“Leave her be, Nathaniel,” Matthew warned, turning the full strength of his glare at his stupidly grinning brother.
But she answered, speaking as if it were nothing. “I was smaller than the rest of the boys. I got beat on a lot. My boss got tired of seeing me black and blue, so he took the time to point out the way to tackle a larger opponent. How to... I don’t know, fight dirty, I guess.”
“Who’d you work for?” Eli asked, chomping a hunk of steak.
Squeezing his fork until his knuckles went white, Matthew said, “Stop prying into Charlotte’s life.”
The way she jumped in her seat, one would have thought he’d struck her, using her name. Not Charlie. Not Miss Elliot. Charlotte. And then there they were, those bright blue eyes turning to him. Uncertain, she peeked at his shoulder, then at the jaw that hadn’t seen a decent shave in weeks. As if it were an act of pure will, she met his pale-eyed stare and said, “The steak is very good, Matthew. Thank you.”
Voice low, he offered, “Thought you might be hungry’s all.”
Charlie nodded dumbly and went back to the meal.
“I found her at the train station.” Eli piped in. “Chased her all the way from the boarding house.”
“Oh yeah?” Nathaniel asked, after a belch. “Where were you headed?”
Charlie shrugged. “Anywhere I wanted.”
Rolling his eyes, Nathaniel gave her shoulder a smack. “You really think you’d find a better place to sit and look at things?”
She only grunted, and went back to her food.
Nathaniel had no intention of being ignored. He gave her a pinch so she’d stop moping. When that didn’t work, he pulled a lock of her hair like he was some dumb school yard boy.
Snapping blue eyes threatened very real retaliation, his brother leering like a fool. “You’d be back. We both know you’re secretly in love with me.”
And like that, Charlie burst out laughing. Leaning back, she pursed her lips, nodding as she looked Nathaniel over from his muddy boots to his stained mess of a shirt. “You figured me out.”
He had a look in his eye, a look of pure trouble only made worse when he winked.
Working his jaw, Matthew got up and circled the counter.
Charlie took that as her cue to leave. Wiping her hands and preparing to stand, yet she startled when her plate was suddenly yanked away, and a small recipe box was plopped down on the bar in front of her. As if to answer her questioning gaze, Matthew handed her a notepad and pushed the recipes closer.
“Those Aunt June’s?” Eli asked, flipping the box open. “Well I’ll be damned—haven’t seen those in years.” The grin he leveled at Charlie was one hundred percent genuine. “When I was real little, I remember she used to make the best peach cobbler. It was just out of this world. Almost as good as the one Ruth makes.” Stammering, cheeks turning red, he whispered, “Ah… don’t tell Ruth I said that.”
“That’s probably light years beyond anything I could make,” Charlie admitted. “I can hardly fry an egg.”
“How did you eat before?” Eli asked.
“Well, most places I lodged in fed me, and I’m really good at opening a can. Bread and butter were also my specialty.” She spoke the truth, aware it sounded awful, and couldn’t help but sigh. “Truth be told, I spent so much time in the woods, I learned how to cook over a fire pretty well—you know, squirrel, rabbit, venison—but that’s just a matter of turning a stick.”
Mouth full, Nathaniel grunted, “Good thing Matthew here could cook for you then.”
Reading over the instructions for meatloaf, she absently answered, “Yeah. Good thing.”
Charlie dove right in and began studying the cards, taking detailed notes as she scribbled out recipes and occasionally hearing Matthew grunt something like, “Takes three minutes longer than the card says,” or, “You can skip that step.”
She’d been at it so long Nathaniel was working on his second jar, and from the way she clutched and unclutched her fingers, her hand was starting to cramp. Which was well and good. Distracted, Charlie had failed to register the sound of cars driving up. Just as she hadn’t seen Eli circle the bar so he might be near the shotgun hiding beneath it.
The screen door opened and
shut.
“I heard some crazy broad knocked the daylights out of one of my men. She around?”
Chapter 7