by Laura Drake
“It’s all over your face and Blake’s been whistling more than usual and well, I’m your best friend, Allie, so I know. Now let’s eat before the food gets cold. I’m hungry and talking about hungry”—he blew on a spoonful of soup—“Nadine is having her grand opening tonight. She’s serving hamburgers and two blue plate specials. It’s not a big menu, but tomorrow she’s adding to it. We’re going. My treat for all the food I’ve been getting here and, Allie, this was your idea, so you need to be there.”
“So that’s what you wanted to tell us?” Blake asked.
“Yep. Now admit it. I’m right. You two are dating,” Deke said.
Allie downed the rest of her sweet tea. “Blake and I are more than friends.”
Deke reached for the salsa and added a tablespoon to his second bowl of soup. “I knew it. Have you told Lizzy and your mama?”
“Not yet. I thought maybe since we’re best friends that you’d do that for me,” she teased.
“Hell, no, I want to be out of the county when you tell Lizzy.”
Allie wasn’t a bit surprised to see that Lizzy had gotten all dressed up in a cute little pencil skirt, a turtleneck sweater in the same shade of brown as her eyes, and had even added a clunky gold necklace to the getup. She’d abandoned her cowboy boots for a pair of spike-heeled dress boots. Her dishwater-blond hair floated in curls on her shoulders and her makeup was perfect. Mitch expected her to look beautiful when they went out and she did everything to please him.
Lizzy gasped when she saw Allie wearing a snug pair of skinny jeans, a form-fitting sweater that accentuated her curves and her tiny waist, and a pair of cowboy boots that Lizzy had never seen.
“What?” Allie asked.
“Did you change your mind? Please tell me that you did and you’re going with me and Mitch and Grady.” Lizzy smiled.
“I’m going to the grand opening, but I’m not going with you. And for the last time, Grady is out of the question. I’m going with Blake Dawson.”
Lizzy fell back in the old rocking chair and threw her hand across her eyes in a dramatic gesture that did Scarlett O’Hara justice. “I knew it. I told Mama nothing good would come from you going over there to work. You are weak and you can’t say no.”
Allie frowned and held up her hand like a little girl in the classroom. “Hello. My name is Alora Raine Logan and I am weak and exactly like most of my whoring ancestors. I fall over backward for any sexy cowboy that pushes on my shoulder. My youngest sister is the smart one. My middle sister is the strong one. I’m the failure.”
“God almighty!” Lizzy dropped her hand and glared at Allie. “That is not funny.”
“There’s the doorbell, so that will be Blake. See you at Nadine’s. I hope she made her famous apple pie for tonight.” Allie picked up her coat and purse and left Lizzy sitting there speechless for the first time in her life.
Katy had already opened the door and Blake was standing at the foot of the stairs when Allie started down. Her breath caught in her chest at the sight of him there in his bulletproof jeans bunched up over the tops of black boots so shiny she could see the reflection of the foyer light fixture in them. Holding his black hat in his hands, his eyes locked with hers and his smile said more than words could ever get across.
He handed her a tiny stem with a little white daisy-looking flower at the end. “I should have brought flowers, but I didn’t have time to go into town so this will have to do. Mama calls them snow flowers because they bloom in the winter. I found it this evening right up next to the house. You are stunning tonight, Allie.”
“Oh, Blake, it is beautiful. I’m going to press it and keep it forever,” she said. “Hold my coat and give me a second to put it in water until I get home tonight.” She hurriedly put the flower in a small glass of water, went back to the foyer, and turned to Katy.
“Are you and Granny going to have supper at Nadine’s?” she asked.
“No, she’s already in her room and watching episodes of Designing Women. I’m going to make myself a sandwich and catch up on quarterly taxes while things are quiet,” Katy said. “Give Nadine my best and tell her I’ll be there for lunch tomorrow. Lizzy and I are going to put a sign on our doors and take a thirty-minute lunch break. That way all the school kids will go to Nadine’s and it will stir up a little more business for her.”
“You’ve cooked your last time at the store then?” Blake asked.
Katy smiled. “Yes, I have, and I won’t miss it a bit.”
Blake and Allie walked out to his truck, fingers laced together, ignoring the cold weather and smiling at each other. He opened the door for her and settled her into the passenger’s seat in his truck. They rode in comfortable silence almost all the way to town and then Deke called to tell her that he was already at the café and was holding a table for the three of them and one of Herman’s granddaughters. She was between jobs and came to visit for a couple of weeks.
“Kelly?” Allie asked. “You better be careful. Herman will skin you alive if you mess with her. She’s his favorite since she’s the only granddaughter.”
“It’s not a date. It’s only a chair at a table. She was waiting. It’s a packed house, I’m tellin’ you,” Deke said. “And Nadine has apple pie. I told her to save three pieces and one of pecan for Blake since he hates apple pie. It’s going fast.”
Blake had to park all the way down to the end of the block and across the street. Dry Creek usually rolled up the sidewalks at five o’clock when Katy and Lizzy closed up shop and there wasn’t another car seen on the street until the next morning. But that night there wasn’t a parking place on either side of the wide street.
Blake crawled out of the truck, shook the legs of his jeans down over his boots, and circled around the front side to open the door for her. They walked across the street hand in hand and when he tried to pull away as they entered the café, she tightened her grip.
The place was almost as noisy as a rock concert until they saw that Allie was with Blake and holding his hand and then the only racket that could be heard was the pots and pans in the kitchen area.
Allie marched right over to Nadine’s mama, who had held the crown for the biggest gossip in Dry Creek for nearly three decades, and laid a hand on her shoulder.
“Hello, Willa Ruth. Have you met my boyfriend, Blake Dawson? He’s been to church a couple of times but I don’t think everyone has been properly introduced to him. Blake, darlin’, this is Nadine’s mama, Willa Ruth. She taught Nadine everything she knows about Southern cooking so this should be written up in the magazines before the year is out.”
“I’m right pleased to meet you, ma’am.” Blake nodded. “Deke is waiting for us so I expect we’d best get on over there. I’m looking forward to a lot of good meals right here.”
Willa Ruth mumbled something that sounded like she was pleased to meet Blake and then threw her hand up over her mouth to whisper something to the women sitting with her at the table.
Between that area and the corner Deke had saved, Allie stopped by two more tables to introduce Blake as her boyfriend. By the time they were seated with Deke and Kelly the whole place was buzzing. Allie didn’t need a PhD in rocket science to know exactly what they were saying or that a few of those phones up to their ears were calling everyone else in town to give them the news.
“Well, that was bold as hell.” Deke said.
“Did I hear you right? Did you say that Blake is your boyfriend?” Kelly asked.
“I think she did,” Blake answered seriously.
“I wouldn’t have a bit of trouble crawling up here on this table and telling the whole place if you were my boyfriend.” Kelly pushed back her red hair and batted her thick lashes at him. “But I don’t mess with another woman’s feller.”
Lizzy, Grady, and Mitch pushed through the door and Deke nodded that way. “She’s liable to tear the place apart when…and there is Sharlene whispering in her ear right now.”
Everyone in the place saw Lizzy’s expressi
on, but Allie smiled and blew her sister a kiss from across the room. With those mixed signals the poor old gossip hounds wouldn’t know what to say or do next.
“So I’m your boyfriend?” Blake leaned around the corner of the table and kissed Allie on the cheek. “I’m lucky to have a girlfriend as beautiful as you are.”
Kelly sighed. “Damn the luck. I would’ve gone to cut wood with Grandpa, but I was lazy and look what it got me.”
“I’ll be your boyfriend as long as we are at this table,” Deke said.
“Why not longer?” Kelly asked.
“Because your grandpa would make sure they never found my body and that would make Allie sad since she is my best friend,” Deke answered.
“Quite the charmer, you are.” Kelly smiled.
Deke gave her a crooked little smile. “Do my best, darlin’.”
Blake glanced at the menu, which was stuck between the sugar bowl and napkin holder. “I like being your boyfriend, but you could have given me a little notice.”
“You brought me flowers. Doesn’t that mean we are in a relationship?” she asked.
Before he could answer, Mary Jo appeared at the table with a little order pad and pen. “Well, you stirred up things. Nadine says to thank you because gossip is good for business.”
“I want a big greasy hamburger with mustard, fries, and a Dr Pepper. Not diet,” Allie answered. “Tell Nadine she’s welcome. We are glad to be a help.”
“Make that two,” Blake said. “Double meat and add cheese please. Sweet tea instead of a soda.”
Deke nodded. “I’ll take what he’s having.”
“Me, too,” Kelly said.
“How long has this been going on?” Mary Jo used her pen to point at Allie and Blake.
“A while,” Allie answered.
“Some women have all the luck and just so you know, Sharlene is not a happy camper.” Mary Jo rushed across the room to take Lizzy’s order.
Blake walked Allie to the porch and then caged her by putting a hand on the wall on either side of her. “As your boyfriend, I do get a good night kiss, right?”
She stood on tiptoe and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry. I should have told you I was going to do that. Everyone was staring at us, so I figured I’d give them something to talk about. If you don’t want a commitment, then please at least play along with me until after Lizzy’s wedding so I don’t have to deal with Grady anymore.”
His lips came down on hers, sweet and gentle at first, then more demanding, his tongue finding hers and the mating dance starting. Her breath came out in short raspy gasps when he finally pulled away.
“Why didn’t you think of this sooner?”
“We can break up after the wedding,” she said.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. I’ll see you tomorrow at noon and remember, since the room is done, we have a date on Thursday night. I’m thinkin’ some dancin’ at a honky-tonk.”
“Sounds good to me,” she said. “Good night, Blake.”
He tipped his hat brim toward her and whistled all the way to the truck.
Allie took a deep breath and pushed the door open to find both her mother and Lizzy sitting on the bottom step of the staircase. She exhaled slowly and smiled brightly.
“I guess you heard the news,” she said.
“You could have told us yourself,” Katy said. “Not that it’s a big surprise but to announce it like that, are you crazy?”
“No, I’m weak. Ask Lizzy if you don’t believe me.”
Lizzy rose to her feet. “Are you doing this so you have an excuse not to go out with Grady?”
Allie put her foot on the first step of the staircase. “I’m dating Blake, plain and simple, and if you would please relay that to Grady so he’ll leave me alone, I will love you forever. And Lizzy, the next time you call me weak, you might do well to remember this night.”
“I know I’ve been mean but it’s only because I worry about you and I’m sorry,” Lizzy said.
“Alora, are you sure about this?” Katy asked.
“I am, Mama and Lizzy, thanks for the concern. Family is always there when friends and marriages collapse and Lizzy, we’ll be here for you no matter what, just like y’all are for me,” Allie said and then went straight to her room and shut the door. She removed her clothing down to her underpants and pulled on a soft night shirt before slipping between the covers.
She’d made the first call in saying that she and Blake were in a real relationship when she didn’t know if they were or not. She’d changed the whole course of her world in a single night and now she had to face the consequences. She turned the switch on a bedside lamp, putting the room in soft shadows. She’d had more fun this past couple of weeks than she’d had in her whole life. What she and Blake had might not last forever but she’d never know if she didn’t give it a shot. And besides, Allie liked her life that night. She liked what she was doing and who she was sharing it with and that’s all that mattered. She shut her eyes and dreamed of Blake Dawson.
Chapter Twenty-five
Allie left the Lucky Penny on Wednesday afternoon in a pissy mood. She’d gotten the ceilings in the hallway and the living room bedded and taped, ready for the texturing the next day. That should have made her happy, but it didn’t. She’d spent most of the day in the house all alone without even Shooter to talk to. Call it PMS or just plain old bitchiness, but she was in a horrible mood and hoped that Lizzy and Mitch had already left for midweek church services.
There had been a note beside the coffeepot that morning saying that Deke had a couple of cows delivering calves, so Blake had gone to help with the birthing process. Allie had lived in a rural community her entire life so she understood that friends helped friends.
At lunch she had heated up a bowl of leftover tortilla soup from the day before and ate it at the cabinet straight from the pan. While she was washing the pan, she got a text saying that one calf was on the ground but the other heifer was still in labor. Nothing about missing her or a mention of the date planned for the next night.
Snow fell in big fluffy flakes, melting as soon as it hit the warm van windshield on her way home that evening. The clock on the dash said that it wasn’t even five o’clock yet, which was hard to believe with the darkness surrounding her. She followed Lizzy’s truck and her mother’s car down the lane and they all parked side-by-side right next to the gate leading into the yard.
“I hate snow,” Irene declared as she held tightly to Katy’s arm. “Old people shouldn’t be out in this crap. I’m not leaving the house tomorrow, so y’all best make some plans. I could break a hip in this shit.”
Allie raced ahead and unlocked the door and held it open for her mother and grandmother. Irene was still grumbling about the cold when out of nowhere a snowball hit Allie smack in the side of the face. She slammed the door and whipped around in time to dodge the second one, which hit the house with enough force to send it flying apart and peppering down into her hair.
Lizzy was scrapping up snow around the fence post and patting it together to make another one when Allie bailed off the porch and tackled her, landing them both in the half inch of snow already lying on the ground. She scraped up all she could hold in one fist and smeared it over Lizzy face. Then her sister did a roll and came up with a leg on either side of Allie’s body and pinned her hands down above her head.
“You are right,” she panted.
“About what? That this shit is cold?” Allie laughed for the first time that day.
“No, about needing family. Mitch is leaving for three weeks and I have to give up my honeymoon for God and I’m so pissed I’m not even going to church tonight,” Lizzy said breathlessly.
Allie freed herself from her sister and leaned against the fence post. “Explain, please.”
Lizzy scooted over and shared the post with Allie. “A mission trip to Mexico has come up suddenly and he and Grady are going because they’ve got vacation time. But that means he won’
t have time for our honeymoon so I have to sacrifice it for him to do his mission thing. And like I said, I’m pissed.”
Allie caught a snowflake on her tongue. “You are kiddin’ me, right?”
“I wouldn’t tease about something this serious. We were planning a trip to Cancun where the weather would be warm, and I already bought two sweet little bathing suits, and now we’ll be going straight to his apartment after the wedding. No honeymoon because his time has to be spent on a mission trip to help build a new school. And I can’t bitch about it to anyone because he’s doing it for God and you were right. If I didn’t have you tonight, I’d be…well, I’m just glad you are here and I don’t even give a damn about you liking Blake anymore.”
Allie put her arm around Lizzy’s shoulders. “I’d be pissed, too.”
Lizzy grabbed her sister’s hand and squeezed. “Thank you. I’m sorry about being so ugly these past weeks. This is probably my punishment for trying to run your life.”
“No apology necessary. Let’s go make supper and if it keeps up, we’ll make snow ice cream for Granny.” Allie hopped to her feet and pulled Lizzy up with her. “You cussed. You fell off the wagon.”
“The words I used at the store when he called me and said he was leaving in two hours blistered the paint on the walls,” Lizzy said.
“Two hours! My God, Lizzy! And he bombed you with all this on the phone? That means he’s already headed to Dallas to catch the plane, right? What did you say?”
Lizzy slung the door open and led the way into the warm house. “I kept my cool and said that of course God’s work should come before our honeymoon. And then I hung up and cussed until I ran out of words and cried until I ran out of tears. I’m glad I didn’t have many customers or the gossip would be so hot that it would melt the North Pole.”
Both women removed coats and hung them on the rack inside the door, kicked off their boots, and tossed their stocking hats on the foyer table. Pots and pans rattled in the kitchen and the sound of Katy and Irene discussing supper floated out into the foyer.