Granny Em studied her in only the way that a wise grandmother could do, and she sighed. Then she coughed. She also tightened the sweater around her, pinching it at the neckline as if she were cold.
“Maybe it’s a good thing you came home early,” Em muttered. “I’d wanted to talk about you and Boo staying here for a while longer. Maybe for the rest of the summer.”
McCall studied her in only a way that a skeptical granddaughter could do. “Are you sick?” Just in case she was, McCall used the back of her hand to check Em’s forehead. It felt like a normal temp to her.
“No, not sick,” Em assured her. “Just down. I’ve been down a lot lately.”
McCall never remembered Granny Em being depressed, but maybe she was. “When’s the last time you had a checkup?”
Em dismissed that with a wave of her hand. “Nothing’s wrong with my body.” But she coughed again. “It’s just it’s not so lonely with Boo and you here.”
McCall released the breath she’d been holding. Granny Em wasn’t sick, and this was likely a ploy to get her to stay. “Sunny’s living just a few miles away,” McCall pointed out.
“Yes, but Shaw will have her knocked up soon if he hasn’t already, and I’d like someone here with me for a while.” Her eyes met McCall’s. “Would it be too much to ask if you could stay on just a little longer? If not for the summer, then how about a couple more weeks?”
McCall wanted that. But she thought of Austin. “Gran, I have clients—”
“Boo said you can do those on your phone or your computer,” Em interrupted. “She said it’s how you take a lot of appointments even when you’re in Dallas, that it’s easier for the clients who don’t get around so well on their own.”
“Boo’s just a font of information tonight,” McCall muttered, and she shot her assistant a quick narrow-eyed glance.
“She is,” Em agreed, “and she’s such a big help to me. Not many young people want to spend time with an old woman.”
McCall could practically hear the violins whining out a sad tune. And she knew when she was being played.
“Sleep on it,” Em went on before McCall could say anything. “I’m going to turn in early. I get so tired these days.” With that, her grandmother dropped a kiss on McCall’s cheek and headed out of the kitchen toward her bedroom.
McCall watched her go, and the moment she was out of earshot, she whirled back toward Boo. “Did you and Em work this out so I’d stay here and hook up with Austin?” she came out and asked.
“Yes,” Boo admitted without hesitation. “I could see how happy you were about going to his place for dinner. Sorry, though, that my text interrupted things. Still, that doesn’t mean you can’t hook up with him again soon.”
McCall sighed. She had one word for her assistant. “Peekaboo.”
Boo smiled, and there was a slyness to it. “I’m guessing we’re not playing a game with me or your hands would be over your eyes.”
McCall leveled a very flat look at Boo. “Peekaboo,” she repeated.
“Yeah, yeah. You don’t want Austin or anybody else to know about it, but honestly, it’s not a sleazy place. Not with the changes you’ve made, anyway.”
McCall had indeed made some changes. Unpopular ones with the old customers. She’d done away with lap dances and had invested in some new costumes that she believed had a more tasteful slant. The Victorian maiden garb, for instance, had replaced the naughty schoolgirl. She had also paid for dancing lessons that had taught the performers to go for more subtle moves rather than relying on hip grinds.
The end result was still the same—the strippers would, well, strip down to G-strings and pasties—but there was a little more class to it now. That said, Peekaboo was what it was. A strip club.
“I would have just closed the doors to the place if Lizzie hadn’t made me promise that I wouldn’t,” McCall said, thinking out loud.
“And you were secretly hoping that the changes you made would run the business into the ground,” Boo piped in.
Yep. McCall had indeed hoped for that, and it’s why she’d insisted on the historical costumes. In the end, though, it’d just brought in more customers who had heard there was “something different” going on at Peekaboo.
“I think I’ve come up with something that’ll take care of you owning Peekaboo,” Boo added a moment later.
McCall automatically dismissed it before she even heard it. “You know I can’t sell or give away the club,” she reminded Boo.
Boo got a look in her eyes. Possibly an insane look. “Of course, but there’s nothing that says I can’t be the club owner.”
McCall actually leaned in to sniff Boo’s breath. “Have you been drinking?” Because that’s exactly what Lizzie’s will had said, that no one other than McCall could own it.
“No.” Grinning as if she’d discovered the secret to world peace and calorie-free Snickers bars, Boo caught on to her shoulders. “I went online and got the paperwork started for a name change. In about six weeks, I can become McCall Dalton.”
McCall did no such grinning, and she stared at Boo. “And who will I become?”
“You’ll stay McCall, too, and you’ll keep calling me Boo. But this way, if the subject comes up, I can say I’m the owner of Peekaboo. Don’t pooh-pooh it,” Boo said when McCall started shaking her head. “You’ve always wanted a way out, and I’m handing it to you.”
McCall was ready to start some pooh-poohing, but she stopped. “This can’t be legal.”
“It’s not illegal,” Boo argued. “Think of it like tit rouge.”
McCall blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Tit rouge. It’s something I used to do when I lost one of my pasties or the darn thing just wouldn’t stay on. I’d just cover my nipple with bright red cream rouge, layering it on thick enough to make it no longer look like a nipple.”
McCall didn’t consider herself dense, but she wasn’t sure she was following this. “What does tit rouge have to do with Peekaboo?”
“Everything.” Boo gave her that grin again. “I’ll be like the cover-up to your exposed nipple. If anything leaks about you being the owner of Peekaboo, I can say nun-uh, I’m the McCall Dalton who owns the club.”
Now, McCall huffed. “And how will you explain why your name is the same as mine?”
“Easy peasy. I could say I was a fan of Little Cowgirls and this was sort of my homage to you. Don’t pooh-pooh it,” Boo warned her again. “In fact, don’t say anything else about it. Just sleep on it, and while you’re sleeping, consider this. This tit rouge could be your ticket to getting into Austin Jameson’s jeans.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“GOD, THIS IS GOOD,” Cait mumbled around the mouthful of cold pasta she’d just gobbled up.
Austin frowned at his sister and kept packing the twins’ snacks for preschool. Cait was standing in front of his fridge, eating right from the plastic storage container where Austin had put the pasta after his semifailed date with McCall.
“I fixed that three days ago,” Austin reminded her. “It’s probably ready to be tossed out.”
“Nope. It’s still prime stuff.” She wolfed down a few more bites, made some sounds to indicate it was delicious and then helped herself to a leftover breadstick.
“Who needs a garbage disposal with you around,” Austin grumbled.
Cait wasn’t the least bit offended by his comment and washed down her scrounged breakfast with some apple juice. “So,” she said, turning back toward him, “want to tell me how things are going between McCall and you?”
This was an easy question to answer. “No.” Besides, there was nothing to tell. McCall had cut their date short, and other than a text the following day to apologize, again, he hadn’t heard from her.
He added the bagged snacks to the girls’ backpacks and listened to make sure they weren’t getting into any trou
ble. Avery and Gracie were arguing over whether to wear pink or white panties so all was well. It was a usual argument since neither girl wanted to dress alike—unless they were trying to pull a switcheroo, that is—and that included likeness in their underwear choices.
“You’re sure you don’t need some kind of dating advice?” Cait asked. She put both her fork and apple juice glass into the dishwasher.
“From you?” He added the appropriate amount of brotherly snark to a kid sister who didn’t exactly have a stellar track record when it came to dating.
Again, she took no offense. “I’m a woman. I might be able to help you get into McCall’s head.”
He wouldn’t mind getting in McCall’s head. Or her bed. But obviously McCall had a different notion about that.
Austin silently cursed himself. He shouldn’t have kissed her. Especially shouldn’t have kissed her three times. That had likely sent her running, and now he might not get another chance to be with her. Not just for sex, either. Any chance. That was too bad because while it sounded like a cliché, he enjoyed her company. McCall was like a breath of fresh air in his life that needed something fresh.
“Yoo-hoo!” someone called out.
Edith. Definitely not the bringer of fresh air, and she was obviously already on the porch.
“Crap,” Cait said under her breath. “Do you need me to run interference for you?” she asked him. “I could pretend I’ve got to puke or something.”
“No. It’s okay.” Well, it actually wasn’t. He didn’t like Edith dropping in unannounced—literally. The woman didn’t even knock on the door. She just came right on in.
“I wanted to see the girls before they left for school,” Edith said. “Good morning, Cait,” she rattled off in the same breath. She looked at Austin. “Then you and I need to talk.”
Cait groaned, rubbed her stomach, but Austin cut off any fake puking attempt by giving his sister a hard look.
“I got pink panties,” Avery announced, coming out of the bedroom with Gracie right on her heels. Avery lifted her dress to show them the outcome of what had obviously been an intense debate.
“Very nice,” Austin told her, and he motioned for them to do a turn around so he could make sure they weren’t wearing anything inappropriate. It was a lesson he’d learned when Avery had once tucked a pair of his boxers in the armpit of her dress to pad a seam that was bothering her. Today, however, all the clothing they were wearing belonged to them.
“Can we play cops and bobbers?” Avery asked when her attention landed on Cait.
“Absolutely. I got the cuffs ready. First, though, you need to say hi and goodbye to your grandmother.”
“Hi!” the girls squealed. Austin didn’t think their enthusiasm was as much for Edith, though, as it was to speed up them getting out of there to do the fun ride and game with Aunt Cait.
Edith gathered them up in her arms, kissing them. Then she complained once again about Gracie’s haircut along with reminding Avery not to lift her dress and show people her “undies.” When Edith moved on to complaining that the girls shouldn’t be playing cops and bobbers, that’s when Austin gave Cait the signal that it was time for them to go. That way, only he’d have to be on the receiving end of Edith’s grievances.
“Head ’em up, move ’em out,” Cait announced to the twins.
The girls grabbed their backpacks, gave Austin and Edith some cheek kisses and left running out the front door with Cait.
“Honestly, I could drive the girls to school,” Edith murmured while Cait raced the girls to her SUV. His sister pretended to stumble at the last second so that Avery and Gracie could get ahead of her and win.
He left the front door open so he could watch them get in the SUV and drive away. “They enjoy being with Cait. You want some coffee?” he immediately added to cut off anything else Edith had to say about that.
“No. I suspect you’re busy so I won’t keep you.”
It was a light day for him, some tax paperwork, checking the back fence and looking in on the new part-time ranch hand he’d hired to do some training with the horses. Still, he had no intention of letting Edith know he had time to draw out this chat any longer than necessary.
“I know that Howie came by to talk to you,” Edith continued. “He told you that he’d convinced me to wait and see if he and I still needed to fix this situation with the twins.”
“Fix this situation,” Austin repeated. That was a pretty sterile term for what was essentially a hotter than hell button for him. “My daughters are fine.”
Austin knew it was a mistake to let the anger creep into his voice, and into him, but it was hard when Edith called his daughters a situation that needed to be fixed.
Edith made a sound that could have meant anything. Or nothing. “Howie seemed to think you’d be interested in seeing McCall. By seeing, I mean—”
“I know what you mean,” Austin said, cutting her off. He didn’t want to discuss McCall with Edith.
But apparently Edith had a different notion about that. She gave a weary nod and sighed. “McCall’s attractive, and there’s no need for you to remind me of all the good things she’s done.”
Now, it was Austin’s turn to sigh, but it wasn’t as weary as it was slicked with frustration. “Edith, could you just cut to the chase and tell me exactly what you’re trying to say?”
Her gaze nailed his, and her chin came up. “Now that McCall’s staying in town for a while, I’m guessing that means you’ll be seeing her.”
Curiosity replaced his frustration. “Who told you that McCall was staying for a while?”
“Em,” she readily answered. “I saw her at the diner this morning, and she said McCall was staying at least until the end of the month, maybe through the entire summer.”
Well, this was a nice turn of events. At least, it could possibly be nice if McCall didn’t continue to brush him off.
“Now that she’s staying,” Edith went on, “Howie seems to think the two of you will get involved again. Well, you should know I have concerns about that. There are all kinds of stories about how messed up child actors become when they grow up. Plus, McCall doesn’t have a good mother role model.”
That was some BS slathered in with the truth. Yeah, some child actors became screwups. And McCall didn’t have a good mother. But she had Em, and Em was as good as gold.
Austin took a moment to consider how to respond to that, and he finally just went with his gut. “You say you want the girls to have a mom, that they should be raised in a home with two parents, but I’m starting to believe you feel you’re the only mom they should have. You can’t be their mom, Edith.”
That, of course, tightened her jaw, but damn it all to hell, he was tired of this.
“I want what’s best for them,” Edith said, the hurt in her voice.
“So do I, and FYI, I believe I’m doing what’s best for them.”
Edith pulled out the big guns then. Tears sprang to her eyes. The woman was a walking, talking definition of frustration because her crying always got to him.
Thankfully, the sound of an approaching vehicle got Edith blinking hard, trying to stave off the tears. It also got Austin out of saying anything else that would just make this worse. Besides, his visitor was someone he actually wanted to see.
Shaw.
“I’ll be going,” Edith quickly said, and while giving her eyes a wipe, she headed out to her car, muttering a hello to Shaw as she walked by him.
Shaw arched an eyebrow. “I’m guessing you haven’t had a good start to your morning.”
“Well, it was going pretty good until Edith showed up.” He waved off any questions Shaw might have about that. “Did you know McCall was planning to stay in town for a while longer?”
His brother nodded. “She told Sunny a couple of days ago. Em wants McCall there because she’s been feeling blue. O
r so she says. Sunny thinks it’s because Em’s trying to matchmake McCall and you.”
Austin couldn’t help it. He smiled.
“And I can see that’s got you all worried and torn up inside,” Shaw remarked. His eyes got heavy with concern as he took an envelope from the back pocket of his jeans and handed it to Austin.
Austin immediately knew the reason for his brother’s concern. It was because this was another card from Zoey.
Shaw swore under his breath. “Are you okay?”
This time Austin didn’t have a quick answer. There was always a mix of emotions when it came to getting the cards. Seeing anything that Zoey had touched made him feel closer to her. It soothed him just as if she’d actually touched him. But the soothing wouldn’t last.
“How many more of these did she give you?” Austin asked, taking the envelope.
“One more, and no, I’m not going to tell you when I’m supposed to give it to you. That was Zoey’s rule, and I promised her I wouldn’t break it. It’s a damn bad rule,” Shaw added in a grumble. “You want me to stay while you read it?”
Austin shook his head, and he kept his attention on the envelope while Shaw did more cursing and went back to his truck. Part of him knew his brother was right. This was prolonging the grief, but mercy, it felt good to have something like this from the woman he’d loved all the way to the marrow.
As he always did, Austin took his time opening the envelope, savoring the way it felt in his hand, and he brought it to his nose. No smell. There never was. And it made him ache more than a little that he could no longer remember Zoey’s scent.
He smiled when he pulled out the card and saw a buff bumblebee wearing tighty-whities and working out with weights. On the outside, Zoey had written, “Be brave, Honey Bee.”
Honey Bee. It wasn’t a term of endearment she’d ever used with him, and maybe that was the point. The cards were likely meant to make him laugh. To cheer him up. That would hardly happen if they took him back to specific memories of them.
But there was something specific inside the card.
Chasing Trouble in Texas Page 9