Page 27 of Lost and Found Cowboy
“Yay!” Dylan popped out of his seat to give his grandmother a hug. “Thank you, Grandma.”
She looked at Mack and shrugged. “I’m a sucker for a grandson hug. Around one-thirty then?” She pulled a business card from her purse and passed it to Mack. “My cell phone is on there. You can call or text me if it’s not going to work out.”
“That sounds great,” Mack told her. “I can’t imagine it wouldn’t, but I can give you my number as well.” He took the pen and notepad that she and Dylan had been keeping score on and jotted down his cell number. “See you Wednesday.”
“I caught the tail end of that conversation,” Lorna said when he walked back to the front counter where she was restocking cups. “That was a pretty nice thing you offered.”
He shrugged off her compliment, even though it secretly pleased him. “They seem nice. And I think it’s cool the kid spends time with his grandmother.”
Lorna lowered her voice to a whisper. “They spendalltheir time together. Dylan’s mom has a lot of problems, and Judy’s had custody of him since he was born.”
“That’s impressive.”
“She’s a neat lady. She’s been with the Clerk and Recorders office at the courthouse for close to thirty years, she volunteers at the library, and she’s coached Dylan’s soccer team for the last two seasons.”
“Wow. Now I’m even more impressed. I always wanted a grandma, but I missed out on ever knowing any of my grandparents. Until Duke.”
“I think he’s planning to make that up to you.”
The bell above the door jangled, and the smile fell from Lorna’s face as she looked toward the front of the store.
“Shit,” she whispered. “What is he doing here?”
Mack turned to see Lyle strolling toward them, a calculating grin on his face as he eyed the interior of the shop. “Damn. This is a pretty nice place you’ve got here, Lorna,” he said, slapping a hand on the counter.
Mack hated the way Lorna flinched at the sound of the slap, and he wondered if Lyle had used that same motion on her. The thought of him laying a hand on Lorna, or God forbid, Max, had the blood boiling under Mack’s skin.
He casually dropped his arm around Lorna’s shoulder, both to offer her support and to show Lyle his presence wasn’t affecting him. “Sorry, pal. We just cleaned the espresso machine, and we’re closing up for the day. But they serve coffee and pie at the diner down the street.”
“I’m not as interested in a cup of coffee as I am in this coffeeshop. This building’s gotta be worth quite a chunk of change.”He narrowed his eyes at Lorna. “You win the lottery after you divorced me?” His eyes cut to Mack. “Or did you buy this place for her?”
“She did every bit of this on her own,” he said. “And this place belongs solely to her.”
“We’ll see about that,” Lyle said, and Mack wanted to smack the derisive smirk off his face. He turned away, but called over his shoulder, “We’re gonna have that talk soon, Lorna. Sometime when your boyfriend isn’t around.”
Like hell you are.
Chapter Twelve
Mack’s arm tightened around Lorna. The air in the coffee shop seemed to cool ten degrees as the door closed behind Lyle, and her shoulders released a hard shudder.
The four remaining patrons were all staring at Lorna, and he turned his body to block their view as he pulled her to him. “You okay?”
Her eyes were wide as she stared up at him. “He’s gonna try to take my shop.”
Mack was thinking the same thing.
Greedy bastard.
“He’s an asshole.”
“Agreed.” She pulled away, sucking in a long breath then pushing back her shoulders. She pulled a set of keys from her pocket and handed it to him. “Will you lock up after everyone leaves? I’m going to take the trash out and clear my head for a minute.”
“Yeah, you got it. Take all the time you need.”
The woman with the book offered a small wave as dumped her empty cup and plate and slipped out the door, but Judy, Dylan, and the young guy with the golden retriever, who Lornahad told him was named Nick, all came up to the counter after Lorna left.
“Is she all right?” Judy asked, worry etched on her face.
