Free Sweet Home Colorado (The O'Malley Men) by C.C. Coburn

for Jack and refused to move.
    “We’re taking a late lunch,” Matt explained. “Nice to have some
company. Can we order you ladies another drink?” He gestured to a young waiter
who practically raced to their table. Anything to keep the county sheriff happy,
it seemed.
    “I won’t say no to another root beer,” Sally said. “Grace and I
have been talking so much, I’m parched.”
    Great! Why don’t you just tell them
everything we’ve been talking about, Grace nearly blurted.
    “Four root beers,” Matt said to the waiter. “Make mine a diet
and I’ll have a Cobb salad with grilled chicken. What’ll you have, Jack? And for
heaven’s sake, sit down.”
    Since he was given no other option, Jack complied, sitting
beside Grace, who scooted over so far she was practically glued to the wall on
the other side. “Burger and fries,” he muttered.
    “I’m not sure if you’ve met my brother, Sally,” Matt said.
“Jack’s a contractor. Jack, this is Sally Carter. Her husband Dex is a roofing
contractor. Maybe you could send some work his way?”
    Jack nodded at Sally. “Nice to meet you, I’ve heard good things
about Dex’s work. If you have his card, I’ll get an estimate from him for my
next job.”
    “Jack’s supposed to be working on Grace’s house, but she fired
him this morning,” Matt said to Sally as if the other two weren’t there.
    “I did not fire him!” Grace spoke up at last. “He fired
me!”
    Matt’s eyes narrowed. “Is this true, Jack? One day on the job
and already you’re fighting with the client?” He grinned then and Grace
suspected Matt was all bluster, not taking the matter nearly as seriously as he
was pretending.
    “Stay out of it, Matt,” Jack warned.
    Grace grabbed her purse, ready to get out of there. One
problem—Jack was blocking the way.
    “Stay right where you are, Grace,” Matt said. “Neither of you
is leaving until you’ve both said sorry to each other and shaken hands on
it.”
    “The hell I will!” Grace said, crossing her arms. “I have
nothing to apologize for. It’s your Neanderthal brother who’s causing all the
trouble.”
    Matt nodded sagely and looked at Jack. “She’s probably right.
You’ve had so little experience with women, you have no idea how to treat
them.”
    The statement surprised Grace. Jack hadn’t had a lot of
girlfriends?
    “And you just stepped way over the
line,” Jack said, rising.
    Matt reached across the table and pushed him back down. “Food’s
here,” he said, then stole one of Jack’s fries and had his wrist slapped by his
brother. With a grin, Matt popped the French fry in his mouth, his expression
blissful.
    The fries smelled so good, Grace was tempted to steal one
herself.
    Matt looked in disgust at his salad, then dug his fork in.
Grace was thankful the crisp vegetables would have him chewing for a while,
unable to demand one or the other of them to apologize. Not so with Sally,
however. She’d long since finished her ribs, declared them delicious and was
ready to play devil’s advocate. “So who’s going to say they’re sorry first and
when are you starting work on Grace’s house again, Jack?”
    Jack glanced at Grace. “My rules still stand. Unless you’re
prepared to agree to them, we don’t have a business contract.”
    “Rules?” Matt and Sally asked at once, both leaning
forward.
    “Grace knows them and that’s all that matters,” Jack
snapped.
    “Okay, I agree to the rules,” Grace conceded. “But you have to
agree to use Sally’s husband for the roofing.”
    “And if his estimate comes in too high?” Jack asked.
    “It won’t,” Sally told him. “I’m sure Dex would love to work on
such a beautiful building. Apart from that, we have three kids to feed, so we
could do with the work. Speaking of which, I need to collect them from school.”
She began to stand and Matt got up to let her by. Shaking Jack’s hand, she said,
“Great to meet you at last, Jack. And a pleasure