Page 7 of A Cowboy's Trust
The door opened in the middle of his sentence, and Declan marched in. “I spotted Tansy’s old beater in the parking lot. Glad she made it already.”
“Petra told me this morning that you guys had hired Tansy.” Aiden stirred sugar into one of the cups. “I can’t believe you convinced her it was a good idea, but I, for one, am grateful. My stomach will be grateful, and the time I no longer have to spend cooking for you bottomless pits also makes me grateful.”
“We needed help eventually,” Declan offered with a shrug. “Seemed like the perfect time.” His eyes met Jake’s as if expecting him to protest, or question, or make a fuss.
Jake’s cheeks ached under the pressure of keeping his expression neutral. “If you’ve done the math, and I assume you have, I have no objections.”
Aiden stopped in his tracks, glancing back at Declan before staring at Jake in shock. “Wait. They didn’t tell you, either? I mean, I thought they were keeping me in the dark because I don’t need to know everything that goes on around here but you—” His brother hesitated.
Honest amusement snuck in. “But Idoneed to know everything that goes on around here, is that what you’re saying?”
“Youarethe details man,” Aiden offered reluctantly. He turned to Declan. “Since Jake isn’t kicking your ass from one side of the room to the other, I assume he’s on board. But we said there would be no secrets between the three of us running this place.”
“Wasn’t really a secret,” Declan said quietly. “Considering how often Jake hired Tansy to cook for him over the past three months, it seemed a fairly natural progression to add her to the payroll instead of him paying out of pocket.”
Trapped. Jake made a face. “There is that. Like I said, if we can afford her, we all agree Tansy brings value to the table. Literally. No one in any of the upcoming weekend retreats will complain about what she feeds them.”
Aiden eyed him for a moment then dipped his chin. “Still say Declan owes you something for being an ass.”
“Petra knew as well,” Declan pointed out.
“Yet my fiancée is nothing but sweetness and light, so obviously this was Declan leading her down the path of iniquity.” Aiden grinned. “Fine. No punishment except having to eat the delicious food Tansy will undoubtably prepare for us.”
The front door opened again, and this time the teenager of the house slid through with Dixie, the golden retriever, on her heels. Jinx paused to wave back at the truck in the driveway then closed the door and turned excitedly to face all three of them. Dixie raced from person to person, offering her own enthusiastic greetings.
“Happy New Year, guys.”
Jinx had spent too many years in the foster system, but now with Declan as her official guardian, she’d begun to bloom.
Dark hair pulled back in a braid, she quickly hung up her coat and slipped her feet into her house shoes and marched forward with a smile.
Declan stood as Jinx slipped in and offered a quick hug. He patted her on the shoulder without trapping her in place.
Aiden got the same hello. “Happy New Year. You have a good evening with Sasha?”
“So much fun. We stayed up until two a.m., and then this morning, Mrs. Stone made bacon wrapped sausages for breakfast.”
The kid was lucky she still had a teenager’s metabolism. “Sounds delicious,” Jake offered.
He hesitated. Out of the three of them he was the one who Jinx seemed to feel the most uncomfortable around, so he wasn’t about to offer a hug and force her into anything.
Instead, he offered the next best thing. “There’s a surprise for you. Well, a surprise you knew about. Tansy’s here. She and Petra are in the bedroom. Why don’t you go say hi?”
Jinx damn near squealed with excitement. “She’s here? Sick.”
The girl shot across the floor at high speed and vanished into the bedroom area.
The three brothers exchanged amused glances. “Oh, to have that much energy on five hours of sleep,” Declan offered like a prayer. He tilted his chin at Jake. “Don’t think I didn’t see what you did there. We’re getting there. We’re making a difference,” he promised.
Pay it forward. Make a difference. Do what’s right.All the things that their stepfather had not only told them but demonstrated in the years after he’d stepped in when their mom died.
Suddenly, it truly didn’t matter that Jake hadn’t known about Tansy being hired. Whatever issues he had were his own. Tansy was here for a good reason, not the least of which was it made Jinx happy.
Jake would put up with an awful lot to keep making a difference in that girl’s world.
Tansy hadn’t broughta lot of things, but organizing her new space was still a treat. She put out the few knickknacks she had stuffed into her suitcase then spent time arranging items in the bathroom.
It had been funny beyond belief to watch Jake stumble until he recovered from his shock. Any arguments that they’d had in the past—and they’d had a few—he’d been unreasonable, not scary. Even today she had to give him credit for how levelheaded he’d stayed. She appreciated that.
