Tess took another sip of orange juice and sighed. The morning rush was over. She could have a break, enjoy some peace and quiet in the café before the lunch crowd descended.
“Do you want to share a pancake? You look as though you need it.” Logan sent a sunny smile her way and she scowled.
“No, thanks.”
He ate another big fork of pancake and shrugged his shoulders. “You don’t know what you’re missing.”
She did know what she was missing and she still didn’t care. Her head felt like it was pounding off her shoulders. She’d swallowed a couple of Tylenol halfway through the Groovy Grans’ breakfast, but it hadn’t made much difference.
“Moonshine can do that to you if you’re not careful.” Logan drizzled more maple syrup on his last pancake.
Tess watched Logan put the cap back on the bottle and pick up his knife and fork. After the Groovy Grans had left on their motorcycles, Logan had gone home, had a shower and returned to eat his promised pancakes.
“How do you know I was drinking Moonshine?”
Annie left a grilled cheese sandwich in front of Tess. “That would have been me. We were, you know, passing the time of day. I happened to mention our late night.”
Tess looked at the sandwich. She didn’t know if she could eat it.
Annie put the weekend newspaper on the table and patted her shoulder. “I’ll look after the café. Take as long as you need.”
“Thanks, Annie.” Tess watched her friend walk to the front counter.
“You should go for a run. Sweat the alcohol out of your body.”
Tess flicked open the paper and ignored Logan.
“So we’re back to bickering buddies again? I wondered how long our truce would last.”
“We didn’t have a truce and we aren’t buddies. Although I do appreciate your help this morning.”
“Nice to know there’s a heart in there somewhere.”
Logan didn’t seem particularly devastated by Tess’ lack of enthusiasm where he was concerned. And he shouldn’t have been. They weren’t friends, but Tess supposed he could be called an acquaintance. Especially after her one disastrous attempt to find out why he was living in Bozeman. He ate at her café at least three times a week and had a soft spot for pancakes. The only thing they had in common was that Logan was a reporter and she hated reporters. Most days they didn’t have a lot to say to each other.
“Pancakes tasted good.”
Tess looked up. “Thanks.”
“What I don’t understand is how you can be so nice one minute, then in the next breath turn into an ice maiden. Someone must have burned you real bad.”
Tess squinted at Logan. “I believe the correct phrasing is ‘really bad’.”
“So who was he? Some heart-throb who spurned you at the altar? Or maybe you didn’t get that far. Maybe he dumped you for your best friend and you’ve never forgiven him.”
Tess turned over another page in the newspaper. Logan didn’t know how close he’d gotten to the truth. Except it hadn’t been as simple as her boyfriend running off with her best friend. Her best friend had died and Andrew Gibson had walked away a free man.
Logan wiped his mouth on a napkin and took his dirty dishes across to Annie. Before he left the café, he came and stood beside Tess’ table.
He leaned down, close enough that she could smell his aftershave and the clean scent that was all man. “Someday you’re going to tell me why you don’t like me. And when you do, I’m going to show you how wrong you are.”
Tess looked him straight in the eyes. “That someday will never come.”
Logan smiled. “It almost happened once.” His eyes dropped to her mouth and Tess blushed.
“Well, if it’s not Mr. Hot and Steamy.” Sally, Tess’ friend, stood beside Logan, smiling at him as if she’d seen something funny. “Don’t worry about, Tess. She doesn’t appreciate a good man when she sees one.”
“You can say that again,” he muttered. “I’ve got to go. Enjoy your weekend.” He smiled at Sally and nodded at Tess.
Tess went back to reading the paper.
“You can be such a witch sometimes.” Sally dropped into the seat opposite her. “Logan’s a good guy. You don’t like reporters, and I guess you’ve got your reasons. But that’s no excuse to treat him like the enemy.”
Tess folded the newspaper in half. “Can we talk about something else?”
“As soon as I’ve bought my lunch. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Sally walked over to Annie and started looking through the glass cabinets beside the cash register.
Tess imagined that some women might find Logan attractive. He was easily six-foot-five. He had dark brown eyes that turned to amber when he was thinking about…she dragged her brain away from where that thought was going and concentrated on his body. That didn’t do her much good either.
Rock hard muscles that could have been sculptured out of granite summed him up perfectly. He would have ticked more than one ‘yes’ box in a desperate woman’s fantasy. But she wasn’t desperate. She didn’t even care if his smile could melt an iceberg, or an ice maiden. He was a reporter and that meant off-limits. No way. Ever.
“What have you been arguing about with Logan this time?” Sally returned to the table with a chicken pie and a raspberry muffin.
“We weren’t arguing. He helped cook pancakes this morning.”
“Why would he do that?”
Tess sighed. “It’s a long story. What have you been doing?”
“Recovering from last night.” Sally bit into her pie and smiled. “These are the best chicken pies in Montana. You should start a pie restaurant.”
“It’s hard enough finding the time to run this café. I couldn’t imagine having a restaurant as well.”
“It’s because you’re a control freak. You can’t let someone else take over.”
Tess smiled. “You could be right.”
“I know I’m right. So how come Logan was here?”
“I was desperate. I’d run out of buttermilk.”
Sally blew on the pie. “The old buttermilk excuse. It will get a man every time.”
Tess bit into her cheese sandwich. “It was half-past five in the morning. My options were limited.”
“But what an option,” Sally said with a grin.
Tess looked at her watch. “I’ve got to get moving. Annie needs a break and the lunch customers will be here soon. Molly’s coming by for a coffee after we close. Do you want to join us?”
“Count me in. And try not to be so hard on Logan. He’s a nice guy.”
“Maybe,” Tess said grudgingly as she stood up. But he was a reporter and she had a past no one knew about. And she planned on keeping it that way.