“Addy, have you given any thought to what Cody offered you?” Sonny asked.
She hadn’t been able to sleep the night before for thinking about the idea and still hadn’t made up her mind until that very moment. Her grandmother had told her that she should open the door when opportunity knocked. According to her, it was easier to invite it inside and give it a glass of sweet tea than to chase it a mile down the road when you change your mind.
“Thanks for the offer, Cody. I would love to work for you,” Addy said.
“That’s wonderful, but you won’t be working for me. You’ll be working with me. We’ll make a great team, and there will still be time for us to both do some ranchin’,” Cody promised. “You all right with this arrangement, Jesse? You’re going to be the boss.”
“I’m fine with it,” Jesse said. “Now, pass the biscuits, and let’s get the day’s work lined out. Mia and I are going to work on the barn roof. Cody, you can drive Dad around the ranch and refamiliarize yourself with the place this morning.”
“We’ll knock off at four so we can get to the rodeo grounds to see the kids again tonight, and then we’re not working at all tomorrow,” Sonny said. “I don’t want to miss the bronc and bull riding, or the dance after the rodeo is over. Mia, you’ll save your old poppa a dance, won’t you?”
“Of course I will, but Nana gets the first one and the last one, because she’s the girl you’re bringing to the dance and the one you’ll be taking home. That’s the rules,” Mia said with a grin.
“You going to give me first and last dances?” Jesse whispered for Addy’s ears only.
“Yep, she sure is,” Mia answered.
“Little corn has big ears,” Addy said.
Pearl giggled. “We learned that lesson years ago. Now that we’ve got everything lined out for today and for the future, Henry, do you have anything else to say?”
“Not without blubbering like a baby,” Henry answered. “I’m just glad to have had time to watch you boys grow up and to work with my best friend, Sonny, all these years. To eat lots of meals that Pearl cooked and have five years with Addy and Mia. Now, that’s enough. We’ll save the tears for the day I drive away from this place and head for Colorado.” He finished off his last sip of coffee and pushed his chair back. “Me and the hired hands are going to be fixing fence today. Before I leave, I intend to have the fences in good enough repair to last for a long time.”
“Thank you for always being here for us through the years, Henry.” Pearl wiped a tear away with her napkin. “Addy and I are supposed to be in town from ten until noon today to watch over the bake sale table for the church. We’re having this one for our missionary fund.”
“I’m glad I’ll be roofing a barn. I hate to sit behind a table at a bake sale.” Mia pushed back her chair and carried her plate to the sink.
“Better get used to it, darlin’,” Pearl said. “This job gets passed down. I inherited it from both my mother and mother-in-law. Addy gets it from me, and you’ll get it from her.”
“But she’s not your daughter or daughter-in-law,” Mia argued.
“She is in my heart, and that’s as important as DNA.” Pearl smiled.
“Thank you,” Addy said. She truly hoped that what she and Jesse had wasn’t just a flash of heat in the pan, but that someday she would be a real daughter-in-law to Pearl and Sonny.
Guess that blew the bottom out of going slow, the voice in her head giggled. You’re thinking marriage, and he has yet to say that he loves you.
Chapter Twenty-Three
May I have this dance?” Jesse held out his hand to Addy.
She slipped her hand in his, and he led her out to the dance floor. The cover band was playing Chris Stapleton’s “Millionaire.” The lyrics talked about love being more precious than gold and having it made a cowboy a millionaire. Jesse wrapped his arms around Addy’s waist, and she draped her arms around his neck.
Jesse sang along about the times when his pockets were empty and his cupboard was bare, he still felt like he was a millionaire.
Addy leaned back a little and smiled up at him. “Do you really believe that?”
“I do,” he said. “I’m a rich man because I’ve got you in my arms tonight.”
She leaned her cheek against his chest. “That’s a romantic line.”
“It’s the absolute truth. I’ve never felt like this before, not even that night before I left for the Air Force,” he assured her, and meant every word of what he’d said.
When that song ended, fiddle music started, and Jesse grinned. “Looks like the band is singing just to us tonight. Listen to the words of this one.”
“I could probably crawl up on that stage and not miss a beat,” she told him. “Alan Jackson is one of my favorites, and I love ‘Livin’ on Love.’”
Jesse took her hands in his, swung her out, and brought her back to his chest. “He’s right, you know—without somebody, life ain’t worth a dime.”
“Yep,” she agreed.
He was about to say that he was in love with her when Grady tapped him on the shoulder. “Mind if I cut in?”
“Of course not,” Jesse said with a smile. But he really wanted to grab Addy’s hand and run away from the dance with her. He went to the bar across the room, sat down on a stool beside his brother Cody, and ordered a beer.
“Lost your woman?” Cody chuckled.
“Just for one dance,” Jesse answered.
The bartender set his beer on a paper coaster. Cody handed her a bill and pointed to his empty. “I’ll get the first one for my brother.”
“Thanks,” Jesse said.
“So, you and Addy had a little fling before you went to the Air Force? Why didn’t you ever mention it to me? I thought we pretty much shared everything,” Cody said.
“One night,” Jesse said. “I left the next morning and didn’t know about Mia until I got home this time. Best-kept secret in the history of Honey Grove unless you’ve got one to share about you and Stevie.”
“Nope,” Cody told him.
Jesse turned up his beer and took a long drink. “She and Grady were good friends until his girlfriend got jealous of their relationship.”
“Maybe he split with the nurse, and he’s ready for more than friendship with Addy,” Cody suggested. “Have you told her how you feel?”
“She knows,” Jesse said.
“Maybe so, but until you tell her, she won’t be sure. Good God!” Cody said.
Jesse followed his brother’s eyes to the mirror above the bar and saw Stevie coming right toward them.
“You going to ask her to dance?” Jesse asked.
“Hell, no!” Cody whispered.
Stevie sat down on the stool next to Cody and ordered a double shot of Jameson. When it was set before her, she nodded toward Cody.
“Put that on my tab,” Cody said. “I’ll buy this pretty lady her first drink.”
Jesse nudged him with an elbow. “So much for that ‘hell, no.’ I bet you five bucks that you dance the last dance with her.”
“I’d forgotten how cute she is.” Cody laid a bill on the bar without looking at her. “What brings you out tonight? You plannin’ on doing some dancing?”
“Maybe.” Stevie turned up her drink. “If a good-lookin’ cowboy who thought he was too old for me at one time was to ask me, I might show him up on the dance floor.”
“Y’all excuse me,” Jesse said when the female vocalist in the band took the microphone and began to sing an old Shania Twain song, “From This Moment On.” He slid off his stool. “I want to dance with Addy on this one. He lowered his voice and said, “You’re on your own, brother, but I’ll expect a full report tomorrow morning.”
“You son of a bitch!” a man screamed over the top of the music, and the sound of a breaking glass followed. “Don’t you come in here trying to take my woman away from me.”
The singer didn’t miss a note, but suddenly, Jesse felt a spray of something warm across his face. He reached
up and swiped his hand across his cheek and brought back bloody fingers. “What the hell?”
“I’ll kill you,” he heard so loud in his left ear that he whipped around to see who was threatening him.
“You bastard,” Patrick O’Malley said as he held his hand over a cut across his cheek.
“She only goes for the handsome ones, so I’ll fix your face so she don’t look at you again,” the first guy said as he took another swipe toward Patrick with the broken bottle.
Patrick squared off with him and held him at bay with the legs of a bar stool. “You idiot. I wasn’t flirting with your woman. I asked her which way the bathrooms were.”
“You’re a low-down scoundrel, Patrick O’Malley. Everyone in town knows you cheat on Lylah.” He knocked the bar stool out into the dance floor, causing two couples to trip and fall flat on their butts. “Well, your lies ain’t goin’ to work on me.”
Jesse got between them and managed to wrestle the bottle from the big burly guy’s hand, but in the process he got a cut on the back of his hand. Now, he and Patrick were both bleeding.
“You idiot,” Cody yelled as he waded into the melee. “That’s my brother you just sliced open. Someone call 911 and the police.”
Suddenly, Addy was beside Jesse and shaking her finger at the guy who had been holding the bottle. “You fool. You’re drunk, and you’ve injured two men. Charges will be filed against you as soon as the police get here.”
“Come on, Dolly.” He motioned for his woman. “It’s time we left.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she declared and dropped down on her knees beside Patrick. “I’m so sorry, honey. He wasn’t supposed to be here. He told me he had to work tonight.”
Patrick’s blue eyes rolled back in his head, and he fainted right there at Jesse’s feet.
“Is there a doctor in the house?” the woman squealed.
Cody dropped down on his knees. “I’m a doctor.” He pulled off his shirt, tore it in half, and threw one side to Addy. “Use that to apply pressure to Jesse’s hand. That’s a nasty cut and it’s going to need stitches,” he said as he used the other part of the shirt to apply pressure to Patrick’s cheek.
“Is he going to live?” the woman sobbed.
“Of course,” Cody said. “He’s not dying. He’s passed out from too much liquor. Do you know if he’s allergic to anything or how much he’s had to drink?”
“You’ll have to ask his wife.” She stood up and melted back into the crowd.
“Wait until Lylah hears about this.” Jesse tried to chuckle, but it came out more like a groan.
“As long as they’re talking about her problems, they’ll leave us alone,” Addy whispered. “Now, be still until the ambulance gets here.”
“Send Patrick with them and take me home. Cody can stitch me up there. I’m up-to-date on my tetanus shot, so I don’t need one of those,” Jesse said.
“I can do that.” Cody looped his arm through Jesse’s and led the way through the people now standing around, staring down at Patrick. “Let’s just ease on out of here.”
The ambulance was pulling up as they made their way to Jesse’s truck. “Want me to drive?”
“I can take him home,” Addy said. “You can follow us, and we’ll get him stitched up when we get to the house.”
“Will do,” Cody said.
“You are welcome,” Jesse chuckled as he got into the passenger seat.
“For what?” Cody asked.
“I got you out of whatever was going on between you and Stevie.” He slammed the door before Cody could answer.
Addy started up the engine, backed out of the parking spot, and headed toward the ranch. “I can’t leave you alone for one minute,” she teased.
“It’s your fault for letting Grady cut into our dance. You should have told him that you didn’t want to dance with him.” Jesse leaned his head back. “I hate stitches more than anything.”
“Cody will numb you up real good, and I’ll get you a shot of Sonny’s best whiskey to dull the senses,” she offered. “And, honey, Grady wanted to dance with me to ask me to forgive him for saying we couldn’t talk anymore. He and his girlfriend broke up, and he’s got a new one that isn’t jealous.”
Jesse sat up straight. “What did you tell him?”
“Told him that I had committed to working with Cody. He got a little hateful and asked if I couldn’t decide which brother I wanted,” she answered.
“I told him that it wasn’t a damn bit of his business how I lived my life, and then the ruckus started. I left him on the dance floor and was coming to get you when the lady started singing, “From This Moment On.”
“I wanted to dance with you on that song,” Jesse said as she turned into the lane to Sunflower Ranch. His hand had left the shock stage and had begun to throb.
“I was coming to get you for just that same reason, but we kind of got sidetracked.” She parked the truck in front of the yard gate, and Cody pulled in right behind her.
“I’ll get my bag, and we’ll work on him in the kitchen.” Cody laid a palm on the fence and jumped over it in one fluid movement.
“I’d try to do that and impress you so you would choose me, but I don’t think I better with this.” Jesse held up his injured hand, which was still wrapped in half of his brother’s shirt.
“Oh, hush!” Addy scolded as she opened the gate for him.
Tex met them on the porch and dashed inside the house in front of Jesse. He headed straight for the kitchen as if he knew that’s where they would be and curled up under the table.
“Sit down right there.” Addy pointed to the chair where Sonny usually sat and headed to the sink.
“Bossy, ain’t you?” Jesse said.
“When my boyfriend’s hand is cut open, I am.” She filled a basin with water, opened a drawer for towels, and carried everything to the table.
“I’m your boyfriend?” he asked.
Cody slapped him on the back of the head as he passed by. “Of course you are, doofus. Addy is too classy for one-night stands or flings. You are a boyfriend. Own it and be proud of it.”
“I am”—Jesse nodded—“very proud of it. I just wanted to hear her say it. Some first date, huh?”
Addy unwound the bloody shirt from his hand and cleaned the gaping inch-long wound with water. “At least we won’t ever be able to say our first date was boring. Cody, we might be able to pull this together with Steri-strips.”
Cody sat down and took a long look at the wound. “Nope, it needs stitches, and very close together. He’ll have to do more bossin’ than workin’ for a while until it heals up.”
“Come on,” Jesse groaned. “Listen to your nurse and use the strips.”
“Sorry, brother.” Cody shook his head. “This is right where your wrist bends, and you are also going to need a wrist guard to keep it straight until it heals. We’ll be lucky if you don’t have to have therapy on it, just because of the location.” He pulled out a hypodermic needle and tore the packaging away from it. “This is going to sting, but then you won’t feel the stitches.”
“I’ve said that so many times that I can’t even remember them all,” Jesse said.
“I just bet you have, and if this was your left hand, you could even do this yourself, but your stitching wouldn’t be as pretty as mine.” Cody joked as he worked. “And I bet you aren’t as gentle as I am. You’ll only feel the stick the first time.”
“Just get on with it and stop bragging.” Jesse watched as the needle pierced his flesh around the cut.
Addy sat down beside him and watched as Cody carefully stitched the skin together with tiny little sutures. “You should have been a plastic surgeon.”
“Thought about it, but then I figured there were folks who needed a plain old doctor more than those who needed to be pretty,” Cody said as he tied off the last stitch. “I’ll take these out in ten days. Until then, you get to wear a brace to keep you from bending the wrist and ruining my beautiful w
ork. Let this teach you to stay out of other men’s fights.”
“Hey, now,” Jesse protested. “I was just walking across the room to dance with my girlfriend. They put me in the middle of their fight.”
“That’s not the way I saw it,” Cody argued.
“You couldn’t see right because you were focused on Stevie,” Jesse reminded him.
Addy patted him on his shoulder. “Come on, tough cowboy. Let’s get you down to the bunkhouse and put you to bed.”
“I’m not a child,” Jesse said.
“I can see where Mia gets that attitude,” Addy teased, “when she sets her jaw and says she’s not a little girl. If you’re so big and brave that you don’t need me, then I’ll sleep in Mia’s room tonight.”
“Whoa!” Jesse threw up his left palm. “Now I see where our daughter gets her sass.”
“Mia does not get her sass from me,” Addy protested. “She acts just exactly like my grandmother. Let’s go home to the bunkhouse and get some sleep. We’ll feel better come morning.”
“I’ll see y’all at breakfast,” Cody yawned, “but, brother, if you wanted a few days to be lazy, all you had to do was ask me to do your work. You didn’t have to try to amputate your hand.”
“You were the serious one when you left home. What happened to make you so funny?” Jesse pushed back his chair and stood up.
“Life.” Cody grinned as he left the room.
* * *
Addy slipped her hand into Jesse’s on the way to the bunkhouse. “Want me to sleep on the sofa tonight so that…”
“No,” he answered before she could even finish the sentence.
“Dancing to that song tonight was important to me,” Jesse said as they crossed the distance from the back porch to the bunkhouse. “I’m not as romantic as a woman like you deserves, but when it started playing, I thought it would be the perfect time to tell my girlfriend that I’ve fallen in love with her.”
“Damn Patrick O’Malley for ruining that for your girlfriend. I know she would have loved to have heard those words while she was dancing to the song that says all those beautiful things,” Addy whispered.
Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch Page 24