AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No. I have everything I need right here. You three go on before they run out of the good cuts they get from the beef produced at the White Oak Ranch. Hank and Sadie know how to raise fine beef. Who’d have thought the mega-movie star, Sadie McClain, would have a head for ranching.”
Drake knew Hank had married the famous movie star. Word traveled fast in the ranks of the Navy SEALs.
Ms. Dottie chuckled. “They didn’t know little Miss Sadie when she ran around town in her toddler-sized cowboy boots and a diaper like we all did as children. She was the cutest kid, with white-blond hair and the prettiest blue eyes…” She frowned. “But don’t stand around listening to an old woman rambling.”
As they stepped out onto the porch, Grimm asked, “Walk or drive?”
“It’s only a couple of blocks,” Murdock said. “Let’s walk.”
Drake fell in step with Grimm and Murdock, glad to be among men who spoke his language. Men who’d been through what he’d been through and had lived to tell about it. These men were warriors like him. They’d fought battles, been under fire and so close to death so many times, they’d stopped counting.
Like him, they were now navigating the strange waters of civilian life, alongside men and women who’d never been in a battle, never had bullets and mortars fire at them. Their biggest concern wasn’t whether they would live to the end of the day or die a painful death when shrapnel ripped through their bodies.
No, they were concerned about getting their kids to baseball practice, or how Little Johnny was doing on his standardized aptitude tests and what shows to watch that night sitting in their comfortable homes with popcorn and the family pet lying on the floor beside them.
He'd missed his brothers in arms more than he’d thought he would and was glad he was back among them. Hank had done him a favor by inviting him to Montana with the promise of work that was more fulfilling than scraping dried gum from the underside of dining tables.
The Blue Moose Tavern was hopping on a Monday night, with cars and trucks filling the parking lot and music blaring through the open door.
Grimm led the way inside, where they were greeted by a young brunette teenage girl with pretty brown eyes and a nice smile. “How many?” she asked.
“We’re meeting two others,” Grimm started and stopped. “There they are, and they already have a table.” As they walked away from the hostess, Grimm leaned toward Murdock. “Don’t even think it. That girl is jailbait.”
“You think?” Murdock shot a glance over his shoulder. “I would’ve guessed her to be at least twenty-one. She works in a bar.”
“This place is a bar and a restaurant. Families come to eat here.” Grimm waved a hand, the gesture encompassing the crowded room.
Drake studied the patrons. Several families filled tables alongside groups of men in dusty jeans. Cowboys, fresh off the range, looking for a cool beer with friends to discuss the cattle market or the best fishing streams in the state.
Judge and Utah already sipped on tall glasses of beer while staring at the menu. Judge glanced up and nodded toward the men as they gathered around the table and claimed seats. “About time you two arrived. We were about to order without you.”
Utah and Judge handed over their menus.
Drake leaned over to read through the one in front of Grimm. His gaze stopped at steak.
A pretty young woman with blond hair and blue eyes stopped beside Drake. “Hi, I’m Abby; I’ll be your server. What can I get you to drink?”
The men ordered beer, and the waitress disappeared before they could place their food orders.
When she returned with the three beers, she set them on the table and pulled a pad from her pocket. “Are you ready to order?”
“Yes,” Judge answered. “Ribeye, medium-rare, loaded baked potato and a house salad, ranch dressing.”
“I’ll have the same,” Utah said.
“Make mine the same, only just butter on the potato,” Drake said.
“I’ll have a burger and fries,” Grimm said.
“Same,” Murdock said. “And before you go, we have a bet going on the hostess. I say she’s twenty. These yahoos say she’s a teenager.”
The blonde grinned. “You lose. She’s seventeen.”
“Shoot,” Murdock snapped his fingers. “I’d pegged you as seventeen. Don’t tell me… You turned sixteen last month, and this is your first job.”
She slipped the pad into her apron pocket. “Wrong again. “I’ll be twenty-one in two weeks, and I’ve been here for the past four years part-time while I was in high school and now college.”
“I didn’t know they had a college in Eagle Rock,” Grimm said.
