by Ciana Stone
It hit him in that moment. That was what he wanted. More than money or fame or a new career. He wanted someone to love and someone to love him. Cade wanted a home.
His face arranged into a frown. Finding what he wanted was going to be the biggest challenge of his life, and doing a favor for family in Cotton Creek sure didn’t seem the way to get started.
But he’d promised his mother and like she’d taught him, a man was only as good as his word.
Which meant he’d be heading for Cotton Creek.
Two weeks later…
Cody nudged Hannah as they stopped on the sidewalk to wait for traffic to clear before crossing the street. “So what’s the latest with you and Coop?”
Hannah grinned. “Girl, he is so hot.”
Cody laughed, grabbed Hannah’s hand and they made a dash across the road. It reminded Cody of being a kid—of her and Hannah hanging out after school at their mom’s bakery and running across the street, heading for the library or the ice cream store.
Today they were running to the Blue Belle Diner to meet someone about a position at the bar they wanted to fill—namely, a manager’s position. As much as neither Cody nor Hannah wanted to admit it, they had moved beyond being able to keep the place going all on their own with just a handful of wait staff.
Even with Callie working more evenings and the two other new people they’d hired, they were short-staffed. With Hannah helping out at the bakery and Cody having the ranch to run, both girls were running on fumes. Cody supposed they would have kept on going that way had their dad not shown up a little more than a week ago and put his foot down.
He said he’d listened to them during their “come to Jesus” moment with him and their mom when they’d said it was time for Billy and Stella to start treating them like adults and let them run their own lives.
Now, he’d said, it was time for them to listen to him. It wasn’t any kind of life if all you did was work. So, if they wanted real lives, they needed to hire some help for the bar and start living like normal folks, which meant having time off on some evenings and weekends.
Cody looked at Hannah as they stepped onto the sidewalk on the other side of the street. “He’s right, isn’t he? Dad, I mean.”
“You know he is.” Hannah gave Cody’s hand a squeeze before she released it. “The bar is doing great—better than great. With all the new people in town, we’re doing ten times the business we once did. But it’s also driving us into the dirt. I don’t want to do nothing but work and I don’t think you do either.”
“You just want time to spend with Cooper,” Cody teased.
“You bet’cha,” Hannah said and grinned. “And have time to read a book, take a walk, go to the lake and a thousand other things. Don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do. I just don’t know about hiring a manager.”
“Well, this guy isn’t just some stranger. He’s family.”
“Yeah, I know. But it’s not like we grew up with him. I mean, we saw Mama’s family on the holidays when we went to Austin to see Gram and Gramps, but it’s not like we really know Cade.”
“We know he’s our cousin, that he just sold a hotel in Atlantic City and made a bundle on it and hasn’t decided what he wants to do next. So he has experience and Mama says we have to at least give him a shot.”
“Mama says?” Cody cocked one eyebrow. “So we’re back to taking orders from Mom again?”
“No, from Daddy, who still is a partner and honestly Cody, I agree with them this time. Who better to hire than family?”
Cody shrugged. “You may be right.” Cody opened the door of the diner for Hannah. “Okay, fine. Do you even know what the man looks like?”
“No, but I imagine he’s the good-lookin’ fella sitting over there with Daddy.” Hannah pointed.
The man seated with Billy stood as they approached the table. Billy looked over his shoulder at Cody and Hannah. “There’s my babies. Girls, this is your cousin, Cade. I’m guessing you don’t remember him since the last time we saw him you were round eight or ten years old. Cade, this here is Hannah and Cody.”
“Hannah,” Hannah said and smiled. “And I wish I could say I remember you, but honestly, I don’t.”
“That’s okay, it’s been quite a while. Nice to see you again, Hannah.” He turned his attention to Cody. “And you, too, Cody.”
“Thanks, right back at’cha.” Cody rounded the table to take the free chair on the opposite side, leaving the closest seat for Hannah.
Once they were all seated and had coffee, Cody opened the conversation. “So, you had a good trip?” She took a drink from her coffee cup.
“I did.”
“Mama says you just sold a place in Atlantic City.”
“I did.”
“A casino?” Hannah asked.
“Yep.”
“That’s stepping in pretty high cotton,” Cody commented and motioned for the waitress. “Honky Tonk is nothing compared to that.” She looked up and lifted her cup. “Hey Amy. I’m mainlining caffeine today.”
The waitress refilled the cup and Cody smiled up at her. “Thanks, hon.”
“You bet. Y’all ready to order?”
“Sure.” Cody looked around the table. “Y’all ready?”
“Just toast for me,” Hannah said.
“I’ll have my usual,” Cody followed.
“And I’ll have her usual,” Billy added.
Cade looked around the table. “How much trouble am I in if I order her usual?”
Everyone laughed and the waitress answered. “Depends on how much you can hold. Her usual is two eggs over medium, home fries, steak and biscuits.”
“Sounds good.”
“Okay, I’ll put this order right in.”
“Thanks, Amy,” Cody said.
“My pleasure.”
“Okay.” Cody’s attention went back to Cade. “So, Atlantic City to Cotton Creek. You sure you want to plant your feet here, Cuz?”
“Not really, but since I don’t know what I want to do next, and Aunt Stella says you need help, it seems like a good solution for all of us. At least temporarily.”
Cody looked at Hannah and Hannah gave a slight shake of her head.
“Okay, it’s that temporary part that’s the problem,” Cody said.
“I get it,” Cade said. “You don’t want to go through the transition only to have to do it again a couple months down the road.”
“Exactly.”
“Then how ‘bout we sign a contract, renewable every six months. If either side wants out, we part company on good terms, but if we want to renew then we keep on going. And if we decide to part ways, I’ll stay until you can find a replacement and get him or her trained.”
Cody looked at Hannah and Hannah nodded. “We can live with that,” Cody said. “So what about salary?”
“I’m willing to negotiate.”
“You’ll get treated fair,” Billy spoke up.
“Never doubted it,” Cade replied.
“Good,” Cody said. “Then we’ll sit down and hammer out the details and get it in writing in the next day or so. You want to wait until the ink is dry to start getting familiar with the way things run?”
“Nope. If you can’t trust family, who can you trust?”
“Amen to that, Cuz.” Cody lifted her coffee cup in a toast. “Here’s to a beneficial, and hopefully enjoyable venture.”
Hannah, Billy, and Cade all lifted their cups. Cody looked around the table and caught Hannah’s eye. They grinned at one another. Cody knew exactly what Hannah was thinking. Maybe now she could actually have a social life, and she knew just the man she wanted to be social with.
Cody wasn’t opposed to a social life. She just wished there was a man she found interesting enough to socialize with. But until that man showed up, she’d just have to make do with being able to get a full night’s sleep and maybe have time to run or watch a movie, or spend a long hot afternoon at the lake.
It was, after all, the
simple things that meant so much. Mentally, she snorted. Whoever made up that saying obviously wasn’t single, because what would mean so much to her right now was a long, hard ride.
And not on a horse.
Chapter Two
Roxie Ellis looked over at Dini Merrill, who had turned her head to the side, watching the passing scenery. Roxie knew that despite the brave front and bright smile, Dini was hurting. She’d never have left Vegas if she hadn’t found her boyfriend in bed with another woman.
Some people were born with hearts pre-hardened. Dini wasn’t one of those people. She’d worked her ass off, picking up extra work at multiple casinos to support herself and help put her boyfriend Mickey through college.
Turned out, he was more interested in the anatomy of a red-haired teaching assistant than his classes.
When Dini showed up at Roxie’s door, red-eyed and barely able to speak, Roxie knew it was time to leave Vegas in their dust. It’d been time for her for a while, but Dini was all the family she had and Roxie hadn’t been able to leave her behind. So she’d pushed her luck and stayed for Dini.
Not that they were related by blood. But some friendships were deeper than blood relations and this was one of them. Still, Roxie had known right then that the time had come. So two weeks later, they’d sold everything they owned, gassed up Roxie’s 1957 T-Bird and hit the road for Mexico.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Roxie said.
Dini turned her head to look at Roxie. “Are you sure about Mexico?”
“You’re not?”
Dini shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess. I mean it might be fun for a week or so but…”
“But?” Roxie asked when the silence stretched on.
“I don’t know, Rox. I mean it sounded like a good idea when… Well you know, when I found out Mickey was cheating on me. But now… Now I don’t know. I mean, isn’t it just running from our problems? What are we going to solve by going to Mexico?”
Roxie hated to admit it, but Dini was right. Sure, they could find a beach, a place to crash for a few weeks, drink, lie in the sun and watch what little funds they had slip away. Or…
Or what?
“So what’s the alternative?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Find some place we can get jobs. You know, regular jobs like regular people. Jobs that don’t require wearing costumes that show most of your tits and ass and wearing those damn high heels.”
“You that sick of dancing?”
“I am, I so am. Once upon a time, I thought being a showgirl in Vegas was the ultimate. Now, I realize all it did was have me waste my youth on nothing. I’ve got no skills, no education, no boyfriend, and no money. Not much to show for nearly thirty years of living.”
“A regular job?” Roxie looked over at Dini. “Seriously? Like what?”
“I don’t know. A teller at a bank, a cashier at Walmart or a waitress at a diner. Someone who works at a library or a daycare. Something—anything that’s real and ordinary.”
“And where would you find this real and ordinary job?”
“I don’t know. Somewhere. A small town, maybe. Yeah.” Dini perked up a bit and a smile lit her face. “That’s it. A small town where I could be Dini Merrill, originally from Reno. A place where people sit on the porch in the evenings and kids play in the yards.”
“Does that really appeal to you?” This wasn’t the first time Dini had voiced such dreams, but Roxie had always figured Dini was just trying to imagine something as different as possible from her real life—the life of a Vegas showgirl. She hadn’t stopped to think that Dini was being serious.
“It does, Rox. It really does.”
Before Roxie could open her mouth to respond, a hideous noise came from the car—a wrenching, screeching, grinding of metal sound that preceded a loud thump and the engine dying.
“Oh, oh, that can’t be good.” Dini looked at Roxie, who was looking in the rearview mirror at what appeared to be parts of her car’s engine on the road behind them.
“Not at all.” Roxie guided the car to the edge of the road, got out and lifted the hood. She didn’t have a clue about engines.
“What do you think?” Dini stood up on the seat and yelled.
Roxie slammed the hood and returned to the car to snatch her phone off the dashboard. “I think we better hope we have a signal so we can figure out where the heck we are and if there’s a garage nearby with a tow-truck.”
She turned on her phone. One bar. It wasn’t much, but better than nothing.
“So who are you going to call?” Dini asked.
“The only number we have,” Roxie replied. “9-1-1.”
*****
Cade shook hands with the realtor and the bank manager, picked up the keys and his closing documents, and left the bank. He hadn’t expected to become a property owner in Cotton Creek. However, a week of staying with his relatives had him ready to pull his hair out.
Not that they weren’t fine people. They were. But Cade was accustomed to a certain level of privacy and there was none to be found at the Sweet’s house. He’s taken Cody up on her offer to stay at the ranch and that was better, but still it wasn’t what he wanted.
So, after three weeks, he’d gotten the name of the local realtor and within a few days, was buying a house. He’d never expected things to move that quickly, but he’d also never paid cash for a house, so that must have made the difference.
Once outside, he got into his car and headed for his new home. It was just three miles outside of town, in what might be called a neighborhood. There were ten houses in the community, each sitting on parcels that were a minimum of ten acres.
His property boasted twenty-five acres, with a horse barn, a paddock, a sizeable pond and a house that fit his ideal country home vision.
When he pulled up in front of the house, he saw Cody’s old truck parked in the driveway and her sitting on the porch steps. There was a six-pack of beer beside her.
“Welcome home.” She stood as he got out of his car.
“What’re you doing here?” He walked to the steps.
“Welcome home party.” She leaned down to pluck a beer from the container. “Well, more like a welcome home beer.” She handed him the beer, took one for herself and twisted off the cap. “Here’s to your new digs, Cuz.”
Cade clinked his beer to hers and took a deep drink. “It’s a nice place. Just have to get some furniture in it.”
“You can stay at the ranch until you do.”
“Thanks, I’d hoped you’d say that.”
“So, you gonna show me around?”
“Absolutely.”
He unlocked the door and they entered.
“I still think it’s weird that you’d buy a house,” Cody said as she wandered through the rooms. “I mean, you were so skittish about committing to being here for six months and now you own a home?”
“Real estate is normally a decent investment, and with the oil boom, chances are I could turn around and sell this place in a month or so and make a killing.”
“Will you?”
“Don’t know.”
Cody put her beer on the kitchen counter and turned to lean back against it, regarding him. “Can I ask you something personal?”
“Sure, what?”
“Are you straight or gay?”
Cade smiled. “What’s your take?”
“I’d say straight.”
“Because?”
“The way you look at women.”
“Observant.”
“Observant is a smart way to live, Cuz. “
“Indeed, but what made you ask?”
She shrugged. “Well, you’re hot, dress really well and I mean almost too good for a straight guy, never been married and you haven’t hit on any of the single women who have been practically throwing themselves at you since you got here.”
“Ahh, I see. A straight man would’ve jumped on that shit, right?”
Cody laughed. “Not necessarily.”
She blew a raspberry. “Man, I’m as far from gay as a woman can be, which might be a shame since there’s a damn sight more women than men in Cotton Creek.”
“There are men.”
“Yeah, there are.”
“Just none that interest you?”
“Not so far.”
“Well, that’s about how it is for me.”
“Okay, like I said, just asking. And now, I gotta get. Hannah opened so I gotta close tonight since our new manager took the night off.”
“I can work tonight if you need me. Nothing left for me to do here until I get some furniture.”
“I won’t turn it down.”
“Then let’s hit the road.”
Cade locked the house and got into his car. As he drove away, he cut a look back at the house and was suddenly seized with a longing strong enough to cause a physical reaction. His breath hitched just slightly and his stomach tightened, as in that moment, a wish took hold; a wish that this could end up being a home.
He shoved the thought aside and mentally made fun of himself. He couldn’t find a woman in Cotton Creek he wanted to share a meal with, much less a home. Time to set those romantic fantasies aside and focus on the task at hand, helping Cody and Hannah run the bar, and figuring out what to do with the rest of his life.
*****
Roxie watched her friend, Dini, leave the diner. This week had to go down in the record books as one of the worst. It wasn’t bad enough that the T-Bird had broken down. It’d broken down in Texas. Cotton Creek, Texas to be precise.
Roxie thought Bumfuck, Texas would have been more apt. With a population that boasted just over seven thousand, the likelihood of finding a job that would not only enable her to pay for a place to stay but save enough to fix the car was remote.
Dini had scored a job at the diner where Roxie was now sitting and seemed plenty happy about it. She’d left to go check on rooms at a local boarding house. The owner of the diner had offered to put in a good word with the lady who ran the place. Apparently, there had been a huge oil strike in Cotton Creek and people were turning their houses into bed and breakfasts or boarding houses to capitalize on all the new people flooding into town.