2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Decker “Bare” Barrett

Grace locked the diner as we all left late that afternoon. I glanced around the parking lot seeing Grace’s little Chevy and my Ram 1500 on the other side. I turned to Hermie, who was just as cute as a newborn pup. “How’d you get here?”

“I, uh, walked from the bus station.” Hermie pointed to the Greyhound stop up the street by the post office.

“Where you headed?”

Kingsley had a population of around four thousand or so people—more livestock than humans if someone wanted to count. There weren’t any taxis and only a few rideshares, so anywhere off the main drag was a long walk.

“Uh, Lone Star Trailer Park. It’s not that far.” Hermie’s cheeks were pink, which was adorable.

Lone Star Trailer Park was a small community where a lot of transient folks lived month to month. It wasn’t bad—most places were well-kept, but there were others that should have been dragged to the junkyard because they were trashed. The landlords didn’t give a damn about them, and sadly, they stayed rented.

I would never stick my nose in the air that I was better than anyone. We were a close-knit community, and a few of my high school friends had parents living there. Folks lived where they could afford, and I wouldn’t judge them at all.

The problem with Lone Star was that it was about five miles outside of town. Based on the jacket Hermie was wearing and the sneakers that looked like they’d outlived their usefulness, he wasn’t going to be comfortable taking that walk.

“Let me give you a ride, Hermie. It’s about a five-mile walk.” I took his duffel from his hand and carried it toward my white flatbed truck, opening the passenger door and tossing the duffel into the seat.

Hermie stared at me from the sidewalk, so I motioned him over. Finally, he exhaled and walked over to the truck, his eyes not leaving mine. He seemed a bit nervous. “It’s just a ride. Get in.”

I held the door open, and once Hermie slid into the seat, I closed it and went around to get inside. Starting the truck, I buckled my seat belt and turned toward Hermie to see he wasn’t buckled in. “Buckle your seat belt, please.”

Hermie did as I asked and gazed out the side window. I couldn’t keep from staring at his silhouette. He was absolutely gorgeous, just as I remembered from that glimpse I’d caught of him as he was pulling on boots outside the main house years ago.

Sweet Hermie had been kind enough to take over after Luther was taken away by ambulance. It was rare to meet a man who would do something for people he didn’t know. He was special, and even an asshole like me could see it.

“Where’d you come from?”

Hermie glanced at me, his eyes unblinking and his lips in a tight thin line. “I was in Austin and got fired from my job the day before yesterday. I had to come back because I got kicked out of my apartment, and I spent most of my money on the bus ticket.”

My gut told me to keep my mouth shut as a million remedies circled my head. Something about Hermie told me he needed someone to help him figure out his current dilemma. I promised myself I wouldn’t push him or offer unsolicited solutions.

“Who am I taking you to see?”

Hermie glanced at me. “My mother. She lives in Lone Star.”

“Okay. What’s the address?”

Hermie pulled out a cheap cell phone and hit the button to call someone. He turned to me. “She moved. I’m not sure which street.”

The phone rang twice. “ We’re sorry. The number you have dialed is no longer in service .” He hung up and tried again. Same message.

“You, uh, you know any of the neighbors? Maybe you could ask someone?” I pulled over to the curb at the entrance to give him a minute to formulate a plan.

“I don’t know any of the neighbors. We didn’t socialize with anyone when I lived there, and now that she’s moved, I don’t know anyone.”

I drove forward into Lone Star Trailer Park and stopped in the small parking lot at the rental office. “Maybe go in there and ask about your mom so we’re not just driving around yelling her name?”

For the first time since he got into the truck, Hermie grinned. “I’ll be right back.”

I shifted the truck into park so I could check my cell. There was a message from Lou Ramsey, the ranch manager, that Shayna, our cook, had given her notice that she was leaving town. I rolled my eyes.

Shayna was nice enough. She was a good cook, but she kept the cowboys stirred up in the bunk house with her flirty attitude. She’d been trying to get her claws in me since my parents died and I took over the ranch. She wouldn’t take no for an answer that I wasn’t interested, so it was a constant battle.

I hit the button to call the ranch. “Bare Ranch.” It was Lou.

“Is she cooking tomorrow? The hands have nowhere to go, and there are three turkeys thawing in the refrigerator.”

Miner’s Finer Diner was closed on Thanksgiving, so unless the hands were okay with hamburgers from Freddie’s Fast & Hot on the other side of town, I was going to be hauling everyone to Sweetwater, which was about sixty miles north of Kingsley.

“You wanna talk to her? She’s packing her shit right now. I’m in the kitchen doing the dishes from breakfast, which I think is the last meal she’s gonna cook here.”

Shit sakes! “I’ll be home in a bit. We’ve got pizzas in the pantry freezer, right? I’ll pick up some stuff for salad. I think the boys were talking about going to The Horseshoe this evening, so we’re off the hook for dinner.” I glanced up to see Hermie coming from the office with a sad look on his face.

“I’ll see you when I get back.” I ended the call and tossed my phone in the console tray.

Hermie got into the truck, not turning to look at me. “Everything okay?”

He reached up and touched his eyes with the tips of his fingers before he sniffled. “She, uh, she moved away three months ago without a forwarding address.”

The day was turning to shit in a hell of a hurry for both of us. “Okay. Why don’t you come with me to the ranch, and we’ll figure out how to find your mother, okay? I’ll call a few friends and see if anyone knows her. Did she have a car?”

“Uh, y-yeah… I m-mean yes. Sorry. She has a c-car.”

It was easy to see he was upset, and I was doing my best not to be an asshole. My gut told me his mother took off and left him. No way was I saying that out loud.

“Okay. Let’s go to the ranch and see what we can do. I got a situation I need to handle there anyway.”

Based on Hermie’s expression, he was coming to the realization I’d already reached—his mother didn’t want him to find her. “N-N-No, I can’t imp-p-pose. Just take me back to the bus station, p-p-please.”

I shifted the truck into drive and headed toward the ranch. There was no way I was taking Hermie to the bus station and dropping him off. He didn’t deserve to be treated the way his mother was treating him. Most people didn’t even treat a fucking stray dog that poorly.

I walked into the house with Hermie’s bag, but he lagged behind as if he wasn’t sure whether to follow. I dropped his duffel by the staircase and went through to the kitchen where I heard pots and pans banging around.

There was Lou with his denim shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows. “Never thought I’d see the day.” I chuckled at my own joke.

Lou glanced over his shoulder, scowl firmly in place. “Don’t just stand there, Bare. Grab a towel and start drying.”

I shook my head. “Where is she?”

“In her room. She was pissin’ and moanin’ all mornin’, accordin’ to the hands. She called me up from the barn and told me she quit. I have no idea what happened to trigger it, but I say good riddance.” Lou went back to cleaning the pots.

“What did she make for breakfast because she wasn’t in the kitchen when I got up. What time did you guys eat?”

“Well, she didn’t have anything ready until ten. What the hell are we gonna do? The boys’ll go on strike if ya don’t get someone to fix ’em food.”

Lou Ramsey was a good man. A bowlegged cowboy who used to work five thousand head of beef cattle at a spread in Montana until he got trampled by a herd of wild mustangs and ended up with a broken back. The owner claimed a grizzly bear started the damn stampede, and Lou got on the wrong side of it and thrown off his horse. After he left the hospital, the owner paid his hospital bill, gave him a check for five grand, and sent him on his way.

“She made herself eggs Benedict, but the rest of us got burned bacon and overcooked egg-and-biscuit sandwiches. Believe me, we ate them because that was all there was, but everybody was still hungry. And the biscuits were canned, so it ain’t like she went to a lot of trouble. Who’s that?”

I turned to see Hermie standing in the kitchen doorway, hands shoved in the pockets of his skinny jeans. “Hi, Lou. Good to see you.”

“I’ll be a son of a— Hermie? Is that you, son?” Lou dried his hands and hurried over to shake Hermie’s hand. The smile on Hermie’s face made my heart skip a beat.

“Do y-you still w-w-work here?”

Lou chuckled and turned to me. “He can’t run this shitshow without me. Where’ve you been?”

I poured three cups of coffee and put them at the kitchen table, pulling out chairs for them to join me. They each took a seat, and Lou attempted to give Hermie the third degree about where he’d been and what he’d been doing.

“I, uh, I c-can’t work in a commercial k-kitchen. I l-love cooking, but I do b-better if I’m left to do it b-by myself.” Hermie looked down at the table and traced the wood grain with his thumb.

I couldn’t let him believe that. “You did a great job at Miner’s. Everybody praised the food.” They had all enjoyed it, and the memory of the omelet and fried potatoes I’d eaten had my mouth watering again.

A sharp kick to my shin got my attention, so I looked up to see Lou was about to break his neck again as he motioned toward Hermie. “Cook. We need a cook, Bare.”

“He’s already got a job for the six weeks Luther’s out. Oh, Lute had to go to the hospital today. Bleeding ulcer. They performed surgery, so he’ll be out for six weeks. Hermie’s agreed to help Shirley at the diner until Luther’s able to come back.”

“They open at seven and close at three. Maybe Hermie could come after that and fix dinner for the hands? They can rough it for breakfast and have sandwiches for lunch, but with it gettin’ cold, a hot dinner would be awful nice.” Lou’s smirk made me laugh.

“Think we could talk Anita into cooking those turkeys so they don’t go to waste?” I had not one clue as to how to cook a whole turkey. I hoped the range in the kitchen was big enough with three full-size ovens.

A quiet giggle caught my attention. I turned to see Hermie with another one of those beautiful smiles. “I can cook a turkey or three of them. When I worked in Austin, we cooked about fifteen of them for the Thanksgiving buffet. I can make the sides, too. I owe you for taking me out to Lone Star anyway. I can bed down in the bunk house or on a couch somewhere if there’s room.”

Before I could respond, Shayna stomped through the kitchen. She stopped by the table and glared at me. “I’ll take my pay before I go.” She flopped her hand out like a dead fish, and I laughed as I stood.

“Three days at a hundred a day.” I pulled my wallet from my back pocket and opened it, pulling out three crisp hundreds and placing them in her hand as I stared at her. “Why’d you quit?”

“Hostile work environment.” She shoved the money into her purse and glanced at Hermie for a moment before she stomped toward the door.

Lou stared at me, shaking his head when I didn’t move. “Keys, Bare. You need to get her keys and key card for the gate.”

“Shit.” I hurried through the house and out the front door. Shayna was just stepping off the porch. “Hang on.” She looked over her shoulder and smiled as if she’d won a prize—me.

“I need your keys and key card for the driveway gate.”

An angry snarl appeared on her face. “You’re such a fucking jerk, Decker. I would have been yours in a heartbeat, but you think you’re too good for any of the local girls. You think because you played professional basketball that we’re all beneath you, don’t you? Well, I’m tired of waiting to be invited into your bed. You’ll figure out you missed a great opportunity after I’m gone.” Shayna reached up and dashed a tear off her cheek as she tried to take the keys off the key chain for her car.

My patience was at its end. “Shayna, I never said I was looking for a girlfriend or a wife. I hired you to work for the ranch as a cook. I didn’t hire you to work for me as my cook. I’m sorry I’m not interested in you romantically, but I can assure you the way you went about trying to seduce me would have never got your hooks into me. The way I see it, you made the work environment toxic, not me. Keys and key card.” I flipped out my hand in the same way she’d done inside.

Shayna slapped them into my palm, got into her car, and peeled her tires on the concrete driveway. I was drenched with a sense of relief as I watched her car turn onto the highway.

“Good riddance.”

I turned to see Lou standing in the doorway, and I laughed as I went back up the front steps and into the house.

“Yeah, but now I gotta figure out something…”

“I-I can do it. If you c-can heat and put the meals together when it’s time to eat—I’ll leave directions—I’ll c-cook everything the night before and have it ready before I go to the d-d-diner. I nosed around your k-kitchen to see you have everything I’ll n-need to make the food and have it ready. She had a room down here, so if I can s-s-sleep in there, I’ll be right here, I m-mean if you d-don’t mind. I’ll be able to m-m-manage both jobs, I p-promise. I’ll j-j-just have to f-f-find a way to g-get to—”

Hermie was speaking so quickly he was stumbling over his words. He’d been speaking slower earlier. Maybe when he got nervous or excited, he stuttered? His face turned bright red, and I wanted to pull him close and hug him tight.

Lou snapped his fingers. “Oh! Chuck and Paula have an old beater truck they don’t use because it doesn’t have a place for Posey’s booster. You can use that.”

“That’s a great idea, Lou.” I turned to Hermie. “I’ll talk to Chuck about buying it while you see if you need anything from the grocery store to cook the meal tomorrow. I can take you to the store to shop. You can sleep down here, but there are five other bedrooms upstairs if you want something bigger. Job pays a hundred a day, room and board included. S’that okay?”

“You don’t have to pay me, Mr. Barrett. I’ll do the cooking to pay for the room, and you don’t have to buy Chuck’s truck. I can rent it from them to use after I get paid from the diner.”

I held up my hand. “I’ll buy it for the ranch. You can use it for as long as you’re here.”

He frowned before he smiled again. “Thank you, Mr. Barrett.”

“Call me Bare.”

Maybe someday, I’ll hear you call me something else…