Page 31 of I Want Crazy (Loco, Texas 3)

“Hey, I am trying to help.”

“And I’m trying to conduct business, and you are being a pain.”

“Listen, I know this guy, and I don’t want you hiring him—”

He stopped talking when she held up her hand. “Stop right there. This is my bar, my place, and I want to be able to conduct these interviews with an open mind, so keep your opinions to yourself.”

Fine, let her hire a felon. What do you care?

Watching her spin around on her heel and head back inside, he realized the problem wasn’t about him caring for her, but how much he cared.

* * *

“Sorry, Mr. Leon,” Jessie said, sitting across from him. “You were telling me about your experience.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Ray Leon looked like he was in his early thirties with milk-chocolate skin and soft brown eyes. His smile flashed white and straight. “I worked in my family’s restaurant until it closed down right before graduation, and since I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life, I joined the army. I worked in the kitchen, and eventually worked my way up to running it.”

Jessie’s stomach bubbled with excitement. “That’s fantastic. I’ll take you back into the kitchen in a minute to see what you can do, but I noticed that you said yes to committing a felony. Before I do a full background check, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind telling me the circumstances.”

Ray’s cheeks darkened. “I put my sister’s husband in the hospital.”

Jessie jerked with surprise. “Well, that’s…um…thank you for your time, but—”

“Please, hear me out before you make any snap judgments,” he said.

Jessie hesitated. “Okay. Go ahead.”

“I was raised that you never let anyone push you around, just like the rest of my siblings. When I got out of the army and was staying on my sister’s couch, I noticed her and her husband fighting a lot. Kelly was never shy about voicing her opinions, and one day I came home to find her on the kitchen floor. He’d beaten the hell out of her for talking back, and it wasn’t the first time, according to her. The worst part about it was, he was a friend of mine.” Ray’s hands clenched on the table. “We grew up playing ball and backing each other up. I lost it. I went looking for him, and when I found him, he was drunk off his ass. He took a swing at me, and that was it. I went berserk, and when they pulled me off him, he was unconscious. The judge took pity on me because of my service and because my sister pressed charges against him, but I still had to do time. When I got out, I tried to find a job, but no one was willing to hire me. Everyone thinks I’m this crazy man, but it was just one mistake. Haven’t you ever done one thing you wished you could take back?”

Jessie gripped the side of the table and finally stood up. “Let’s see what you got.”

Ray looked relieved, and Jessie followed him back into the kitchen.

Thirty minutes later, Jesse took her first bite of his version of mac and cheese and about died. “This is fantastic. I love the crunch on top.”

“It’s cornflakes. It’s a simple casserole dish we can serve with fried chicken. Also, I was thinking instead of fries, deep fried vegetables—”

“You are so hired,” she said without preamble.

Ray’s smile was wide and genuine. “Are you serious?”

“Can you be here tomorrow so we can go over the menus and food ordering?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He grinned as he grabbed up his bags. “You won’t regret this.”

God, I hope not.

* * *

Red bumped into the smiling man Jessie had been interviewing, and as he came into the kitchen, he saw her sitting on the counter, eating something.

“I take it you hired him?”

Jessie looked up and said around a mouthful of food, “You’ve got to try this.”

Red came around to stand in front of her, eyeing the forkful of food she held out to him. “What is it?”

/> “Try it.”

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