Chapter 3
Libby couldn’t believe she’d just danced in the street, and that was after her car had broken down and she’d ended up in the Swing Through Cafe. Today had started out bad and gone downhill from there.
“Do you want another coffee?” Ryder Duke asked her when she reached the counter.
“Yes, please.” Libby was sure that today she’d never have enough coffee… or warm up completely.
She’d given her youngest sister the number for the phone she’d purchased the day Libby had walked out on her wedding to stop her family from worrying. Of course, after her actions, they’d be doing that, but at least they’d know she was safe.
Savannah had made it clear their father was not impressed with what she’d done and the humiliation she’d brought down on the Gulliver family with her actions. He wanted her to come home, but she wasn’t ready to do that yet.
“Okay there, Libby?”
“Yes.” She inhaled slowly, counting to four, and then exhaled, doing the same.
“You sure about that?”
She nodded and then made herself smile, knowing it looked as fake as it felt.
Ryder Duke was one of those men that were effortlessly good-looking. High chiseled cheekbones, dark brows and lashes, and deep brown eyes. It was a face women would take a second look at, if they hadn’t just ruined their life beyond repair.
His ball cap was black with a logo, and he had light brown hair that was a little long and curled up over the edges at the back. He wore a gray sweatshirt and faded jeans, and over the top he’d tied a striped navy-and-white apron around his waist. Her sisters would think he was handsome. Libby had no time for that; she was in survival mode.
“So, you want to work here?”
When he’d walked up to her car window, Libby had been terrified, which had pretty much been her mood since she’d left, or more accurately, run away. She’d withdrawn cash that day, but it was almost gone, and when she’d tried to withdraw more, her card was declined. Her father had to have done that to get her home. What Libby hadn’t realized was that he could. Which should tell you how spoiled and coddled you’ve been your entire life!
“If you have a vacancy, I would… please,” she tagged on.
Something about this guy annoyed her, and she wasn’t sure what. He’d been kind, making her coffee and calling the mechanic, but Libby felt like he was laughing at her, even though it didn’t show on his face. Because you’re tired and scared, which probably makes you paranoid. “If you have none, I can look somewhere else,” Libby added quickly.
Two weeks ago, her only thought had been marrying Andrew, the man she loved… or thought she loved. The last few days she’d been questioning if it had been love or simply the belief he was the right person to share her life with because their families wanted them to marry.
“Do you bake?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Make coffee?”
She shook her head again, feeling like a fool.
“I could do with some help around here for the next few weeks, but I need you to learn how to make coffee,” he said.
She eyed the gleaming chrome and black machine. “I could try.”
“Your jobs would be dishes and coffee, cleaning…. Basically anything I tell you to do, you’d have to do,” he said, looking at her nails.
“I can do that,” Libby said quickly. She was intelligent and picked things up fast. Sure, this was a long way from her office on the fourteenth floor, but she’d do it to get the money she needed to keep moving until she had her head on straight. Only then would Libby go home.
He studied her through his brown eyes as he took a large mouthful of coffee. She did the same. Libby was done backing down from men. The ones in her life had been dictating to her since she was born.
“I don’t have references,” Libby said.
“Anyone I can call to make sure you’re not a career criminal about to rob me blind and burn down my cafe?”
She shook her head, biting back the need to cry as the desperation welled up inside her. She’d done enough of that to last her two lifetimes.
Yes, she was in a situation that she’d never been in before, but Libby was strong and would deal with it. She had to be.
“Okay, Libby Gulliver, you can work here, but it’s a trial for a week. If after that you want out, you go, and if I want you gone, you are,” he said, bracing both hands on the counter to stare at her.
She fought the need to tell him what to do with his job. “Thank you. I will work hard, I promise. But it may take me a few days to get the hang of it.”
The smile started in his eyes and moved over his face, and the effect packed a punch, or would if she had it in her to be affected.
“Hang of working?”
“I know how to work, Ryder.” Libby just bit back the snap. “But I’ve never done this kind of work before.” Remember he’s standing between you and your first paycheck.
He stared at her hard, letting his eyes run over her face, and she withstood it. Libby knew how to handle people looking at her; she’d been subjected to that her entire life too.
“What kind of work are you used to, Libby?”
Run. She tamped down that need and held his gaze. “I, ah, I’m good with numbers, problem-solving, and attention to detail, and I’m mentally strong,” she recited, remembering when she’d had to convince her father what she could do because of her dreams. He’d refused to let her, so she’d done it anyway and forced him to take notice of her.
“Well.” He whistled softly. “Sounds to me like you’re overqualified.”
“I need this job, and I will work hard for you, I promise,” Libby reiterated.
She withstood his look for long seconds, and then Ryder Duke nodded.
“All right, Libby Gulliver, you can start tomorrow.” He held out a hand, and she put hers into it.
Yes, she wore gloves, but she could still feel the heat from the large hand closing around hers. Libby tried to remember Andrew’s touch and failed, which was odd, as they’d been a couple for years.
“Like I said earlier, if you need a room, there is accommodation called the Circle Left. It’s pretty busy in town at the moment with a bachelor party and a team-building group from Chicago, and why the hell they’d come all the way here at this time of year, I have no clue, but I’m sure Nancy will have something for you.”
“Which direction? I’ll head there now.”
“You’ll freeze in your city shoes before you get there.”
“I’m not wearing city shoes,” Libby snapped, looking at her feet. “And there is no need to be insulting, Mr. Duke.”
“There’s every need if you end up a Popsicle and my brother finds you and has to clean up the mess.”
She studied him, unable to read anything on his face. The cafe door opened behind them then, and his eyes moved.
“What the hell are you doing outside at this hour?” he said.
The man walking in was big and had the same look about him as Ryder Duke. He was scowling.
“Bro, that coffee better be hot. Birdie wants one of your hot chocolates with soy and double the marshmallows. Go hard on the chocolate sprinkles on top too. Plus anything sweet with icing.”
“She’s still got that sweet craving going, then?”
“I found her this morning pouring chocolate syrup into her mouth,” the man said, his eyes now on Libby.
Definitely related, she thought.
“Sawyer Duke, meet Libby Gulliver. I just employed her,” Ryder said.
“You don’t look happy about that, bud,” Sawyer Duke said.
His brother shrugged. “She’s desperate, and you know Bradford can’t give me any more hours. I’ll fire her if she’s hopeless.”
“Excuse me,” Libby said, feeling her anger rise. “I’m standing right here, and it’s rude to discuss me like I’m not.”
The brothers exchanged a look she couldn’t read.
“You sure about this, Ry?” The brother nodded to Libby.
“Sure about what?” she demanded.
“All good. I can look after myself, big brother,” Ryder Duke drawled.
“References?” Sawyer Duke barked the word at her.
“I can hire my own staff, bud. Now, I’ll fill your order, and then you can drop her at the Circle Left because she needs somewhere to stay, her car broke down, and I can’t get away.”
“I can walk, so?—”
“Okay,” Sawyer cut her off, still staring.
Libby stared back. She may be small, poor, and homeless, but she was no pushover. She’d worked really hard on that when she’d entered her father’s business. Being number three of four children, she’d had to learn to speak up or miss out. She’d missed out for years, but that wasn’t happening anymore.
“Don’t mind him, he’s the family asshole,” Ryder surprised her by saying.
Before she could think better of it, Libby said, “Not you?”
Both brothers laughed at that, much to her relief.
“Nah, he’s the good brother,” Sawyer said.
Libby’s eyes swung back to Ryder. “Really?” He looked at her briefly but didn’t say anything.
The beverages were made in silence then, and Libby watched what Ryder did.
“Ah, now there he is. The best future son-in-law a woman could ask for,” Meadow said, arriving. She then hugged Sawyer.
The man accepted it, but Libby could see he wasn’t comfortable.
“Hey, Meadow.” He patted her shoulder awkwardly. “Got anything baked I can take home to your pregnant daughter?”
“I hope she’s taking that ginger tea in the morning to help with the sickness,” Meadow said.
“She is,” Sawyer said, easing out of the embrace and taking a step back.
“Good, I’ll send over some other things I’ve made. But let me get you both a donut, but only one. She needs to eat healthy, and bland foods are better.”
“Is Birdie still feeling sick this many months along in her pregnancy?” Ryder asked.
Libby stepped back a few paces so they could talk in private.
“Where are you going? I thought I was running you to the Circle Left?” Sawyer Duke frowned, which Libby had a feeling he did a lot.
“Giving you some privacy,” she said.
They hooted with laughter over that. Libby wasn’t sure why.
“You don’t get privacy in a town like Lyntacky, sweetheart,” Ryder said. “Everyone knows everyone’s business.”
Libby could honestly say that was her worst nightmare.
“Need another coffee to go, Libby?” Sawyer asked.
“No, thank you,” she added.
“See, Sawyer, manners are important,” Ryder said to his brother, who grunted his reply, which Libby didn’t understand.
“Here you go.” Meadow arrived with a bag, and Sawyer took the tray of drinks.
“See you tomorrow, Libby. If you could be here by 8:00 a.m.?” Ryder said.
“Of course, and thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. You’ll be earning your money,” Ryder said, giving her a steady look she had no idea how to interpret, so she didn’t try. “Leave your car keys with me after you get your things out of the car. Bob will pick them up from here.”
When they stepped out into the frigid air, Libby said, “I’ll be back in a minute,” and ran to her car.
“Don’t run! There may be ice!” Sawyer barked at her.
Libby slowed. Reaching her car, she opened the trunk and stared at the froth of ivory silk. Would they need to look in here to fix her car? The sound of an engine revving had her pulling out her suitcase and slamming the trunk shut with her dress still inside. There had to be a Goodwill store in town. Or maybe she could sell it somewhere?
She then hurried back to hand Ryder Duke the keys. He was waiting in the doorway.
“Thank you for the coffee and the job,” she said quickly. After all, he was going to be her boss, even if he was rude sometimes.
“Not the dance?” He had that mocking look on his face again.
“No, not that.”
“Take a breath, Libby.”
“What?”
“You look like you’re hyperventilating.”
She struggled to haul a breath in and out. Her chest had been tight for days… well, since she’d left that church.
“Bob will fix your car. Now, you go to the Circle Left, and I’ll see you tomorrow. Okay?”
“Okay, and thank you?—”
“We’ve covered you’re grateful,” he said.
She nodded and then turned and hurried back to the large black SUV that Sawyer Duke was sitting in, scowling through the windshield at her. He climbed out and took her case, then put it in the back seat before getting back inside.
“Thank you,” she said, joining him. “For the ride when you don’t know me.”
“I know my brother, and if he says I should give you a ride, I will,” he said in a deep, growly voice.
Libby had met more people in the space of an hour who wanted to help her than in years in her old life. She touched the amethyst Meadow had given her. She could do with some harmony in her mind right about now.
Looking at the big hands on the steering wheel, she wondered why she’d gotten into a car with a complete stranger. Libby wasn’t usually someone who trusted so quickly.
“Don’t mess with him.”
“Pardon?” She shot the mountain man beside her a look.
“Ryder. Don’t mess him around.”
“I beg your pardon?” Libby said in her haughtiest voice.
“You got hearing issues?”
“Were you born rude?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I wasn’t,” she snapped. “Ryder offered me a job, and I will work hard for him, as I always do.”
“You don’t look or sound like the type to me who works in a cafe washing floors,” Sawyer said.
“I didn’t know there was a ‘type.’” Libby wondered how far this lodging house was. Surely the distance was not great in a town this size.
“I’ve lived in big cities, unlike my brother, and you have the look.”
“Who do you think washes floors in cafes in big cities?” she asked politely.
“Good point,” he conceded.
“Where is this place?” she said, desperate now to get there.
“I took the long way.”
“Why?”
“Because my brother is too trusting. I’m not.”
She shot him a look, but he was staring out the windshield.
“Look, Mr. Duke?—”
“Sawyer will do.”
“Your brother doesn’t appear to like me very much, either, which is mutual, but that will not stop me from working hard for him, and while your loyalty to him is admirable, he’s a big boy and can look after himself, I’m sure.”
“Ryder likes everyone,” he said.
So it was just Libby he didn’t like. Excellent, just what her morale needed.
“But as the eldest, I’ve had to watch all of them fall in and out of trouble. I don’t like it, so where I can, I preempt it.”
“I bet they love that,” she muttered, looking at the large pastel pink building they were approaching. A sign above the front door said Circle Left, much to her relief.
This town had odd names; she’d noticed that as her car had limped down the main street to stop outside the Swing Through Cafe.
“No, they hate it, so I mostly do it with subterfuge,” Sawyer Duke said. “Do you have family, Libby?”
“Yes.”
“And where are they?”
“Not here,” she said as the SUV stopped. “Thank you for the ride, and I assure you, I have no intention of hurting your brother in any way. Nor will I steal from him.”
“Okay.” He held out his hand.
Libby looked at the huge hand like one would if a bear put out its paw.
“You can shake it. I don’t bite.”
She looked him up and down.
“Even though I look like I do,” he added with a small smile. “Have you spent much time in small towns, Libby?”
She shook her head.
“Well, I’ll give you a heads-up. The people in this one like to get in your face and know your business, so if you don’t want them to know it, keep your distance… which unfortunately isn’t easy, especially when it comes to the old people in town. They also shake hands.”
“Don’t they mind you calling them old people?” Libby put her hand in his, and he shook it gently before releasing her.
“No. They’re fitter than pretty much everyone else and run the place, so nothing much bothers them. Not that I call them old to their faces,” he said.
He got out of the driver’s side then, and she got out too. Sawyer Duke took her case out of the back seat.
“Thanks,” she said, holding out her hand. He walked by her, and she followed. “I got it.” He ignored her and opened the door. Placing it just inside, he then looked at her.
“Now you go on in out of the cold, and I’m sure I’ll see you around, Libby Gulliver.”
Hopefully not , Libby thought.