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Chef Simon gave Grandma Dotty a glowing smile, as equally bright as it was hopeful.
Violet hated to be the one to dash his hopes. “She can’t invest without my father’s approval.”
Simon’s smile fell and he returned his attention to the skillet.
“You could invest, Vi.” Grandma Dotty nudged her, wobbling her white brows suggestively. “Wouldn’t it be fun to have a table reserved for us at a restaurant we…youown?”
Violet didn’t like the way Chef Simon looked at her, with interest that had nothing to do with her as a woman. He was a Kissing Test candidate for sure, appreciative of an heiress for inheritance’s sake.
It was a head-snapping jolt back to reality after a few short days of Chuck’s worshipful glances that she felt had nothing to do with her future net worth and everything to do with who she was today.
“I’m not liquid enough to invest. Sorry.” Simon saw her for what she truly was—a dry literature professor who might have funds to invest. It made Chuck’s interest in her that much harder to walk away from.
What am I going to do?
*
“It’s you.”
Coop turned at the feminine voice, holding the bag of apples he’d just filled.
The woman who’d called out to him stood in stained blue jeans, a wrinkled medical scrub shirt, and big black army boots. Her jet black hair floated in a tousled cloud about her head.
For the life of him, he couldn’t place her.
“You’re the cowboy who galloped off with my sister on a white horse.” She glanced down at herself. “I was wearing my party clothes then.” She glanced back up at him. “I’m Maggie. Dr. Maggie Summer, veterinarian. I just delivered a foal and am in need of a shower, but Vi called me with an S.O.S.”
Suddenly concerned, Coop closed the distance between them. “Is it Dotty? Is she in trouble?”
Maggie gave him a wry smile. “No. It’s Vi. She’s up late wrestling with her Shakespeare and had a craving for yogurt.” She gestured toward the yogurt machine in the deli. “I agreed to bring her some since I was out this way, and it was so late.” She moved toward the machine.
And he moved with her. “Vivi should rent a car while she’s out here. I can’t always drive her.” He’d just driven some late-night diners home and ended his shift.
“Vivi?” Maggie took a small plastic bowl from the stack next to the machine. “I bet that gets under Professor Summer’s skin.”
He didn’t think so, not when she kissed him the way she did.
“I see there’s something brewing between you.” Maggie operated the soft serve machine with practiced ease, swirling the combination of banana and chocolate into a neat presentation. She covered it with a plastic lid and set it to the side, grabbing a second bowl. “My sister isn’t your type.” She gave him a sideways glance. “But maybe I am.”
Warning bells went off in Coop’s head. He took a step back and held up a hand. “I’m not interested in you. Or your sisterly tests.” The kissing kind.
Maggie gave a little laugh, glancing down at her attire. “I’m not exactly dressed for seduction, am I?”
“That wouldn’t matter. You’re not Vivi.”
“Vivi…” She filled another plastic bowl with equal precision. “This can’t end well for you. Vi is only here until the end of summer. Her life is in Boston.”
And mine is in Texas.
But… “She needs me.”
Maggie paused mid-reach for another lid. She gave him a searching glance.
“She’s living too much in her head, deep-diving into Shakespeare and staying down for too long. If you study history, the greats at anything were great because they experienced life. And they brought those experiences to their work.” It was an earnest speech, but he believed it.
Maggie arched her brows, much the same way Vivi had done when he’d made a similar argument.
He pressed on. “Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo. They brought a curiosity for life to their work.” It had been one of the most interesting highlights of his private school education. The great minds and talents in history weren’t workaholics like his father. “When you look at me, I know you see someone with two jobs and no future. I probably didn’t help that impression when I rode off with your sister. And you might be right. I need to find my own path. But so does Vivi. She’s stuck in one lane right now, unable to see the off-ramp because that university she works for has scared her to be something she’s not.”
