Surprising would be a better word, as Matt had barely been able to use a can opener the last time she’d known him.
These hands are so clunky, he’d joked, and she’d taken the can opener to get the job done. She couldn’t remember what they’d been making, but they’d been at her house, and she’d had something bubbling on the stove she’d needed the can of food to finish.
“Corn chowder,” she said right out loud. Heat filled her face as Molly and Matt both looked at her. “Sorry.”
“It’s actually spaghetti,” Molly said, tilting her plate as if Gloria had never eaten pasta and sauce before. She exchanged a glance with Matt, leaned in close to him and said something Gloria couldn’t quite catch.
Matt’s eyes crinkled as he smiled and shook his head. Molly laughed lightly and stepped away from the counter, making room for Gloria to get a plate. She picked one up and handed it to Brittany, nodding for the little girl to go ahead of her.
“How old are you?” she asked.
“Eight,” Brittany said, struggling to reach into the tall pot and get herself some spaghetti. Gloria reached for the tongs and she put some noodles on the girl’s plate. “Thanks.” She smiled up at Gloria with precious childhood innocence, and Gloria actually envied her.
She didn’t have to worry about bills, where her next meal would come from, or if she should get back in her truck and figure out a way to return to Montana.
“Let me,” Matt said, reaching for the girl’s plate.
“I g-g-got it, Daddy.”
“Okay.” He took his daughter’s plate anyway and held it for her. “Put your salad on here.” She did, placing the biggest piece of garlic bread left in the last empty spot on her plate. He took the plate over to the table for her and everything, and Gloria wasn’t sure what that was about.
Not your business, she told herself as she kept her head down and served herself plenty of spaghetti, green salad, and garlic bread. Her stomach roared in an audible growl, and Matt, who’d returned to the buffet for silverware, chuckled.
Their eyes met, and instant flames licked through Gloria’s chest. Did he feel anything when he looked at her? He’d obviously moved on with his life after the demise of their relationship. Gotten married. Had two kids.
No wife here with him, though. The thought stole through Gloria’s mind, almost a thief stealing the barrier she needed between her and a man as handsome as Matt.
Questions filled Matt’s eyes, and Gloria had plenty for him too.
Laughter erupted at the table to their right, and Gloria looked that way. She had time for one question, and the rest could wait until they could be alone together. She shivered at the very idea.
“Do you work here?” she asked.
“Yes.” Matt picked up a couple of forks and two cups of lemonade. “I’m the foreman for the farm during the summer. Her owners go to Wyoming for the summer.” He flashed her a devastating smile that crashed through her the way it always had.
Crazy how time could erase so much but not the pain of losing her father—at least not yet—and not the intense attraction between her and Matthew Whettstein.
Gloria took her plate over to the table, where only one spot waited. She smiled at Hunter’s grandparents and took the empty seat next to Hunter, because she hoped they could at least talk about the job while they ate.
“So you know Matt,” Hunter said, tracking him as he returned to the table too. He passed one fork and one cup of lemonade to his daughter and sat down next to her. Gloria had to look past everyone at the table to meet his eye, so she focused on Hunter instead.
“Yes,” Gloria said. “We go back, oh, what? At least twenty years.”
“Wow,” Hunter said, genuinely surprised.
“He’s barely twenty years old,” Matt quipped, and Hunter chuckled. So they had a friendly relationship too. Gloria looked back and forth between the two of them, wondering what the relationship actually was.
“I thought you said you were the foreman,” she said to Matt, twirling her first forkful of spaghetti. “That the owners went to Wyoming.” She looked at Hunter. “But you’re interviewing for jobs.”
“My dad owns the farm,” Hunter said. “My parents go to Wyoming every summer. Used to drag me along and everything.” He grinned around at everyone at the table. “Matt takes care of everything here for us.”
“I sense a but,” Gloria said, watching everyone carefully.