her do, anyway? She hadn’t asked for a commitment or even a date on the town. She’d simply said lunch, and he supposed he could cope with that much.

He ignored the niggling at the back of his brain warning him that his reason for agreeing had more to do with him liking her than anything else. He didn’t have the time for any warm feelings right now.

When he didn’t offer up any meeting places, she sprung one of her own on him.

“What about the Bookish Bistro, that new place on the square? It’s an independent bookstore that has sandwiches.”

A sandwich sounded good. That would mean he could just eat a bit of something and go. Quick and easy.

“All right.”

The next daythe storm had cleared, and the sun had come out. As he ambled into the Bookish Bistro right on time, Callie was there waiting for him. He’d called her first thing that morning to see if she needed help with her car, but she told him she’d already been set to rights. Probably by her brother.

Then, when he came in, she lit up like someone had flipped a switch inside of her and waved him over as if he were some sort of celebrity. He felt his neck heat at the special treatment.

She behaved as if he were important to her. That was a new thing for him.

Perusing the menu surprised him. Their specialty might be sandwiches but they had quite the selection. Finger sandwiches with every lunch meat and cheese imaginable as well as some vegetarian options. Small bowls of hearty soups and stews. Pita bread with dips.

And that was just to start. They had salads, fried cheese and marinara, tortilla chips with salsa, as well as a full selection of desserts—again, all in miniature. A little bit of everything.

The place even had a special clear rack built into each table to have access to the books while eating. Callie already had a stack of books sitting beside her.

“I didn’t know what you might like, so I picked up a variety.”

To his surprise, she’d collected a repair manual on small electronics, a new edition to one he had at home. He seized it, flipping through to determine what had been updated.

“Nice choice,” he commented.

She offered him half a smile. “So, what it is that makes Zeke Knight tick, anyway?”

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