“He’s a god all right,” Jessica put in. “A Greek god.”
“It’s about time he got in touch with you,” Betty Ann said. “I was wondering when he was going to.”
Instantly, Sandi’s mood shifted and she keyed into the call. “This is Sandi.”
“Hey, how are you?”
“I’m fine. Funny you should call. I was just thinking about Waffle, wondering when I was going to get to visit him.”
“How about the weekend? We’re down in Salt Lick now, but we’re going up to Midland on Friday night. I’d like to show you around my place, let you see that I’ve got a good environment for a busy dog like Buster. A section of land is plenty of room for him to run and play.”
A section of land. Those were the words that stuck in Sandi’s mind. She had no idea he had a whole 640 forty acres. Of course, in Texas, a section wasn’t much land, but compared to Sandi’s backyard, it was as big as another state. “Well, I—”
“If it works for you, we could do it Saturday afternoon. Then Saturday evening, I could grill a couple of steaks. Harley furnishes me meat out of his private locker. I can bring up some choice ribeyes. It’s premium grass-fed beef. I can’t think of any restaurants where you’ll get better steaks than that.”
“You don’t have to feed me. I could just come out and play with Waffle for a little while.”
“Then who would I share these steaks with? My horses and those llamas would turn up their noses and Buster...that is, Waffle, has his own food.”
Oh, wow. He had called Waffle by the name she had given their mutual dog. This could only be an effort on his part to get along with her. “Okay, I guess. I can bring a bottle of wine.” She grabbed a pen and a notepad. “You’ll have to give me directions to your place again. I don’t remember the route from when you gave it to me before.”
“Nuh-unh. I was planning on picking you up at your house like a gentleman should when he’s got a date with a nice lady.”
What? What did this mean? Was he attracted to her in that way? Even after all that had happened between them? The part of her that didn’t dislike him certainly found him physically attractive enough, she had to admit. Her heartbeat picked up a pace and she couldn’t stop the stupid grin that spread across her face. “This is a date?”
“’Course it is. Dinner and wine? Sounds like a date to me, even if I’m the one doing the cooking. Or maybe it’s a negotiation. I’ve already got the wine, by the way.”
He has the wine? Hah. Cowboys didn’t drink wine. They guzzled beer. And what was left to negotiate? He had already whipped her legally and soundly.
“I’ve got your address,” he said. “How do I get to it?”
She paused for a few seconds, vacillating as she thought about dates from hell. It wasn’t like they weren’t acquainted, was it? After all, they had seen each other at their worst. Things could only be better going forward. An invitation to dinner was a friendly gesture, right? Should she give good will a chance?
After all of her emotional yo-yoing, her biggest concern was being caught at his house miles out of town without her own transportation. What if she wanted to leave in a hurry? “Listen, I do want to visit Waffle and a steak dinner sounds good, but I think I should just drive out to your place in my own car. That’s a lot more convenient for both of us.”
A pause, then a sigh. “Okay. Suit yourself.”
His tone had changed. He was almost snappish, but she stood firm.
“You need to show up before dark so we can take a tour in my Jeep,” he said sharply.
Holy cow, was he mad because she had rejected his picking her up at her house?
“Wear jeans and boots,” he continued. “You never know when a rattlesnake might be hanging around.”
She owned a pair of cowboy boots—what native West Texas female didn’t?—but she hadn’t worn them in months. “I assure you, rattlers aren’t the kind of snakes that worry me. Besides, it’s October. Aren’t snakes hibernating by now?”
“There might be one that that doesn’t have a calendar. You never know.”
She gave a little grunt at his attempt at humor. “The directions?”
As he had done before, he quickly rattled off exactly how to reach his house. Scribbling to keep up, she cursed the great state of Texas for having such confusing roads and highways with numbers instead of names. After they disconnected, Sandi noticed her heartbeat had become a tattoo that made her giddy.
She turned to Betty Ann and Jessica who had been standing by eavesdropping and waiting for her to share. “Okay, girls. One of you is going to have to mind the store on Saturday afternoon. I will be leaving early. I have an invitation for a steak dinner.”
Betty Ann pumped a fist. “Yes!”
“Yum,” Jessica said. “I’m talking about the guy, not the steak.”
“You don’t have to worry about Sunday,” Betty Ann said enthusiastically. “I’ll open the store.”
Sandi gave her a look. She rarely asked her girls to work on a Sunday. “Why would I need you to do that? I always work on Sundays.”
“In case you decide on a sleepover.”
“Oh, my Lord, Betty Ann. Where is your head, girl? I barely know this guy. I’m not even sure I like him.”
“That doesn’t make any difference,” twenty-one-year-old college student Jessica said. “He’s a hot body. He’s got that look. You know, like he’d be a great fu—I mean I’ll bet he’s a super good lover. You don’t have to like him to do it with him.”
These two were her employees! Sandi tried to maintain separation between them and her personal life, but the three of them worked in such close quarters, these two girls felt more like pals than employees. She gaped and
