Page 26 of Coming Home Country
“Somethin’ wrong, darlin’?”
Bex let out an exaggerated sigh before looking up at Naomi. “I don’t see the cast iron skillet mac and cheese anywhere.”
“Unfortunately, that hasn’t been on the menu in quite a while. Sorry, honey.”
The woman seated across from me widened her eyes.
My brows furrowed, and I cocked my head. What was her deal?
Subtly, she tapped a fingernail on her phone lying face down on the table.
Shit. I’d been so busy watching their interaction that I had forgotten we’d come here on a mission.
With Naomi’s focus on Bex, I slowly reached into my jeans pocket and grabbed my cell. Keeping it under the edge of the table, I peeked down to unlock the camera, sliding to the video function and pressing record. The numbers ticking up in a red box told me we were live.
I gave a slight nod, indicating for my partner in crime to proceed.
“That’s a darn shame.” Bex folded both arms over the table and gave Naomi the biggest puppy dog eyes I’d ever seen. “It’s just been so long since I’ve been home, and when I think of Rust Canyon, that mac and cheese is the first thing that comes to mind.” She batted her eyelashes. “Isn’t thereanythingyou can do?”
Damn, she was laying on thick. I half expected Naomi to see right through her.
So I was shocked as hell when she tapped the pen she held on her ticket pad and nodded. “You know what? I think we can make an exception. In fact, I’ll pop back into the kitchen and make it for you myself. How’s that sound?”
Bex clasped both hands to her chest. “Nay, you don’t know how much this means to me. Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” Turning to me, Naomi asked, “Anything for you, Doc?”
I didn’t spare the menu a glance before handing it over. “I’ll take my usual.”
“One cast iron skillet mac and cheese and one chicken pot pie coming right up.”
The minute she was gone, I tapped the red circle on my phone screen to end the video.
Bex flashed me a smug smirk, and I shook my head on a laugh. “You sure made that look easy.”
She shrugged. “Nostalgia is a powerful tool. Especially around here.”
“You forgot the part where you’ll have to break poor Naomi’s heart when you barely eat any of it.”
“I wasn’t lyin’ when I told her I’d been thinking about it for years. You can bet your ass I’ll be eating every last bite.”
Okay, then. Guess we’re having alate lunch.
Turning my phone over, I checked the time. “Not to rush you or anything, but with the drive into town, our time at the bar, and eating a full meal, we’re going to be down to an hour left.”
“Doesn’t matter as long as we keep banking those bonus points.”
“You’re not at all worried about a team finishing their list and sitting back at the ranch earning a point per minute?”
She considered it for a second. “That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
There wasn’t time to talk more because our food had arrived. After capturing a video of Bex savoring that first bite, her eyes practically rolling into the back of her head, I dug into the flaky pastry of my pot pie.
In the silence, I could almost pretend as if no time had passed and we were out on a date like when we were teenagers.
Life had been so much simpler back then.
The bell above the door rang out as Bex pushed into the bookstore. We were sitting on one hundred and forty points, and hoping this next task would net us another seventy.
