Page 2 of Gourd Enough To Eat
The night sky of Forest Grove hung over me as I sat out the back ofGourd for You, the patisserie I owned a fifty percent share of real estate in with Declan Evans. He baked, I carved. Gourds, mostly, by hand. None of this machine based stuff. I could control the designs if I did everything by hand, creating lacework on the outside of the hard shell. Okay, so sometimes I baked. Declan did the really hard stuff, and I made fun shapesthat fit inside lamp-like gourds that grew on the property where I worked during the day.
Moonlighting as a carving patisserie chef didn’t leave me a whole lot of sleeping hours, but it kept the nightmares away that had plagued me for a whole lot of years, and Ash allowed me the time off the ranch, so I made use of it all.
The gourd I held tonight was the traditional, elongated shape. Hollow in the middle, it looked a whole lot heavier than it actually was. They could be used to carry water, but I used to use them for art. This one would hold a family of capybara pastries when it was done that would be ready for the weekend trade. Declan had the designs, and the fillings for me. Chocolate was one of his specialities, while I loved working with the intricate patterns on both the gourds and the sugary pastry.
“I'm closing up for the night. Are you gonna be out here for a while longer, yet?” Declan raked his sugar encrusted fingers through his dark hair, leaving white stripes through the middle.
I grinned, the pressures of today having left me hours before. Carving and being out here always left me more relaxed than even being out on the ranch, where I’d thought I was happiest. Until I found this place, and Declan. His story wasn’t so different from my own. A drifter with a slightly different history, but the same end result. We bought in on the same dream and suddenly we had a shop together. He ran it full time and I came in to hope out most nights.
I nodded, leaning my head back to stare up at the night sky that the small town’s lights obscured. “You know you’re always welcome up the ranch if you want a break.”
“Now why would I do somethin’ stupid like that?" Declan drawled, looking down at me. “Just because you found some friendlies, doesn’t mean I have to share them with you.”
I huffed a laugh. “Whatever, old man. Go home and get your beauty sleep”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Might need that. Did you see who moved into the flat above next door? Prettiest little thing. I thought I might ask her out for a drink tomorrow night. Unless you want to crash my party.”
I made a face at him. “I promise I’ll make myself scarce. And stay up at the ranch. You gonna close early, then?” On occasion we did a roaring night trade for a tiny, small town, catching people after work when they couldn’t get away from their daily duties.
“Yeah, I thought I might.”
"Don't get all broken hearted if she turns you down,” I warned him. “I remember how your last romance went.”
Declan sent me a wounded look. “Kimberly was a fine lass, thank you muchly.”
“Except that she ran off with that banker from the city about a month later.” I looked down at my gourd, turning it around my hand. I’d finished one side, and had the next to go. Symmetry was a big thing with me.
“Yeah, that wasn’t great” Declan scratched his chin as I looked back up at him.
“Go home, D. You’re making my neck sore.”
“Whiner,” he mumbled, yawning. “See you in a few days for your bog cabybuddy thing.”
“Capybara Gourd lighting,” I corrected him, knowing he knew the name full well and was taking the piss. “Sleep well for your date.”
“Eh, she hasn’t said yes yet.”
“Have you met her?” I called to his back.
He waved, a one fingered saluted in my direction as he walked away, locking the front door behind him.
I grinned, looked down at my gourd and concentrated on making the pattern match up to the shape in my hands, but damn if I couldn't get my mind off the girl with the curves who’dbeen at the Off-Duty ranch back earlier in the day, the girl with pretty curves all of her own who I knew shouldn't be about the ranch, or me, but craved anyway. The girl I’d fantasize about unhealthily for the next few hours.
My glitter bomb.
CHAPTER TWO
CADANCE
Istood outside the patisserie next to my rented upstairs room and reconsidered my life choices for all of a second. I mean, it came down to the pink glitter truck that really did stand out like a sore thumb parked out the front of our combined business and sleeping areas, and the chef in the patisserie who doubled as a cowboy during his noon moonlighting hours.
You know, the one who carved gourds and waltzed about the inside of his shop wearing jeans and an apron.
And that was all.
My mind really didn’t take that much time to decide on who to ask for help after I sucked in that delectable sight, all the pretty gourd carvings that littered his windows with their delectable, sugared treats inside.
Oh, and the knife buried hilt deep inside my flat tire. Which was why I stood outside the gourd-chef's shop at midnight, ready to beg for help.
