“I don’t want to ask you to wait up for me,” he said quietly.
“Yeah, you do.”
A chuckle burst out of his chest. He kissed her quickly on the lips, then took off for the other side of the arena. Evie still needed her rest, but he hoped like hell that when he pulled himself away and got back over to Pleasant Lane that she would still be awake, waiting for him.
Chapter 18
Evie chewed the inside of her lip and reminded herself again that Jesse was not the chatty type. His near stony demeanor bled over into his teaching style. On the way back from the ranch he declared that he would be in charge of dinner. Steaks with a side salad, and a peach cobbler one of the women at church had sent him home with. Evie thought this would be a perfect opportunity to learn how to use a grill. She though Lilah was joking when she said Jesse wouldn’t let her touch his grill or the steaks.
She was not.
Still, Evie refused to turn down the chance to at least watch and learn. She followed Jesse and Clementine over to his house and watched in complete silence as he pulled the steaks out of the fridge and then went to turn on the grill.
Forty minutes later, he’d barely said a word, but Evie had learned a thing or two about grilling and Jesse. Jesse’s backyard was nearly as big as Miss Leona’s, but he had a large pool constructed out of dark stone that gave it the feel of a deep lagoon. Jesse Pleasant was anti-horse, but pro-dog and pro-swimming. The man also took care with his steaks. She was impressed with the focused way he seasoned each cut with his massive hands. He meticulously arranged each steak on the hot slats, saying—more to himself—that inches between each cut was required for even cooking. He closed the lid on the grill and finally turned to her.
“Now we wait. It won’t take long.”
“This was better than watching videos on YouTube,” Evie admitted.
“How so?”
She explained the egg debacle. “I think I was taking in too much information. Like videos with music and graphics, or the cook just going on about how their kids like their eggs fluffy, but their husbands like them a little dry. Watching you, I could just focus on what you were doing.” She smiled up at him.
“Sometimes simple is better.”
“Agree. So, tell me something new. About you.” She was going to bond with Jesse. That was her mission for the evening.
“I think Miss Leona is seeing someone.”
Evie almost choked on her own breath, before laughter came bursting out of her. “Excuse me, what? Also, that has nothing to do with you.”
“I can tell you more about next quarter’s projections for the ranch,” he replied, one dark eyebrow arching up.
“Uh, no, thank you.”
“This is all there is to me. My work, my dog, and this grill. I’m not trying to give you the hot goss on my grandmother’s love life. It’s just something I’ve noticed and it’s been on my mind.”
“Okay, tell me.”
“Semiretired attorney. He goes to our church.”
“And they’ve been going out? He’s been coming around asking to see her?”
“Miss Leona is old-man bait, so I’m not shocked when even married dudes flirt with her, but there’s something different here.”
“Does she flirt back?” Evie tried to picture it and then immediately tried not to picture it. There was acting and then there was real life. This was a little too real.
“She doesn’t flirt, but she doesn’t politely blow him off either, or make him look like a fool for even trying. I caught them talking on the phone the other day.”
“What’s bothering you about it? Besides the part where you have to think about your grandmother dating.”
“Not sure yet.” He pulled out his phone and appeared to be sending a text. And then he was quiet. Evie had follow-up questions, but she didn’t know where to start. She’d gotten a taste of what it was like when he didn’t approve of a relationship. Would Jesse hunt down an elderly man and put the fear of God in him if he got too close to Miss Leona?
“They’re done,” he announced suddenly.
“How do you know?” Evie asked as he lifted up the hood of the grill. A mouthwatering aroma hit her nose.
“I’ve been doing this a long time. You’ll learn more about meat thermometers and the like, but I just know.”