Controlled Burn

Chapter 9

Montana hitched herself onto a stool at the end of the counter, smiling at the waitress who approached her with a mug and coffee pot.

"Just coffee," she told her. "Is Darlene here? Or Jeb?"

The woman filled the heavy mug. "Yes. Can I tell her who's asking?"

"Never mind. I heard the voice." Darlene Royal burst through the swinging doors to the kitchen, bustled around the end of the counter, and practically pulled Montana off the stool with her hug. "Montana. God, it's so wonderful to see you."

"You, too, Darlene."

After Darlene nearly squeezed the life out of her, she stood back and inspected Montana from top to bottom.

"Well, at least, thank the lord, you didn't come back looking like one of the plastic women in Los Angeles. I don't know what you ever found to like out there."

"At this point, I'm not sure I know, either." She kissed the older woman's cheek. "But I'm back here now."

"To stay?"

Montana shrugged. "Don't know yet. I haven't been back twenty-four hours. Listen, do you have time for a cup of coffee? Mom tells me you guys had a barn fire last night, and I want to make sure you and Jeb are okay."

"I always have time for you, honey."

In seconds, they were seated in a corner booth, steaming mugs of coffee and a plate of fragrant cinnamon rolls between them. Montana picked one up, took a bite, and hummed in satisfaction.

"Mmmmmm. These are as yummy good as I remember." She licked a drop of icing from her lip. "If I stay around here too long, you'll have to lock these away from me, or I'll be big as a house."

"Darlene laughed. "I doubt that. You never did put on an ounce."

"Times change, and so do our bodies." Then, as if in defiance, she took another large bite, chewed blissfully, and swallowed. "Okay, enough of this. Tell me about the fire."

Darlene shrugged. "There's not much to tell. We had run out to do some errands before it got too dark. The minute we turned onto our street, we saw the flames and knew it was our place. I called 911 while Jeb parked in front. I wouldn't let him pull into the driveway. We saw the barn was beyond saving, so we turned the hoses on the house until the fire department got there. It's a blessing the barn was a good enough distance away."

"Good thing you came home when you did, or the results might have been different." It actually made her ill to think of someone harming these people.

Darlene took a sip of her coffee. "I'll tell you, it made Jeb and me rethink our whole situation here. We've been wanting to sell the house and the business and move to Colorado where our son and his family live. Maybe this is a sign we should get a move on."

"Sell?" Montana raised her eyebrows. "I can't imagine this place without you."

"Montana, honey, everyone retires sooner or later. The problem is finding the right buyer. We'd want someone who would keep up the atmosphere and reputation, not turn it into another fast food joint."

A flutter danced in Montana's stomach. She took in the diner's comfortable charm and had the strange feeling she'd really come home. "You'd sell? No kidding?"

"Heck, yes. Like I told you, we've been talking about it for a while. When I think of how bad the fire could have been last night...well, it's like a sign. You know?"

Montana gripped her mug. She had only been an impulsive person once in her life-when she married asshole Richard Havilland. But something inside her was telling her it was time to take another chance. A leap of faith. God. She should probably talk this over with her folks, first. Find out exactly what was really going on here, if business was good, if she could make a go of it. But in the back of her mind, she could see herself in jeans and a polo shirt with Sunrise Diner on it, bustling between the kitchen and the counter.

"But who would cook?" She did okay in the kitchen, but her skills were more in management and service. "And make these delicious buns?"

"We've thought about what we could do. We hired a cook a couple of years ago when Jeb needed to cut back standing on his feet."

"No kidding? Where did you find him?"

"Charlie worked on a ranch on the other side of the county for years. Did a lot of the cooking there. He was ready for a change, heard we were asking around for someone, and came to talk to us."

Montana leaned forward and asked in a hopeful tone, "Does he bake, too?"

Darlene chuckled. "Not hardly. But we've been talking to Icing on the Cake about supplying pastries for us if we needed to contract out the sweet stuff." She c****d her head. "Why are you asking all these questions, anyway?"

She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I need to step back and think about this a bit, but what if I bought this place?"

"Oh, honey,that's a big step to take. You just got into town. Don't you want to get settled first? Decide what you want to do?"

"Yes." Montana nodded. "But I have to believe this is an accident of fate. It's-"

Whatever else she might have said was cut off when the door opened, a tall figure strode in, and every bit of air left her lungs. The man turned in her direction, and she locked gazes with Mr. Hotstuff himself.