Serious Cowboy (Cowboys of Duncan Ranch #2)

Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

To say Callie felt impressed by the setup Lindsey Duncan’s company provided was a vast understatement. She’d fully expected the party planner to send one or two of her staff ahead to throw some streamers and balloons up, make the food presentation, and then come moseying in when the party was in process. Callie had also expected fairly minimal decorations.

But that wasn’t what she got.

Sure, there were definitely streamers, balloons, and food, but each of those items had been given a custom-made touch. Before she’d formally set a date for the party, Beth from Sensational Shindigs had reached out to Callie again to find out her nieces and nephew’s names, their favorite type of cake and ice cream, and their favorite colors.

Callie hadn’t thought a thing of this. She’d figured the planners would use this information in a general way to make certain nothing they provided was disliked by the kids. Or maybe to give the company the slightest bit of direction, so they didn’t go off-track.

But Callie needn’t have worried about them going off-track at all. Because this business knew exactly what they were doing.

Once she’d decided to throw a little party for her nieces and nephew and some of their friends she’d turned all the details over to Lindsey Duncan’s company. She’d seen the party planner storefront in town the day Zeke had showed her around town. She made a mental note to keep the company in mind for the winter party she wanted to have for the kids.

Doing fun things with her nieces and nephews now that they lived in the same town was a priority for her now. Being most favored aunt was important, but only because it made them happy. And she loved to see them laughing and joyful.

Sensational Shindigs showed up with three separate batches of cupcakes in a different color. Green for Brian. Pink for Sallie. Purple for Kimmie. The groups of cupcakes each had the kids’ names spelled out, as well, so that each child could feel celebrated and special all at the same time.

In an hour’s time, Lindsey and her team had her little home transformed into a children’s fantasy wonderland. There were temporary but huge appliques of gnomes, mushrooms, fairies, and giants covering the walls of her combo living and dining room area.

Glimmering silver stars and snowflakes hung every few inches across the surface of her ceiling. Swirls of rainbow lights flew about the room catching the metallic reflections of the other decorations, including the foil-like tablecloths.

Callie had busied herself in her room getting ready having no idea how quickly and completely her home would be morphed into this otherworldly realm. She’d stood there at the threshold of her kitchen simply staring at it all, stunned.

“Lindsey,” she gushed, knowing her eyes must be bulging out of her head, but she didn’t care. For the price she’d paid, this was phenomenal. “You never said you were miracle workers.”

“We aren’t,” Lindsey’s smile definitely reached her eyes, though. “We just have lots of practice. And I happen to have the best crew in the world.”

“You do. You seriously do. I don’t think I could’ve done all this if I had twelve hours, much less one.”

“This is why we never work by ourselves.” Lindsey took in the environment there in the room and seemed pleased. “We appreciate you hiring us, and if you’re willing to give us a good review and refer your friends and family, that would help us a lot.”

“Of course,” Callie exclaimed. How could she not? “I’d be happy to. And I run into tons of people who could use your services at my brother’s office where I work.”

“The pediatrician, right?”

“That’s right.”

“I believe my sisters-in-law take their kids to Dr. Blum.”

“I wonder if I’ve seen them and not known who they were,” Callie considered. “I’ve only been the office manager there for a few months.”

They chatted about some of the people they didn’t realize they had in common for several minutes before Tim arrived with his three little tikes in tow. Brian, Sallie, and Kimmie had each been allowed to bring along a friend, so the number of children had doubled. The noise caused by their united squeals of delight was enough to make Callie feel like she was back at work.

It was amazing the decibel levels six kids under the age of ten could reach.

Beth provided games to keep them all occupied, which was a good thing once they ate the cake and ice cream due to the amount of sugar zipping through their systems. Ah, to have the energy of a child. Callie had always thought herself high-energy until she started dealing with kids on a daily basis.

Now, she knew her energy couldn’t possibly compete with theirs. Not even when sick, sometimes.

When her nieces and nephews and their friends were engaged in their activities, Callie took the opportunity to chat with Lindsey.

“What’s it like living on a big cattle ranch?”

“Different from how I grew up. I was always a city girl before I met Bryce. It was his mom hiring me to throw her husband a birthday party that set all those wheels in motion. Being out here…” She laughed softly under her breath as she shook her head. There must be story there. “Let’s just say it’s been interesting.”

“I bet.” Callie cleared her throat, not wanting to be too obvious about what she was about to do. “I hear it’s pretty big, the Duncan Ranch.”

“Oh, it is. Lots of moving parts. But Bryce and his brothers do their best to maintain as much of a family atmosphere with the ranch hands and other employees as possible.”

“Speaking of your employees, I’ve recently met your feed manager, Zeke Knight.”

“Have you? How nice,” Lindsey said, distracted by one of the kids hollering with excitement. This hindered Callie from reading deeper into her expression.

“I understand he’s worked there for a few months himself.”

“Who Zeke? Yeah, I think that’s correct.”

She thought? Why doesn’t she know for sure?

“What’s he like?”

“Oh, you know. Hard worker. Dedicated to the job. That’s what I gather, anyway. They pretty much have to be for Bryce to keep them on the ranch.”

“I’m sure.” Still, that wasn’t telling Callie anything pertinent. “He seems kinda quiet.”

“Yeah, maybe. Seems like he likes to keep to himself.”

Callie waited for Lindsey to go on, but she didn’t. This was frustrating.

“What else do you know about him?”

Lindsey’s gaze flew from where another member of her staff caught one of the platters of cupcakes before they went splattering all over the floor. Normally, Callie would be thankful for that—and she was, she was thankful for that—but she hadn’t received the answers she needed.

“Like what?” Lindsey asked. She looked surprised by Callie’s question. Callie was in too deep now to completely back track.

“Like… Does he have a family or friends?” She didn’t voice what she truly desired to know. Was he with anyone? Was he a playboy or a nice, upstanding guy when it came to dating?

“Isn’t he your brother’s friend?”

“Well, yes. But I meant beyond Tim.”

“I don’t know, to be honest. I’m not around him much at all. He sort of stays on his own. But he seems perfectly nice.”

Lindsey didn’t have much to offer, but what did she did say made sense with what Callie had gathered so far.

“Oh, I think he fixed the backhoe,” Lindsey brought up suddenly. “The guys had all tried and failed, so they were waiting for a mechanic to come from the dealer to take care of it. Zeke popped in there with a handful of tools and had the thing running like a top within minutes. Bryce loves that story. It’s rare that he’ll be able to save money on an equipment repair like that. I think the thing hasn’t broken down since, either.”

Callie already knew that he liked to fix things.

“So, you don’t know anything more about him personally?”

“Afraid not. He’s not the type to stand around and just chat about his life like that.” Lindsey looked at Callie and tilted her head. “Why the curiosity? Got a thing for him?”

“Um, not at all. He just seems like such a mystery.” Callie knew her expression was giving her away. She couldn’t just come out with the truth, though. “He’s my brother’s friend and I don’t really know him.”

“Why not ask Tim, then?”

Grudgingly, Callie had to admit that Lindsey had a valid question. “He’s not all that forthcoming.”

“So you do have a thing for Zeke. I get it. He’s pretty hot. The strong silent type is intriguing. Bryce was like that and I was crazy about him. Though I didn’t really realize that’s what it was at first.” She laughed and shook her head. “We didn’t actually like each other at first. But now we do, so it’s all good.”

Callie breathed a sigh of relief. She was worried she’d offended Lindsey even if it was only a little by asking so many questions about Zeke. Maybe she understood even though Callie hadn’t actually admitted to her thing for the feed manager at her husband’s ranch.

Callie had been in the process of getting back to the kids when Lindsey called her back, her eyes all too knowing.

“He does come across as a little bit lost when things get personal. And I don’t know any details about that at all. But sometimes the best thing that can happen to a lost person is to be found.”

The party had been a big success. Her nieces and nephew couldn’t stop talking about all the fun they’d had. She might as well have personally hung the moon. Kimmie had even come up, wrapped her arms around Callie’s knees, and told her something that had made her heart sing.

“You’re the best, Auntie.” She’d said it right in front of Tim and Amanda, too. Not that this was a contest or anything, but still.

It’d been lovely to hear. Her weekend was complete after the wonderful time spent with the kids she loved as her own. The party had been extravagant, but she didn’t care. Tim and Amanda appreciated what she did and that made her even more happy to continue to shower them with love.

Her week didn’t start off as she’d hoped, however. Her brother could be completely oblivious to some things that came naturally to others. As pacifying and empathetic as he could be with his young patients, it was like he had a potato for a head when around his medical personnel.

Erika had stood there in front of Tim with a printout asking directly for his initials only to have him stride on by as if she hadn’t spoken. And Julie, more used to this behavior apparently, had shaken her head and glanced at Erika consolingly. Then, when one of the patient rooms hadn’t been ready on time for an appointment, he’d quickly gone up to Erika’s station.

“I need you to have these rooms ready on time,” he had hissed at her, despite not doing anything she’d asked him for all day long.

Erika had stormed off, mumbling something to me about needing a coffee break even though we only had a half hour of the workday left.

So, Callie had to be the one to address it with her brother. Again . And frankly, enough was enough.

She waited until the last patient had left before asking him all politely to join her in the administrative office. Then, she wound up like a Major League Baseball pitcher and let him have it.

“Tim, you’ve done it again. You’ve upset your staff by being rude to them. All day long you talked to them like they’re not important.”

He blinked. “What are you talking about?”

“Wow… Just wow.” She explained what she’d witnessed that day point by point. “Erika left in a huff for a coffee break about thirty minutes before we closed. She couldn’t take any more of you today. You’re going to lose her if you’re not careful. I don’t think she’ll put up with things in longsuffering silence like Julie will. And trust me, you don’t want to lose either of them.”

“Longsuffering silence is a bit much, don’t you think?”

Callie crossed her arms over her chest. “They probably don’t want to cross their boss for fear of losing their jobs. But you treated Erika especially deplorably today. And you’ve done similar stuff before. You’ve got to reserve some of that kindly doctor behavior for your staff, too. Or it’s just gonna be you and me in here.”

The heat drained out of his face. “Am I really that bad?”

“I’m sure you don’t mean to be. But you pay me to run this place and those two people need someone to speak up for them. Actually, you need me to speak up for them.”

“I guess I should apologize,” he said, dragging a hand down the back of his neck.

“Yes.” Also, she’d bring some treats in the morning. Maybe a dozen black forest brownies from Sweet Everything. She’d been dying to try those ever since she’d heard about them shortly after she’d moved here. She suddenly wondered why she hadn’t tried them, but brought her mind back to the situation at hand. Sugar might not be good for the body, but it could be good for the soul. And for frayed nerves.

Tomorrow, she’d be going out on another excursion with Zeke, one he’d hinted would finish up their tour. So she needed to come up with a plan to keep these outings with him going, as well. The tiny bit she’d discovered about him only whetted her appetite to know more. A light bulb went off over her head, and she began to research something on her phone.

This might just be the key to her cracking past that tough outer shell of his.