Montana Ranch Series: Love on Willow Creek, Lightning over Bennett Ranch, One Touch at Cob's Bar and Grill, Last Chance for Love, Love Under an Open Sky

by Dawes, Casey

  Jack turned out to be a terrific boss, too. During her first week, when it was quiet, they’d lean against the back counter and Jack pointed out various people around the tables and dance floor. She’d gotten an earful from some woman named Lucy, who complained about the white wine not being what she’d asked for and raked Anna up one side and down the other. Jack walked over and told the woman if she didn’t like the wine she could take her business elsewhere. As the woman stormed away, Jack gave her a brief rundown on Lucy. It turned out she was a spoiled brat and didn’t have a nice bone in her body. He didn’t come right out and say it, but gave her the feeling that this woman was someone Anna didn’t want to know.

  Since then she’d steered clear of the troublemakers and took care of the nicer customers. Jack turned out to be a good source of information and Anna realized that there weren’t many secrets in Willow Creek. Everybody knew just about everything. Anna didn’t talk about herself much and continued to look over her shoulder. She’d been on the run from her husband and the private detective he’d hired, for almost two years. The last time she’d seen Sam Crawford, the private eye was six months ago. He’d caught up with her sooner in the past and since it was so long this time she felt he might have given up.

  One of the waitresses, Megan, bounced over to the bar. She was twenty-two years old, with green eyes and - according to Jack - was slightly crazy. She could go from perfectly levelheaded to that deer-caught-in-headlights look, in less than a second. One time Jack shook his head and said he thought a connection was detached in her brain and her Internet may have crashed.

  She stood on the bar rail and blew a big pink bubble with her gum. “Three boilers with Jack, one Black Dog, two whites, one red and a Bloody Mary easy on the blood.” She grinned at Anna. “I love that last one. Mrs. Bartholomew always orders it that way. You’d think a straight shot would do, but no, she wants to have it dressed.”

  Anna attended Bartending School in Boise, Idaho after she dropped out of college and finished up one of the top students. She never wanted to be fancy with spinning and tossing the bottles around, but stayed very consistent with her service. The waitresses seemed to like her and she liked to work with them. She tossed a stalk of celery into the Bloody Mary glass, gave it a stir and straw, and set it on Megan’s tray. They high-fived each other.

  “You did it under sixty seconds, Anna. Too cool.” Megan started to lift the tray and stopped. “By the way, Rusty’s here and wants to know when you’ll get your break. He wants to dance tonight.”

  “Tell him I’m not sure. I’ll try to find him.” Anna smiled.

  Rusty was a cowboy from one of the local ranches and a really nice guy. He looked to be in his forties and enjoyed kicking up his heels twice a month when he got paid. They’d danced together a few times when she’d first come to Willow Creek. One night after they’d finished a two-step, he’d turned to her and said, “Now don’t go getting any romantic ideas about me. I’m too old for you. But woman, you can dance with me anytime. You’re really good and fast on your feet.” Anna had shaken her head and wondered what she’d done to make him think romance. It was the last thing she wanted.

  The music was being pumped out of the speakers arranged around the dance floor by a DJ and more folks came in the door.

  Anna covered the back end of the bar this evening, and got the orders from the waitresses. There were a couple of men and women that stood at her end, but she still didn’t know all of their favorite orders and continued to work to learn the drink orders for these regulars.

  She heard the DJ start to spin a popular song and the line dances started up in earnest. Anna shuffled her feet and tapped her toe while she filled a pitcher for another waitress. Jack moved up to her.

  “You know, if you keep line dancing back here we may have to turn this into a coyote bar,” he joked.

  Anna bumped him with her hip and laughed. “I don’t dance on bars, Bossman, even if I’ve had too much to drink. I also don’t wear skimpy,” she said, loudly.

  “That’s good; I don’t wear skimpy, either.”

  They both laughed and turned back to the customers at the bar.

  Another waitress, Randa, caught Anna’s attention. “Coke and a beer,” she said and flashed her pearly whites.

  Anna knew this order. She’d met a woman named Bridget Lawson a couple of months ago and she always ordered Coke and her boyfriend a beer. Anna stepped up on a stool that sat behind the bar and looked around the room. She spotted Bridget at a table with her boyfriend, Tom, and waved at them. She hoped she’d be able to get over there and say a real hello to them. They were really nice people.

  At around ten o’clock things picked up, got louder and the dance floor jumped with customers having a good time. Food orders still came in and the smell from the kitchen made Anna’s stomach growl.

  She’d filled a couple of twenty ounce glasses with beer and when the waitress reached up to grab the tray, she’d knocked three of them over. Beer cascaded over the top of the bar and down onto the mixing counter. Anna grabbed a bunch of towels to sop up the mess.

  “Oh God, Anna, I’m sorry,” the waitress said.

  “No worries.” She smiled and pulled three more glasses out, filled them and set them on the tray. “It’s all good,” she said and when the waitress took the tray away, she cleaned up the spill.

  Anna felt the hair rise on the back of her neck and looked around the room. It felt as though something stabbed her in the neck, but all she saw were the folks around the dance floor as they shimmied their hips to the music. No one seemed to be interested in her.

  The DJ started to play “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” and Anna needed to dance. She forgot about her paranoia attack and looked down the bar at her boss. “Hey Jack!” she shouted.

  The owner looked over at her and since he knew she loved the song, he waved his hand. “Take your break.” He smiled.

  Anna put the towel down and spun around. She heard someone shout “Hey!” and saw Rusty point his finger at her.

  She moved around the bar and gave him a thumbs-up. They met in the middle of the floor and lined up with about ten other people. She hooked her thumbs in the loops of her jeans and they started to work the line and did a Stomp and Slide.

  Anna sang along with the song and bumped hips with Rusty on one side and another customer on the other. They turned and stepped, and she put her hand on Rusty’s shoulder. When they turned the other way, he put his hand on hers. When the dance finished, the crowd clapped and cheered. A slower number started and Rusty put his hand around her waist and they started a two-step.

  “How are you doing, Miss Anna?” he shouted at her.

  “I have no complaints, sir.”

  He twirled her around and they crossed over and went back to face each other.

  “I think I need to learn how to cross-country ski,” she said.

  “Why would you want to do that?” He spun her around, again.

  “When it snows this winter it would make it easier to get to work.”

  “Just get a horse. He’d get you to work just fine.” Rusty smiled.

  “I don’t think a horse would do so well in a one-bedroom apartment.”

  Rusty laughed and pulled her around. They stepped and then he twirled her back to face him. They finished the dance and cheered with the rest of the crowd.

  Anna felt that strange sensation on the back of her neck again. She turned around, looked for the source and saw a familiar face at Jack’s end of the bar.

  “Rusty, thanks for the dances. I need to get back.”

  “Thank you, too. I want one more before the night’s over,” he said and spun away from her.

  Anna walked back around the bar and felt an uneasy cramp form in her stomach. She remembered she hadn’t finished with the spilt beer. She squeezed a sponge in the sink
and started to wipe the counter again. She felt a sharp stab in the side of her neck and wished the guy she knew that sat and stared at her down at Jack’s end of the counter would just leave. He made her feel nervous and tension settled in her neck.

  Jack walked up to her. “There’s a guy asking for you at the other end of the bar. He says he’s a friend of yours,” he said and pointed over his shoulder.

  Anna looked past her boss and saw him watch her. There sat the six-foot-five, dark- haired, blue-eyed, son-of-a-bitch who took her breath away six months ago. Sam Crawford’s lip curled slightly and he continued to stare at her. Anger started to singe the back of her neck and she really didn’t want to talk to him.

  She threw the sponge she’d cleaned the bar off with back into the sink and dried her hands on her apron. She stared back at him as she walked toward his end of the bar. His eyes closed a little and she saw he held his breath.

  “Hello, Anna. It’s good to see you. Congratulations,” he said in a low voice.

  “Look Sam, let’s get this straight. Go back to Boise and tell Bob that I refused to come with you. Tell him to go to Hell. I don’t know why he keeps sending you after me, but I’m not going to run anymore. He can go play with his little tribe of sluts all he wants. Do you know, on our wedding day he screwed Sheila Parker in the women’s room at the Lancaster Inn? I’m not going back to that and you can tell him I hope he gets some weird disease. Maybe he’ll learn something from that.”

  Sam rubbed his hand over the stubble on his face. “That’s a lovely sentiment, but, Anna, that’s not why I’m here.” He smiled at her. “Trace, didn’t send me this time. Well, strike that, he did send me, but not to take you back to Boise.”

  “Trace, right. I told him a thousand times that was a stupid nickname, but does he listen? No, he never listened.” The heat in her neck went up a notch and she began to wonder why Sam came to Willow Creek. It made her really angry that he looked so good doing whatever it was he’d come to do. She took a step back and pursed her lips. “How do you keep finding me?”

  “Its all a part of the job, sweetheart.”

  Anna huffed. “Do you want a beer?”

  “No.”

  “Then what? Why are you here?” She felt frustration run up her back.

  “Trace wants a divorce. He sent me to deliver the papers. And I’ve never been able to get over Truckee, Nevada. I thought this would be a good time to see if you might give me a chance.” He rested his chin in the palm of his hand and continued to stare at her.

  “Okay, that was a really nice night, but get over it, move on. Just because we experienced one night of great sex doesn’t mean it would ever happen that way again. Go back to Boise and see if Bob will give up one of his bitches. I have a job here and a place of my own. The people are nice and they seem to respect me. I’m not going to give it up. Get that through your thick skull.” She stopped and frowned. “What do you mean, Bob wants a divorce?”

  “He’s found a new sugar-momma and they want to get married.”

  “That’s really stupid. Does that woman know he doesn’t keep his hands off other women?”

  “I don’t really know the answer to that one, sweetheart.” He smiled.

  Sam Crawford made her blood boil. “Don’t call me sweetheart. I’m involved with someone here and I’m committed to it.”

  “The attractive, red-headed waitress over there, the one that kept rubbing her boob against my arm, said that you aren’t seeing anyone as far as she knows. When do you get off work?”

  Anna looked over her shoulder at Randa. The tall, thin, boob-machine leaned over a table and took orders. She let the males at the table have a good glance at her cleavage. Anna knew she was a good person, but wanted to smack her. Randa just couldn’t keep her mouth shut and didn’t know what the word secret meant. She was one of the worst gossips in Willow Creek.

  Anna turned back to Sam. “See that guy over by the door?” She pointed at Cob’s bouncer Henry. He was six-foot-two and muscles from head to toe. He’d worked at Cob’s for five or six years. “He and I became lovers when I got into town six months ago. That’s how I got this job. So, you can go back to Boise now, dream world is over.”

  Sam turned and looked at the bouncer by the door. “He’s gay.” He swung back around to Anna. “The redhead told me that, too. Apparently, he and the owner made quite a stir in this little town several years ago. It amazes me how much you can learn if you really listen.” He smiled again.

  “Great. You know everything. I’m not going back.” She started to move to the other end of the bar.

  “No problem. I have no reason to go back to Boise either. I drove in at dusk, and it’s a beautiful area. Maybe you could show me around and help me find an apartment tomorrow,” he said.

  Anna turned and stared at him. “Don’t you have a family or someone waiting for you in Boise?”

  “Nope. My folks live in Baker, Oregon with my two younger brothers. My older sister lives in Boston. So I have no reason to go back. I can FedEx the papers to Trace.” Sam sat up straight. “I saw you dance out there. You looked fantastic and since I don’t dance so great, maybe you could teach me.”

  “Shut up.” She turned and started back to her end of the bar. She looked up a Jack as she walked by him and saw him raise his eyebrows.

  Randa waited at her end of the bar with an order. “So, who’s the hot and sexy man down there? He was asking all kinds of questions about you.”

  Anna looked at Randa as she pulled a pitcher of beer. She got an idea. “I’ve known him for a couple of years. He’s available if you’re interested.” She smiled and put the pitcher of beer and six glasses on Randa’s tray.

  She watched the waitress look down at Sam and shake her head. “No, he’s stared at you the whole time he’s sat there. I think you might have a puppy, Anna.” Randa’s smile got a little bigger. “But, it is nice to have something new to look at in town.”

  Anna heard the cash register ring and looked at Jack over her shoulder. He walked up to her. “I wasn’t listening in, but what’s this married business and I thought you said you were from Spokane?”

  She scooped some ice into a glass, grabbed a bottle of vodka and poured. She put in a twist of lemon and set the glass on the next tray.

  “I am from Spokane, born and raised. Went to college at Boise State and got married to the biggest loser in the state of Idaho. I did all of that in under five years. My husband and I are separated and that guy” - she pointed at Sam - “brought me the divorce papers to sign.”

  “You never mentioned that,” Jack said.

  “You never asked. I would have told you.” She punched his arm.

  “You’re not going to quit, are you?”

  “I’d rather stay, if it’s okay with you.”

  Jack smiled and patted her on the head. “Of course, you can stay. You’re friend has guzzled down about fifteen cups of coffee. He doesn’t drink much, he said. Should I not like him?”

  She looked at Sam and saw him sit up straight again. “Jack

  , he’s not my friend and I’m not going to tell you what to think. You’re a big boy and can decide if you like him or not.”

  “Good. Go back to work now.”

  Anna turned back to the bar and felt Sam watch her. She tried to focus on the job at hand and eventually ignored him, although she still felt mad at him. Willow Creek was a nice community and for the first time since she’d left Boise she felt comfortable enough to let her hair down and make some friends. She couldn’t let him ruin it for her.

  One of her favorite customers walked up and smiled. “Hey, Anna.”

  “Hey, Travis, it’s good to see you. How much longer is it until you turn twenty-one?” She started a glass of pop for him.

  “Just one more week and then I’m legal. Since we�
��re going to be out bringing in the herd for the next two weeks, couldn’t you just break the rules once? I’ll be on the trail when I have my birthday.”

  “Sorry, but just think how good that beer will taste when you get back in,” she said and passed the glass over the bar to him.

  During the first week she’d worked at Cob’s, a group of ranch hands came in together one night. Travis, a tall, thin as a rail, redhead asked her for a beer. Anna tilted her head and asked to see his I.D.

  “I’m over twenty-one, ma’am. I swear it on a side of beef.” He’d crossed his heart and held up his Boy Scout fingers.

  “Yeah, well, I still need to see your I.D.” She put her foot on a shelf below the counter and folded her hands on top.

  “My friends will swear it, too.”

  “Sorry, if you have no I.D., I have no beer for you. You could be from the ATF and I always follow the rules.”

  The kid started to laugh. “How could you tell I’m not twenty-one?”

  “I couldn’t, but you just told me. Want a pop?”

  Travis was her favorite and she’d serve him a beer in a week and no sooner. He always gave her a dollar tip and she put it toward the pop she gave to him.

  “Anna, would you dance with me tonight?” he asked and took a sip from his glass.

  “Sure, but only if it slows down. We’re pretty busy. There are a lot of ladies out there tonight that need partners.” She started to fill an order for one of the waitresses.

  “Okay, well keep me in mind,” he said and walked back to his friends.

  Anna put the order on the tray and then looked down at Sam. He watched the dancers out on the floor. She shook her head and started to pull another pitcher of beer.