Page 25 of Mountain Boss

“Is it true?”

I take my time chewing. “Is what true?”

Simpson drops onto the bench next to me. “You really hire a girl to take over Marty’s position?”

My head snaps over, his incredulous tone annoying me. “You have two daughters. You really want to tell me I can’t hire a woman?”

I’m being a total fucking hypocrite, but clearly, I’m unwell. So what’s one more offense?

He holds his hands up. “Course not. Just… wasn’t expecting it.”

Yeah. Me either.

I take another bite.

“Where’d she come from?” Fisher is still not put off by my attitude.

Fisher is by far the youngest guy on my crew at twenty-eight. And the closest in age to Courtney. The rest of the guys are near, or over, my forty-five.

I eye him. Trying to decide whether a woman would find him attractive.

Baby face. Shaggy hair in his eyes. Lanky.

I shove more of the burger into my mouth.

“Her plates are from North Carolina,” Cook chimes in from the other side of the counter, his graying mustache twitching with a smile.

The door to the Food Hall opens, and we all turn toward it.

Every shoulder slumps when Leon enters.

He pauses. “What?”

Cook snickers. “We were hoping you were the girl.”

As the oldest of the employees, Leon rolls his eyes, his bushy brows lifting with the motion. “You’re a bunch of fools.”

I fill my mouth with the final bite of my burger.

He’s not wrong.

It’s not until I’ve put my plate in the dishwasher and brushed my hands off on my jeans that I realize the obvious.

None of the guys have talked to Courtney.

No one has met her.

And if no one met her, then no one told her about lunch.

She wasn’t being shy by staying in her cabin; she didn’t know.

The burger rolls in my stomach.

I really am an asshole.

Chapter 21

Courtney

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