Again it disappeared quickly beneath the hard glitter of challenge. Again it bothered her, because she knew from too long experience that it was that brief glimpse deep inside him that was important.
Clovis didn’t seem to notice. He kept right on discussing Amanda’s information as he resettled his hat and jacket further along the booth. “Y’ know, we was talkin’ about how pigs can see the wind. Why, I ain’t heard that one fer years. Just years. My mama’s favorite was ‘when the dew’s on the grass, rain will never come to pass.’”
“That right?” Jake answered absently, still faced off with Amanda, his gaze still hot and hard as he set his hat down alongside his place.
Clovis nodded from behind his coffee mug. “Ask her,” he insisted. “She’s really got some good ones. Maybe we should collect ‘em so’s we can predict the weather better, ya think?”
He huffed again, his face reddening in delight.
Amanda had nothing to disappear behind. She felt naked and unsettled. She wanted to ask Jake what was troubling him so much. “I’m quite the expert on predicting harsh winters by vegetable,” she admitted, trying for levity, wishing her chest didn’t hurt with the tension. “If you’d like, I’ll do a free check on your onion skins next fall for you.”
“And here I’ve been relying on the weather service.”
She tried another small smile. “Give me a good onion and a woolly worm any day.”
Jake dropped his gaze to where he was fingering the edges of his hat. Amanda retreated briefly to her glass of iced tea, and then remembered that she was in need of a refill. He caught her looking for Lila.
“How do you like the local choice in restaurants?” he asked, just a little edge to his voice.
Now Amanda’s smile was sincere. “It reminds me a lot of home.”
Jake gave her a good look up and down. “I thought Boston had a better reputation than that.”
Amanda never got the chance to set him straight. Just then Lila returned balancing two slices of pie, the coffeepot and another cup and saucer, which she set in front of Jake.
“Saw you come in,” she greeted him, pouring for him even before setting down the pies. “Heard Bill Nelson finally gave in and sent you Sidewinder.”
Clovis snorted unkindly. “Day late, as usual. Only good use for that animal is stickin’ pictures in a book.”
“He’ll come around,” was all Jake said as he picked up his cup for his first drink.
“Menu?” Amanda asked, offering him the battered laminated page that had been amended with grease pencil and then stuck next to her side of the booth.
Lila thought that was so funny she almost dropped Amanda’s pie. “Menu?” she demanded with a hoot. “You kiddin’? Jake here hasn’t surprised me a day in his life. What’ll it be, Jake?” she demanded, hand on plump denim-clad bottom. “Steak or steak?”
Jake’s smile was a little tight. “Make it steak this time, Lila.”
She nodded with satisfaction. “Bleedin’ and burnt,” she pronounced, then turned to Amanda. “Cook threw that steak on the grill the minute Jake walked in. He hasn’t had anything else in the ten years I’ve worked here, have you, Jake?”
“Guess not, Lila.”
Amanda didn’t know what to do. For the first time in years she felt completely at a loss with another human being. Jake sat in stony silence drinking his coffee while noise continued unabated around him in the rest of the diner. Clovis dug into his pie with a gusto Amanda couldn’t quite muster, and Amanda was left with silence.
“Hey, Jake,” a man from a nearby table called out. “Saw old Nate Thompson other day, said to tell you that as soon as he moves to summer pasture, he’s comin’ by for those trail horses you promised.”
Jake turned to answer, and Amanda was struck by the strength of his profile. Clean, hard lines, his nose just a little hooked, his chin strong and solid, his jaw like granite. His eyes pale as memories. Honest, rough-hewn features that gnawed at her composure in a way no others had before. She quelled an urge to run her fingers through the tumble of his thick hair and smooth it back off his forehead. She turned away to keep from falling headfirst into the icy waters of his eyes that seemed to thaw for anybody but her.
“I’ll be lookin’ for him,” he said, his expression easing. “Got some real hardy little things this year should be perfect for the Tetons.”
“Did I also hear that Tommy’s gonna be in town again?”
Jake nodded, sipping his coffee. “He’s comin’ to take a look at that cutting horse he wants.”
“That pony as good as I’ve been hearing?”
Then Amanda saw something in Jake she hadn’t seen yet, a deep, quiet glow of satisfaction. Pride. Nothing that anyone could take offense at, simply the pleasure of something good.
“Maybe, Ed,” he said with just a hint of a smile. “Maybe.”
