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She chuckled. “Of course.” She set the other cup on the table across from him and filled it for herself before sitting down.
He’d been hoping that she could take her break when he came in. She was easy to talk to, and he looked forward to their conversations. Jaz had brown hair that curled below her shoulders and beautiful hazel eyes with flecks of green in them. She wore light makeup that enhanced her striking cheekbones and full lips. Despite how gorgeous she was, she was the kind of down-to-earth person that he felt comfortable with.
Since his divorce, he hadn’t been looking for any kind of steady relationship. He saw women from time to time, but he was sure to keep them at arm’s length. With Jaz, he never felt pressure to ask her out. Their friendship wasn’t about that. They were just two people who enjoyed each other’s company and who could talk about anything. He counted himself lucky to know her.
“So, how’ve you been?” he asked as he took a sip of his hot coffee. It tasted freshly brewed, and he savored it before swallowing.
“Just fine. Work’s been busy, of course, and I’ve read a couple more books.”
He smiled. Jaz loved reading romantic suspense novels, and he felt sure that was one reason she liked hearing about his Ranger work. “Were they any good?”
“One of them was great. I tried out a new author, and I’m so glad I did. I’ll be reading more of hers. The other one was so-so. I liked it, but it could have had more suspense in it.”
“I know, you go for the action.”
She took a drink from her cup. “That’s right. So what did you do after your meetings in Dallas?”
He felt his smile fade. “Well, there was a school shooting I was on for several days. One student was killed, and several were injured.”
She gave him a sober look. “I heard about it on the news. So you were on that case, huh?”
He nodded. “Yeah.” He didn’t give her details she shouldn’t know, but they talked about it for a little while as they finished their coffee.
As she stood up, she said, “Are you ordering dinner?”
“Sure am.” He knew the menu by heart and gave her his order. She smiled and patted his shoulder as she walked off.
The Black Horse was only a few blocks from his house here in the downtown Austin area. It got its name from the tall, rearing iron horse statue that stood outside the café. The interior had Western décor that felt like home to him. He’d been raised on a cattle ranch in North Texas and grew up rodeoing. So wearing tan Wranglers, boots, and a Western hat to his work as a Texas Ranger everyday had been an easy transition for him.
He didn’t like cooking for himself and, more often than not, he ate breakfast here at the café. Every other week, Jaz worked the counter in the mornings, and he’d eat there so they could chat in bits and pieces as she waited on her customers. During the in-between weeks, she worked the afternoon shift—like today—and he’d stop in for dinner. He couldn’t remember when he’d started planning his meals around Jaz’s work shift, but it’d been a long time.
He seldom admitted it to himself, but sometimes his life was lonely. Most of the time he didn’t mind. His work kept him especially busy, and he concentrated on that. He worked hard, and although he’d been promoted to lieutenant two years ago, he wanted to make captain in the not-so-far-off future.
Jaz brought his plate. “Here you go, cowboy. Enjoy your dinner.”
“Thanks, Jaz.”
She squeezed his shoulder as she walked away. She always touched him when she walked over to him or left his table. He’d come to expect it, and it was one of the things that made their friendship special. It didn’t come off as flirting. It just showed that she cared about him. In fact, one of the things that he liked most about Jaz was that shedidn’tflirt with him. He had to put up with enough of that, and it got tiresome.
He ate slowly, enjoying every bite of his chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes topped with white gravy, and corn with lots of butter. He loved the food here at the Black Horse. It reminded him of his mother’s cooking—although not quite as good, of course.
Jaz came over and refilled his coffee, knowing that he always liked to enjoy a last cup after his meal. He smiled and nodded to her as he leaned back in his booth. This place had come to feel like home to him after all this time.
When he’d finished his coffee, he left Jaz a lavish tip, as he always did, and cashed out. He turned to find her gaze on him and waved. She grinned and waved back. As he walked out the door, he smiled. He was ready to go home. His empty apartment wouldn’t feel so lonely now.
***
Jaz watched Mav walkout the door. She always looked forward to him coming in for his meals and missed him when he traveled out of town on Ranger business. She couldn’t remember when she’d started watching for him to come in, but it had been a long time ago. Now, she kept a lookout throughout her shifts, searching for his tall, broad-shouldered body walking through the door.
The man had striking good looks that always brought admiring glances from the women in the café; looks he never seemed to notice. His clean-cut dark-brown hair and bright blue eyes were hard to forget. But what she liked best about him was his smile. He had a good sense of humor and told her the funniest clean jokes. It was an endearing quality that went straight to her heart. She counted herself lucky that he called her his friend.
Mav was a man she felt comfortable with, which wasn’t common for her since her experience with her ex-husband. She’d been a foster child; her mother had been a drug addict and had lost custody of Jaz when she was young. She’d been lucky, though. Her last foster parents really cared about her. She lived with them for five years, and when she aged out of the system at eighteen, they let her stay. But she hadn’t wanted to be a burden. She got this job at the Black Horse and saved her money for a car. She met her ex at the café and fell in love with him. They’d married when she was nineteen, not long after she became pregnant.
She looked over as a family walked through the café door. Glad of the interruption of her thoughts, she smiled at them and picked up menus as they walked to an empty table and sat down. She set the menus in front of them and asked, “What would you all like to drink?”
As she wrote down their order, her thoughts returned to the past. Four weeks after her baby daughter had been born, she’d died in the night. They’d called it “crib death”. Jaz called it God turning his back on her one more time. It had shattered her husband, and although she’d insisted that they go to couples counseling, he’d left five months later.
His abandonment had left her with a sour taste in her mouth for the male half of the human race. That is, until Mav came into her life.
