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Dylan’s mouth curved upward at the notion. “He actually said that?”
    So, she wasn’t the only one who found the teen’s proposal to her completely ludicrous!
    â€œIt was part of his come-on,” she explained. “I think in Xavier’s teenage fantasy I was just supposed to melt in his arms or something.”
    Dylan grunted in response, his disapproval evident.
    â€œAnyway,” Emily rushed on, anxious to put the embarrassing situation behind her, “I’m sure that after what just happened he’ll leave me alone now.”
    Dylan’s expression was suddenly as inscrutable as his posture. Deliberately, he inclined his head. “If he doesn’t…you’re welcome to be ‘my woman’…anytime.”

Chapter Three
    â€œDylan Reeves really called you his woman? ” Simone echoed in the café kitchen early the following day.
    Doing her best to keep her focus on getting ready for the morning rush, Emily shrugged nonchalantly. “He was mocking me because of what I said to that boy in the heat of the moment.” The fact that Emily warmed from head to toe, every time she recalled it, was her own foolishness. “Obviously, Dylan didn’t mean it because it’s not true.” She brought an extra large pan of golden-brown cinnamon rolls from the oven, and slid in a pan of buttermilk biscuits.
    Simone manned the sausage and bacon on the griddle. She winked. “He could be—if you wanted it. Seriously…he’s got the hots for you.”
    Emily guffawed. “You only wish my life were that exciting. Dylan is the kind of guy who roots for the underdog in every situation and he thought I was disadvantaged in that moment.”
    â€œWere you?”
    Emily gave the hash-brown potatoes a stir. “I had just stomped on Xavier’s toes and planned to escort him to the door. But…Dylan beat me to it.”
    â€œWow…” Simone comically fanned her chest. “Two men fighting over you.”
    Emily blushed despite herself. “I wouldn’t call Xavier a man,” she said.
    â€œI know.” Sympathetic, Simone furrowed her brow. “What’s up with that? How old is he?”
    â€œNineteen.”
    â€œThat is way too young to be running a restaurant,” Simone said.
    â€œNo kidding. But I imagine he’s going to find that out the hard way.”
    The bell on the service door sounded, as Billy Ray and Bobbie Sue Everett came in. The married couple waited tables at the café during the day and attended community-college classes at night. Normally very down-to-earth and unflappable, they were giddy with excitement. “You-all have got to see this. We’ve never seen anything like this!”
    All four of them rushed to the front windows. Dawn was barely streaking across the sky, but there it was—on the opposite side of the Laramie town square—a big burnished-bronze trailer-style restaurant, with an old-style saloon front, sitting on top of an enormous tractor-trailer bed. Next to it was the enormous crane that would move the Cowtown Diner onto the lot where a gas station had once stood.
    Emily’s heart sank. It really was happening.
    â€œCan you believe it’s actually going to be open for business by the end of the week?” Billy Ray said.
    Aware the customers would soon be lining up outside the door to be let in when the café opened at six o’clock, Emily went back to the kitchen and brought out the platters of homemade cinnamon rolls and sticky buns that would be on display.
    â€œIt’s only possible,” Emily said, “because the building is delivered ready to go and everything they serve in the restaurant is prepackaged and pre-made.”
    â€œIt’s still amazing,” Bobbie Sue murmured, while quickly helping her husband set up the tables.
    Emily had a sinking feeling her customers were going to think so, too.
    Â 
    T HE LUNCH