“You flatter me,” Adeline tittered but was already bustling around fixing him a plate of fried chicken left over from their supper. “You hungry?”
“I could eat,” he said, grinning. “But would it be too much trouble to fix up two plates?”
That stopped Adeline. “Two? Did you bring a friend? Do you have a lady out there?” The hope in her voice was too much and he laughed.
“Sort of. I mean, yes. But she’s a client. We’re holing up here for a few days to get off the grid. Is that okay?”
“Of course it is,” Warren said. “You never have to ask.”
“Thank you, sir. I appreciate that. We’ll stay out of your hair, I promise. In the meantime, I can help out with the chores if you like.”
“I never turn away good help,” Warren said, grinning. “Now eat up and get settled and we can chat in the morning. You good with a 5:00 a.m. wake-up?”
“I love that nothing ever changes around here,” Rian said, though he was groaning privately at such an early wake-up. That was the one thing about ranch life that he didn’t quite miss. Although a Kentucky sunrise was something to see. At least there was that. “See you bright and early.”
“Good to have you, son,” Warren said with genuine affection and then, after snagging a fresh cookie, returned to the living room, to read the paper, no doubt.
Rian turned to Adeline, who had already fixed up two plates and said, “Now, don’t think that you’re going to get away with not bringing that young lady over here to meet us. I don’t care if she’s a client or a lady friend, that’s just Southern hospitality and you know it.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Dinner tomorrow night?”
There was no point in refusing. “Of course. Should we bring anything?”
“Just yourselves.” Adeline’s sunny smile was as sweet as Cora’s pies ever were. Seeing Adeline made him miss Cora all the more. She caught his momentary falter and her expression softened. “Everything okay?”
“I was just thinking of Cora. Still miss her.”
“We all do, honey. We all do. You can’t know a woman like Cora and not feel the cold when she’s gone, that’s a fact.”
He loved that Adeline understood and didn’t feel threatened by their love for Cora. He’d always believed that God broke the mold after He’d made Cora but then he realized shortly after Cora’s funeral that He’d actually made a spare with Adeline. He hefted the stacked plates covered in tin foil in his hand. “Thanks for this. I’m starved and this is going to hit the spot.”
“Oh, go on with you. It’s just fried chicken and some mashed potatoes. It’ll stick to your ribs good, though.”
He leaned over and kissed Adeline’s cheek. “Perfect for a country boy like me,” he said with a grin and she giggled with pleasure. Yep, so much like Cora it made his heart happy and sad at the same time. “See you tomorrow.”
Adeline waved and returned to cleaning up the kitchen while Rian walked the short distance to Kane and Laci’s house. He found CoCo thumbing through a photo album from Kane and Laci’s wedding. “I got some food, courtesy of Adeline and Warren. Don’t worry, you’ll meet them tomorrow over supper.” He set the plates on the table and walked over to CoCo to peer over her shoulder at the pictures. There was a picture of Rian and Kane, linked arm in arm, dressed in their tuxedos, grinning for the camera with plump cigars in their mouths. “Good times,” he noted with a grin. “Hungry?”
She closed the album. “Starved. What do you have?”
He pulled the tin foil away from the plates. “Good old-fashioned, stick-to-your-ribs country cooking. It’s made with butter, cream and all sorts of things that will make most LA girls run away for fear of putting on a pound or two, but it’s going to taste like heaven in your mouth.”
“Well, lucky for you, I’m only half LA girl and the other half is pure Italian, and my Italian side likes to eat.” She took a seat and pulled her plate toward her for an exploratory sniff, then groaned. “Smells amazing. Fork?”