worried I was about to be snatched away in the blink of an eye.
“Garth,” he said, extending his hand. I let it hang there. “And because you’re the finest thing I’ve seen in a while, you’ve earned yourself a last name.” Jesse’s hands curled into fists. “Black. Garth Black.”
From his jeans to his boots to his eyes . . . to his entire demeanor, he personified his last name perfectly.
When Garth realized I wouldn’t shake his hand anytime this century, he dropped it. His eyes slid from me to Jesse. They went a shade darker.
“Long time no see, old pal,” he said.
Jesse blew a rush of air from his nose. “What are you doing here, Black?”
“Well, it certainly isn’t to worship at your feet like the rest of this damn town. And it sure isn’t to make a heartfelt apology.”
Storm clouds rolled through those sky blue eyes of Jesse’s. “Spit it out,” he said, his jaw clenching. “What the hell are you doing on my property?”
If it wasn’t so hot inside the kitchen, chills would have crawled up my spine from the ice in Jesse’s voice. Those two had history. That was as obvious as their mutual hatred. What that history was and where that hate came from was the mystery. As much as I loved a good mystery, now was neither the time nor place to get to the bottom of it. For the most part, the rest of the guys sitting around the table were consumed with stuffing their mouths, but I caught Rose and Lily throwing us a few sideways looks.
“Your dad hired me on,” Garth replied. “I’m going to be helping out this summer.”
“How long are you going to last this time?” Jesse replied, angling in front of him. Toe to toe, Jesse had him by a couple of inches even with Garth’s hat still on. “Two weeks? Maybe three?” He shook his head. “Commitment isn’t really your thing.”
“No, it certainly isn’t,” Garth said with that wicked half smile of his. “Commitment’s boring. Predictable. It sucks the life out of a person.” He ran his eyes down Jesse intentionally. “Commitment’s more your thing.”
Whatever had happened between them ran deeper than an everyday disagreement. Judging from the looks in their eyes whenever they looked at each other, if murder was legal, they wouldn’t have hesitated.
“You boys catching up?” A middle-aged man stepped up to the three of us and clapped one hand over Jesse’s shoulder and another over Garth’s.
“We sure are, Mr. Walker,” Garth replied, his eyes gleaming.
Ah. So there was the Mr. Walker I’d heard so much about but was starting to believe was the man hiding behind the curtains. He was on the short side and had brown hair and eyes like the rest of his family minus one. How had Rose and Neil created the blond Viking god beside me? DNA was a funny thing.
“I thought we were all hired up for the summer,” Jesse said to his dad.
“We were. Right up until Phil Jepson decided his old body couldn’t take another summer at Willow Springs. He let me know he was leaving yesterday morning, and when I ran into town last night to pick up some supplies, guess who I ran into?”
“Since Garth Black is standing in front of me, I don’t think I need to guess,” was Jesse’s clipped response.
“Since you boys go so far back, and Garth promised me he was committed to finishing out the entire summer, unlike last summer,” Neil quirked a brow at Garth, “I decided to give him a second chance.” Neil’s gaze shifted to me, and he smiled. “We’re big fans of second chances around here.”
“Second chances, sure,” Jesse said, staring down Garth. “Seventh chances, not so much.”
Neil gave his son an odd look before extending his hand toward me. “Rowen Sterling, it’s nice to finally meet you. Sorry it didn’t happen sooner. A couple thousand head of cattle have a way of eating up a person’s day and night.”
I matched his smile and shook his hand. As with Rose, I liked Neil immediately. “I can imagine.”
“We’re glad to have you here, Rowen,” he said. “How’s your first day going in the kitchen?”
Jesse shot me a wry smile which I pretended to ignore.
“I crispified a batch of pancakes and spilled some coffee,” I answered, lifting the empty pot in my hand. “Could have been worse.”
Neil chuckled. “I have a feeling you’ll keep things exciting around here,” he said, before heading to the last empty seat at