LITMIR.BIZ

      Three

      “Jes as I spected! She don’t know squat ‘bout cookin’.”

      Max crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. “Last night was her first night. Maybe she was just nervous. It’s not like we have dozens of applicants to choose from, Hannah. You can’t continue doing it all yourself—”

      “So that’s why I decided I’d have ta teach her,” she said, interrupting him.

      Max’s chin dropped. Before he could recover, Essie walked down the back stairs, her eyes bloodshot and red rimmed.

      When she spotted the pair, she stopped on the last step and took in their smiling faces. Smiles? They were the last things she expected to find this morning. And why was Hannah in the kitchen instead of doing her housework?

      “Good morning, Essie,” Max said, his smile still fixed in place.

      “Good morning, Mr. Malone.”

      “Max. Please.”

      She stepped into the kitchen, not sure what to expect next. “Max,” she repeated, and braved a look at Hannah. “Morning, Hannah.”

      “Mornin’.” She rubbed her hands together, then said, “Maxwell? If y’all will scuse us, we got breakfast ta get on the table.”

      Max did a mock salute and left the room. Hannah banged a couple of skillets on top of burners, turned up the heat, then began unloading food from the refrigerator to the center counter chopping block.

      “Well, don’t jes stand there with yer mouth hangin’ open. Put on yer apron and let’s get ta work.”

      Breakfast was a huge success, thanks to Hannah’s tutelage. Essie only wished the conversation could have gone as smoothly. Unfortunately Hannah had one thing on her mind this morning: Ryder’s birthday party on Saturday. If the remarks had been limited to the menu, Essie would have begun to relax. It was the rest of it that had her stomach in knots again: “It’s ’bout time he settled down...maybe this Maddy is jes the right woman for Ryder...he seems ta like the li’l boy...if he’s the one I seen ’im with a couple times out back.”

      By the time Essie finally climbed into the passenger’s seat of Ryder’s pickup, she’d decided on a little harmless probing. The drive to Billings would take over an hour. Plenty of time to find out how important this Maddy was to him. She’d bide her time, though, and let the conversation take its natural course.

      The farther northeast they traveled, the darker the clouds that hung heavy in the sky, looking as though their loads were about to burst. Country music blasted from the dashboard making conversation difficult—which was exactly the way Ryder liked it. When thunder began rumbling, and lightning sliced through the darkness, he saw Essie reach for the knob and turn the volume down.