The City Girl (A “Her Choice” Story)

by Megan McCoy

  Their faces didn’t look too convinced of that, but she knew she could handle it. One of her specialties, and how Matt had found her via a headhunter service, was going into a sloppily run place and making it sparkle. She didn’t think this one really needed much polishing, but new fresh eyes were always good. Still, new days and a new crew always seemed a bit more stressful as you went through it, than as you looked back on it. Time blindness she called it. Like people who got a new puppy after their dog of twenty years died. “Old Shep never did that!” Yeah, he did. You just forgot. People forgot how lost and stressed they were on their first days at work. She would forget too.

  As the last person filed out of the cafeteria where they’d met, she took a deep breath, looked at the heavy wooden table, decided it would work for her needs, then kicked it hard three times. She was glad she had on sturdy boots. Then she sank down on a bench, to take a breather before she headed out to work. Ranch crews weren’t much different from hotel staff, she told herself. Basically, they were doing the same thing, only in a wilder and dustier and more humidity filled setting. After being the calm levelheaded leader though, she sometimes needed to express a bit of frustration on an inanimate object. Hotels sucked for that. Nothing seemed sturdy in a hotel. Pillow screaming worked, but this was better, and her heavy work boots meant her toe didn’t even hurt.

  Taking a deep breath, Cassandra felt calmer. She knew the girls just wanted to drool over Matt and Blaze. Duh. She enjoyed the eye candy too, so couldn’t blame them, but it frustrated her that she hadn’t understood that quickly enough to quell it. Next time.

  She’d give everyone some time to find their assignments, and to settle in, then she’d go around and make sure she touched hands with everyone. That was important in establishing both her authority and their trust in her management.

  “Good job, Candy,” a low voice said from behind her. She cocked her head, rising quickly. Who the hell was Candy? She’d thought for a second the voice belonged to Matt, it had a familiar timber. It wasn’t Matt, but had his authoritarian tone. Slowly she turned around.

  Taking a deep breath, Cassandra walked over to the distinguished man leaning against the doorjamb. Tall, lean, black hair shot with silver, bit of facial hair. Not too much, but just enough to make him very appealing for some reason. You could tell by looking at him that he was the boss. Had the big boss been watching her? Oh, geez, had he seen her kick his table? She seemed to see a bit of a twinkle in his eye. Or maybe it was her imagination and oh, was her imagination having a field day.

  Tight fitting jeans, tucked into well worn, brown leather boots, long sleeved solid blue chambray shirt, holding a hat in his hand, she simply couldn’t stop her eyes from raking up and down his form. Her knees went weak and her stomach flip-flopped. She could just imagine those callused hands on her, holding her face, running up and down her body, but she mustn’t. No. She’d thought Matt was hot, but this guy. Oh My God. She had a silly self-made rule about no boss activity, why again?

  “I’m Cassandra Carter. You must be Mr. Lyon.” Good. Her voice sounded normal. Holding her hand out, she could only hope he’d shake it. That would be wonderful, exciting even. Her fingers tingled in anticipation. Hoping her legs didn’t tremble, she took two steps forward as he did the same.

  His warm hand slid into her suddenly cold one and she shivered, hoping he didn’t notice. What was wrong with her? She was no more of a teenager than he was! Now she knew and completely understood why those girls were so disappointed she was their new boss. Oh yeah, his hand felt every bit as good as she’d hoped, and his electric blue eyes delved into hers as if he knew all her secrets. She hoped not! That would be very mortifying at this particular point in time.

  “Call me Jeb. Sorry I wasn’t here to meet you yesterday,” he said, dropping her hand with a small smile on his face.

  Yeah, he was probably used to women going weak in the knees at the very sight of him. He probably had a big head and maybe a big, oh, well, no. Another place not to go right now!

  “Was stuck in the barn overnight, and need a shower, but wanted to meet you and let you know if you need anything just ask. I’m hoping you take a big load off me and the boys this season. Matt probably told you we added a couple dozen more horses, are building a new barn, and couple more cabins for clients, and Blaze booked a lot more trail rides. He’s a good marketer, that boy, got lots of ambition.”

  She liked a boss who could delegate and see the best in others. Who was she fooling? Till she knew better, the man could do no wrong. All he had to do was stand there and look hot. “I’ll try my best to help out, Jeb.”

  “Glad to hear it, Candy,” he said, turning to go. “See you tonight at supper, in the den if you don’t mind showing up, to hear how your day went. Bring me your questions then, and we’ll go over anything you need to know.”

  Was she Candy? Of all the nicknames Cassandra had garnered over the years, Candy had not been one of them. Did she like it? Well, he should at least ask her! “Cassandra!” she called at his retreating back.

  His back didn’t acknowledge she’d said a word and she didn’t know why that made her grin.

  “I guess you met Grandpa,” Blaze said. Cassandra turned the other way and looked into the cafeteria door where everyone had filed out of a few minutes before.

  “I guess I did,” she agreed. “I hope he liked me.”

  “Do a good job,” he said, and walked over to her table, picking up her notes. “If you do, he will like you just fine and really, you’re the first person in this job. Do a half-assed job and he will be happy. He just needs a break. He’d much rather be on the back of a horse than riding herd on people, having the girls giggle over him, and making sure the menus are edible.”

  Cassandra laughed. “I’ll try and do more than a half-assed job, and I’ll try to set a standard for people who have this job after me. Hopefully the people here know enough that when I go see them all today, I’ll find out who’s good and who I can lean on for advice.”

  “Dad, Grandpa, and I will be around, too,” Blaze put her notes back down on the table. “All you have to do is ask. Got all our numbers? We all text and answer the phone, unless we can’t, or have no bars.” At her nod, he continued, “Mariah in the kitchen has been here since before Grandma died, so she knows how things are done. She wants to retire in a year or so though, so keep that in mind and see who you think might step up in her place, okay?”

  “Sure thing,” Cassandra said, thinking he was very confident for such a young man. “Just let me know whatever you all need. I was heading over to see if Mariah had the order put in for the groceries for the week already.”

  “I’ll let you work, then. I’ll be around the bunk area most of the day. Got to work on the roof some, so just holler if you need me. I’ll be the one with the hammer,” he grinned at her and headed out.

  “Do you just do everything around here?” she called at him.

  “I don’t do dishes or windows,” he called back with a wave of his hand.

  Cassandra smiled. So far she liked every one of these Lyon men. She couldn’t wait to run into Jeb again, and see if that electricity was just a one-time happy happenstance, or if it was going to happen every time she saw him. She hoped so.

  It had been a long time since she’d been in that much turmoil around a man. It was probably just the jeans, and boots, and that air that made you just know he was the boss, she told herself. All the men she worked with were so very polite, and so very deferential for the most part. Probably worried they’d get sued if they weren’t, or just in awe of her wonderful self, she grinned. So, Jeb was different, new, and special! It had been very fun to feel that thrill, probably because it could lead to nothing. Probably. Maybe.

  But now she needed to put the hottest cowboy of all the hot cowboys out of her mind to focus on the kitchen, menu and ordering procedure. Heading toward the kitchen, she wanted to talk to Mariah and see what all she knew about the Lyon men. Yeah. That was puttin
g them out of her mind, all right.

  Chapter Three

  Cassandra walked down the hall to the kitchen, anxiously excited about seeing it. Matt had told her about it when she was first hired. After his mom died, and they expanded from just the house and Rose’s bed and breakfast, to include bunk houses. His father had hired a designer to come in and create a commercial kitchen, and two big open rooms off it on either side, identical, and full of cute round tables, and long rectangle tables with benches. She’d met Mariah for a few minutes before the meeting and couldn’t wait to chat with her again, and see the kitchen. She did have a soft spot for commercial kitchens, and loved seeing how they worked for each chef and establishment.

  Mariah was probably just a bit older than she was, but seemed younger, tall, very well built, with a solid Serena Williams athletic kind of look, had curly black hair with gorgeous purple highlights, and sang in the kitchen as she worked. None of her worker bees seemed intimidated by her, but all seemed to respect and acknowledge her abilities. Cassandra was here to acknowledge her skill set, too.

  Mariah looked up with a big smile, as Cassandra walked in, and greeted her, “Hello, Ms. Carter, I apologize for not sticking around longer, but once I get the jelly started I really need to keep an eye on it.”

  “Jelly? Oh, call me Cassandra,” she said, looking at the huge pot on the stove.

  “I’m Mariah, in case you forgot, know you are meeting a lot of people, and yes, strawberries from our patch. I not only cook but I do a lot of canning and jelly making and that kind of thing. We have a big garden that I cook from a lot,” she said, pointing toward the pantry. “I try to plan the menus around what’s fresh and seasonal.”

  “Who works the garden?” Cassandra asked. “And what all is grown here?” That could be a learning experience. She could picture herself in a big straw hat and lacy sundress wandering through a blooming garden, with a basket and scissors and picking flowers and vegetables. How fun would that be!

  “Oh, a lot of us work it. We really need a part-time person or two dedicated to just the garden. But, I’ll be glad to show you what’s a weed and what isn’t, if you want,” Mariah said. “And we grow about everything you can think of, from herbs to greens to turnips, and potatoes. Rose and I started it, way back when this was just a bed and breakfast and I was her helper. The garden and the ranch have grown a lot since.”

  “So you’ve been here a long time then,” Cassandra perched on a stool and helped herself to a fresh strawberry. Yum! The warm taste exploded in her mouth, tart and sweet and simply delicious. This wasn’t like any she ate off the buffet at the hotels. How did they do this?

  “Been here since Rose first got sick. This was a small hobby ranch until she passed. Jeb worked construction with my husband, while he was building his horse breeding operation, and Rose and Jeb did a little bed and breakfast in the den over there. When Rose died, Jeb and Matt expanded everything. Neither one of them seem to want to leave much time to think, so they’ve worked really hard.”

  “How long ago did she pass away?” Cassandra asked, desperately wanting to know how and what and all the details, but she figured she would find out more as she worked through the summer. Gossip always got around, in any job and she figured this was no different.

  “Oh, she died when Blaze was just toddling around here. I didn’t think Jeb or the kids were going to get over it for the longest time. They were all just heartbroken,” Mariah started scooping jelly into warm jars.

  “I can imagine. She sounds like a wonderful lady,” Cassandra said. Kids? Did Blaze have siblings? No one had mentioned that. “Where is Blaze’s mom? Is she still around?”

  “No, she took Blaze and moved out when he was, oh, eight or nine. She’s still in St. Louis, but he came home to visit his dad for the summer the year he was twelve, and refused to go back. Luckily, Matt and Kim both did what was best for him, and that was to let him stay here. That boy loves this ranch. He sees his mom pretty often, but his heart is here.”

  Cassandra watch fascinated while Mariah wiped jar lids, attached two-piece caps, and dropped the completed jar in a pot of boiling water with some fancy kinds of tongs. She’d never seen how jelly was made. She figured it was all done in a big factory somewhere, if she ever thought about it at all. Which, really, she hadn’t. No more than she thought about how her meat got to her. Some things just weren’t thinking about. But this was rather interesting.

  “So how many people do you have working here in the kitchen?” she asked. She knew, but it was a way to find out about her people, to ask them about the details. Most good managers just knew.

  “I have a couple different shifts,” Mariah said, not pausing in her work. “Jenn gets here really early and starts bread, rolls, and desserts for the day. Then I have a couple of girls who come in an hour or so later and start the buffet. We do breakfast buffet for the guys and the guests.”

  “Do they all eat together?” Cassandra asked. “No separate times or rooms for the crew and the guests?”

  “Nope, we used to do clients on one side, sweaty stable hands on the other,” Mariah said, pointing north and south. “We found out the clients like to mingle with the cowboys and the guys don’t mind being hero worshiped.” She laughed. “We set breakfast out on the steam tables for about two hours. Then we get that cleaned up and lunch started. Lunch is buffet too, and dinner is family style.”

  “Do the Lyons come and eat? I saw the kitchen in the house,” she asked.

  “That was Rose’s kitchen. She loved to cook, and cooked for the guests in the bed and breakfast herself. This all came about after she passed. But depends. All three of them can cook, but sometimes they eat here, sometimes there. Depends on their moods and how tired they are.”

  Cassandra tried not to seem too overly interested in the dead wife, or the males’ eating habits. It was killing her not to know, but she was an adult. She could deny her base emotions. For a little while at least.

  She settled into talking about how the food was ordered, bought, delivered, and fetched. Much different process from the hotels where vendors were falling all over themselves to make sure they had any and every product imaginable. Here, it was all up to basically Mariah to make the lists, figure the best places to get whatever from, and then see it showed up on time. She volunteered to step in and help, of course, and make sure someone else was trained in the procedures of how to do things. It just made sense to do that. She needed to find out who Mariah thought was likely to replace her though, soon, if she really was retiring.

  After she got those details absorbed and realized she or someone would be going to town in ‘the van’ once a week for food, Cassandra asked, “So tell me about the way you serve dinner, family style? What exactly does that mean here?”

  After Mariah explained the process, that the food was placed on the table and everyone helped themselves, then passed the dish to the next one, she asked, “Why is that better than buffet style?”

  Mariah laughed and said, “It’s not. It’s just different. The guests seem to like the homey feel and in the evening, they all aren’t straggling in like they are at breakfast and lunch. All the activities wrap up at about the same time every afternoon, then we feed them before the night fun begins.”

  At Cassandra’s startled look, she said, “I mean bonfires and hay rides, not….but well, that probably goes on too! But not in my kitchen,” she winked at Cassandra, “At least not often!”

  “It better not be happening,” the already familiar timber rolled into Cassandra’s ear. “I doubt that’s a health code approved activity.” Cassandra stood up and turned around, Jeb leaned against the doorjamb, obviously freshly showered and cleaned up. He seemed to like to be in a doorway, she noticed already. One foot in one world, one foot back in the other.

  “Oh, Jeb, no one’s doing anything in front of the health inspector! She’s way too uptight,” Mariah flipped her towel at him. “You wanting fed?”

  “Yes, Ma’am, if it’s not t
oo much trouble. I seem to be out of eggs and I’m just too beat to go fight the chickens this morning,” he said, and sat down on the stool next to Cassandra. “So how is your morning going, Candy? You finding lots of room for improvement in here?”

  Before she realized, the words popped out, “Where did you get Candy from? Do I look like a Candy to you?”

  “Yes,” he said, staring at her with deep blue sink-into eyes. “You really do.”

  “Oh,” she said, feeling herself melting and parts juicing up that should not being doing that in front of her boss. “Well. Okay then. I can be Candy for a summer. Why not?”

  “Good girl,” he said, mildly, and turned to watch Mariah cook his eggs. Cassandra saw Mariah’s shoulders shaking from laughter and blushed.

  Good girl? What was that? But, she reminded herself – boss man – and for some reason she just didn’t mind that at all. Weird. Probably that stupid chemistry thing she needed to ignore. Must ignore. No doubts.

  She put on her sorting hat, “Is there anything in particular you’d like me to focus on or deal with? Blaze and Matt both told me a few things, but I haven’t heard your wants or needs yet.”

  Jeb accepted his eggs and toast from Mariah, “Thank you,” then turned to Cassandra again. “I think I mentioned I’d talk to you at or after supper tonight. Go on and do what you do now, and we’ll talk later.”

  Feeling very dismissed, Cassandra slid off her stool, and said to Mariah, who seemed to have gotten herself and her mirthful shoulder shaking under control, “I’ll talk to you again later on. You have my number to text if you need me during the day.”