Page 18 of Flippin' Cowboy
She crossed her arms and sat back in her chair, gazing expectantly at Winnie.
Winnie let an uncomfortable silence stretch for thirty long seconds before she sighed in defeat. “Fine.Ifyou guys can convince him to lighten up and work with me, I promise I’ll give him a fair chance as my partner on the Snowberry Springs Inn project.”
“Thank you, dear,” said her grandmother.
Karla nodded her agreement.
Winnie raised her spoon in a cautioning gesture. “But remember—Evans is the real problem here.He’sthe one who wanted me off the project.”
Even now, the sheer temerity of his request made her roll her eyes. Jake nodded vigorously in agreement.
She continued, “He hates my guts and he has zero respect for my work. Plus, how do you know he isn’t planning to trash our show on his social media feeds, just like he trashedRestoring Seattle?”
Before Karla could answer this, her smartwatch buzzed and lit up with an incoming call notification.
She pulled out her phone and immediately shoved back her chair. “Excuse me.” She rose to her feet. “It’s Nick,” she called over her shoulder as she strode away from the table and pushed open the diner’s front door.
“Oh, shi—shoot,” Winnie hastily corrected herself as her producer stepped outside into the chilly twilight.
Grandma Abigail’s brows rose. “You don’t have to censor yourself around me. I’ve heard all those words before.” She paused for a beat. “Would it really be such a bad thing if you worked with Mr. Evans? If nothing else, he would keep you from thinking about your broken heart.”
“Because I’d be too busy simmering with rage?” Winnie asked sarcastically. “Not sure that would be an improvement.”
Karla returned to the table a few minutes later. “Nick’s on his way. He’ll be here in fifteen minutes,” she reported to Winnie’s dismay. “Looks like he wants in on the restoration, after all.”
“Great,” muttered Winnie. “Just great.”
Now she was stuck with Nick Evans and his monumental arrogance.
Working with someone who didn’t respect her was going to be an ordeal. It would’ve been easier if he’d just walked away from the project and forced Karla to find someone else to partner with Winnie on the show.
“You promised you’d give him a fair chance,” Karla reminded her. “On camera, too.”
Me and my big mouth, Winnie thought in disgust. But she was well and truly stuck now.
Chapter 7: A Slice of Humble Pie
“What kind of food does the cowboy diner have, Daddy?” Kegan asked, pausing to kick a low ridge of snow lining the edge of the sidewalk.
“I’m not sure,” Nick replied, feeling a twinge of guilt. He’d been so absorbed in his own thoughts that he hadn’t looked up the menu before the two of them left the rental cottage.
He added, “But any diner worth its name always has hamburgers and fries.”
Night was falling. The sun had set, leaving a deep orange afterglow over the mountains. One by one, the vintage streetlights on painted wrought-iron lampposts winked on, until they outlined the perimeter of the town’s central square with spheres of softly glowing white.
Just ahead of them, a neon sign marked their destination. The Yummy Cowboy Diner was housed in a building with a rustic wooden façade. It appeared to be at least a generation newer than the neighboring century-old brick buildings, perhaps dating from the 1930s.
Nick had spent the afternoon mentally reviewing his options. During that time, he helped Kegan and Kelsey build a snowmanin a smooth patch of snow covering the cottage’s front lawn and toured the stables with his son and the ranch’s owner.
Bob Snowberry was in his sixties, with the weathered features of a someone who’d spent most of his life outdoors. He was also soft-spoken and very good with kids, answering Kegan’s flood of questions patiently and respectfully. In return, Kegan had taken an instant liking to him.
To Nick’s discomfort, Bob turned out to be Winnie’s father. But the older man gave no indication that he knew of Nick’s long history criticizing his daughter’s work.
In the end, Nick had realized he couldn’t afford to pass up the opportunity that Karla had offered him. He was going to have to carve himself a large slice of humble pie and tell her he would be happy to partner with Winnie Snowberry on this project.
Knowing he was close to achieving his dream didn’t make that pie taste any less bitter. The only spark of joy in this surrender was the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with his son. Kegan had begged to come along, and Nick hadn’t had the heart to refuse him.
As they approached the diner, Nick noted several white vans marked with the production company’s logo parked on the street.
