by Laura Drake
The waitress brought their food and drinks at the same time and Irene concentrated on her food. Allie was afraid to say anything at all because it could make her grandmother shift gears and suddenly not know either her or Blake.
“Allie.” Irene touched her on the arm. “What are we doing here?”
Allie laid a hand over her grandmother’s. “You had a forgetting moment, Granny. Deke’s friend asked us to go to dinner with him and you said you’d love some fried chicken.”
“This is Blake from the Lucky Penny. He’s not Deke’s friend,” Irene argued.
“Yes, he is. He and Deke are really good friends. Our fried chicken is here. Let’s eat it before it gets cold,” Allie said.
“I do like fried chicken. Did Grady and Mitch go home with Lizzy?” Irene asked.
Allie nodded.
“Well, I’m glad I came with you and Blake because I really don’t like either one of those guys.” Irene dug into her dinner with gusto.
Blake bit into a piece of fried chicken. “Is your chicken this good?” he asked Allie.
Irene laughed. “Oh, honey. Her fried chicken is even better than my mama’s was. And her biscuits would make the angels in heaven weep for joy.”
“Now you have to marry me.” Blake grinned.
Where were those hot flash pills? She needed a mug full to eat like candy corn.
“No, she’s not going to marry you. We might go to dinner with you when fried chicken is involved, but the women of Audrey’s Place do not marry the men from the Lucky Penny, and that’s a fact.” Irene’s mind and body both shifted from little girl to grown woman in the blink of an eye. “If we had some fried green tomatoes, this would be the ideal Sunday dinner.”
Without another word, she cleaned up her plate and pushed it back. “Now I want pecan pie with ice cream.”
Allie caught the waitress’s eye and the lady hurried right over to their table. “Ready for dessert? Three pecan pies with ice cream.”
Irene giggled. “No, three slices of pecan pie with ice cream. I can’t eat a whole pie.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The waitress patted her gently on the shoulder.
“Old people can say whatever they want and folks don’t even mind,” Irene said. “But I’m glad these people over here in Olney−we are in Olney, aren’t we?”
Blake nodded. “Yes, ma’am, we are. I heard you liked fried chicken and that this place served up a good Sunday special.”
“Well, I’m glad that we’re here and not in Dry Creek. That café has been closed for years in Dry Creek, hasn’t it?”
Allie’s head bobbed. “Yes, Granny. You are remembering very well today.”
“Some days are better than others,” she said.
Floating from one time period to the next always exhausted her grandmother. The poor old dear curled up next to the window on the way home and went to sleep. What little Allie and Blake did say to each other was said in low tones so they wouldn’t wake her. Twenty-five minutes from the time they’d left the restaurant, he drove past the church, the feed store, and the convenience store and on out to the lane that led back to Audrey’s Place. He parked in front of the big two-story house and Allie saw the house through his eyes.
“Not what you were expecting?” she asked.
“I’m not sure. I don’t see red lights or scantily clad women or even a sign that says Audrey’s Place.” He looked up at her through the rearview mirror.
“Well, it’s not still a whorehouse! Truth is it was always referred to as a hotel. The porch is an add-on and I’ve redone a lot of the interior,” she said.
Irene roused up and looked at the house as if seeing it for the first time in her life. “Where are we? Why did you bring me here?”
Allie touched her on the arm. “We’re home. Are you ready to go on inside and get warm in your own bed?”
Irene blinked several times and skewered up one side of her face as she finally found a place that made sense. “I’m not going in there. Not until he leaves. He shouldn’t have slept with that woman and I don’t want to be married to him anymore.”
“Who?”
Irene had settled on the time when her husband had cheated on her. “Your grandpa. He’s in there trying to be nice to Mama so she’ll make me stay with him. He’s lower than a snake’s belly and I will get even. I can still turn a man’s head even if I am almost forty.”
Blake started to back the truck out of the driveway. “Where do you want to go? You name the place, Miz Irene, and I will take you wherever you tell me to.”
“Granny, that is Mitch’s truck. Remember? He’s engaged to Lizzy,” Allie said.
Irene nodded slowly. “That’s right. I get things mixed up sometimes, especially when I first wake up. It’s like I’m in another world. Let’s sneak inside. We can’t go anywhere else with this snow coming down.”
When they left church there was about a flake to the acre as her father used to say when it was barely spitting snow, but after they left Olney the skies turned a solid gray and it started to get serious about the business.
“Come on in with us, Blake, but you will have to be very quiet.” Irene’s eyes twinkled as she put a finger over her lips.
Blake shut off the engine. “I should be going.”
She folded her hands over her chest and glared at him. “Nonsense. I’m not getting out of this truck if you don’t go in with us.”
Allie nodded ever so slightly when he caught her eye in the mirror again. “I guess you’ll have to do what she wants.”
“Thank you,” Irene said. “Now you can help me out and I’ll hold on to your arm so I don’t fall going up the porch steps. You do remind me of someone but I think he wore glasses.”
Blake slung open his door and then opened hers. He looped her arm through his and held his hand over hers as he matched his step to hers.
Allie was on the other side and Irene grabbed her hand. “I think we had a good time today but I can’t remember much about it. Is it Monday?”
“No, Granny, it’s Sunday. We went to church this morning.”
“That’s right and we sang, ‘Abide with Me,’ didn’t we? And now it’s snowing like the weatherman said. Can we make snow ice cream tomorrow?”
“You had the prettiest voice in the whole church.” Blake took the three porch steps one at a time, making sure her footing was steady before he went to the next one. “And I’ve got a real good recipe for snow ice cream. I’ll make a big bowl full and bring it to you if Allie is too busy to make it for you.”
“Thank you. I like that hymn. It was Mama’s favorite. And I really like snow ice cream,” Irene said. “You are a good man to help me inside, but now it’s time to be quiet and not talk or we’ll have to be nice to that sumbitch that Lizzy is engaged to marry. Some folks have to learn their lessons the hard way.”
Allie opened the door and they slipped inside the foyer and all the way back to Irene’s room without getting caught. When Audrey’s Place was first built, the owners occupied the only bedroom on the first floor. Granny and Grandpa shared that room until he died, but now it was hers alone. She let go of Blake’s arm and Allie’s hand and eased the door shut. “They’re in the kitchen. I’m safe now and I’m going to sleep a while so y’all can go on. Allie, don’t you stay out late and Blake, you see to it she’s home by ten. Decent women are in bed at ten. And it feels like I had a good time today so thank you for that.”
“Yes, ma’am, I will see to it that she is,” Blake said.
When they were in the foyer, Blake hugged her close to his side. “It has to be the scariest thing in the world for her. She’s probably afraid to shut her eyes when her world is right because she’s afraid she’ll lose what control she has while she’s asleep,” he said. “Poor old darlin’ is such a sweetheart when she’s lucid. I would have loved to have known her before this disease started eating away at her mind.”
Allie leaned into his shoulder and it felt so right. “We never know what will set he
r off. She doesn’t like Mitch or Grady, so that might have made her regress to her childhood so she didn’t have to think about them. The doctor says one day she simply won’t remember any of us, so we take the good when we can get it.”
“Well, look who made it home.” Grady’s shifty eyes darted from Blake to Allie and back again. “I told Lizzy I heard you out here.”
Allie put a finger over her lips. “Shhh. She’s settled down for a nap. If she hears voices it will upset her.”
Grady’s nose curled in disgust. “She needs to be put away in a place where they take care of people like her. It has to be draining on the whole family to put up with those tantrums when she goes back to being a child, if she does.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Allie asked coldly.
“She doesn’t like me or Mitch. She’s told him that she hopes he dies before the wedding, so I figure that she’s playing the whole bunch of you. I’d be willing to bet that she wasn’t a little kid at all this morning.” Grady tilted his chin up like the know-it-all he thought he was.
“You really think so?” Blake asked.
“I don’t think so. I know it but right now I will speak for the family and say thank you for playing along with her and bringing Allie home early. I hear that you bought the Lucky Penny? How long do you think you’ll last before you give up and go back to wherever you came from?” Grady asked coldly.
“I don’t give up easy. When I want something I work my ass off for it and treat it right,” Blake answered.
“And,” Allie said, “you don’t need to speak for the family since you are definitely not a part of it.”
Grady laid a hand on Allie’s shoulder. “Now don’t get all huffy, darlin’. It’s not becoming for a lady.”
She shrugged it off and sucked in enough air to give him an earful of what she thought of him, when Katy pushed past Grady and hugged Allie. “You are home. I heard y’all talking and wanted to thank you, Blake, personally for what you did today for my mother and daughter. We’ve been told to play along with whatever time frame she’s in and I’m very glad that you helped us out today.”
“You are very welcome,” Blake said. “I suppose I really should be going before the snow gets worse.”
Snow!
God Bless Blake Dawson’s soul!
It could be her salvation from that slimy Grady.
She hugged her mother and ignored Grady. “Granny switched gears about the time we finished eating and she wanted a nap. She’s resting so it might be best if y’all took your conversation back to the kitchen. I’m going to follow Blake over to the Lucky Penny to unload all the supplies I bought yesterday. They’re under a good strong tarp but if they get wet, it could be disastrous.”
Blake nodded toward Grady and smiled at Katy. “It’s been real nice meeting all y’all. I guess we’d best get going if we’re to get things unloaded before the snow gets any deeper.” He ushered her out of the house with his hand on the small of her back.
Allie could feel Grady’s eyes boring holes into her but she didn’t give a damn. If it wouldn’t have wakened Granny, she would have liked to put a well-placed knee in his crotch when he made that remark about her grandmother. Watching him roll around on the floor holding on to his balls would have brought her so much satisfaction.
“Thank you. If I had to stay in that house I might really do what Granny asked me to,” she said.
“Which is?”
“Kill Mitch. Only if I’m going to jail for a murder, I might as well make it two. When Grady looks at me, my skin crawls like it did…” she stopped.
“Go on,” Blake said.
“Not today. I’m sorry we’ve ruined your whole Sunday and now you’ll have to help me unload wallboard and lumber,” she said.
“Do I make your skin crawl?” he asked.
“Hell, no!” she said quickly.
He chuckled. “Then I don’t need to know any more. I’ll follow your van and trailer to my ranch. That way if anything flies off, I can stop and get it. Don’t look like this is going to slow down any.”
“My van is parked around back. I’ll…well, shit…I’m still wearing my Sunday clothes.”
The north wind had picked up and blew Allie’s hair across her face, snowflakes as big as dimes sticking in it. Blake reached out and tucked the errant strands behind her ear. “And you look mighty lovely in that pretty dress. You drive over to my house and I’ll give Deke a call. We’ll unload the trailer for you if you’ll keep that dress on so I can enjoy the view a little longer.”
“Does that pickup line work for you?” She grinned.
He leaned on the hood of his truck and grinned down at her. “Don’t know. You tell me.” His eyes smoldered. “Is it worth writing down in my pickup line book?”
Allie giggled. “You’ve got a book?”
“That’s classified information. See you at the ranch,” he said with a wink.
As she drove from her place to his, she wondered how many names were in that book and how many pages were devoted to pickup lines. Could he tell by looking at a woman which lines he should use and which ones wouldn’t work? Or did he fly by the seat of his pants, using whatever came to his mind in the moment?
Why did she care anyway? She slapped at the steering wheel, which seemed to be a regular thing these days. But dammit anyway! Blake infuriated her with his flirting. She wanted him to back off, but then she loved the excitement in his eyes, in his touch, and in his kisses. Her breath caught in her chest and her hands went clammy when she thought about that heat in his eyes just minutes before. It was one of those damn conundrums that drove her batshit crazy. She couldn’t have it both ways. Either she had to make him step back or trust him, and how in the hell did she do either one?
Deke was already waiting in the yard when Allie arrived in the van. It took some fast work but everything was in the house before snow changed to big cold rain drops falling from the sky in buckets. He and Blake shucked out of their coats and hung them on the rack. Blake headed for the sofa and Deke headed toward the kitchen. “Anyone besides me want a beer?”
“Well, make yourself right at home,” Allie scolded.
Deke landed a brotherly kiss across her cheek on his way to the kitchen. “Don’t gripe at me like I was your little brother. If I can be called on to help a friend, then I can make myself at home, right, Blake?”
“That’s right and so can you, Allie.” He turned around and went back to help her out of her coat.
There it was again when his hands brushed against that soft spot on her neck. An intensified surge of emotions rattling through her body wanting more than a touch, more than a kiss. Then her brain kicked in quite loudly and reminded her that he was wild and wicked and not to be trusted. God Almighty! Which one did she listen to anyway?
“I hate Sunday nights,” Deke said. “They are the most boring hours in the whole week.”
“Why is that?” Allie asked, as breathless as if she’d had an actual argument with someone.
“The rest of the week we need forty hours in a day to get everything done. Friday we celebrate the week ending with a trip to Frankie’s or a good cowboy bar and maybe Saturday night, too. But Sunday night is downright lonesome,” Deke said.
“That’s the gospel truth.” Blake nodded in agreement. “At home at least there was family that stuck around until bedtime.”
“We could make some popcorn and watch a movie and be bored together. It would keep Allie from havin’ to go home.” Deke sighed.
Allie would watch Shooter sleep if it would keep her from having to spend time playing Monopoly or watching the kind of movie Lizzy and Mitch picked out. She wished that Frankie’s was open on Sunday evening. Listening to Etta James and Ray Charles, dancing with Blake, maybe indulging in just one more of those steamy kisses, watching Deke flirt with the women—now that sounded exciting.
“I haven’t got cable yet, but there are a few western movies that I brought along with me and it would be good
to have some company,” Blake said. “Y’all want to follow me and we’ll pick one out together.”
“How many did you bring?” Deke asked.
“A boot box full,” Blake answered.
“Y’all choose. I’m going to the restroom,” Allie said. “Meet you back in the living room.”
“Allie is quite a woman,” Blake said. “Beautiful, talented, and smart.”
“Yep.” Deke nodded. “I like this one.” He held up Quigley Down Under starring Tom Selleck.
“That’ll do fine. Between me and you I’d rather be at Frankie’s than doing this.”
“Me, too, but Frankie is religious. He’s closed on Sunday.”
“You’ve got to be kiddin’ me! Moonshine, hookers, and he’s religious?” Blake drawled.
“There’s layers to everyone, my friend. Frankie attends church over there in his community and leads the singin’.”
Blake shook his head all the way up the hall to the kitchen. “So tell me about Allie’s layers.” He found a box of instant hot chocolate in the second place he looked and set three oversized mugs on the counter.
Deke put a bag of popcorn into the microwave. “She is a woman underneath those work clothes. She has a heart as big as Texas. She is a good sister even though she and Lizzy argue all the time. She’s a damn fine granddaughter and the best friend a man could have.”
“I’ve never had a woman for a friend,” Blake said.
“Then start with Allie. She’s the best.”
“Who is the best?” Allie’s big brown eyes looked from one cowboy to the other.
“You are,” Deke said.
“At what?” she asked.
“Being a man’s friend. Hell, you’re even better than my dog, and I really love that dog.” Deke grinned.
She poked him on the arm. “Aww, now ain’t that the sweetest thing a woman can hear. What are we watching?”
“I picked out Quigley Down Under.”
“Never have seen it. Can I help do anything?”
“Not a thing. It’s about ready to take to the living room,” Blake said.