Chapter Twelve
“Terminal?” Soledad gawped at Sassy. “What does that mean?”
“The engine’s shot,” Sassy muttered, picking at the contents of the platter Jessamine Baker had placed in front of her.
The country-fried steak she’d ordered tasted like ash in her mouth despite Jessamine’s talents in the kitchen.
“Sal says he’s replaced every part twice over.
It needs a rebuild, and after buying the house two years ago and the reno, I’m not sure it would be wise to drop more cash on my princess when this could happen again in a year or two. ”
“I’m so sorry,” Soledad commiserated. “I know how much you love her.”
“She got me to New York and back,” Sassy said ruefully. “The first time a boy kissed me, he racked his nuts on the center console trying to get to me.”
“You’re not eating,” Jessamine said with a tsk as she returned to the table to refill their glasses of iced tea. “My cookin’ not good enough for you girls anymore?”
“No one’s saying that,” Sassy said, spooning up a large forkful of Brussels sprouts. She made yummy noises to combat Jessamine’s puckered expression.
Soledad followed suit, sipping creamy chicken noodle soup out of the Oh My Heck mug it had been served in.
Her thin black eyebrows rose to her hairline and her hand came to her mouth when she realized that it was still steaming.
With a thumbs-up, she offered a stilted, closed-mouth smile to the hovering chef.
Jessamine lifted her chin. “You two aren’t leaving without dessert. I got Jell-O salad today.”
As she moved to the next table, Soledad groaned. “The last time I ate dessert here, I gained five pounds.”
“Mmm,” Sassy said with a nod. “Her Jell-O salad is frickin’ dangerous.
” From the outside, the established hole in the wall looked more like a refurbished trailer than an eatery.
When Dark Canyon’s beautification committee had come after Jessamine and her husband, Joe—both of whom ran the place with just a handful of staff—they’d added a wraparound porch and a small cupid’s fountain out front.
Nick and Sassy had a running bet on bare-as-a--bumpkin Cupid’s real reasons for being there. Sassy thought the fountain was a polite way for Jessamine and Joe to show their asses to the committee. Nick had odds on it being a misguided attempt to class up the place.
Cupid’s chipped nose and stained basin looked like something they’d picked up from a yard sale rather than a garden center.
He fit right in, though, with the potato sack–lined ceiling, the scarred wood floors so soft in places walking over them felt sketchy as hell if you were paying attention and the chicken and egg salt and pepper shakers on each table.
If the city council ever decided to shut down Jessamine’s based on appearance, they’d find Sassy and a good many others at the front of the picket line.
She spooned mac and cheese and made herself eat it. If comfort food wasn’t going to get her through this, what would?
The door opened with a tinkle of bells, and Nick breezed through, Riot’s leash in hand.
“Boy,” Jessamine called from across the dining room, “you can’t bring that dog in here.”
Nick crouched behind him, using his hands to perk Riot’s ears at a jaunty angle. “But, Miss Jezzie, look! He’s starving.”
On cue, Riot lifted one paw off the floor in a plaintive pose.
“You’re one horse away from a dog and pony show.” Tossing her checkered kitchen towel over one shoulder, Jessamine turned toward the swinging kitchen door. “I’ll turn my back this visit. Next time, he eats on the porch like the rest of the barnyard animals.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Nick said, dropping into the chair next to Sassy that she’d already kicked out for him. “After twenty-seven years, she still scares the hell out of me. Why do we keep coming back?”
“Jell-O salad,” Sassy said around a bite from her honey biscuit. She counted off others on her fingers. “Sweet corn. Fried peaches in honey. Funeral potatoes. Homemade fry sauce…”
“Oh yeah,” he said dreamily. Coming to his senses, he nodded to Soledad. “How’re you today?”
“Great,” Soledad replied. “Lunch is on me. Sassy’s letting me go early today so I can meet my friend Fletcher. We’re going dancing tonight.”
“Boyfriend,” Sassy stage-whispered behind her hand.
Nick grinned at Soledad. “Has he passed Sassy’s inspection?”
“Not yet,” Soledad admitted measuredly.
“She likes this one too much to expose him to my scrutiny,” Sassy pointed out.
“I really like him,” Soledad explained. “He’s an artist from Moab making a fresh start here in Dark Canyon. He likes the slower pace.”
“Those pieces of his you showed me were promising,” Sassy noted, handing Nick her fork so he could finish off her greens. She pinched off a corner of the biscuit, checked the kitchen door to make sure Jessamine was out of sight and passed Riot the bite under the table. “He works with metal.”
“Huh.” Nick’s brow creased as he finished off the Brussels sprouts. “Interesting.”
Was it? Sassy studied him for subtext, but he reached for her iced tea.
A hand flew out of nowhere to swat his away.
“Ow!” Nick cried out.
Jessamine set a fresh glass in front of him. “Margot taught you better than to reach across the table. Drink your own.”
“Thank you?” he ventured as she filled it.
“Stop eating Sassy’s food and tell me what you want,” she charged.
He didn’t have to look at the menu board to know what she offered. Quickly, he rattled off, “Wild game chili with French fries and fry sauce on the side.”
“And the whelp?” she asked, pointing a finger at Riot, who cowered so far under the tablecloth only his snoot was visible. “What’ll he have? Can’t have those doleful eyes tempting my customers to pass good food on to him.”
“Turkey meatballs, no sauce?” Nick said, leaning out of reach in case she swatted him again.
“Hmph,” Jessamine said before turning her back.
“Christ and all the latter-day saints,” Nick muttered, watching warily as she stomped back to the kitchen. He rubbed Riot’s protruding nose in comfort. “Is she going to poison my food?”
“I’d still eat it,” Sassy opined, downing more mac and cheese.
“Where are you two going tonight?” Nick asked Soledad.
Was he interested in Sassy’s executive assistant?
Envy fired along her neurons, making her drop gooey Monterey jack cheese into her lap.
She picked up a napkin and swiped furiously at the stain on her favorite pair of bell bottoms. Soledad was as much her friend as Nick.
Sassy would not be jealous. Carefully, she asked him, “Are you wanting to go dancing tonight, too?”
He turned his attention away from Soledad and combed his gaze across the sweetheart neckline of Sassy’s bubble-sleeved blouse. “Maybe.”
Her heart rolled belly up like a puppy looking for caresses. She swallowed.
He looked away.
Soledad looked from him back to Sassy then reached for her iced tea, eyes round. “Um… I think Fletcher wanted to try line dancing at the Bootleg.”
“Sounds fun.” Nick nudged Sassy’s shoulder with his own. “You like line dancing.”
Why are you being weird? She curbed the urge to hiss it at him. “When it’s called for.”
Soledad considered the two of them. “So…should we double?”
“Double?” Nick asked, confused.
“Double date,” Soledad clarified.
Nick’s lips parted. “Double date,” he parroted like he’d never heard the phrase before.
Sassy leaned toward him, lowering her voice to drop the words in his ear. “It’s like regular dating but with two couples instead of one.”
He snorted. “I know what double dating is.”
Sassy raised her hands. “Sorry. You looked clueless there for a second. Has it really been that long for you?”
A muscle twitched along his jaw. “All right,” he said. “Count us in.”
“What?” Sassy felt all the blood drain to her toes.
“Are you not up for this?” he asked her.
It sounded like a challenge. The gleam in his eye told her it was a challenge. What are you up to, Nicholas? she wondered. “Sure,” she shot back. “Why not? Let’s double date.” It felt strange coming out of her mouth.
So wonderfully strange. The possibilities careened around her head. Her and Nick. Nick and her. Dancing the night away at the Bootleg before going back to her place and…
Her face heated fast. Riot let out a startled, muffled bark when she pushed her chair back from the table abruptly.
“Don’t mind me,” she said when both Nick and Soledad looked up.
She rose, grabbing her purse. “I’m going to see a man about a horse.
” With that, she retreated to the ladies’…
hopefully before either of them noticed that she was blushing furiously.
* * *
Nick felt underdressed next to Sassy. Damn, but she knew how to dress for the occasion.
He’d nearly swallowed his tongue when she’d emerged from her room in the tasseled suede off-the-shoulder dress that displayed the smooth line of her shoulders and clavicle to perfection.
She’d completed the look with vintage brown boots.
He quelled the need to run his thumb in a circle over the sweet round knob of her knee. To wrap his fingers around it and tickle the sensitive skin of the crease.
He chanced a glance at her now as he drove to the Bootleg.
Her gaze was tuned to the passenger window, watching the lights of Dark Canyon pass.
Her hair tumbled down from her brown felt hat.
He had trouble distinguishing her profile from its shadow.
He knew, however, that her lips were painted fire-engine red.
She’d curled her hair so it tumbled over her shoulders in waves.
Shifting in the driver’s seat, he hoped to direct the flow of blood away from his groin.
His jeans felt tight. What had he been thinking, daring Sassy to go on a double date with him?
He’d never known her to shy away from a challenge.
She usually went all out like she had tonight.
Now Nick was in a heap of trouble. He cleared his throat. “What did Sal say about the Bronco?”