“We’ve asked these two to make their vacation here permanent and come and work with us.” With us, not for us? Jenny knew the cousins had arrived for a visit, to get out of the heat after posting that video to YouTube. She hadn’t realized there was a possibility of their staying.
“When we left Montana, we were only planning on a three-week visit,” Dale said.
“But we were looking for work when we left. We’ve talked it over. We have concerns, because we’ve worked with family all our lives and it hasn’t been a walk in the park.”
“Yeah, we know. Trace and Lucas filled us in on how bad things had gotten up there.” Jackson’s tone didn’t give anything away, but Jenny wondered if maybe he wasn’t bracing himself for bad news.
“But we already sense a difference between the concept of family business here, as opposed to back home. So, we’re willing to give it three months. That should be long enough for us to get a sense of things, of how it could be.”
Parker looked at his cousins, and then, to her surprise, he looked at her. “So far, we really like what we see here—but time will tell.”
“I think you’re both going to fall in love…with Lusty.” Jackson’s sly look, aimed directly at Jenny, made her want to squirm in her chair.
Huh. Fight or flight has a first stage called respond or ignore. Who knew?
Jenny stood and didn’t look at anyone except Ari. “C’mon, girlfriend, I’ll help you put the food on the table.”
Chapter Four
Jenny felt the vibration of her cell phone and pulled it out of her pocket. She’d just arrived at the roadhouse for her Friday shift and had been in the process of stowing her purse in the small employee room off the kitchen.
She recognized the number on the screen, of course. She wasn’t altogether certain she wanted to talk to her mother while she had yet to be successful in getting those two Montanans off her mind. Then she literally gave her head a shake.
Not want to talk to my mom? Those men are driving me crazy!
“Hey, Mom.”
“Hi, sweetie. Dad and I were talking after you called the other day, and we thought we’d come for a visit. We’d like to see where you live and where you work and meet some of your friends. What day next week is good for you, Jenny?”
Jenny pulled her cell phone away from her ear and looked at it. She felt the way her face had screwed itself into a horrified why-now expression. The one thing she was grateful for at the moment was no one was looking at her. She was thrilled her parents wanted to come to Lusty. She just wished they’d done so a couple of weeks ago. If mom gets the idea I’m attracted to someone, who knows what she’ll do? She might start planning a wedding! Jenny shook her head again and would not even let herself consider what her parents would have to say about the fact she was attracted to two men.
She put the phone back to her ear. “Thursday is my regular day off,” she said. “I might be able to get next Friday off, too.” Then, because the question that was in her head wouldn’t shut up, she asked it. “I’ve been here nearly ten months. Is there a special reason you want to come and visit now?”
“Not really, sweetheart. Well, except we realized that you have been there nearly ten months and it’s only a three-hour drive for us. We really should have come to visit before now and have no excuses. We are both retired, so it’s not like we’re too busy. Dad said he was checking and there’s a motel out by the Interstate that’s not too far from where you are. We’ll stay overnight, and that way we can visit for a couple of days and really get to know your town.”
Jenny didn’t have to debate. She loved her parents. She didn’t like surprises, and maybe there was a bit of nervousness that they’d appear now when she was considering trying on a couple of studly cowboys.
But that was her situation to deal with. “There’s also a bed and breakfast right in town here, not even five minutes from my apartment. It’s called the Parkview Inn, and it’s on Park Street.”
“Oh! Well now, that is handy! I’ll look the number up online and give them a call. Do you think this is too short a notice to book a room?”