Forever and a Day

Running a successful ranch vacation business means everything to Jordan McKenzie. But his wide grin and easy charm won’t get him out of the mess he’s in this time. He’s a desperate man on a tight time frame and Sarah Thornton is the only woman who can give him what he needs.

Sarah didn’t come to Montana looking for love. She’s been down that road before and her lowlife fiancé stomped on her heart and stole the computer program she designed. Working on a cattle ranch is supposed to give her a year away from the city and time to sort out her life. But Jordan changes everything. He complicates her life and leaves her wondering why she ever thought Montana would be good for her. 

With more at stake than a broken heart, she has to decide if she’s ready for what Jordan wants. Because he wants her—for forever and a day.

“I’m in trouble.” Jordan leaned toward Tess, the owner of Angel Wings Café, hoping no one heard the desperation in his voice.

“Shouldn’t you be having this conversation with your brother?” Tess smiled as she slid a muffin into a paper bag and pushed it across the counter. 

“It’s not funny.” Only he wished it was. But unless his brother had developed a talent for cooking, even Trent wouldn’t be able to get him out of the mess he was in. “Trent’s taken Gracie and Jessica to Los Angeles. I’ve got a family of five arriving in two days for a ranch vacation and no one to cook their meals.”

“Where’s Mrs. Davies?”

“She’s looking after her sister and won’t be back for a couple of weeks.”

“Can’t one of the other ranch hands help?”

“Frank’s got the best baking skills of all of us, but he’s limited by what he can throw in the microwave.” Jordan hoped Tess would take pity on him and loan him her part-time baker. There wasn’t one food group that Annie didn’t know how to cook and he needed her on the ranch. 

He smiled at Tess, using the dimple in his cheek for extra leverage. “What about Annie?” If he didn’t find someone soon, the Buchanans wouldn’t be able to come. Then he’d have other cancelations to handle before Mrs. Davies, their housekeeper, made it back to Bozeman.

“I know what you’re trying to do, and it won’t work.” Tess shooed him away while she served the next person in the line. 

Jordan liked Tess and he liked what she’d created inside her café. And he’d like her even more if she could help him.

He waited until the last person had paid their bill before stepping forward. Tess would have to give him credit for perseverance. He was a desperate man and he’d do nearly anything for his business. 

“I can’t help you, Jordan. Annie only works mornings and Kate does a few hours in the afternoon. Even if all of us were able to help, we wouldn’t be able to keep up with what we need for the café and do the meals for the ranch. Have you thought about putting a notice in the newspaper?”

“By the time it’s published and I go through all the applicants, Mrs. Davies will be home. Please, Tess. It’s only for two weeks.”

Tess crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You can put that dimple away because it’s not working.”

“Not even a little?”

Tess laughed. “Maybe a little, but the answer’s still no. What if you put a poster in the front window? Someone might be looking for work.”

Jordan wasn’t holding out much hope of that happening, but he didn’t have a choice. “I’ll head across to the library and use one of their computers. Can I bring the poster straight back after I’ve finished?”

“You bet. I’ll even give you a glowing reference if anyone asks.”

And that, thought Jordan, was probably the best he could hope for. He’d make a few extra posters for the other stores nearby and tape them to their front windows. 

Then he’d go to the bookstore and look for a recipe book for beginners.

* * *

Sarah stared at the job advertisement in the front window of Angel Wings Café. In a few minutes, she was meeting her friends, Tess and Sally, for coffee. She didn’t have much time before Sally arrived, but it would be enough to ask Tess about the short-term position on the Triple L Ranch.

For the last year, she’d worked on Alex Green’s ranch, cooking for the ranch hands and keeping the place clean and tidy. It wasn’t what she wanted to do for the rest of her life, but she was happy. She had a savings account that was slowly growing and a lot of ideas about what she’d do with that money when the time was right.

The doorbell jingled as she entered the café.

Tess turned toward her with a smile. “You’re the first to arrive. What can I get you?”

Sarah grinned. They had a competition to see how many coffee combinations Tess could make in less than ninety seconds. So far, Tess had won each round, but Sarah had a feeling this one might tip the balance. 

“I’ll have a grande decaf, extra-hot soy Americano with extra foam.”

Tess’ eyebrows rose. “Are you sure?”

They’d been down this road before, too. Tess would try to psych her out of a coffee she thought would take too long to make. “I’m positive.”

Tess shook her head. “You’ll lose.”

Sarah grinned at her friend. “We’ll see. When you’re done figuring out how to make my coffee, you can tell me about the job you’re advertising in your front window.”

“Are you interested?”

“I’m doing the same type of thing on Alex’s ranch, so working at another ranch shouldn’t be a problem. I could make lunch and dinner for both places at the same time. It’s just the housework that might suffer.”

“And we all know how much you enjoy housework,” Tess said.

“My expertise is baking, not cleaning the windows.” Sarah pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and flicked to the stopwatch app. “Are you ready to show me how awesome you are?”

“After I’ve whipped up this coffee, I’ll tell you about the Triple L. And if you promise not to sulk because I won, I might even tell you about Jordan.”

“Who?”

“Jordan McKenzie.” Tess looked at the coffee machine, then opened the fridge and took out the soy milk. “He manages the ranch vacation business on the Triple L.”

Sarah frowned. “Are you telling me this to distract me from what you’re doing? Making my coffee without starting the stopwatch has to break at least one rule.”

“I didn’t know we had rules.” Tess grinned. “I wouldn’t dream of cutting a few seconds off the finish time.” She flexed her fingers and rolled her shoulders. “Okay. I’m ready to blow you away with my coffee-making prowess.”

Sarah held her finger above the start button. “I’ll wish you luck because you’ll need it. On your mark…get set…go!”

Tess’ hands flew in front of the coffee machine, packing the espresso grounds down, twisting the filter onto the machine before letting the fresh espresso dribble into the mug below. “How am I doing for time?”

“Forty-five seconds.”

Tess grabbed the carton of soy milk, heated and frothed it in the machine. With the other hand, she poured hot water into the espresso, added the frothed milk and yelled, “Stop.”

Sarah looked at the top of her coffee. “You even did a pretty flower in the foam.”

“I aim to please. How did I do?”

“One minute, twenty-eight seconds. You won again.”

Tess high-fived Sarah before pushing the mug across the counter. “You’ll have to come up with a weird combination to beat this barista.”

The doorbell jingled and Sally walked into the café. She sniffed the air. “What coffee did you make today?”

“Grande decaf, extra-hot soy Americano with extra foam.”

“Impressive. How did Tess do?”

Sarah sighed. “She won.”

“Sounds like you’ll be buying the next meal at Charlie’s Bar and Grill.”

“I’ve still got another ten days to find a coffee that outwits the maestro.”

“Not going to happen,” Tess said with a smile. “What would you like to drink, Sally?”

“Hot chocolate.”

“Are you sure you don’t want that with a cinnamon and cream swirl on top? I could even do low fat, half strength.”

“Not me,” Sally said. “I’m an all-or-nothing kind of girl.”

Sarah took her coffee to a table close to the front counter. “Is that why you’re trying to offload one of your puppies on me?” 

“I’m not offloading.” Sally sat beside Sarah. “I’m trying to re-home them. They were left in a bag on the side of the road behind the youth center. I’m not allowed to take any more animals to Mom and Dad’s place, so I thought Alex’s ranch would be perfect.”

“I wouldn’t know what to do with a dog.”

“I could teach you.”

Sarah shook her head. “I’ve got no idea where I’ll be living in twelve months’ time, so I’m a pet-free zone at the moment.”

Tess arrived at the table with Sally’s hot chocolate and a glass of orange juice for herself. “What have I missed?”

“Sally’s trying to convince me to take one of her puppies.”

“Shame on you, Sally Gray. I thought Alex had already taken a puppy?”

Sally grinned. “He has, but I thought I’d try convincing Sarah to make it two. He’s got lots of space. Besides, with his wedding only a month away he’ll have more on his mind than another four-legged friend.”

“How are all the wedding plans going?” Tess asked.

“Okay. We had another fitting for the bridesmaid’s dresses last night. Mom came with me and she got all excited about the dresses Emily designed.”

“You’d better watch out,” Sarah said. “She’ll start asking you when you’re getting married.” 

“She’s given up on me. This is the ninth time I’ve been someone else’s bridesmaid. I could start my own store selling the dresses.”

“We should do something about it.” Tess leaned her chin on her hands. 

“Unless you plan on finding husbands for us, there’s not a lot you can do,” Sally said. “It’s depressing how many people think you should be married by the time you hit twenty-seven.”

“Don’t go looking for a husband for me,” Sarah said. “One low-life fiancé was enough to last a lifetime.”

“You’re lucky you got that far,” Tess said. “None of the guys I’ve dated have got an ounce of commitment in their bodies. I’m so over the whole dating thing that it’s not even funny anymore.”

“Here’s to happy singleness.” Sarah smiled at her friends. Tess had a faraway look in her blue eyes. She was a thinker and a dreamer, everything she needed to be to run a successful café. And then there was Sally. Sarah had met her the first week she’d arrived in Bozeman. Sally had introduced her to Alex and convinced him that he needed someone to look after his ranch hands. 

Sarah owed both of her friends more than they’d ever know. She’d arrived in Bozeman with a few dollars in her pocket and no idea of what she was going to do. And then she’d met Sally and everything had fallen into place. She had somewhere to call home, good friends that made her smile. Everything that had disappeared from her life before she’d left Portland.

“Have you told Sally about the job on the Triple L?” Tess asked.

Sarah shook her head. “Not yet. Do you know anything about it?”

Sally frowned. “What job?”

“On the front window,” Sarah said. “Someone’s advertising for a cook and housekeeper for a couple of weeks.”

“Jordan McKenzie needs help,” Tess said to Sally. “He’s got some new guests arriving tomorrow and no one to cook their meals.”

“Where’s Mrs. Davies?” Sally asked.

“She went to visit her sister and needs to stay for another couple of weeks.”

“Jordan must be in a panic,” Sally said. “He’s been working hard to get his business up and running. Are you sure you’ll be able to do the meals for both ranches, Sarah?”

“It depends on how many people he’s expecting. If it’s only a few I should be fine.”

“Four,” Tess said. “It’s a family group.”

Sally frowned. “Why do you want to take on more work? You’re busy on Alex’s ranch.”

“The extra money would be a bonus and I’d get to see how another ranch operates.” Sarah hadn’t told Tess and Sally about the last twelve months, the utter desperation she’d felt when her fiancé and business partner had stolen the computer program she’d spent two years developing. 

Sally took a sip of her coffee. “If you get the job and need another pair of hands to help, just give me a call.” 

“Thanks. So what’s Jordan like?”

Tess smiled. “He’s a nice guy with the sweetest tooth in Bozeman.”

“Think single, sexy, and funny,” Sally added. “You’d enjoy working with him. Just watch your heart.”

“I don’t need to worry about that,” Sarah sighed. “It’s my bank account that needs filling up, not my love life.”

“You’re made for each other, then.” Tess smiled. “Give him a call and see what happens.”