Finding His Lone Star Love

Sam nodded and took off his suit jacket to begin rolling up his sleeves. Lucy showed him where the aprons were, observing him suspiciously the whole time as if already regretting her decision. He could tell she wouldn’t be easy to win over. Something about her indicated it would take a lot of hard work and dedication to get her to trust him. And, though Lucy’s last name was the same as Jennifer’s, he still didn’t know Lucy’s exact relationship to his daughter. He still had a lot to figure out. But he’d been given a lucky shot, and he planned on taking it.

* * *

Tessa and Lucy watched in amazement as Sam prepared turkey and provolone sandwiches, faster than either of them could believe. But they weren’t just any turkey and cheese stacks. He scoured the pantry as if he belonged in that kitchen, pulling out items as if he’d worked there his entire life, and chucked pine nuts, olive oil and basil into the food processor to whip up a pesto sauce to spread on the bread. It looked and smelled amazing. Lucy ate in the café often since it was convenient and inexpensive, and Axel’s dishes had been delightful in a comforting sort of way, but Sam’s style was more adventurous and a little more daring than anyone the Lonestar had ever hired before.

Lucy wondered if maybe he would prove to be a good change.

Ticket and tour sales were suffering lately. It seemed families and schools weren’t spending as much on educational vacations and field trips, at least not to the observatory. Despite some steady funding from the university, which had seen some scary cutbacks in the past few years, they needed the revenue from tourists to cover employee salaries and up-to-date equipment. Lucy and Dr. Blake had already spent agonizing hours, scaling down as much as they could without actually letting anyone go, which was something Lucy all but outright refused to do. If she didn’t have Shiloh to provide for, she would give up her job before making anyone redundant. She feared that would become necessary at some point, but she kept hoping she could push that day further and further into the future until things got better and she could just forget about it altogether. Maybe hiring someone like Sam was a good idea. At least they could give him a try and see how visitors responded. Maybe they could keep some of the old favorites on the menu and add some new dishes to test things out.

“Do you think he’s legit?” Lucy asked Tessa, who had cleaned up several pie pans while Sam worked, and had come to stand at Lucy’s side, blatantly enjoying the sight of their new company.

“What?” Tessa asked, forcing her eyes away from the new guy with concentrated effort.

Lucy rolled her eyes.

“I said, do you think he’s legit? Do you think he’s really a chef?”

“I just think he’s pretty,” Tessa said, resting her elbows on the table with her chin in her hands.

Lucy jabbed her friend in the side, but stopped short of disagreeing. She wasn’t blind, after all.

“Come on. I just let a total stranger take over the kitchen, which I’m indirectly responsible for thanks to Axel the ass, and all you can think about is how he looks in that suit.” Even as she spoke, Lucy knew she was just voicing her own thoughts. Apparently Tess caught on.

“Hey, sister. I said nothing about that suit. I’m just appreciating the scenery. It’s nice to see a man dressed up, rather than the rest of the scientists in their twenty-year-old khakis and plaid.” Her eyes gleamed. Tessa teased them, but Lucy knew her best friend loved the geniuses just as much as she did. “Besides, you should have seen the way he was ogling you earlier. That man couldn’t pull his eyes away, and, you know I love you and all, but you’re a mess today, so he must have some real interest.”

Lucy shook her head, used to her friend’s playfulness, and it was Tessa’s turn to roll her eyes before pointing a thumb in Sam’s direction.

“Anyway, what’s the worst that could happen? We’ve been watching him the whole time. The dude washed his hands. And maybe he’ll be able to calm the starving masses outside the door. As far as I can see, he looks like he’s got everything under control.”

“What do you reckon he’s doing here, though? He’s a little too timely, don’t you think?”

“Maybe applying for Axel’s job, like he said. He’s a handsome stranger in Peach Leaf, Luce. We could use a little mystery around here, so don’t be so quick to kill it.”

“But I didn’t post the position yet. I haven’t had time,” Lucy said.

Tessa raised her palms in exasperation.

“I don’t know what you want me to tell you, sweetheart. Maybe he’s an angel dropped right out of the dadgum sky,” Tessa said, her face filled with more conviction than Lucy was comfortable with, considering the woman’s ridiculous suggestion.

Lucy didn’t believe in angels, or miracles, or chance, or luck. She believed in what she knew, in what she could see and touch and quantify. She believed in hard data and facts. Although something inside her told her that Sam Haynes was okay. He didn’t seem like an ax murderer, and he dressed decently and had showered at least. Not that Lucy was an expert on appearances, but he seemed all right. And there were those sandwiches and cookies. So far, she had no valid reason not to give him a shot.

She would consider this an experiment, and, if it didn’t work out, she’d start with a posting in the Peach Leaf Gazette. Jobs were in short supply in their small town, and there were a lot of folks looking for work. If she couldn’t find a trained chef to take over full-time, she was sure someone could be taught to manage breakfast, at least.

But then, who would teach that person?

Lucy hung her head.

She really didn’t have much of a choice at the moment. Sam looked better and better for the job as she weighed her limited alternatives and came up with a whole load of nothing.

Tessa was right. Not that Lucy would voice as much.

“I suppose he deserves a chance. But, if this plan doesn’t work out, I’m coming at you first.”

“The only reason you’ll come to me is to thank me,” Tessa said, crossing her arms with an air of confidence and giving Lucy a fake angry look, complete with her tongue stuck out.

Sometimes it was as if not a moment had passed, and they were still in second grade, with shy, bookish Lucy holding up walls at school dances while Tessa partied the nights away, both of them carrying bruises inside that no one else could see.

With the exception of a few minor details, not much had altered. It was just one of the many ups and downs of living the whole of one’s life in the same small town.

Chapter Two (#ulink_fcce765b-c9e6-5d25-a02a-7621925d9ae9)

Lucy was rarely wrong, and when she was, she hated the feeling more than almost any other. But boy, was she this time.

“All right, so this worked out,” Lucy said, a couple of hours after Sam had arrived, as she and Tessa rested in the dining room while he finished up in the kitchen. “That doesn’t mean he’s sticking around. It could just be beginner’s luck.”

“Come on, Luce, I know you don’t believe in luck any more than you believe in love,” Tessa said.

Not this conversation again, Lucy thought.

“I believe in love,” she said, emphasizing the word, “just not romance. There’s a huge difference.” She continued quickly before Tessa could bring up her usual objections to Lucy’s theory. “Anyway, sometimes experiments have false positives, and that just tells me we need to figure out what’s going on here. We need more data before we’ll be able to draw any authentic conclusions.”

“Lu, honey, Sam is not one of your science experiments. He’s a real person. And I don’t need to point out that he’s an especially attractive one.”

Tessa raised her eyebrows up and down several times and Lucy couldn’t help but giggle. To some extent, Tessa was right. But Lucy trusted only one thing in life, and that was science.

Sure, Sam had shown up at the exact moment they’d needed him—that she’d needed him—and sure, he’d cooked gorgeous sandwiches and had somehow pulled a delicious cookie recipe out of thin air and brought it to life. Sure, the salad he’d made her and Tess for lunch after they’d served all the visitors was possibly the most delicious thing she’d ever eaten—despite her general hatred of salads—but that didn’t mean he was the right man for the job. Although, at the moment, she was having a really hard time coming up with reasons to support the contrary conclusion.

“I guess he did sort of save my butt, huh?” Lucy said, glad she’d made the wrong call. Tessa made no effort to hide her victory.

“He did way more than that. He saved the observatory money,” Tessa added. “Can you imagine what would have happened if all of those people went back to Austin and told everyone they knew that the Lonestar Café had no food?”

Lucy didn’t need to answer. They were both aware of the exponential damage that could be caused by a single customer’s bad experience.

“I guess he can stick around for another day or so. We’ll see how well he does planning a menu for tomorrow, and if he doesn’t run off with the company credit card when I send him for groceries, maybe we can let him stay.”

Tessa nodded in agreement.

Sam finished washing his hands and came out of the propped-open kitchen door to join them at their table in the dining room. His hair stuck out all over and he was covered in various food messes, but still, the man was gorgeous.

“So,” he said, searching Lucy’s face with what looked like a mix of hopefulness and apprehension, “do I get the job?”

“Not so fast, Mr. Haynes,” Lucy answered. “I still know nothing about you. And I’ll need some form of ID to give to Human Resources if you’re staying.” Lucy held up an authoritative forefinger. “Notice I said if.”

Sam grinned and something stirred deep in Lucy’s chest. He really was beyond appealing, scientifically speaking. His face was symmetrical with a perfectly proportioned nose and a strong, angular jaw. His eyes were the soft golden shade of fresh caramel, and his collar-skimming sandy hair picked up the late-afternoon sunlight streaming through the windows of the café. He stretched long arms across the table easily, as if he was completely comfortable here, despite his very recent arrival, and Lucy couldn’t help but notice the shoulder muscles flexing under his crisp white dress shirt.

Since when did she notice things like that about a man?

She was Lucy Monroe, quiet, hardworking wallflower, just as she had always been.