CHAPTER 29
Riggs
“Damn, woman, you can’t do that to me.”
We’re at The Fool’s Grill in the middle of Main Street and it might be the most unusual restaurant I’ve ever been to. Maddie mentioned the menu was different, but I didn’t know what she meant until I actually saw it.
“I don’t have to if you’re not interested,” she says, twirling a finger in her hair like she’s all innocent and na?ve.
All I can do is laugh. She knows darn well what she’s doing to me, and before my dick doesn’t fit in my pants again, I decide to change the subject. “I thought Keegan had some good ideas about the funeral.”
That snaps her out of porn-star mode. “I know, right? I’ve never seen that side of him.”
“Obviously I don’t know him, but it seemed like he just needs someone to listen to him.”
“Funny you should mention that. I was thinking the same thing. I’m starting to see a lot of things differently now.”
As I look at the menu, I realize Maddie might have been understating this place when she warned me it’s different. The dishes are insane, and I want to try every one of them. Guess I have two weeks to make that happen. “How’s the Duck Duck Goose Beaver Slap sandwich?”
“Everything here is good.”
Even the soda—strawberry rhubarb—is interesting. Maddie said it’s made right here in Sweetbriar. I try it, and it’s surprisingly good.
She seems to already know what she wants while I’m still reading about this crazy sandwich. “Says it’s layered with seasoned mallard duck, Peking duck, Embden goose, blackened beaver meat, and jicama slaw with a special house sauce mildly similar to a remoulade. Is this for real?”
“Yeah, you should try it. The bread is made at the bakery two shops over. Some say it’s as good as the meat combination.”
“Interesting. Yeah, I’ll get this. What are you getting? Wait, let me guess, The Stained Salmonglass Rice Bowl.”
“Good guess.”
“What is salmonglass? Wait, I think I know. Ash and I have smoked hundreds of pounds of salmon up in Alaska. It does look like orange stained glass when you first take it out of the brine.”
“Yep. I doubt you could find anyone around here who doesn’t know how to smoke salmon or catch Dungeness crab by the truckload. It’s a way of life around here.”
“I love Dungeness crab.”
Our meals come, and I can’t believe my taste buds when I bite into the sandwich. Damn that’s good. “Ash would love this,” I mumble with a full mouth.
“Told you.”
Halfway through dinner, the conversation drifts to funeral arrangements. “Since you have the day off tomorrow, I thought we’d try to get as much done as we can. Then I can take care of everything else while you’re at work. I think Keegan is right, Saturday would be the best day to have it.”
“I agree.”
As necessary as it is, I can tell this conversation has brought back a lot of her pain. It’s in her eyes and I can tell how hard she’s fighting to blink back the tears. “How are you doing?”
Staring at what’s left of the food in her bowl she mutters softly, “What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean.”
She sets her fork down and looks away as if something more interesting than our conversation is off in the distance.
I think she just needs a moment to gather her thoughts.
After a long pause, she finally looks at me, but this time there’s a newfound resolve in her gaze.
“There’s something you don’t know about me. ”
Uh-oh. A knot forms in the pit of my stomach.
I don’t like surprises, probably because surprises that involved the women in my life have never been good.
Is she going to tell me she’s married, or worse, that she’s a baseball fan?
I can endure a lot of things, but watching baseball is like watching paint dry, at least to me.
Ash and I are hockey fans. That’s a real sport!
“You just got out of prison for killing your last boyfriend, didn’t you?” I say playfully to try to lighten the mood.
Her eyes narrow. “You googled me?”
That’s the Maddie I like to see. “Not yet, you just seem like the type no one would suspect.”
“Well, in my defense, he did leave his dirty socks on the floor, so I think it was justified.”
I feign horrified shock. “That bastard! Tell me you suffocated him with those same socks.”
She laughs. “He wished I was that nice. I brought a pit bull to his favorite glory hole. Oh yeah, the cheating thing was another reason he had to go. Maybe keep that in mind in case you’re ever tempted.”
I wince at that image. Ouch. “Noted.” I lean back in my seat loving this banter.
“But I’m not the cheating type so not much to worry about there.
” I also like that she considers us in a relationship.
At least that’s how it seems if she’s already warning me against cheating.
I know it was in jest, but if she wasn’t a little serious, I don’t think she’d joke about something like that, which is good, because I’ve already decided that she belongs to me.
Now I just need to figure out a way to make this work.
There has to be a way, because I don’t think I could handle losing her.
It’s like we were made for each other. Then again, I still don’t know what her surprise is.
I lean forward closing the distance between us. “So, what don’t I know about you?”
She leans in too, but with a kindness in her eyes that quells the uncertainty in my gut, she says, “What you don’t know is I’m really good at compartmentalizing.
I miss my mother. I can’t stop thinking about her and if I let it, it will tear me up inside.
But at the same time, I told myself I can deal with it after the funeral.
There’s too much to do to fall apart now.
Besides, my mom would have wanted me to be strong like her. ”
Strong like her? “You know, I really don’t know much about your mom. What was she like?”
A light flickers in her eyes and I can’t believe I haven’t asked before now.
She sits up a little straighter. “She grew up on a cattle ranch. I don’t think I mentioned that.
She had four older brothers, all cowboys.
” She pauses with a curve to her lip as if recalling a fond memory.
“One time, her brothers were trying to get a stubborn bull to walk up a ramp to get it on a truck, but it refused to move. After watching them fight with it for a while, Mom walked up with a piece of lumber and used it like a softball bat to smack the bull in the forehead. The bull’s legs nearly buckled, and it walked right up the ramp.
My uncles must have told me that story a hundred times. Mom was only sixteen then.”
“Impressive. Sounds like she was a tough girl.”
“She was. Mom always taught me to step up, do what needs to be done, and don’t complain about it. It’s probably hard to understand, but this is my way of honoring her—by being strong and moving on with my life. She would be disappointed in me if I did anything else.”
“That’s not hard to understand at all. I would have loved to have met her. She sounds a lot like my sister, a formidable woman.”
“Yeah, she really was.”
I’m glad we had this talk. Now I feel like I don’t need to worry about her—not as much, anyway.
And I can’t help noticing how she’s so different from any of the trust-fund girls I’ve dated. Unlike them, she’s strong, apparently like her mother, but is she strong enough to hang on while I’m gone? I guess we’ll find out.