Page 135 of Can't Get Enough

Mrs. Barry looks over her shoulder and winks. “Right.”

It takes me a second to process it, but when I do, I can’t help but laugh. God, she’s just like Hendrix.

Guess I’ll have to love her, too.

CHAPTER 42

MAVERICK

What is this stuff you put on the greens?” I hold up a jar of what I can only assume is magic sauce.

“Chowchow.” Mrs. Barry rests one fist on her hip. “You never had chowchow?”

“Never even heard of it, but it’s really good.”

“It’s kind of like relish. You pickle some tomatoes, cabbage, onion, peppers. Stuff like that. Where’d you grow up?”

I take a gulp of sweet tea before answering, glad that Hendrix’s “diversion” resulted in one of the best meals I’ve had in long time. No disrespect to Laurenz, of course.

“When I was really young, we lived all over because my dad played ball, but mostly Vegas and California.”

“Guess chowchow didn’t make it that far.” She laughs and sits down at the kitchen table with her own plate. “You cook much?”

“No, I, um… Well, I have a chef who cooks for me.”

She stills, fork halfway to her mouth. “She lives with you?”

“Hisname is Laurenz. He doesn’t live with me, exactly, but he does travel with me a lot.”

“He’s justyourchef? Don’t work for nobody else?”

“Just me.”

“You must pay him a pretty penny.”

I grin and stir the mashed potatoes on my plate. “I make it worth his while, yeah.”

“And you live in California?”

“Most of the time. Malibu.”

She lifts one brow and sets her fork down. “Well, where else?”

Is this where the interrogation really begins?

“I… um, I have an apartment in New York, a house in Miami, a… ranch in Texas.”

“Did you say a ranch? Like a real ranch with horses?”

“It’s not a very big one,” I assure her. “I’m rarely there. It’s an investment.”

“So you rich as snot?”

I choke on a laugh and maybe a piece of corn bread. “Yeah, I guess.”

“It’s all right.” She pats my hand consolingly. “Bible say theloveof money is the root of all evil, not money itself. So just do the right things with what you got.”

“I try to.”

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