Chapter 82
Barry left the dining room to retrieve the rest of the food, wondering what was going on between Zane and Rory. He hoped he was overthinking it, as he had a habit of doing.
“Any more of that butter?” Liam asked as the six cowboys ate.
“Some,” Wayne said. “What’s in it?” he asked Barry.
Barry had prepared some finishing butter which he’d explained should be spread on the steaks, the heat melting the butter into the meat.
“Just some garlic and herbs and…”
Wayne looked up. “And?”
Barry grinned. “An anchovy.”
“But I don’t like anchovies,” Jimmy said.
“You liked the butter,” Jake told him.
Jimmy poked at the pool of melted butter on his plate before licking his finger. “I’d have never known if you hadn’t said.”
Barry grinned.
The cowboys had been a bit leery of the roasted veggies, although the garlic had been the most popular.
The spinach salad with pears, walnuts, and crumbled blue cheese with hot bacon dressing had gone down really well. The men had told Barry to add it to their list of dishes they’d like him to repeat.
“You say that about almost everything I make for you.”
“That’s because almost everything you make for us is fucking awesome,” Liam told him to a chorus of agreement.
One thing he had repeated was his baked potatoes. It had taken him several attempts to find the right variety and cooking method. He wanted crispy, crunchy skins while the inside of the potato came out soft, white, and fluffy.
“Awesome,” Zane said, cleaning the last bit of melted butter from his plate with a piece of bread roll.
“Thank you,” Barry said, still amazed at how much food the huge cowboy could put away. From what Barry could see, the man’s bulk was muscle rather than fat.
“Cake time,” Jake said.
“Cake?” Barry asked, trying to sound perplexed.
Jake grinned. “I know you won’t have forgotten, so don’t even try it.”
Barry returned the grin and got to his feet. “Can’t fool you, can I?”
A few minutes later, Barry came back into a darkened dining room holding a birthday cake with three lit red penis candles on top.
Jake blew out the candles and Jimmy turned the lights back on.
“It’s red,” Zane said.
Everyone laughed.
“What?” Zane asked.
The men tried to explain the whole blue and red thing with Jimmy and Jake.
Zane shook his head. “That’s just weird.”
The men laughed again, Jimmy and Jake raising their middle fingers. Things settled down when Jake cut into the cake and slices were served along with ice cream.
“This is great, Barry,” Jake said, red crumbs sticking to his chin.
“Glad you like.”
“Red velvet cake isn’t it?” Wayne asked.
Barry nodded. “With cream cheese frosting.” To which he’d added a generous amount of red food coloring. 17
No sooner was Jake’s birthday over than it was time to resume preparations for Christmas. As with Thanksgiving, the hands had been given time off, but as none of them had families close by, they all elected to stay on the ranch over the holiday. Barry therefore felt an obligation to make the food as festive and home-like as possible.
Barry had agonized over what gifts to get his men. They hadn’t been any help, saying they didn’t need anything apart from him. Barry hadn’t been all that much better when they’d asked him what he wanted.
One day in early November as Barry mucked Shadow’s stall, Liam gave him an idea for what he could give or rather make for Jimmy and Jake’s present. It was perfect on so many levels.
“But I’ll need a lot of help from you,” Barry told the older cowboy.
“No problem,” Liam replied.
Dirty and smelling of horse shit, Barry gave Liam a hug and a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you. This’ll be awesome.”
“Uh, yeah.” Liam was flustered and his cheeks turned red from embarrassment. “If I were thirty years younger…”
He’d said that before. Barry threw off his British reserve and asked, “I’m really surprised someone as…great as you hasn’t been snapped up.”
Something passed over Liam’s face, but it was gone before Barry could identify it.
“Sorry, none of my business,” Barry said, his British reserve kicking back in.
“It’s okay. It happened years ago. I loved him, he loved me, or at least said he did but…” Liam shook his head. “He loved his rodeo career more.” He sighed. “Like I said, it was a long time ago.”
“Whoever he was is a damn fool,” Barry said, squeezing Liam’s shoulder.
“Don’t know about that.” The older cowboy smiled sadly. “Come on, enough chit-chatting. Shadow’s stall won’t muck itself.”
After finishing his duties to his horse, Barry rushed back to the ranch house, showered, and started work on Jimmy and Jake’s gift. From then on, every hour he had free, he locked himself away in Cookie’s old room. Jimmy and Jake grew concerned, then curious, especially when they found out Liam was in on it. They questioned their foreman, but Liam got a perverse pleasure in remaining tight-lipped.
Barry was determined not to let either his cooking or his times with Shadow or Rex suffer, although the rain did impact how much practice time he had in the arena.