“Yes, absolutely. And to my first beer in honor of Garden of the Gods being a beer garden fit for the gods.”
They laughed, clinked their mugs, and drank. Tracy made a cute face over the taste of her first beer but didn’t choke on the dark brew. Cash sat with his back to a solid wood fence, thinking how happy he was to be here with her.As they enjoyed their salads, Tracy was on his left, facing the street with Dude resting between them on the concrete patio floor. Stella came back for their empty salad plates and Cash scratched Dude’s head. Looking up, he saw an expression between shock and dread cross Tracy’s face.
“What now, spitfire?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“Gerald just pulled up in his Tesla and Donna’s with him,” Tracy said.
“Whodon’tyou know in this town?” Cash teased, using her words.
“Ha. Ha,” Tracy said softly hoping they didn’t see her and Cash. “Maybe they’ll sit indoors.” But as Cash had said, it was great weather for dinner outside, so no such luck. The side door of the restaurant opened, and a waitress escorted Gerald and Donna onto the patio. At this angle, Cash was facing them straight on and they were on Tracy’s left. “Do they see us?”
“Yes,” Cash said, reaching a hand down to Dude. “Here they come.”
A welt on his cheek, clothes rumpled, and yellow pompadour greasy, Gerald looked disheveled. Reaching their table with Donna, also unkempt at his side, Gerald blurted out, “You two got us reassigned.”
“If that’s the case,” Tracy began, noting Cash had a grip on Dude’s collar, “you got yourselves reassigned.”
“Itisthe case,” Gerald said with elevated irritability as Dude growled softly. “Devereux not only reassigned us, we’re on probation. He called it a plan of correction forninety days. He’s sending us to a small satellite office in the middle of nowhere North Dakota,” he sneered, his eyes oddly dilated. Tracy wondered if Gerald might be drunk, high, or both.
“The satellite office is a demotion after working in Colorado Springs,” Donna sniffed and swiped away a spot of what looked like white powder on a nostril. “If Gerald doesn’t take me along as his office assistant, I’ll be on leave with no pay for the next three months.” Jiggling her bosom almost out of her obscenely low-cut blouse, Donna placed her hand on Gerald’s arm and patted it. “It’s so cold in North Dakota, poor Gerald’s electric car probably won’t start.”
Tracy remembered how Donna had initially appeared to come to her defense after she’d arrived late on Cash’s ranch. Obviously, Donna’s so-called assistance depended on who she thought could be the most useful to her at any given time.
“I hear North Dakota is beautiful,” Tracy said sincerely. “I wish you both the best.” She didn’t know what else to say and hoped they’d move along.
“You’re lucky I didn’t tell Devereux you gave me this injury.” Gerald stabbed a finger in his cheek as Dude sat up and barked. “Or you’d be out too.”
“Tell him,” Cash challenged. “I can’t wait for Kirk to ask you what precipitated it.”
“Teacher’s pet, or magazine owner’s, in this case,” Donna snapped as Dude growled.
Gerald glared at Cash and then Tracy as he mumbled at her, “Uppity little bitch.”
“Enough!” Cash stood up, with a firm grip on Dude’s leash in his left hand.
“Or what?” Gerald asked, but cautiously retreated a couple of steps. “I don’t see any cowboys to back you up today, Cooper.”
“I don’t need backup to deal with you. But I’ve got asmuch back up here as I do on my ranch. So, take your alcohol and drugs, or whatever you’re on and leave us the hell alone.”
Lobo appeared at the gate. “Cash-man, everything cool?”
Gerald and Donna turned to Lobo, whose scowl, silver teeth, and tattooed muscles were on full display. Lobo’s meaty hands curled into fists on a wide belt where he wore a sheathed knife on one side and a holstered gun on the other. A waitress walked up to the table and offered to seat Gerald and Donna.
“Watch your back, Cooper,” Gerald said.
“You don’t wanna tangle with me, Moles,” Cash warned.
Gerald flinched and without another word, he and Donna slinked after the waitress.
“Everything’s cool, Lobo.” Cash tipped two fingers off the brim of his cowboy hat and sat down. Dude followed Cash’s lead and Lobo returned to the entrance of the restaurant.
“Where did they sit, Cash?” Tracy asked.
“Toward the back of the patio.”
“Should we go?” Tracy asked. “We can have Stella box up our food when she brings it.”
