Page 40 of Shades of Mercy
“Nine times out of ten. Do what the rest of us do. Plaster a smile on your face and nod your head.”
“Noted.”
“Let’s go inside.” He laid his hand on the small of her back, sending a wave of warmth through her body. How did he have the skill to turn her inside out?
Chapter Ten
Mercy and Bryar met, and they were instant friends. This helped Mercy feel more at ease.
“I’m so excited to have someone my age on the ranch. Don’t get me wrong, I love the crew, but we needed some feminine blood around here.” Bryar leaned in and whispered. “I can’t include Jess because I highly suspect that she’s more bear than human. Please don’t think unkindly of me for saying that, it seems the pregnancy hormones have completely obliterated my filter.”
Mercy laughed. “Don’t worry. I met her, so I understand. If you don’t mind me asking, why do you keep her if she ruffles so many feathers?”
“Well…good workers are hard to find, and Jess can knock out her chores just like that.” Bryar snapped her fingers. “Now, where were we? That’s right. Chili.” She scanned the ingredients laid out on the kitchen counter. “I feel like I’m missing something. Yes, I am. Can you grab a pound of Angus from the refrigerator?”
“Sure.” Mercy opened the refrigerator and stared inside, as if she were looking into a car engine. She had no idea what Angus was. “Here it is.” Bryar said, squeezing in and taking out one of the white packages.
“Sorry. I must have missed it,” Mercy returned to the cutting board and knife to start chopping the vegetables. At least she had decent chopping skills.
“How about chopping the jicama?” Bryar said as she dropped the meat into a pot.
Mercy froze. She scanned the peppers, onions, and tomatoes, and had no clue where the jicama was, let alonewhatit was.
Bryar tapped Mercy on the shoulder.
She met Bryar’s curious gaze.
“Any experienced—or anyone who cooks regularly—would know that jicama doesn’t belong in chili,” Bryar said with a sigh. “What am I missing?”
“I’m sorry. I just—”
“I get it. You’re saving Jag from cooking. None of those men wanted the kitchen duty, and I partially blame my husband. He was supposed to find someone a long time ago to take the position. These men were born to get their hands dirty on the land, not frying up meat. I should have found someone myself, but, well, baby brain is a common phenomenon. I completely let it slip my mind, too. However, if I had been organized, you wouldn’t be here. Standing in for Jag makes you a fantastic cousin. How much do you know about cooking, though?”
“I’m not entirely useless in the kitchen, and not entirely useful either.”
Bryar’s mouth drooped. “What can you do?”
“I’m pretty good at chopping. I can dump things into the crockpot and make a decent meal.”
“Hmm. When you’re cooking for this many hungry men, dumping is required. They won’t complain about what they’re eating, as long as they’re eating. Ranching is a hard job, so we need to keep their bellies full. Hangry is never welcome with these many men in one spot.”
“I understand. I’m a fast learner.”
“Well, that’s a start. I have something useful.” Bryar strode over and looked over a shelf of books, coming back with one—a thick one, which didn’t intimidate Mercy. She liked her books thick. “When I married Puma, a woman from church gifted me this cookbook.” Bryar turned it around so Mercy could read the title.The Way to a Man’s Heart is Through His Cowboy Beans.
“Interesting.”
“She insisted that all the information I needed could be found in here, and she was right,” Bryar said. “I’ve never excelled at cooking, and my measuring skills are even poorer. Each recipe in this book is as simple as making a pie, although I don’t know who created that analogy because making pie isn’t easy.” She laughed. “This should be your bible until you get spunky enough to try other recipes. If all else fails, there’s a crockpot in the pantry, but don’t make the mistake I made once. I forgot to hit start, and the crew didn’t eat until midnight.”
“Oh no. What did you do?” Mercy visualized a kitchen full of angry men.
“You’ll find that they all have a lot of patience. I threw together a couple of charcuterie boards, and it got them through. So I advise you to keep a variety of easy meals on hand, just in case. Not only for recipe fails, but we get some strong storms out here, and the electricity is known to go out. We have generators, but we save them for the freezers that are stocked with meat. Which, before I forget, all the meat you’ll need is in the two large freezers at the bottom of the basement stairs. The rest of the fresh food and pantry items will need to be restocked twice a month. I have a cheat sheet hanging in the pantry. All you need to do is take it with you and grab those items. The debit card for expenditures is kept in the Security office. You’ll find it in the top drawer of the desk in an envelope markedKitchen.”
“You seem to have everything systematized. I hope I don’t mess things up,” Mercy said, feeling overwhelmed again.
“What do you do for work?”
“I work with computers.” Mercy decided it was best not to get into too much detail. Talking about infiltration and hacking might make Bryar suspect something.
