Forever And A Day (Montana Brides, Book #7) (30 page)

The one that was sitting inside the café with her wallet.

This couldn’t be happening. It really couldn’t. She turned the handle on the front door, hoping for a miracle. It was locked. She rested her head against the glass and tried to think like a logical, mature, twenty-nine-year-old instead of the ditzy blonde that needed to break into her own business.

“Everything okay?”

Tess looked sideways and sighed. Logan Allen, local multi-award winning reporter, and the one man guaranteed to make a good day turn bad, stood beside her.

“Tess?”

“I’m fine.” She dropped her hand off the door handle and turned to Logan. He’d been running. Sweat trickled down his face, wet his t-shirt until it stuck to his wide chest and bulging biceps. Not that she was looking. Not much anyway.

Tess refused to find his dark hair and deep brown eyes attractive. She’d spent most of her life around male models that were so handsome they took her breath away. But she’d learned the hard way that those looks could hide a heart of steel.

“It doesn’t look as though you’re fine.” His eyes skated over her blonde hair and flushed face. “You look…frazzled.”

“That’s a big word for five-thirty in the morning. You could use it in one of your stories,” she said sweetly.

“Yeah. A homicide. Blonde café owner found dead in the street after insulting a reporter.”

“There you go. Another Pulitzer Prize winning story in the making.”

Logan crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Now that we’ve gotten over our first insult for the day, do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

“I need buttermilk for pancakes, except I left my wallet in the café.”

“Let me guess? Your front door keys are sitting in the café, too?”

Tess glared at the smile on his face. “I’m going to check my car. My keys might have fallen down the side of the seat.” She crossed the sidewalk and open the passenger door of her trusty Toyota. She hunted under the seat, beside the seat, in the glove compartment, anywhere she could think of.

“Have you checked the trunk?”

Tess pulled herself out of her car. “Why would I put them in the trunk?”

“I don’t know? Maybe you opened it to stash a dead body inside? Or maybe you put your groceries in there like the rest of us mere mortals?”

Tess kept her lips clamped tight. She didn’t have time to bicker with him. She opened her trunk and put her car keys in her pocket. “What is it with you and dead bodies? Has something happened that you’re not telling me about?”

“There’s lots I don’t tell you,” Logan muttered as he started hunting through the mess in her trunk. “You’ve got an entire closet full of clothes in here.”

“I have not. It’s my emergency gear. You know, if I need a change of trousers, a jacket or a sweater.”

He pulled out a slinky evening dress. “This is an emergency item?”

Tess snatched the scrap of pale pink silk out of his hands. “I forgot to take it inside,” she muttered.

“Looks like someone else has things they’d sooner not share.” He moved a pair of sneakers and grinned. “The keys to your café wouldn’t have a coffee cup on the tag would they?”

“You’ve found them?”

He dangled the keys in front of his chest. “What are they worth?”

The smile fell off Tess’ face. “What do you mean?”

“Did I tell you I like your buttermilk pancakes? Especially the ones with bacon and maple syrup.”

It must have been the early morning air, but Tess felt disappointed that the keys were going to be hers so easily. Knowing how Logan’s mind worked she’d expected something more challenging, more daring. “You don’t need to tell me how much you like pancakes. You eat enough of them to sink a ship.”

“I’m flattered you’ve noticed.” He stepped forward, until their noses were almost touching. “I’ll trade the keys for a high stack. Ten pancakes, crispy bacon and a side bowl of syrup.”

Tess lifted the keys out of his fingers. “Fine. But unless I get to the store and back in ten minutes you won’t be eating anything.”

“Do you want me to buy what you need?”

“What do you mean?”

He held out his hand. “Give me your car keys. I’ll go to Safeway, pick up what you need, then bring it back here. You can start the other things you need to bake.”

“I don’t…I mean…” Tess stared at him. She was sure there must have been a catch in his offer somewhere.

“Say, ‘Yes, Logan. You’re such a wonderful person that I’ll throw in as much coffee as you can drink when you get back.’”

Tess had never said yes to Logan, and his sparkling brown eyes and lopsided grin wouldn’t change her mind. “You need a shave.”

Logan looked down at her mouth. “Say yes.”

She took a step backward and passed him her car keys. “Thank you.”

He frowned and dropped the keys to the café into her outstretched hand. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Wait. I’ll give you some money.”

“You can pay me back later. How much buttermilk do you need?”

“You’d better buy five cartons. Get the organic buttermilk. It’s with the other milk at the back of the store.”

“Organic buttermilk. Five cartons. Anything else?”

Tess was holding the front door keys so tight that they dug into her fingers. “Are you sure you want to do this for me? You’re hot and sweaty. You haven’t warmed down. You’ll get cramp.”

Logan scowled at her. “I’ll be back soon.”

And then he folded all six-foot-five inches of sweaty man into the front seat of her Toyota Corolla. Tess didn’t hang around to watch him. She had things to do, food to bake and a coffee machine that needed to be turned on.

***

Logan arrived back at Angel Wings Café not knowing what to expect. Tess could be so stubborn and annoying. She drove him insane with the snippy comments that were never far from her tongue.

But there was something about her, something that made him want to keep coming back. What he didn’t understand was why he seemed to be the only person in Bozeman she didn’t like, but he was going to find out.

He knocked on the front door of the café and waited. Tess hurried across the room and hauled him inside by the arm.

“Thank goodness you’re back. The Groovy Grans will be here in an hour.” She took the grocery bags out of his hands and walked into the kitchen.

“The Groovy Grans?” Logan followed her. The ovens were on and it looked as if a batch of scones were already cooking. She’d been in the middle of making something else. A bowl of creamy butter sat beside a bag of flour and a carton of milk.

“Can you pass me one of the small bowls?” Tess pointed in the general direction of the pantry.

He looked inside and grabbed a bowl. “This one?”

She nodded and took it out of his hands. “The Groovy Grans are from Billings. They’re all grandmas who drive motorcycles. They go on weekend tours. On the first and third Saturday of each month, they pass through Bozeman for breakfast.”

“How many are you expecting?”

Tess broke four eggs into the bowl and started whisking them. “Fifteen.” She took a measuring cup off the counter and started pouring buttermilk into it. “How good are you in the kitchen?”

“Depends on what you had in mind?” He tried not to laugh at the scowl she sent his way.

“Do you know how to use a griddle?”

He looked at the stove and frowned at the heavy metal pan. “I’ve been running for forty minutes. I’m not smelling that sweet at the moment.”

“The pancakes won’t care what you smell like. Wash your hands and I’ll show you how to cook a pancake.”

Tess wiped her hands on her apron and took something out of a cupboard. She walked toward him with a determined look in her eyes. “Hold your arms up.”

“What do you…You’ve got to be joking?”

“Up. I’m on a tight time frame.” Tess held her spray deodorant in front of him.

“It’s pink.”

“Don’t be a wuss. The pancakes might not have a nose, but I do. Up.”

He stuck his arms in the air and glared at her. “As long as you know I’m doing this for humanitarian reasons only. If you tell anyone I put girls’ deodorant on I won’t help in the kitchen again.”

“The chance of you ever being out here with me again is almost zilch, so I guess we’re both safe.” She sprayed the outside of his t-shirt and put the lid on with a self-satisfied smirk. “Now you smell pretty.”

Logan sniffed the air. “I’m going home for a shower after I’ve cooked the pancakes.”

“I hope so.” She pulled open a drawer and took out an apron. “Put this on.”

“Have you always been this bossy?”

“Only when I’m desperate,” she muttered. “Annie won’t be here for another half hour.”

Annie was Tess’ part-time baker. They’d worked together for as long as Logan had been in Bozeman.

Tess walked across to the long stainless steel counter in the middle of the room. “I’ve already put the dry ingredients in a bowl for the pancakes. I just need to add the buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter.” She picked up a spoon and started mixing everything together. She moved across to the stove, grabbing a stick of butter on the way through. “The griddle’s hot, so the pancakes can go straight on it. Put a pat of butter in the pan, then after it’s melted, wipe it around the pan with a paper towel.”

He pulled a paper towel off the roll and did what she’d said. “Doesn’t wiping it off defeat the whole purpose of putting it there in the first place?”

“If you’ve got excess butter in the pan, it will burn and that gives the pancakes a nasty flavor.” Tess took a ladle out of a drawer and started spooning pancake batter onto the griddle. “Half a ladle per pancake is enough. Just pour it on, then add another one. You should get four pancakes on the griddle at a time.”

Logan looked over Tess’ shoulder. “The pancake mixture is lumpy.”

“It’s supposed to be. Small to medium lumps are your friend. That way the pancakes will be light and fluffy. After the pancakes are on the griddle add a small handful of blueberries to the top of each one, like this.” Tess sprinkled fresh blueberries on the pancakes and reached for a spatula. “They’ll take about two minutes to cook on the first side and less on the second.”

“How do I know when to turn them over?”

“Air bubbles should have risen to the surface and they’ll look a little dry around the edges.”

He watched Tess flip the first batch, then put them in the oven to keep warm. She handed him the ladle and smiled. “Don’t look so worried. As long as they don’t burn they’ll taste great. You do the next batch and I’ll watch.”

Logan felt as if he was going for a job interview. He poured the batter into the pan, added the blueberries, then watched them carefully while they cooked. He never would have thought cooking pancakes could be so stressful. He slid his first batch into the oven and relaxed.

“Good job,” Tess said. “Let me know when you’re getting low on batter. I’ll make some more for you.”

He nodded and added more pancake mixture to the pan. Tess went back to whatever she was making, working with a quick efficiency that impressed him.

He flipped the pancakes and watched them rise. “You started work late this morning.”

Tess glanced up from the bowl of ingredients she was mixing.

Heat hit Logan’s face and it had nothing to do with the stove. “I run. I notice things.”

Tess grunted and pulled a baking sheet out of a drawer. She started rolling balls of dough in her hands. “Why do you run so early?”

Logan opened the oven and put the cooked pancakes inside. He didn’t feel comfortable talking about the real reason he ran. Ever since he’d come back from Afghanistan, he couldn’t sleep, couldn’t forget the images that were stamped on his brain. He’d written award-winning stories and nearly killed himself in the process.

Tess was still waiting for a reply, so he did what he normally did. Answered as close to the truth as he dared to go. “I wake up early. It keeps me fit.” He sprinkled blueberries on the next batch of pancake batter and stared at the pan.

The front door banged open. “Sorry I’m late,” Annie yelled from the front of the café. “How’s your head this morning?”

A mini tornado of red sweater and jeans arrived in the kitchen. “Molly didn’t get…” she stopped in the middle of the room. “Logan? What are you doing here?”

“Tess had an emergency.”

“You’re making pancakes?”

He nodded. “Blueberry.”

Annie looked between them and smiled. “What do you want me to do?”

“Make the apple huckleberry pies,” Tess said. “I’m just about to start the pecan pie Mr. Donaldson ordered.” Logan moved out of her way as she put a tray of cookies in the oven. “The Groovy Grans will be here soon.”

Annie washed her hands and nodded. She lifted a container of sugar onto the counter and measured flour and baking powder into a bowl.

He watched Annie and Tess move around the kitchen, adding random ingredients to bowls. “Where are your recipe books?”

Annie grinned. “We don’t need them, not for the regular recipes anyway.”