Page 34 of Grumpy Cowboy

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Gretchen’s excitement continued to rise as Will opened the door for her, and she stepped into The Culinary Cabin. The smell of rich, dark coffee hit her nose, and then someone said, “Welcome to The Culinary Cabin. We have two appetizers tonight. A fresh salmon kabob with a dill-lemon sauce or a short rib Gorgonzola bite.”

“Wow,” Will said, gazing up at the ceiling. Gretchen felt like that too, and she looked up at the vaulted ceiling—original to the house—and the ornate chandelier hanging there.

Giddiness pranced through her, because she’d wanted Will to like The Cabin as much as she did. “We’ll have both, please,” she said when it became obvious Will was going to gaze and not gab. She tugged on his hand to get him to move out of the doorway as another couple entered, and they stopped at a chest-high table without chairs.

“So they bring around appetizers in here,” she said. “It’s kind of like a museum. There’s the history of Sweet Water Falls, some art by local artists. That chandelier was made by a Sweet Water Falls native named Vincent Gusteau, and I guess he died really young.”

“This is incredible,” Will said. “Not what I was expecting, but amazing.”

“Coffee? Water?” a woman asked, and Will opted for water.

“For me too, please,” Gretchen said. Once she’d left, she continued with, “Then we’ll go out to the tables. You can see the farm better from out there. They’ll serve the meal out there, and Ingrid herself comes out and goes through the menu. Then everyone gets served, and we can wander the farm for a little bit.”

“It’s almost dark,” he said.

“They have some lights,” she said. “But yeah, you won’t be able to see as much as you do in the summer.”

He beamed at her. “We’ll have to come back in the summer.”

Gretchen warmed from toes to throat, because if Will wanted to come back in the summer, that meant he saw them together in six months. “Sure,” she said, the word barely making it out of her narrow throat. She wasn’t even sure why she was so pleased, only that she was.

“Salmon and short rib,” a man said, and she shifted so he could put the plates on the table. Everything was bite-sized and easily popped into a mouth, and Gretchen reached for a salmon kabob. A piece of fish sat on the bottom and the top, with a blistered cherry tomato sandwiched between them.

“Do you like fish?” she asked Will.

“I do if it’s like this.” He picked up a kabob too, and said, “Three, two, one.” He stuck his kabob in his mouth, and Gretchen did the same.

It was too much for her to have both bites of salmon, though she tried. She ended up giggling as Will grinned at her. “I win,” he said. “I got all mine in one bite.”

She shook her head and finished chewing in as ladylike of a fashion as she could. “It’s not a contest, cowboy.”

“It was real good,” he said. “I liked that.” He looked at the short rib. “Is this blue cheese?”

“Gorgonzola,” Gretchen said, popping the last bite of salmon into her mouth. “I love this dill sauce.”

Will grinned at her. “Yeah, it’s on your blouse there.”

Gretchen looked down, embarrassment streaming through her when she saw the glob of white sauce on her blouse. She quickly wiped it away and licked her finger. It sure seemed like she and Will were going to learn how to be comfortable with one another even when bad things happened, and she decided everyone spilled on themselves sometimes.

“Holy dairy cows,” Will said with a moan. “I need five more of these.”

“They’ll bring more,” Gretchen said, turning to find a waiter. She caught one’s eye and raised her hand. He nodded, and she looked at Will again. “So, I saw you with a guitar last week. Do you play?”

“Hardly,” he said, dusting his hands and reaching for a napkin. “A little. My granddad taught all of us, Cherry and Clarissa too. Lee’s the real star with the guitar.”

“Is that right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, smiling at her. “Trav and I just pluck around on chords.”

“What about your sisters?”

“Cherry quit when she was ten or eleven,” Will said. “She did piano for ages though. Rissa played longer, but I don’t know that she’s done anything with it since she went to culinary school.”

Gretchen nodded and made room for another round of appetizers.

“What about you?” he asked. “Hobbies?”

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