A Cowboy in the Kitchen (16 page)

Annabel glanced at the paper, then continued combing her hair. She turned away for a moment, then looked at him. “I'll be able to give you back the money you fronted us.”

He stared at her as if she had four heads. “Pay me back? Annabel, we made a deal.”

She turned toward the window, staring out at the dark night. “Yes, but you don't need me anymore, West. Especially now that you and Raina are at peace. More than peace. You're family now.”

“That doesn't mean I'm backing out of my end of the bargain, Annabel.”

“Code of the West and all that. I know. Which is why I'm backing out for both of us. You need to move on and find a real wife. I've been torturing myself about how Lucy would be affected by losing me. But I realized that she needs to grow up with parents who love each other. She needs to see what a marriage really is. What love really is. That's what's fair to her.”

He shook his head. “It's like seven years ago all over again,” he said, his voice numb. “When I have to let you go.”

She stared at him. “What?”

He let it all out, how he overheard his parents the night of his brother's memorial, how they'd basically said he'd ruin Annabel's life by keeping her in Blue Gulch and that was why he'd taken up with Lorna, to keep Annabel from ending up with him, to set her free.

Annabel dropped down on the couch, her expression numb. “I had no idea. You started seeing Lorna because you didn't want me to end up with you?”

“My parents thought I was nothing,” he said. “In their eyes, the wrong Montgomery brother died.”

“No, West. They didn't say that. I'd bet anything they didn't say those words.”

“Not those words. But I know that's how they felt. Garrett was their golden child, made them proud, and then there was me, barely graduated from high school, running around with a rough crowd. They knew I'd drag you down, break your heart. They were probably right. So I let you go.”

Annabel got up and walked over to him and took his hands. “They didn't see you, West. Sometimes you can live right in the same house with people—people you've known your whole life and you don't see them. Your parents didn't see you, who you were deep inside, they didn't know you. You sacrificed for me, West. You gave up the girl you wanted to save her from yourself—right or wrong. Doesn't that tell you what a good person you were then?”

He took a deep breath and said nothing.

“You know you're a good person, a good father. West, you're even a good husband in a sham marriage.”

He ran a hand through his hair and turned away. “So why do I care so damned much?”

“Because it hurts when people you love, especially people who are supposed to love you, don't see who you really are. But I'll tell you something, West Montgomery. Your parents see you now, trust me. Back in high school and the couple years after when you were rebelling against everything, they were too busy being upset to think about what was behind all that rebellion. Now they might not be here on earth, but they're looking down and watching and seeing and they know what you've done here. What you're doing in your brother's memory.”

He shrugged, but Annabel had gotten through. The whole situation with his parents was complicated and would probably always sting, but West had paid tribute to them by turning their ranch into something special, paid tribute to his brother by getting the riding program going—and hell, if he could make peace with Raina Dunkin, he could find a way to make peace in his heart with his own folks.

“Make me a new deal,” he said. “If you lose the competition, stay a few more months. Let me keep helping Hurley's. If you win, fine, you'll leave after Sunday dinner with the Dunkins. I'll explain to Lucy that you'll still come over twice a week to help with the riding program and to see her.”

Annabel nodded. “You'll have to tell her I'll still be in her life, that I'll always be there for her. That just because I won't be living at the ranch doesn't mean I don't love her.”

“You'll tell her that. And I'll make sure she knows it. But we'll cross that bridge if we get to it.”

Annabel bit her lip. “We're going to win, West.”

He looked away. “Yeah, I know.”

“You did more than enough for us and the restaurant. Please don't feel you're letting Hurley's down.”

He nodded, said he was going to check on Lucy and spend the night on a cot in the barn, since another calf was having some trouble. A part of him thought he should tell her how he felt about her, how he'd always felt about her, but how was that fair? To make her feel worse about wanting to leave? She'd kept her end of the bargain. Now once again, he had to let her go so she could find happiness.

She stared at him for a moment, then nodded and walked away, his heart splitting in two.

* * *

West spent the rest of week avoiding Annabel and the way his chest felt tighter and tighter. He spent all his spare time working on the riding program. He even unveiled a sign on the pony pasture: Garrett Montgomery Memorial Therapeutic Riding Program.

This is for you, brother
, he said silently up to the sky.
And for you, Mom and Dad. I think you'd be proud of who I've become.

Sometimes when you loved someone, you had to let them go. Sometimes you did anything it took to keep them. For just a second West wished he was more the boy everyone thought he used to be, who'd do the wrong thing—so that Annabel would have to stay.

Chapter Thirteen

O
n Saturday night, it seemed the whole town had gathered on the sidewalks and streets—closed off at the mayor's orders—for the duration of the cook-off at Hurley's Homestyle Kitchen. The dining room was packed to capacity, folks standing in every available inch of space, a big crowd on the porch and on the sidewalk in front of Hurley's.

Here goes everything
, Annabel thought as she helped Gram tie her apron around her back. The sight of Essie Hurley strong on her feet, looking so healthy and determined, brought a smile to Annabel's face. Annabel wished her older sister were here to see this; Georgia would be thrilled to watch Gram take down the Heffs; soon enough Detective Slater would be going to Houston and could check up on Georgia for Annabel.

“I can't believe how many people are stuffed in the dining room, the porch and the backyard,” Gram said, peering out the window of her bedroom. “Win or lose, we brought the town together for a fun event.”

“Those Heffs know how to publicize, that's for sure,” Clementine said. “Even my birth mother is here,” she added, upping her chin at the dark-haired woman in jeans and cowboy boots standing by herself across the street. “She's prickly and not into much contact, but I like that she's here, even if she's staying across the street.”

Talk about complicated
, Annabel thought, glancing at Clementine's birth mother. She'd had Clementine when she was sixteen, and though she lived in Blue Gulch, she still kept contact with Clem to a minimum.

“One day I'll know her whole story,” Clementine said. “I hope anyway.” She moved away from the window and squeezed her grandmother's hand. “Thank God for my mother and father and for you,” she added. “I've been blessed. I never want to forget that.”

Gram hugged Clementine. “We're all blessed to have one another. Win or lose at this and that, win or lose tonight, we have one another.”

“Speaking of losing,” Annabel said, “if Clyde somehow manages to best us, West wants me to stay on a few more months, taking care of Lucy and helping to get the therapeutic riding program off the ground so that I'll feel more comfortable keeping some of the money.”
Our marriage will still be doing its job, just more so for Hurley's this time
, she thought. “I don't think that's a good idea, but I agreed. Anyway, I know we'll win and win big. No one can beat your barbecue burger, Gram. Not Clyde, not me, not anyone.”

Gram pulled Annabel and Clementine into a hug. “I love you both so much. I love you and Georgia more than anything on this earth.”

“I love you too, Gram,” Annabel and Clementine said in unison, hugging their sweet grandmother.

They left the room and headed down the hall, folks calling out “Good luck!” every second. West, Lucy and the Dunkins were seated at a table by the front window, Gram's biscuits and apple butter in front of them with a round of sweet tea.

“Good luck, Essie,” West said, standing up to give her a hug. “I haven't had a Clydeburger—wouldn't dream of going over to the dark side, but I know your burger is better anyway.”

Gram laughed. “Of course you do.”

“Good luck, Miss Gram,” Lucy said, making Essie chuckle. She turned to Annabel and gestured to her to kneel down, then moved Annabel's hair out of the way and cupped her hand around Annabel's ear. “I'm wearing my Annabel clothes,” Lucy said. “Remember? This is the outfit I wore the first day you were my stepmother.”

Annabel looked over the girl's tank top and orange pants, so overwhelmed she had to clear her throat. “I remember, sweet Lucy.” She hugged the girl tight. “And thank you.”

“Nana helped me get dressed for tonight. I asked her if I should wear a pretty dress and she said, well, what do you want to wear, and I said I wanted to wear my Annabel outfit and showed her, and she said it would be just perfect.”

Annabel smiled at Raina, then scooped up Lucy in her arms, balancing her on her hip. “Well, I guess we'd better sit down and let the cooking start.”

Mayor Hickham poked his head out of the kitchen. “Okay. Essie and Clyde. The cook-off will commence in one minute. Please enter the kitchen.” The mayor had used his beloved bullhorn to announce the rules ten minutes earlier on the porch. The ground beef had been delivered wrapped in one package that the mayor would split into two. Essie and Clyde would inspect the beef and make sure it was to their satisfaction. Then the mayor would announce that it was time to begin.

All in all, in about thirty minutes, a barbecued burger would end up changing Annabel's life.

Gram and her adversary shook hands at the kitchen door, then headed in. From their table, Annabel could hear the mayor say, “Three, two, one, start cooking!”

Annabel glanced at West, sitting on the far side of the table. He seemed preoccupied as he stared out the window, Lucy playing a card game with her grandparents.
I'm going to miss you both so much
, she thought.

The time passed so slowly. They'd only need around twenty minutes total to cook the burgers and make their sauce. Twenty minutes that moved like molasses.

Finally Mayor Hickham came out of the kitchen, Gram and Clyde behind him. The mayor held two plates, one in each hand. Under each plate was a name tag noting whose burger was whose, but Annabel would recognize Gram's brioche bun anywhere. The mayor set down the burgers at a stand in front of the dining room. Gram moved to the left, on her plate's side of the table, Clyde to the right.

The windows were all wide-open, people on the porch and in the backyard pressed close to hear.

“Okay, folks,” the mayor began. “It's time for me to judge. You know I love Essie Hurley like a sister and you know I love Clyde Heff like a brother, but I love burgers even more than both of them, so you know I'll be honest.” That got a big laugh from the crowd. “The best burger will win!” He took a bite of Clyde's burger, the expression on his face clear that it was good, as expected. Then he took a bite of Gram's and his face scrunched and he not too delicately spit out his bite into a napkin.

The crowd gasped.

What the heck
—

“I'm sorry, Essie,” the mayor said, quickly downing a gulp of water, “but someone must have sabotaged your burger because I'd say it's more salt than burger. There must be a tablespoon of salt in that one bite.”

What? How could that be possible when both parties had inspected the beef?

The mayor took another sip of water, still grimacing from the bite of Essie's burger. “Either way, because of the rules, I'm very sorry to say that Hurley's Homestyle Kitchen is hereby disqualified and the winner is Clyde Heff!”

Francie Heff started jumping up and down and squealing and the huge Heff family started blowing party horns as if it were New Year's.

Annabel glared at Francie jumping in her kitten heels. Francie must have poured a heap of salt on the meat. But how? It was impossible for Clyde's beef to be fine and Gram's to be full of salt. And anyway, Francie couldn't have sabotaged the burger; she hadn't been in the kitchen. The only people in the kitchen the entire time was Clyde Heff way on his side, Mayor Hickham in the center, keeping guard and watch, and Gram—

Gram?

Annabel whirled around, watching her grandmother shaking hands with Clyde Heff.

“I don't know what happened with your burger, Essie,” Clyde said, “but rest assured it wasn't me or my daughter who had anything to do with it. I promise you that.”

“I know that,” Essie said. “I guess it's just one of those mysteries.”

Not much of a mystery except for the
why
, Annabel thought.

As Stanton Heff made a big show of handing Clyde a check for the ten thousand dollars, mock-wiping his brow, Annabel stared at her grandmother, waiting for a moment to get her attention.

Finally Annabel took her grandmother's hand and led her over into the office and closed the door. “Gram. You sabotaged your own burger. Why? You gave up ten thousand dollars!”

“Okay, I did sabotage my burger with quite a bit of salt. I did it because you made a deal with West. That you'd stay for a few more months if we lost.”

Annabel was even more confused. “Okay...?”

Essie took Annabel's hands. “And I know how much you love that man and his daughter. And I know that West loves you. I saw it in his face that day I told him he had my blessing. He only had my blessing because I know he loves you and always has. And I saw that love on his face today when he wished me luck. He'd rather do right by you and let you go than keep you at the ranch where he thinks you don't want to be, Annabel. He has no idea how much you love him.”

“Maybe not,” Annabel said. “I've tried not to show it.”

“Oh, I'm sure West has tried not to show it too. But that man loves you like crazy.”

Well, Annabel didn't believe that.

“A deal is a deal,” Gram said, holding both Annabel's hands. “So off you go, back home to the ranch. Shoo, girl.”

Oh, Gram.

* * *

Annabel headed out of the office, straining to see West in the crowd, which had started dispersing since Clyde called for a two-for-one burger celebration at Heffs. Big migration across the street.

But there on the porch swing was West and Lucy, Raina and Landon chatting on the sidewalk.

“Sorry Miss Gram didn't win,” Lucy said, hopping up to hug Annabel.

“Well, sometimes you win even when you lose,” West said, and Lucy looked up at him, wrinkling her face in confusion.

“Sweetie, come get a smoothie with Nana and Pop-Pop,” Raina said. “I'm getting chocolate-coconut tonight.”

“Ooh, me too!” Lucy said, racing over and grabbing both their hands as they swung her up.

West patted the seat next to him, and Annabel sat down, watching the throngs of people crowding in front of Clyde's Burgertopia.

“Everyone's talking,” West said, “and wondering who sabotaged your grandmother's burger. Francie Heff is insisting on a re-cook-off so that her father can win fair and square, not by default. I can see that—everyone knows someone sabotaged that burger—”

“My gram did.”

He stared at her. “What? Why?”

“She has this funny notion in her head about our marriage not being such a sham. She knows we made a deal that if Hurley's lost today, I'd stay at the ranch a few more months so that I wouldn't feel like I had to give you your money back so fast.”

“Well, that's what I meant when I said sometimes you win when you lose. Hurley's didn't get the ten grand. So I get to keep you a little while longer.”

Confused, Annabel looked into his driftwood brown eyes. Her grandmother couldn't be right about West loving her, but when had Gram Hurley ever been wrong, now that she thought about it? “I don't understand why, though. You'll never have to worry about Raina. You're a good cook. Everything is fine now. I'm the one who needs you. Hurley's needs you. You don't need me.”

“Hell I don't.” He turned toward her, taking her hands in his, his gaze intense on her. “I married you to keep Lucy from being taken away from me, yes. But I've always loved you, Annabel. I loved you that night in the barn. And I loved you on our wedding night when I made love to you. And I've loved you every day since. I just couldn't face it because I was so damned scared of losing someone I loved again.”

Happiness zinged through every inch of Annabel's body. Seven years ago, he'd given her up
because
he'd loved her. “Oh, West. I love you too. I loved you seven years ago and I've loved you every day of our supposedly sham marriage.”

He smiled and kissed her, passionately, possessively. Then he leaned back, cupping her face in his hands. “It's been very real to me too.”

She took his hand, his gold wedding band shining in the moonlight. “What would you have done if my grandmother hadn't cost herself the win?”

“I would have had the worst night's sleep, then marched into Hurley's in the morning and announced in the middle of the kitchen that I love my wife and want her to come home.”

Annabel smiled. “Really?” Though, of course, she could see him doing just that.

“Heck yeah.”

“So I guess this means I'm staying at the ranch for good,” she said, sliding her arms around his neck.

“Well, now that I can make a decent meal and comb out my daughter's hair and Raina Dunkin is in my corner, I can take over a lot of what you were doing for Lucy. So if you want to cook for Hurley's or manage the restaurant or both, I'll be supportive of whatever you want to do, Annabel Hurley Montgomery.”

She reached up her hand to touch his cheek, overwhelmed by how much she loved him. “You're a very good man, West Montgomery. And a very good husband.”

He kissed her again and then they headed back inside Hurley's to thank one very wise grandmother.