The Mechanics of Mistletoe - Liz Isaacson Page 0,35
dollars in cash inside.
He’d centralized all of the money in the new storage room beneath the basement, with just one envelope of money in his nightstand drawer. Ranger knew about the money, as did all the Glovers who lived and worked on the ranch.
He wasn’t scared, but he’d been taught to be prepared for anything.
He drove into town, finding a couple of the streets had been cleared of the garbage and debris that had been piled along the sidewalks. Life was starting to look more and more normal, and he’d been planning to stop by Sammy’s shop on the south side of town to pick up her and Lincoln. Then he was going to take them to the ranch.
A crowd had gathered in the parking lot at the bank, and Bear frowned as he slowed to see what was going on. He initially thought there was a riot forming outside the bank, with people who wanted access to their money.
Then he saw the food truck. He swung onto the road that led to the bank, his mouth already watering, and he didn’t even know what the truck was serving yet.
He didn’t like waiting, but he shoved against his grizzly instincts, parked, and got out. Turned out, most of the people milling about weren’t in line.
“Have you ordered?” he asked a couple of teenagers.
“No,” one said with plenty of attitude. “They’re only taking cash.”
A man came out of the truck. “We’d take cards if we could,” he said. “My brother is working on figuring out how to type in the cards on his phone, so we can just use that.”
Bear had been charging his phone in his truck while he drove from ranch to ranch, and running credit cards would drain a battery quickly. He glanced around as the man kept talking.
“That said,” he said. “Anyone who has cash and is willing to pay with the whole dollar, we’re ready to take your order.”
No one moved forward, and Bear realized that none of them had cash. He did. His heart started to pound in his chest, because he could feed all of these people. He knew it wasn’t life or death; no one here was starving.
They were all just like him—tired of eating out of cans and boxes and bags.
His adrenaline flowed through his head, making his vision a bit blurry. He hurried toward the man still standing by the serving window of the truck. “Hey,” he said, smiling Bear. “Do you have cash?”
Bear glanced around, well-aware of how many people were watching him. “Can you feed all of these people?”
The man blinked. “What do you mean?”
“I mean.” Bear lowered his head and his voice. “I have enough cash to pay to feed all of these people. Can you feed all of them?” He still hadn’t seen the menu, but it didn’t matter. It smelled like barbecue and smoked meat, and Bear’s stomach roared at him.
“Yes,” the man said. “We can just start to put together meals, label them, and start handing them out.”
“What kind of meals?” Bear asked, leaning back to look at the menu finally.
“Two meats, two sides, two rolls,” the man said. “The brisket sandwich meal has two sides. And we have a one meat, one side, one roll option.”
“How many choices for sides do you have?”
“Six.”
“Will it be hard to do?” Bear looked at him, his eyebrows up. “Should we just have everyone line up and say what they want, and you can start putting them together?”
“Listen,” the man said, his eyes bright. “I don’t know you, but there’s probably sixty people here. Our meals are ten to fifteen dollars. You’re talking about over six hundred dollars.”
“I want five—no, six—no, fifteen two meat meals.” He nodded to the man. “Write this down. You can start on it while I go grab the money from my truck.” He waited for the man to get his pen poised.
“Two meat meals,” Bear said. “Brisket and pulled pork. I want half with mashed potatoes and pea salad. The other half with mac and cheese and slaw.”
The man scribbled down Bear’s order and looked up, his eyes bright. “This is insane.”
“As soon as I get my meals,” Bear said without missing a beat. “You can tell them all that you’re donating lunch to them.”
The man searched his face. “You’re going to buy the whole truck?”
“How much would that cost?” Bear glanced at the man standing just a few feet away. It was Sam Hodges, and Bear knew him, because the Hodges had