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The server came back with their drinks and two glasses of water. Mac was surprised—with the ongoing drought, most restaurants now only served water if you asked for it.
Jodie closed her menu. “We’ll start with an order of mozz sticks and onion rings, then we’ll have the extra-large, thin-crust, double-pepperoni planet killer pizza.” She looked at Mac over the top of the menu. “Go big or go home, am I right?”
The server nodded. “You got it.” He finished jotting down their order on his paper pad and headed back into the sweltering restaurant.
Their appetizers arrived a few minutes later, hot enough that Jodie immediately burned her tongue on a mozzarella stick.
“Ow. Worth it.” She fanned her mouth.
Mac grabbed an onion ring. “You always eat like this?”
Jodie narrowed her gaze at him over the mozzarella stick.
Dammit. “That came out wrong.”
“It really did. Try again?”
“I meant you’ve got a healthy appetite.” That didn’t sound much better. “Which…is…good?”
Her eyebrows climbed with every word he said. Then she laughed.
“Relax, I’m joking. I know what you meant.” She pulled another mozzarella stick apart, stretching the cheese between both halves. “Yeah, I like food. Always have.”
“Growing up on a ranch burns a lot of calories,” Mac agreed.
“And I’m a former rodeo terror.”
Mac stopped with the onion ring halfway to his mouth. “You did rodeo?”
“Little bit.”
“How little?”
She looked far too pleased with herself. “Champion Mutton Buster. Age six.”
Mac slowly lowered the onion ring. “There are pictures.”
“Oh, no.”
“There have to be.”
“You are never seeing them.”
“I work for a security company. I know people.”
Jodie pointed at him with half a mozzarella stick. “Don’t you dare use my own line against me.”
“We have contacts everywhere.”
Jodie cracked up. “You’re terrible.”
Mac relaxed and took a swig of beer. “Your mom probably has an entire album.”
Jodie narrowed her gaze. “You don’t have my mother’s number.”
“Did you know Flint does background investigations for a living?”
Jodie laughed. “Really? I had no idea.” Sweet sarcasm dripped from her voice. “You people abuse your resources.”
