Chapter 6 #2
Kat was more than familiar with The Corner Kitchen.
While she hadn’t been there since high school, she had many memories of spending late nights with friends, sharing cheap, greasy food and strong coffee and scheming about how they were all going to escape this town one day.
How ironic that now she was visiting that same diner in a fight to stick around.
She pushed open the door to see the all too familiar rows of booths.
They had apparently been reupholstered since she last visited, but they were the same old booths with fake-wood tables.
The place hadn’t changed much at all. It was dated, but charmingly so.
She took the long path around to all the booths and found Cole hadn’t arrived yet.
So, she chose one close to the windows to keep an eye out.
“Can I get you some coffee?” a server asked. She hadn’t even seen him at her table until he spoke. That alone should have told her how on edge she was.
“Sure,” she answered. “With cream and sugar, please.”
The server left and returned with a full pot of coffee and a lazy Susan packed with coffee-related condiments. “Room, I assume?” he asked.
Kat grinned. “Cute rhyme! And yes, please. Just a half inch or so.”
She spent the next ten minutes staring out the window, and then she got bored and started scrolling on her phone.
There were a couple social media accounts she had helped manage that needed activity on a regular basis, so she decided to do that while she waited.
The only problem was that Cole was stealthy enough to sit down across from her before she even knew he had arrived.
When he finally spoke, she practically jumped out of her seat.
“Lady Kat,” he said.
She hit “like” on one more clip and put her phone down. “Lord Cole,” she responded, rolling her eyes.
He just smiled across the table at her. “I could get used to that.”
“Ugh, fine,” she finally conceded. “You can call me whatever you want. Just stop with the weird titles.” She handed the menu to him. “I already know what they have here, so I don’t need it.”
“I don’t need it either,” he said. “Been at this hotel for a week. Eaten at this lovely establishment every day since I got here.”
As if to prove his point, the server came back around to offer the new guest a cup of coffee and immediately recognized Cole. “Oh, hello again, sir,” the server said. “Can I get you your usual?”
Cole recognized the server and started chatting with him in a lively way that seemed to indicate they were old friends. Once Cole’s order was in, the server took Kat’s order and moved away to the next table. Kat couldn’t help asking, “Are you from here, too?”
He shook his head. “Not at all. But I move around a fair bit, so I know how to make friends quickly. Now, I assume you’re here for the boards I got for you.”
“Among other things,” Kat answered, doctoring her newly refilled cup. “Do you still have them?”
“Of course I do,” Cole said, and Kat got the distinct impression he was telling the truth.
“I said I’d keep ’em for you, didn’t I? Listen, kitten.
” He leaned in, and Kat instinctively reacted by leaning away from him.
“I may seem like a shady guy to someone like you, but I always keep my word. Ask anyone who knows me. Ask him.” He pointed at the server who was passing by again on his way to the kitchen.
Kat shook her head with a laugh. “I believe you. Anyway, do you think you’ll be in town long enough to need a job? Because if you will, I have work for you.”
“I’m listening.” He leaned in again, and this time, she did not lean away from him.
“My current hand has thrown his back out, and I’m insisting he get some rest. I need help in the meantime, and you seem to know what you’re doing. I can’t pay a ton—”
“I’m in,” he interrupted before she could finish her sentence.
“I haven’t even told you how much the job pays.”
“It doesn’t really matter,” he assured her with a wink. “I take work on how interesting the job will be rather than how much it will pay. And a city girl trying to run a ranch? I can’t imagine anything more entertaining right now.”
“So you’re going to work for me just so you can watch me struggle?” She glared across the table at him, still unsure whether their personalities would clash too much to work together.
He shrugged. “Does it matter what my motivation is? The outcome is the most important thing, right? And I can promise you’ll be happy with my work.”
He made a good point, or at least it was a point that appealed to Kat’s practical nature.
Of course, his personal reasons were none of her business.
As long as he was a good and honest worker who accepted the pay she could offer, she had nothing to complain about.
“All right,” she said, holding a hand across the table.
He took it, and they shook. “You’re hired.
But remember, this is my ranch. I’ll hear your advice, but the final decision on everything, including your employment, is mine. ”
He smiled with a look that could be almost interpreted as respect. “Understood… Kat.”