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“Are there a couple of extra grab-and-go lunches today?” she asked. “I can pay for them. I’ll want one every day I work too.” She pressed her fingertips together, her mind firing a reminder at her. “On the days we make them.”
“Sure thing,” Lowry said, his voice higher than she would’ve guessed it to be. Nothing about this cowboy made sense, and she wondered if he’d been pieced together by leftovers by the Good Lord. He opened a drawer and handed her a sheet of paper. “That’s our schedule for this month. March is on the back. Cost for lunches is on the top.”
Gina studied the sheet, noting that they made grab-and-go lunches four or five days a week in this “off-season.”
“Okay,” she said. “So I want two À la carte ones today, and I want to sign up for the monthly plan.”
“Just a sec,” he said, tapping on a tablet in front of him. She had no idea what he was looking at, as he didn’t seem too keen to explain himself to her. She stood at his desk awkwardly, blurting out, “My crispy treats,” at the same time he said, “We have two extras for today.”
She held up both palms and said, “I need a minute.” Then she sprinted back into the kitchen and got her rolled crispy treats out of the fridge. With them safely resting on the counter near the door, she admired the cookies as well. They’d all come out perfectly golden brown while she’d contemplated what her second offering would be, and she couldn’t wait to decorate them.
Later. Right now, she hurried back to Lowry as she set an alarm on her phone. She needed time to decorate those cookies, and time had a way of disappearing when she was with Blake. “Okay,” she said, breathless. “I’m ready now.”
“Great,” Lowry said from his seated position. “How would you like to pay for today’s lunches?” He looked at her expectantly.
“Uh, let me—”
“I’ve got it,” a deep voice said, and all of Gina’s cells vibrated at the familiarity in Blake’s voice. He handed Lowry a ten-dollar bill and nodded at him. He did the same to Gina, minus the money, and then turned toward the dining area. “You’re free for a few minutes?”
“Yes, sir,” she said, her voice taking on a teasing quality all by itself. Embarrassment filled her, and she clomped after Blake in her tennis shoes. He took two lunches from one of the bins and went back toward the hallway that led into the office area. She simply followed him, hoping she could find her way back to the kitchen in time to make frosting and impress him and Starla with her cookie decorating skills.
Outside, sunshine assaulted her, and she took a deep breath of it. Her head cleared and her muscles relaxed, and she took the brown bag from Blake as he went down a wide set of steps. The huge bald cypress stood tall and proud about thirty yards away, and Blake didn’t break stride as he went toward it.
He climbed right on top of the weathered picnic table there, as he’d done many times before. Gina grinned at him as she approached. “My legs aren’t as long as yours.”
He grinned at her. “How many times have I heard that?”
“Probably five hundred.” She laughed as she joined him on the tabletop. “So, what’s in these things?” She pulled against the staple keeping the top of her bag closed, and Blake did the same.
“Sandwiches, chips, fruit,” he said.
“So we’re back in grade school.”
“I’ll trade my carrots for your cookies.” He offered her that sexy grin again, and the lopsidedness of it hadn’t changed one single bit. Neither had the fact that it always elicited a return smile from her. It was like she couldn’t stop herself.
She told herself to stop staring at him and focus on her lunch. “I still have to decorate my cookies,” she said. “I don’t have much time.”
“I have an online meeting with the mayor,” he said.
Gina lifted her head from peering into the contents of her bag. “Are you trying to one-up me?”
He chuckled and shook his head as he removed the ham and cheese croissant sandwich from its plastic bag. “No, ma’am. Just statin’ facts.”
“What do you and the mayor have to talk about?” She took out her apple and went straight in for a bite, realizing how hungry she was now that food had made an appearance.
“He wants me to sit on some…council thing,” Blake said wearily. “Something about a Fourth of July event. He thinks we’re the only ranch who can handle feeding large groups.”
“You do a good job of it,” she said. “There was hardly any waste at breakfast. I never waited longer than sixty seconds for new pans of what was out.”
“That’s Starla, not me,” he said. “I don’t have anything to do with the food here.” He took a bite of his sandwich, gazing back in the direction of the lodge. He didn’t focus his eyes, though, and she wondered what ran through his mind.
She’d been able to ask him in the past. Today, she ate her apple and then dug into her bag to start on her sandwich before she said, “What are you thinking about?”
He swung his attention toward her, and Gina held his gaze for as long as she could. Only five seconds later, she focused on unwrapping her sandwich. “You don’t have to tell me.”
“I was thinking I’m not quite ready for the weather to get hot.”
Gina scoffed. “Really, Blake? The weather?” She took a bite of her sandwich and shook her head.
