The Ranger's Passionate Love (9 page)

The next Tuesday found Kyara in her kitchen staring at a list of ideas for a new menu. Out in the dining area, the rest of the trail project was gathering. Kyara hadn't joined them yet, telling herself the menu took priority. She hadn't put it in place yet, but it looked like she was going to have to. Word was already spreading. Today she'd had three people ask for cornbread that wasn't on the current menu.

Maybe I should just stay in and work on this tonight
, worried Kyara.
It's not like they really need me out there
.

But a larger part of her rebelled at the thought.
No, you know what? He might have invited me, but that's my place now. Those are my friends, and my one night a week off. I'm going.

Kyara put down the pad with the ideas for the new menu, and went to get her coat.

I'm doing this,
she told herself.
No matter how awkward it is.

Kyara marched into the dining area, leaving the clean-up for when she got back in. She immediately found Caitlin, K, and Ashley at a table in the corner and joined them. As she did, though, she scanned the rest of the group, looking for his face.

"Where's Mr. Hardison?" she asked as she got there, trying not to sound bitter and failing.

All three sets of blue eyes immediately locked onto her.

"He said he wanted to survey ahead," said Caitlin. "Why ... what's up?"

"It's nothing," said Kyara.

"Dish," demanded K.

"Fine," said Kyara, "But only once we're out on the trail. It's a little too close in here right now."

Kyara turned to her assembled patrons.

"Alright, folks. Let's head out," she called. "You don't have to come up on the trail, but you can't stay here."

People began to shuffle towards the door. Caitlin gave her an odd look, but it wasn't until she was underway herself that Kyara realized that it was probably because she'd taken charge in Jason's absence.

Well,
she reasoned,
it is my restaurant, after all.

One everyone had their ATV partners, the ladies held back, Kyara behind K and Caitlin behind Ashley. They let the others race on ahead, slowing about half way to the work site.

K cut the motor and climbed off, going to stand next to the other two. They left Kyara sitting on the ATV alone, feeling lost. She sat, taking a moment in the warm evening air. Trees rustled, insects called, and no one spoke.

Finally, Kyara looked up at her friends.

"Why didn't anyone tell me that Jason was the one who wrote the bad review about my place?" she asked plaintively.

Three jaws fell open.

"You didn't know?" blurted out Ashley, astonished.

Kyara shook her head.

"I didn't even know his last name," she confessed. "I just put it together last week."

"That's why you always call him Jason," said Caitlin, putting it together. "He never told you to call him Jay."

Kyara nodded miserably.

"He never corrected me," she said, her voice sounding small even to herself. "I think he didn't want me to figure it out."

"Bastard," concluded K loudly. "Rat bastard."

"We really thought you knew," hastened Caitlin. "I swear we would have told you." Ashley nodded in agreement.

"Why didn't anyone correct me when I kept calling him by the wrong name?" asked Kyara, looking at them. Caitlin shrugged.

"We thought you were just formal," she professed. "Like, it was Southern manners or something."

"You always call Cat by the name she prefers," pointed out K. "It just seemed like you were extra respectful."

"And no one else told me either?" asked Kyara. "They just figured I didn't care about the review?"

Ashley shrugged apologetically.

"That's just how people are up here. They figure that it's polite – they stay out of your business, and you stay out of theirs. It's the only way to keep the peace in a town this small."

Kyara stared at her.

"But no one stays out of anyone's business up here! The moment something happens, the whole town knows," she exclaimed.

"True," said K, leaning back against the ATV, "but no one will mention it to your face unless you bring it up. You can at least pretend that no one knows, and go about your life."

"That's lying," pointed out Kyara.

"It's polite," countered Caitlin.

"So how do you know if someone really knows, or if they're just 'being polite'?" Kyara asked.

All three of them paused.

"They always know." said Caitlin helplessly.

Kyara shook her head. "Crazy white people."

That, at least, got a few faint smiles.

"In his defense," said Ashley reluctantly, "he might have figured the same thing."

"Bullshit," declared K loyally. "We're not at 'he might be a good guy' stage yet. We're still in 'we hate him' mode. Right?"

She quirked an eyebrow at Kyara, who smiled a little, nodding.

"Besides," continued K, "you were always too quick to forgive him, Ash."

Ashley looked a little hurt as Caitlin jumped in.

"I don't want to dampen man-hate time," said Caitlin, "but Ashley may be right."

"At the very least he never corrected her when Kyara called him the wrong name," insisted K. "By order of the court, I find that, at the very least, sketchy."

"And deceptive," added Ashley.

"I don't want to pry," said Kyara tentatively, "But ... what happened between you two?"

The women all glanced at each other.

"It's fine," said Ashley. "Really. Jay and I dated back in high school. My dad owned the rental business, then, and Jay worked for him. Young love being what it is, I thought that, after we graduated, he'd stay and work for the company, maybe someday we'd get married and run the place ourselves."

"He applied to college without telling her," cut in K. "Like, stealth applications or something. Didn't even let her know he was thinking about going until he'd been accepted."

Ashley turned away, the sting of it apparent on her face, even ten years later.

"Of course," continued K, "At that point if Ash asked him to stay, she looks like the bitch who's telling him to give up his future for her."

"He did have a full scholarship," pointed out Caitlin.

Ashley waved, regaining control of the conversation.

"Anyway, that's pretty much it. He didn't lie, exactly, he just let me find out on my own. It's... not one of his best qualities."

"Rat. Bastard." declared K. "We spent months putting a weepy eighteen year old Ash back together after he left. I never understood why you started making eyes at him when he got back."

"Why did he come back?" asked Kyara.

"His grandmother isn't doing well," said Caitlin. "He gave up a job in Boston and moved back to take care of her."

"Jan," said Kyara, putting it together.

"Family's pretty important to him," confirmed Ashley. "He says he figures it's only for a few years, and he wants to make her comfortable during that time."

"Where are his parents?" asked Kyara in spite of herself.

"They travel for work, like, most of the time." said Caitlin. "This is less of a home for them, more of a home base."

"But not him?" asked Kyara.

"He mostly does freelance writing work and sends it in on-line, plus works for the local paper sometimes." said Ashley sputtering a little as she became aware of what she'd just said. "I, uh, guess you knew that part now."

"In a way, he really helped me," said Kyara, trying to be charitable. "The cafe wasn't right for this town. And he did give me an idea for how to fix it. I think I'm going to change the menu some."

"Fried chicken?" asked Caitlin, who'd gotten to sample some of the left-overs the weekend before.

"Yeah," admitted Kyara.

"I might fall for him myself, if he convinced you to make that fried chicken," confessed Caitlin.

"Okay, so he did get Kyara to make her amazing food," granted K, "and he loves his Nana. And has a perfect ass. But he still makes a habit of hiding the truth from women he's supposed to care about."

It was hard to object.
Just another liar,
thought Kyara ruefully.
I really can pick 'em.

K rapped sharply on the ATV, the effect somewhat spoiled as she winced and blew on her knuckles.

"The court finds him guilty as charged." declared K. "We sentence him to hours of blue balls as he thinks about the two hot women he gave up."

That, at least, drew a round of chuckles.

"That said," pointed out Caitlin, "our absence has probably been noted. We should get going."

As Kyara settled in behind K again, ready to ride to the work site, she did have to wonder,

How much of what I feel is because he tricked me, and how much of it is fear that he's another Devante? Does it even matter?

Then the ATV jerked, and she clung to K, ready to move forward either way.

What a difference a month can make,
Kyara reflected, re-tying her bandanna over her sweaty forehead.

She'd been working steadily all night, and had been for weeks.

As busy as the restaurant had been, even cleanup took longer, since she couldn't keep up with it as she worked. Out in the dining area Kyara's newest employees, the French-fry stealing Taylor and the cornbread loving Will, bustled from table to table, changing out the linens and rolling packs of silverware for the next day.

Crystal had been promoted, and was now helping Kyara keep up in the kitchen. At the moment she was preparing the simple syrups for the next day's sweet tea, but she turned out to be a pretty good cook, too. Kyara just wished she had full-time help, since her workers limited hours now that the school year had resumed.

Maybe soon we'll be able to stay open on Tuesdays, too, but with Crystal running the show.
Kyara had kept the tradition of closing the restaurant on Tuesday night going, despite the glaring silence between herself and Jason.

Jay
, she corrected herself.
Everyone but you calls him Jay. And he doesn't get to ruin my one night off.

So she'd kept going, spending her time talking to Caitlin, K, and Ashley.

The trail project was almost done for the season, too. It would be another week, maybe two, before it joined with the team working the other direction from Bradford.
It's just as well
, figured Kyara,
it gets cold up here way faster than it does in Atlanta.

Kyara blinked at herself a bit, realizing that it had been weeks since she'd last thought of home.
Too busy, I guess
.  It was a good feeling, even if the rest of her life seemed like it was rapidly disappearing. People had even begun dropping loud hints about how great it would be if she were open for breakfast as well.
Not that I'd get any sleep at all if I tried.

As if on cue, Crystal let out a huge yawn. Kyara took that as a hint.

"Why don't you three call it a night?" she called out. "I'm doing braised oxtail tomorrow, so it should be a busy day." The three groaned their agreement, trudging in to drop off their work aprons. "Hey," Kyara followed up, "I never promised it would be easy."

The teens nodded vaguely, grabbing leftovers to take home as they left. Kyara finished up, moving on auto-pilot as she scrubbed down the kitchen.

Just as she was about to leave, a knock came at the door.

A tingle of nerves ran along Kyara's spine. Knocks on the door late at night were seldom good news.

It'll be fine
, Kyara told herself.
One of the teen terrors probably just forgot their homework here or something.

Kyara walked to the front door, deliberately carrying a frying pan with her as she went. She peeked out the front window before going to the door, wondering who it could be.

Jason stood in the cold autumn air, his arms wrapped tightly around a paper bag. Kyara jerked her head back from the window in surprise.

What's he doing here?
As far as she knew, he hadn't come back to the restaurant since the afternoon of their fight.

"Kyara?" Jason called out. "Can you open the door, please? It's pretty cold out here."

"What do you want," she called back.

"I have a business proposal for you."

That gave her real pause. She opened the door. Cool autumn air blasted in through the frame, cutting straight through the soft linens she used to keep cool in the kitchen. Kyara yelped.

"Come in or go away, but I'm closing this door," she said, hunching away from the cold.

Jason stepped in, taking the door and closing it behind him.

They stood for a moment, just staring at each other. Kyara crossed her arms, prepared to wait him out.

"Thank you for letting me in," he said at last. Kyara gave him a long, level look before replying.

"You said you had a business proposal. You'd best get to it. I don't get much time in my bed, and you're keeping me from it." Kyara flushed.

Damnit, brain. Why'd you have to say in your bed? What's wrong with 'asleep'? 'Asleep' works fine. Why mention bed?

Even with her mind running in circles, Kyara tried to keep her gaze steady, her face a careful blank.

"Yeah, it's, um, here." Jason shifted his weight, thrusting the bag at her awkwardly. Kyara took it, careful not to touch his fingers. She peered inside.

"Collard Greens?" she asked in shock. "Where did you get collard greens?"

He shrugged.

"They do grow up here," he said. "They're just not as popular. I have Okra, too, but it's not quite ready yet."

Kyara stared at him, mouth dropping open.

"Where are you growing okra in this weather? It's getting way too cold."

Jason searched her face carefully, watching her every reaction.

"I rented some space from Mr. Fitch in his greenhouse." He blushed, adding, "Then I rented some more space. I didn't realize quite how big they get."

"You better make sure you keep them under control," Kyara said, a little bemused. "If they get out of hand they're going to go everywhere."

Jason chuckled a little at himself.

"Yeah, I didn't realize quite how much I was buying when I bought five plants. I kinda of thought it was going to be a little token, not ..."

"Enough to feed a family of ten?" supplied Kyara.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"Alright. You have my attention." Kyara allowed, squaring her shoulders and preparing to bargain with him. "What do you want for them?"

Jason paused, his eyes wandering her face.

"Your forgiveness," he said at last.

The request stopped her short, her mind trying to switch gears.

"What?" she asked.

"I want you to forgive me. For not being clear from the beginning. Not that I set out to lie to you or anything, it just sort of happened. But I shouldn't have let it, at least not if I was going to pursue you romantically. But I did, so I'm sorry."

Kyara took a moment to consider.

"I have a history with men lying to me," she told Jason. "Especially about their jobs. What you did wasn't okay. It was a big deal to me.”

Jason nodded.

“That said, I might have let that push me into overreacting," she allowed.

She saw his shoulders begin to unclench, but she continued, not prepared to give him a break,

"I'm still not sure about forgiving you, though." She allowed the faintest hint of a smile to cross her face. "After all, trying to buy your way out of the doghouse with greens you know I haven't found elsewhere is just dirty."

Jason matched her wisp of a smile with one of his own.

"Me?" he said, mock-indignation filling his voice. "You're the one filling this whole county with talk about how good your food is when I'm afraid to come back here."

"Afraid?" Kyara asked.

"Sure," he said. "I wouldn't dare show my face while there are people here eating. They'd chase me out of the room for demeaning their favorite restaurant. I've had to have people smuggle me food at home!"

"Well, then you're guilty of another lie," countered Kyara.

Jason's eyes grew wide as he cast about for what else he could have done in a panic. She quickly took pity on him.

"You promised that you'd ride naked down the street on a tricycle for my food," she reminded him. "Where's your tricycle?"

His laugh filled the restaurant, and broke her down into giggles with him. It left both of them flushed and warm in the cool autumn air, each basking in the warm glow of the other.