Read Riding the River (The Westerners, Book One) Page 16

Beef sizzling…

  Bread rising…

  Fresh apples…

  “The trick, Sarah, is to have all these great smells… Then everyone gets hungry, eats a lot and thinks you’re a great cook.” Dale was explaining the fine points of cowboy cooking to Sarah.

  She looked around the kitchen. There was no one else there but the two of them. What a character. He’d been talking her ear off all the while he was putting in a pinch of this and a sprinkling of that. Several saucepans in various sizes and Dutch ovens were all heating ingredients at once. She wondered how he could keep track of what needed more cooking and what was done.

  Sarah donned an apron while she listened to him go on and on. Curly brown hair that was obviously never combed gave him a crazed look. But when it came to food, this guy knew it all.

  “So what all are we serving today, Dale?”

  He started rattling off dishes quickfire – “Black bean salad, cornbread, chicken fried steak, tortilla soup and apple pie.” Sarah blinked.

  “Wow! Impressive. What do you want me to do?”

  “I want you to do the Black bean salad. You okay with that?”

  “Sure. Just tell me what and how.” He smiled at her.

  “I like you, Sarah. You cut through the crap.”

  She started laughing at him.

  “Let me wash my hands and I’ll get started.”

  While Sarah worked at Dale’s instruction, she remembered how much she enjoyed cooking. What was it about this trip? It was non-stop enjoyment for her. She hadn’t had a few days in forever that were as memorable as these last days had been.

  She’d been working quietly for a while and Dale was curious.

  “… You’re from Baltimore, Sarah?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Tell me about life in Baltimore.” He noticed the frown that immediately came onto her face. Uh-oh. Raw nerve. “Sorry, I really didn’t mean to pry.”

  Sarah continued putting ingredients into a bowl and said nothing for a few minutes. Then she cleared her throat.

  “… My life in Baltimore is strained and difficult. Sometimes it can be fun and lots of times, it’s not.”

  “Is that why you came out West?” She looked at Dale and smiled.

  “My mother lived in Lovelock, outside of Reno.”

  “Yes, I know it.”

  “.Anyway, I’ve always dreamed of coming out here and having…”

  When she didn’t continue, he filled in the blank for her.

  “… Some fun? An adventure, maybe?”

  “Promise you’ll keep this to yourself, Dale?” He crossed his heart with a ladle.

  “I think I’m looking for a new life.”

  His eyes widened. “And you thought you’d find it here, in Nevada?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know… maybe. It seemed like a place to start. I have to make a change.”

  “Is it that critical?”

  “… Yes.”

  “Why?” Her hand stalled in the bowl.

  “Would you like to know what happened to me the day before I flew out here?”

  “Only if you want to tell me.” Dale stopped what he was doing and looked in her open face. He saw tears in her eyes.

  She gulped. “I had a panic attack.”

  His jaw tightened and he became angry on her behalf. “What happened?”

  “Sure you want to hear this?”

  “I do.”

  “I have this boss…” and she filled him in on the antics of Joe the Tyrant, always bullying her and getting her upset. She mentioned the rashes too.

  Sarah lowered her eyes to the bowl and began mixing ingredients again. “I’ve never told that to anyone, not even my father.”

  “That was my next question. Where the hell is your family?” He stirred a few saucepans and checked a dish in the oven. “Here, put your salad in this bowl.” He handed her a big bowl from the cupboard.

  She shrugged again. “I love my family. It’s just my father and my grandfather, but they’re wonderful people.”

  “Why don’t they know about Joe the Tyrant then?”

  “Because I haven’t told them, I guess. They expect much from me. They’re in politics.” She looked up into his sympathetic eyes. “I...I don’t want to disappoint either of them.”

  “So you’re disappointing yourself instead. Is that it?”

  “… Maybe…” She put the salad she’d made into a refrigerator.

  “How’d you manage to get away?”

  “After my panic attack, actually before that, my best friend, Abby and I searched for a vacation place. When I had the attack, I just booked everything and beat it out of there. They were all crying recriminations in my wake.”

  He shook his head. Dale thought he’d heard it all now.

  “No boyfriend?”

  This time she rolled her eyes back in her head. “I call Ben, the absentee boyfriend. He’s perfect for my family, but not so great for me. I broke up with him before I left. Guess what he said to me?”

  “What?”

  “He’d give me a week to come to my senses.” Dale laughed loudly at that.

  “You need a new home, a new job and a new guy, Sarah.”

  “Thanks, Dale. With you and Dan as my therapists, I should do all right.” She laughed with him.

  He took her hand and sat her down at the kitchen table with him.

  “Listen, sweetie. I don’t know if the Wild West will be your salvation or not, but I sure hope so, for your sake. You’re terrific, Sarah and you deserve much more out of life than you’re apparently getting…”

  He handed her a tissue from a box on the table.

  “…Um…”

  “So let’s finish up lunch and decide what we’re fixing for dinner.”

  “Okay.” she sniffed.

  “And I want you to help me out on the horse drive tomorrow. Can you do that?”

  “If you can stand to have me around that much, Dale.”

  “Come on, let’s finish up.”

  As they finished lunch and started setting things out on the buffet table, Dale was thinking long and hard. He could really use an assistant in the kitchen. Would she want to stay on after her week was over? He was going to talk to Mr. Walker about it. She was so lovely and nice, and she needed help. It was obvious that she didn’t want to go home.

  And he thought Matt might need a little more time too. He saw how Matt looked at her… It was just a matter of time before the guy would get off his butt and realize what he had in front of him. Dale thought he might push her out there too, if he had the chance. His wheels were turning.