Page 217 of Cowboy Daddies

Jeb studied her for a long moment. Then he crossed his arms over his chest.

Uh-oh.

That was his standard bossy pose. Which probably meant she was in trouble.

It was something she was used to.

“Casey?” he asked.

“Yes?”

“Do you know how to cook?”

She bit her lip. “If I tell you no, am I fired?”

“If you lie to me you’re fired.”

Wow. Harsh. Fine.

“I can’t cook. I’m sorry! I thought I could figure something out. I’m sure if I look up a video online or something I can figure it out.”

She braced herself for him to tell her that she was fired. Or that he wasn’t happy. That she was useless.

Instead, he just nodded tiredly. “It’s all right. Your main job is to look after Wyatt. He just likes toast in the morning and he’s happy with sandwiches for lunch. We can make do for dinner. I can deal with it when I get home. Tonight, well, charter-thing it is.”

“I think it’s called a cha-cha-cutie board, Papa,” Wyatt said as he got out knives and forks and plates.

“Charcuterie,” she corrected. “And you don’t need all that stuff, sugar. That’s the great thing about these sorts of meals. No extra mess to clean up.”

“Do you eat this way a lot?” Jeb asked as they all sat and started to eat.

Well, she started to eat. The two of them just watched her for a moment. As though studying what they should do.

So strange.

“Sometimes. I don’t really eat set meals anymore. I just eat when I’m hungry.”

Actually, more like when she could afford food.

“Back home, we always ate lots of formal meals,” she added. “Complicated things like Salmon Wellington with a white wine cream sauce.”

“That sounds weird.” Wyatt wrinkled his nose.

“Actually, it wasn’t bad. But I don’t like eating that way all the time. Sometimes, a girl just wants to sit on her bed and eat Twizzlers for dinner, you know?”

Wyatt nodded while Jeb shook his head. “That isn’t healthy.”

“Did you know you can make a charcuterie board of candy?” she asked Wyatt.

“You can?”

“Yep, that’s my dream dinner.”

“That is not dinner,” Jeb told them. “It’s a stomach ache. I’ll get some stuff out for dinner tomorrow night. But let’s eat up and get to bed. The days start early around here.”

Right.

Sure.