A Rich Man for Dry Creek / a Hero for Dry Creek (21 page)

“T
he café's open,” Garrett announced as he slowly drove down the gravel road that was Dry Creek's main street. It was nine o'clock in the morning and just about time for some bacon and eggs in Garrett's opinion. He hoped the café served a hearty breakfast.

Garrett stopped the limousine in front of the café. He had to park parallel to the road because the limo was so long. The café had been lit up last night, and here it was all lit up again this morning. “Somebody puts in long hours.”

“That's Linda Evans and Jazz, well, really Duane Edison. He just goes by Jazz—they're trying to raise enough money to buy the old Jenkins' farm. They're very responsible youngsters.”

Nicki didn't know why she kept spouting off like an old schoolteacher. It must be because, even with the bruise around his eye starting to swell, she'd never met a man so gorgeous as Garrett. He might have stopped sparkling, but he still made all of her frustrations rise to the surface and scream their heads off. Not that she had any intention of letting him see how he affected her.

No, she'd keep her emotions in tight rein. She could do that. After all, her reaction had nothing to do with him personally. She would be rattled by any man who looked as if he'd been sprinkled with gold dust. Not that a man like that would ever be hers in real life. She was destined for a solid plodding man like Lester, who would be useful on the ranch. That was her future. She needed to be practical and stop dreaming about sparkling princes and men like Garrett.

“Is everybody around here so set on staying?” Garrett opened his door.

Nicki looked up at Garrett like he was speaking a foreign language. “Dry Creek is our home.”

Garrett grunted. When he was talking to the dog this morning, he'd wondered if all the people in Dry Creek already had their burial plots picked out. He was beginning to think he'd guessed right when he said yes. That kind of certainty made him itch under the collar. How could a man breathe if he knew every step he'd be taking for the rest of his life?

If Garrett was ever fool enough to marry, it would have to be some poor restless soul like himself. He delayed swinging his legs out of the cab of the limousine. “Don't you ever feel the urge to go other places?”

“I go to Billings.”

Garrett grunted again. “Why stop there?”

“That's as far as we need to go for cattle sales.” Nicki wasn't sure about going into the café with Garrett. He was dressed in his tuxedo and she had on her barn clothes. “You go ahead. I'm really not very hungry.”

“Well, I am.” Garrett stepped out into the snow-covered road.

Garrett looked down the long gravel road leading into Dry Creek. For the first time since he could remember, looking at a road made him feel a little depressed. There was something lonely about the thought of one man traveling it all by himself. Garrett decided it must be because he was missing Big Blue. Or maybe he needed to get a dog to travel the road with him so he'd have someone to talk to during the long nights.

Garrett walked around the limousine. Breakfast would make him feel better.

A light sprinkling of snow settled on the front window. Nicki was comfortable in the car watching Garrett until she heard the small window click open behind her.

“I'm glad to see you remember some of what I taught you. A lady never eats breakfast like some ranch hand,” Nicki's mother said. “Speaking of which—I hope you're taking care of your hands, too.”

Nicki turned to stare at the woman behind her. The woman might be her mother, but Nicki saw nothing of herself in the face that looked through the small window. Her mother's face was like a porcelain doll's. It was flawless, but not real.

“Mother, look at me. I never was the pretty little girl you wanted me to be. I don't have time for lotions and fancy manicures. We need summer help on the ranch, but we don't have money to pay anyone. So, Reno and I do everything. I bale hay and brand cattle. I'm not a lady, I'm a working ranch hand.” Nicki opened the door and stepped out. She stood tall and took a deep breath. Nicki knew she was going to order the full stack of pancakes. The morning was beginning to look better.

Garrett already had a foot on the step that led up to the porch that surrounded the café door when Nicki caught up to him. She felt she should caution Garrett about the steps leading up to the café, but she knew Jazz had fixed them all. Maybe it was the door that she should warn him about.

Nicki's heart sank when she heard the woman's voice. Now
that's
what she should have warned Garrett about.

“Oh my, oh my—” Linda shrieked the moment Garrett stepped inside the café. Nicki and Garrett were both just inside the doorway now and Linda saw them. “Jazz said—but, oh, my!”

Nicki knew it was a mistake bringing Garrett to town without a hat on his head to hide his handsome face, but what could she do now?

“This is Garrett Hamilton.” Nicki introduced the man beside her. “He's just in town to—to—”

“I know, I know—” Linda squealed. The teenager had a red streak in her hair and a row of silver earrings circling her left ear. She wore a long black dress with a white chef's apron over it. She had a tattoo of a butterfly over her left eye. She was the last person in Dry Creek who should be making a fuss over how someone looked and, if Nicki got her ear privately for a moment, she would suggest that to Linda. “Jazz said—but I never…I mean, I thought he was mistaken or—well, I just never thought.” The teenager stopped to take a breath and reached her hand out to Garrett. “Pleased to meet you.”

Garrett was beginning to wonder if Dry Creek might be a little too far off the beaten path. Jazz, the young man he'd talked to last night, looked at him oddly and then this young woman acted as if she'd never seen a stranger. “The pleasure's all mine.”

Four empty square tables, each with four wooden chairs, stood in the middle of the café. Garrett liked the casual fifties look of the place. The floor was black-and-white linoleum and there were red-checked vinyl cloths on the tables. Each table had a squeeze bottle of maple syrup. That was a good sign. He liked pancakes. “This is a very nice place you have here.”

“Oh.” Linda turned to Nicki. “And he has such nice manners. That's a good thing in a…well, a—” Linda put her head close to Nicki's ear and whispered “—in a husband.”

“In a what?” Nicki was glad her teeth were attached. Otherwise, they would have fallen out of her mouth. She had completely forgotten that Lester had gone on about Jazz seeing the ring the man had.

“Oh, I hope I didn't spoil the surprise.” Linda put her hands over her lips. “I shouldn't have said anything. I just thought that by now he would have asked.”

“Garrett isn't—” Nicki closed her mouth. Garrett was looking at her puzzled. He hadn't heard what Linda had whispered and Nicki wasn't about to tell him. She came as close as she dared. “That was my mother's old engagement ring. Garrett's just passing through Dry Creek and he returned it. Besides, you know I'm not dating anyone.”

Linda lowered her voice so only Nicki could hear. “But you want to, don't you? He's the best-looking man I've ever seen around here. You've got to want to date him.”

Nicki blushed and shook her head. “No, I—”

Linda winked at Nicki and turned to Garrett. “Sorry about that. Nicki was just telling me about her latest date with Lester. You probably don't know him—”

“Oh, I know him.” Garrett turned so the young lady could see the bruise on the right side of his face. “He gave me this.”

“You were fighting.” Linda stopped and frowned. “Nicki doesn't like fighting.”

“Tell that to Lester.”

“Lester started the fight? That doesn't sound like Lester.”

Linda moved over so she could whisper in Nicki's ear. “You don't want to marry him if he's always picking fights with people. I don't care if he begs you. Say no.”

“I don't need to say no,” Nicki whispered back. “He's not asking.”

Linda nodded and continued brightly, “Yes, Nicki is almost married to Lester. He's got a big ranch north of here.”

“He doesn't care about Lester.” Nicki felt her blush deepen. Why didn't Linda just put an Available sign on Nicki's forehead and set her out on the street so every man who drove through Dry Creek could stop and refuse to ask her out?

Linda barely stopped to listen to Nicki. She continued speaking to Garrett. “Lester took her to the Christmas pageant last year. I remember they had the spaghetti dinner here that night, too. Jazz's band was playing romantic music and Lester was very attentive.” She shrugged. “It's only a matter of time.”

Nicki shook her head. Why did everyone think she needed to be dating? Lots of perfectly fine women didn't date. Of course they were mostly nuns. “Lester doesn't need to ask me on a date. He's a friend of the family. He invited Reno that night, too.”

“She's got you there,” Garrett agreed cheerfully. “Sounds like a friend-of-the-family dinner instead of a date to me.”

“Family's important to Lester,” Linda continued. “That's why he invited Reno.”

Nicki frowned. She'd never really thought about why Lester had invited Reno. Now that she thought about it, she realized Lester had talked mostly with Reno. Nicki wondered for the first time if she was as boring to Lester as he was to her. They always did seem to run out of conversation after they covered the weather and the crops. Sometimes cattle prices kept them going longer.

It was depressing to realize that the man you were going to marry had nothing to talk to you about and you were halfway through the dating phase. This was supposed to be the fun time.

“What do you think about the weather?” Nicki looked at Garrett and demanded. “You're a trucker. Weather is important. Do you talk about it?”

“I guess so.” Garrett shrugged.

“I mean on a date. Do you talk about it on a date?”

Garrett turned to Nicki. The light was coming in the window of the café and it hit Nicki on the cheek. It gave her a golden Mona Lisa kind of a glow. Something was bothering her and, for the first time in his life, Garrett truly wished he understood women.

“No.” Garrett hoped this was the right answer. “Unless you do, that is.”

“I was afraid of that.” Nicki shoved her hands into the pocket of her coat. She'd forgotten all about her hands until her mother reminded her. They weren't the hands of a dating woman. She didn't wear polish. She kept her nails clipped short. And the skin on her hands was rough and sometimes chapped. She was a fool to think for a moment that Garrett would date someone like her. At least a man like Lester wouldn't worry about her hands or her lack of conversation. “I need to get back and help Lester feed the cows.”

Garrett didn't know how one man could be so annoying. “I'm surprised Lester doesn't feed them by himself. Or is it some kind of a date in disguise where you sit and talk about the weather and look at the cows?”

“I don't date,” Nicki said.

Linda turned to frown at Nicki. “What Nicki means is that she's been too busy to date very much lately.”

“What I mean is that I have to get back and get to work,” Nicki repeated.

Garrett grunted. So she didn't date. That meant she'd never go out with him, but it cheered him up anyway. “That's too bad. I don't date much, either, these days.”

Nicki stiffened. Who was he trying to fool?

The scent of baking biscuits came from what must be the café's kitchen. Garrett breathed in. “That smells good. Can I put in an order for some of those biscuits with some eggs and bacon?”

Linda thought a moment. “The early rush wiped us out. You're welcome to wait but it will be a few minutes. Will that be a table for two?”

“No, we'll need a table for three.”

Lillian was still in the limousine, no doubt writing her apology speech. But Garrett was pretty sure breakfast would lure the woman out of the car. They hadn't had a decent meal since Salt Lake City.

“Three?” Linda frowned.

Garrett nodded.

Linda shrugged and headed back toward the kitchen. “I'll bring out more silverware then.”

“How long will it be before you're ready?” Garrett called after her.

“Give us ten minutes.” Linda swung open a door to the kitchen and walked into the other room.

Nicki decided disaster had been averted. She didn't know where Linda got such strange ideas, but hopefully Nicki had set the record straight. “Since we have to wait, I think I'll go over to the hardware store and see if the pastor is there.”

“I'll go with you.”

Nicki hesitated and then decided it was just as well that Garrett didn't stay at the café within reach of Linda's voice. “Good.”

Garrett cleared his throat when he opened the door for Nicki to step out into the street. “So you don't date?”