Holly Jolly Cowboy (The Wyoming Cowboy #7)(3)
Adam blinked at that. “Another baby?” Both of their children were still extremely young. The little one wasn’t more than six months old.
His boss grimaced. “It was a surprise, but not that much of a surprise?” His look grew sheepish. “It’s not like we don’t know how babies are made. I’d hoped to have more time before the next one, but the universe has other plans.”
Carson just snorted.
As in, Jason couldn’t keep his hands off his wife. Adam didn’t blame him. He’d never met someone more cheerful or kind-natured than Sage Cooper-Clements. She always had a sparkle in her eye and a kind word for everyone. From the day that Adam had walked onto their ranch, she’d made him feel welcome. He could see why Jason loved her.
And as if to prove that a woman could be beautiful and utterly annoying, the waitress returned with another round of coffee. “Sandwiches will be right out.” She smiled at Jason, patted Carson’s shoulder, and completely ignored Adam. Figured.
Jason seemed oblivious to their waitress’s bad attitude. “I know we’re leaving early, and we’re shorthanded, but I feel this is important. Sage needs a break. It would mean someone working over the holidays, and if you’re interested, I can pay extra to make up for the fact that you can’t go home.” He looked at Carson, then at Adam. “If you’ve got plans, one of the hands at the Swinging C offered to help out, but I’m hoping we can manage.”
Adam shrugged. “I’m not going anywhere.” His brother back in Iowa might be a little disappointed that Adam wasn’t going to return to the family farm for Christmas, but he was used to Adam not being home. His parents were long gone, and the ex-wife . . . well. There were no good feelings left there. “Happy to stick around.”
“Can’t,” Carson said, voice rusty. “Leaving on the twentieth to visit family. Back on the twenty-seventh.”
Adam rubbed at his goatee. “I should be okay for a week on my own, as long as Swinging C is on call if any sort of crisis happens.” It’d mean long hours of grueling work, doing the jobs of three men, but extra pay would be nice. Extra pay was always nice.
Jason looked relieved. He rubbed a hand over his shorn hair again. “Excellent. I trust you guys, and right now things are slow. Calving’s not for months, so I don’t feel too bad about leaving for a while. You have my number if you need anything. And the greenhorn will be here bright and early in January. I’ll be back in time to take over training him and then we should be full staff again.” He gave Adam a grateful look.
Adam just nodded. He was the one that was grateful. After leaving the Navy, he hadn’t known what to do with himself. He’d gone back to the family farm for a time, but his older brother liked things run his way, and Adam had felt useless and restless. It was the same restlessness that had made him decide to leave the Navy, the feeling that perhaps he wasn’t meant to be career as he’d thought. He’d no longer enjoyed the rigid daily routine or the endless travel. He’d wanted to stay put. Set down roots. Focus on the next chapter of his life.
He just didn’t know what that was.
He’d thought the reason he wanted to leave was his wife, Donna. To spend more time with her, maybe make a family. But the moment he returned home, he realized a few things—he wasn’t in love with Donna, she wasn’t in love with him, and she hadn’t been faithful while he’d been overseas on deployment after deployment.
The divorce had been swift, and Adam had been left even more rudderless than before. He’d reached out to old buddies via email, just looking to fill time, and Jason had offered him a job on his ranch. While Adam had farming experience, ranching cattle was a completely different beast, but Jason and his wife had trained him and given him a place to stay. Now, a year on, he was comfortable in his job and happy. He liked ranching. He liked Wyoming and the frosty mountains. He liked Painted Barrel and its people.
Most of its people, anyhow.
“It’s all good,” he told his friend. “You and Sage take as long as you need. Me and Carson will handle things, and I’ll hold down the fort while he’s gone.” He grinned at them. “What could go wrong?”
Carson just snorted and knocked on the table, warding off bad luck.
Yeah, it was probably a bad idea to toss that out into the universe. Adam knocked on the table, too, just in case.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” the waitress called out. Holly apparently thought they were knocking to get her attention, and she hustled over, sandwich plates stacked up on her arm. She set down each one in front of the right person, cast Adam a tight look, and then sauntered off again.
Well, Adam wasn’t gonna apologize for knocking. Especially not to her. He was tempted to knock again, just to be a jackass, but the sandwich looked too good. He tucked in—and nearly groaned aloud.
The service at Wade’s might not be his favorite, but damn, the food was incredible.
CHAPTER TWO
The last customer was gone, the dishes done, and Holly pounded and kneaded her sourdough while Wade cashed out the register and added up the tips. It was a relaxing end to the workday. It allowed Holly to do her favorite thing—baking—and to work some of her frustrations out on the dough. She kneaded it with particular force today, imagining it to be the face of a certain cowboy who’d made her day start off badly, and it had just gone downhill from there.