When Jake snagged two seats at the counter, Lucinda hesitated only momentarily. She’d never sat at a counter to eat. Another new experience.
A waitress sidled up to them and poured coffee. Jake smiled at her. “You just saved my soul,” he drawled.
God, Lucinda thought. The man was a charmer.
“Hey, Mabs,” Jake said when she walked toward them. “Morning!”
“Don’t you ‘morning’ me.” She sent a dark scowl his way. “You sit right there and drink that coffee. You—” she pointed at Lucinda, “come with me.”
He and Lucy exchanged puzzled frowns before she slid off her stool and followed Mabs into a back room.
Mabs closed the door behind her. “Caught the news last night after I closed up.” She put her hands on her ample hips. “Seems you’ve gotten yourself into a bit of a pickle.”
“Yes, I guess I have.”
“You with Jake ’cause you want to be?”
“More or less.”
“I almost sent the police around to your room last night.”
Lucinda started in surprise. “Why?”
“I saw that picture of your abandoned car, honey. Wondered for a bit if maybe Jake took advantage of a bad situation and abducted you.”
“No.” Lucinda shook her head. “It’s nothing like that. Jake rescued me.”
Mabs smiled. “Uh-huh. Thought you two looked pretty friendly last night. Once I thought about things, I figured you were okay. Gotta tell you, though, if he forced you to go with him, I don’t care how pretty that mug of his is, I’d have whacked him upside it with one of my cast-iron skillets and let the sheriff haul his sorry ass to jail.”
For several stunned seconds, Lucinda couldn’t answer. She couldn’t imagine her own mother standing up for her like this, yet here was a complete stranger willing to go to bat for her.
She gave her would-be savior a hug. “Oh, Mabs, I’m fine. I’m not sure what I’d have done yesterday without Jake. But you can’t know how much your concern means to me.”
“You’re not lying to save me the trouble of callin’ in the cops?”
Lucinda laughed. “I’m positive. Yesterday was an absolutely hideous day. Jake came along on his motorcycle and saved me.”
Mabs let out a big sigh. “Can’t tell you how glad I am to hear that. Not just ’cause I didn’t want you to be in trouble. But Lord a mercy, I hated the idea of that walkin’, talkin’ cutie-pie being locked away.” She gave a decisive nod. “But I’d have done it if I needed to.”
“Thank you.” Lucinda hugged her again. “I believe you would have.”
“Okay, then.” Mabs pulled on the hem of her smock to straighten it, then opened the door. “Let’s go see what that sweetheart of yours wants for breakfast.”
“He’s not my—”
But Mabs was already halfway to the counter.
No matter how hard Jake pried and wheedled, neither Mabs nor Lucy would tell him what she’d been so all-fired riled up about, so he put it away, relieved to have the affable, chatty Mabs of last night back. The fire-breathing dragon she’d temporarily morphed into had been downright scary.
He stared across the table at his new sidekick. “You know, I sure never figured we’d be sitting here having breakfast today.”
“That makes two of us.”
“Wasn’t exactly on my schedule to rescue a damsel in distress yesterday.”
“I don’t know that I’d—”
“Then when I saw that dress of yours come dancin’ out of the restroom flung over a young girl’s arm, I figured you’d either been mugged or decided to abandon me.”
She laughed. “She needed a wedding gown. I didn’t.”
Jake rubbed his chin. Amazing. Not that he’d had much experience with stuff like that, but he’d bet all the chrome on his Harley that that little piece of wedding fluff had cost thousands and thousands of dollars. And she’d given it away to a complete stranger. He wasn’t sure quite how he felt about that. Incredulous over her generosity or outraged over her complete disregard for money?
Of course, she’d never had to work for it, so easy come, easy go, he guessed. He rubbed a thumb over the calluses on his palm. Calluses he’d earned, both on the rigs, then wielding a hammer to build new homes for families who had lost theirs in Katrina. Along with his lawyer skills to help the fishermen and shrimpers, he’d dusted off the carpentry lessons his grandpa had given him during summers on the farm.
But his mind had wandered far off-track.
When his plate came, Lucinda stared at it, wide-eyed. Two eggs, two sausages, bacon, hash browns, grits and white toast. “You’re not really going to dump all that fat and cholesterol into your system this early in the morning, are you?”