He held up a hand to halt her stuttering, awkward apology. "It's apple." He nodded his head to indicate the pie on the opposite side of the booth. "You told me you preferred apple."
Lizzy stared at him in surprise and then looked down at the piece of Mary's apple pie that he apparently meant for her to sit down and eat.
She'd thought he might yell at her. She believed it possible he might completely ignore her, but nothing like this scenario had ever entered her mind.
She glanced at the counter. There were only two diners seated there, and it was usually about this time in the evening that Mary told her she could take a break.
She slid into the seat across from him, feeling as if she were having a slight out-of-body experience. She wasn't even sure what to say to him.
"Apology accepted," he said. He had a nice voice, deep and smooth. He gazed at her with an intensity that simmered inside her. "You aren't from around here."
"No, I'm not." The shock was beginning to wear off enough to at least allow her to speak.
"So, tell me, Elizabeth, but everyone calls you Lizzy, how you wound up sitting across from me and eating my pie here in Grady Gulch." He cupped his big hands around his cup of coffee and looked at her with curiosity.
Lizzy picked up her fork and cut through the pie, the cinnamon-apple scent instantly reminding her of her mother's house. Her mother had always loved to bake. "I'm originally from Chicago. Four months ago my mother passed away, but before she died she made me promise that I'd get to my bucket list right away."
"'Bucket list'?" He frowned in obvious puzzlement.
"You know, a list of all the things you want to do before you kick the bucket … before you die."
"Your mother was worried about you dying soon?" His frown deepened, tugging his dark eyebrows closer together.
"No, not at all," Lizzy replied hurriedly. "Although I think she was afraid I was going to work myself into an early grave. At the time I was working in an ad agency. Brutal hours, no time for fun or downtime. I was in the fast lane for success, and I think Mom worried that I'd forgotten what was really important in life."
Lizzy paused a moment and took a bite of the pie, thankful when he broke eye contact for a moment to pick up his fork. She was aware that she was talking too much, too fast, but seemed unable to stop herself.
"Anyway," she continued, "Mom had a bucket list of all the things she'd planned to do when she retired, when she had the time and the money to explore and have adventures." A rush of emotion rose up, but Lizzy swallowed it back with another bite of pie. "Unfortunately she hadn't planned on cancer. Two days before she passed she made me promise to take my inheritance and fulfill my bucket list now rather than waiting until I was older and settled. So, that's what I'm doing in her honor."
"And one of the things on your bucket list was to be a waitress in Grady Gulch?" He looked at her as if she might just be a little bit crazy.
She grinned. "No, not specifically, although waitressing in a small café was one of the things on my list, along with selling surfboards on a beach in California and working in a gift shop in the Grand Canyon. I've already done both those things. I was driving across the country when I stumbled onto Grady Gulch and the Cowboy Café and decided this would be my next stop."
"Stumbling across Grady Gulch is about the only way you'd find it," he said wryly as he cut through his piece of pie. "It's kind of a strange bucket list." Once again his gray eyes sought hers. "Most people would have skydiving, or a worldwide cruise or visiting a foreign country on their list."
She nodded. "I know, but I wanted to explore the United States rather than a foreign country," she explained. "And what I wanted to do was take jobs for short periods of time in different areas of the country that put me in touch with a variety of people. Meeting a cowboy was on my list, and I managed to accomplish that here, too."
Just a whisper of a smile curved his lips, and the result of that small gesture shot a burst of surprising warmth through Lizzy. "You can't take a step in this town without crunching the brim of some cowboy's hat," he said. "So, have you finished your bucket list?"
"Oh no, I've really only just gotten started. I'll probably be here for another couple of weeks or so, and then I'll be moving on."
"Moving on to where? What else is on this list of yours?"
Lizzy looked over at the counter, making sure that none of her customers was trying to get her attention. Everyone seemed satisfied, so she took another bite of the apple pie and then answered him.
"Stargazing from a mountaintop. Singing on a corner in Times Square. Learn to ride a horse. Take some kind of dance lessons."
She ticked off part of her list, but consciously didn't tell him that one of the things on it was to make love to a man she'd never forget. She knew it was corny and ridiculously romantic and she hadn't actually written it down on paper, but it was on the bucket list in her head.
"I could help you with one of those things," he said.
A rivulet of shock jerked through her, and for a moment she wondered if he'd heard her thoughts. "What?" her voice squeaked in surprise.
"I've some nice saddle horses. I could teach you to ride."
She blinked as his words penetrated into her brain. Ride a horse, that's what he was talking about. Of course that's what he was talking about.
Certainly a man who loved his wife so deeply that almost two years after her death he still had shadows of grief in his eyes, a man who still ordered his dead wife a piece of pie, wouldn't be volunteering to be the passionate lover she'd never forget.
"That would be great," she exclaimed, surprised by his offer. "I've always wanted to ride a horse, but I've never even been up close to one before."
"When do you have a day off?"
"Monday. I'm off all day and night." She tried to tamp down the stutter of her accelerated heartbeat.
"Where are you staying?"
"In one of the cabins out back."
He looked down at his coffee cup for a long moment and then met her gaze once again. It was impossible to read him through his eyes, which remained dark and enigmatic.
"Why don't I pick you up around nine on Monday morning. We'll go out to my place and you can meet my horses and we'll plan a little trail ride."
A rush of anticipation swept through her, and she wasn't sure if it was a result of knowing she'd accomplish something from her bucket list or if it was because that meant she would be spending more time with him.
Something about Daniel Jefferson intrigued her. Something about him excited her, and that wasn't necessarily a good thing. One of her personal rules was to never get too close to anyone in her travels. She had people to meet and places to see before she finally settled down to begin real life again, and she was determined to fulfill the promise she'd made to her mother-to complete her bucket list.
"That would be great," she heard herself reply.
There was a moment of awkward silence as he took another bite of his pie and gazed down at the tabletop. At that moment, Lizzy glanced back to the counter and saw that one of her diners was holding up his coffee cup toward her, indicating he needed a refill.
"I've got to get back to work," she said. "Thanks for the apology acceptance and the pie." She slid out of the booth. "I'll see you Monday morning."
She was conscious of his gaze following her as she left the booth and hurried back to the counter. She refilled coffee cups, got a bottle of ketchup for Mr. Criswell's fries, and when she looked back at the booth Daniel was gone.
A sigh of wonder whooshed out of her at the same time Mary sidled up next to her. "Okay, spill the beans. I saw you sitting at his booth for a few minutes. What happened?" she asked.
"He accepted my apology and he ordered me a piece of your apple pie," Lizzy replied. "And he's picking me up Monday morning to take me to his place to meet his horses and teach me how to ride." She still couldn't quite believe what had just happened.
She frowned and looked at Mary. "You're not going to tell me he's really some kind of a creep, are you?"
"No, on the contrary, he's a very nice man." Mary narrowed her eyes and gazed at Lizzy speculatively. "He's been through a really rough time." She hesitated a moment and then continued. "Please don't break his heart, Lizzy."