Firefly Summer

by Kathleen Y'Barbo

  Well, all right then.

  “So,” Sessa said as she opened the menu. “You didn’t tell me where your truck was.”

  “No, I didn’t.” He tried to give the appearance of reading the list of items offered at dinnertime. When he glanced up, he caught her staring.

  “Well?”

  “Well what?” He closed his menu.

  “What’s the mystery about your truck?”

  He shrugged. “No mystery. So, is the chicken as good as your friend says, or should I go for the meatloaf? I liked it before.”

  “It’s not that I minded driving you here,” she said demurely, “but I’m just curious. Is it in the shop?”

  “No,” he said, enjoying this immensely. “And thank you for driving. Next time I’ll do the honors.”

  “So you’re buying a new car?”

  “No need.” He opened the menu again. “Why buy new when what you’ve got works just fine?”

  “If it works just fine,” Sessa said, “then why not drive it?”

  “Because you gave me a ride.”

  Sessa glared in his general direction but said nothing. Oh but this was fun.

  Finally. He waved at Carly Chance and her husband Jared as they stepped inside the door. While the ladies behind the counter ooh-ed and ah-ed over the Chance baby, Jared made his way to their table and tossed Trey the keys to his truck.

  “Thanks buddy,” Trey said as he shook hands with the former Marine.

  “Any time.” He winked in Sessa’s direction. “Be nice to this guy.” He left to join Carly and their son in a booth near the cash register.

  Sessa gave him a pointed look. “What was that about?”

  Trey dangled the keys in front of her and then stuffed them in his pocket. “Got my truck back.”

  “I would ask from where but I assume you won’t answer.”

  Trey shrugged. “I’d say the answer is obvious. I got it back from Jared. Now, about the chicken. What are the odds Melba hasn’t wandered off?”

  “Oh, she’s here,” Sue Ellen hurried to a stop at their booth.

  “Then chicken for me,” Trey said. “And sweet tea.”

  “Me too,” Sessa echoed.

  Sue Ellen wrote down their orders and then seemed reluctant to leave. Finally, she looked down at Sessa and grinned. “Oh,” she said before she hurried back to the kitchen.

  Well of course. It had obviously been too much to hope that Sessa’s friends would be able to keep their mouths shut for thirty minutes.

  “What in the world?” Sessa said.

  She knows. Trey groaned. “Maybe Mabel wandered off.”

  Sessa shook her head. “Whatever it is, I’m sure I’ll hear about it before bedtime. Sugar Pine’s a small town with big mouths.”

  “Apparently.” He watched Sue Ellen return from the kitchen to confer with Carly. Carly handed the baby to Jared and set off with Sue Ellen for the table with the camo-clad men and their women.

  “So,” Sessa said. “I’m getting a little worried.”

  So am I. “About what?” He spied Carly and one of the camo-dates conferring. Apparently his secret was out. He gave Jared a pointed look, and the man shrugged. Surely his new friend hadn’t given away the secret that Trey had been plotting for weeks.

  “You know about the work I’m doing for the Smithsonian, right?” At his nod, she continued. “Well, I knew the scope of it, and yet now that I am actually in the middle of it, I’m a little overwhelmed.”

  “Hence the pie baking today?”

  “Yes.” She held up her hand to stop him from responding. “And before you say it, you are a good hand at the work you’ve done, but you belong in a doctor’s office and not carving in my workshop.”

  He reached across the table to grasp her hand. “I have a feeling you’re going to find a solution, Sessa.”

  She seemed to be considering the statement. “I guess I could run the ad again.”

  “Yes, you could. And I’ll see what I can do to be more helpful.” He paused to chuckle at her expression. “But you’re right. I do belong in a doctor’s office, so any help I’d offer would have to be part time.”

  She contemplated his words with a tilt of her head. “So you’re going back to the hospital?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Then I don’t understand. If you’re going back to practice, then wouldn’t it be at the hospital where you—”

  Thankfully Sue Ellen returned to set plates in front of them and then stood back and beamed. She patted Sessa on the shoulder and then leaned down to hug Trey.

  Yes, she definitely knows.

  Trey glanced around the room. Again, every eye was on him. He gestured for Sue Ellen to lean close. “Does everyone know?”

  Her eyes darted to Sessa and then returned to him. “I doubt she does.”

  He groaned. “But everyone else?”

  Sue Ellen offered a guilty look. “Only the ones who’ve come in to the diner tonight. Or the ones they’ve called and told.”

  Trey nodded toward the front of the diner and then looked at Sessa. “Will you excuse us a minute?” He stood, linked arms with Sue Ellen, and escorted her back to the cash register.

  “Look,” he said none too gently. “I went to a lot of trouble to plan this for Sessa, and if you are her friend, then you will not ruin the secret. Do you understand?”

  Sue Ellen looked surprised. “Oh. You’re so right! Oh, no. I need to fix this.”

  “No.” Trey saw that all eyes in the room were still on him. “I guess I do.”

  He cleared his throat and clapped his hands until all sounds in the diner ceased. “Can I have your attention?”

  Sessa turned at the sound of his voice. “Trey, for goodness sakes, what are you doing?”

  “Trying to salvage a plan.”

  He heard her soft echo. “Plan?”

  He ignored it. “Now, as to the rest of you, how many of you have heard what I’m planning?”

  Almost every hand in the room went up. Again, he groaned

  “All right. How many of you want to ruin this for Sessa?”

  This time all hands dropped back down.

  “That’s what I figured.” His heart pounded, and his throat threatened to constrict. He felt as nervous as a teenager on his first date, and yet he somehow managed to continue. “Now, as long as I am at it, I might as well come right out and ask how many of you are bothered by the fact that a man with my background is sitting here in your town tonight and keeping company with the prettiest girl in Sugar Pine?”

  One hand went up. Jared.

  “What the heck, Jared? You never told me you had a problem with me dating Sessa. Not that I’m going to stop. I love her.”

  “Why not tell the world?” she said as her cheeks turned the prettiest shade of pink.

  “Give me time, and I will, darlin’.”

  A few of the diners chuckled.

  Jared pointed at Trey. “The only problem I’ve got is with you wasting a nice evening in here when you could have gotten your chicken to go.”

  Trey grinned. “Sue Ellen?”

  “On it.” She hurried to their table to retrieve the plates.

  Sessa rose to join Trey. “What are you doing?” she whispered.

  “What I should have done the minute Jared walked in.” He gathered her into his arms and kissed her soundly. “Sue Ellen,” he called. “Hurry up with that chicken.”

  She ran back from the kitchen with a bag and two sweet teas in to-go cups. Handing the food to Trey, she looked at Sessa and giggled.

  “What is going on?”

  Trey ushered her out of the diner and into the parking lot.

  They walked past his truck, and she must have noted the heavy crusting of mud it wore. “Looks like you were stuck in the mud. When did you …?” Her words trailed off.

  He had been stuck. Instead of telling her that, he shrugged and kept her moving forward. When she attempted to turn toward her car, he eased her back into the
direction of the sidewalk.

  “Where are we going?”

  He stopped on the sidewalk in front of the old Landrum house. “Here. The soon-to-be Sugar Pine Medical Clinic.”

  “You?” she said in a rush of breath.

  “I bought it, yes.” He set the bag of chicken on the porch rail and reached for his key. “There’s still a lot to be done, but come in. I’d love to show you around.”

  Sessa walked up the steps of the old mansion, and what she saw caught her breath. How nice of Trey to use some of the money he made as a Houston surgeon to help revitalize downtown Sugar Pine. Was that what all the quiet whispers had been about in the diner? Her date had certainly seemed to be the talk of the town.

  The porch had been painstakingly returned to its former glory. Even the ceiling of robin’s egg blue had been repainted and now shimmered a pale color above the freshly painted porch. She’d noticed the new paint when they drove in but hadn’t thought about it until now. He must’ve been busy over the last two weeks, but how had the entire town kept it from her?

  “Come in,” he told her. “Remember, there’s still a lot of work to do.”

  He opened the door and moved aside. She stepped in. “Oh,” she whispered. “Trey, this is absolutely beautiful.”

  The walls on either side of the old entry hall had been removed to create one large open space with windows that gave a one-hundred and eighty degree view of Sugar Pine’s main street. With the sun setting to the west, its orange close hidden behind the Blue Plate, the room was cast in a golden glow.

  Straight ahead was a double staircase that split in the middle and then descended on either side of an antique partners desk. Above the desk was a light fixture that had to have been original to the house.

  “My receptionist will sit here.” He gestured to the desk. “Soon as Carly’s finished with her maternity leave, that is.”

  Oh. His. The meaning of his words penetrated the fog in her brain and settled there.

  “Carly?” Sessa shook her head. “Wait. Do you mean all of this is yours?”

  Trey set the chicken on the desk. “Yes. After I met you, I couldn’t stay in Houston. There’s just nothing for me there anymore.”

  “Oh.” Her thoughts raced, but she couldn’t manage to get anything else out of her mouth.

  “So, putting down roots in Sugar Pine just makes sense.” He glanced around him and then returned his attention to Sessa. “Doc Easley told me there’s been no doctor in this town since he retired.”

  “You talked to Doc Easley?”

  Trey nodded. “I wanted to get his opinion. He was the doctor here before me.”

  “But he didn’t tell a soul.”

  Trey grinned. “Apparently a rare trait in this town.”

  Sessa waved away the statement with a smile and then headed up the stairs. “What’s up here?”

  “Nothing yet.” He followed her. “I’m still trying to decide what I’ll do with all of these rooms. One will definitely be set aside for Carly’s son, should she decide to keep him with her at work.” He paused to look around and then shrugged. “As to the rest … those answers will come later.”

  He grasped her hand and nodded toward the stairs at the end of the hall. “Did you know there’s a third floor to this place?”

  She followed him up the narrow set of stairs to what she figured was the attic. Instead, she found every wall had been removed and every window opened to the slowly setting sun. Where the downstairs glowed with highly polished woodwork and leaded windows, the space up here was pristine. Even the rafters had been painted a brilliant white. Spanning the length of the old home, the room would easily hold several hundred people.

  She couldn’t believe he’d done all this and managed to keep it a secret!

  She twirled in a circle to take it in. “What will you do with this?” She settled under a massive chandelier that hung in the center of the room.

  “The possibilities are endless. Or at least that’s what your friend Cozette says. Her idea is to turn this into an event center. Parties, reunions, weddings. Things like that. I think it’s a great idea. What about you?”

  “Coco knew about this?”

  He shrugged. “Don’t be mad at her. I asked her not to say anything. I wanted this to be a surprise.”

  “Well.” She admired the chandelier, the walls, the view from the windows, and then turned her attention back to Trey. “It’s definitely a surprise. And I think it’s a great idea.”

  Trey looked relieved. “I hoped you would say that. Now come back downstairs and take the rest of the tour. I’d especially like your input on my office.”

  Sessa allowed Trey to escort her through the remaining rooms on the ground floor, pointing out changes and answering his questions about decorating along the way. Finally they ended up in a room that most certainly had to be his office.

  Oh. If Trey were putting down roots, if he intended to begin practicing medicine here, what else did he intend? Sessa cast a sideways glance at the cowboy doctor she’d fallen hopelessly in love with and allowed herself to hope, just for a moment, that his earlier declaration meant she might fit into his plans.

  New furniture had already been delivered, and shelves spanning one wall sported a decent array of books and framed photographs. A massive desk held court in the center of the room, and a leather chair that looked quite impressive sat behind it. Two more chairs of a similar style gathered between the desk and the fireplace.

  She ran her hand over the carved wood. “This is beautiful.”

  “It was my father’s.”

  Sessa turned her attention to the line of leather books, most of them medical in nature, and ran her finger over their spines. A photograph of Trey with an older couple caught her attention.

  “Your parents?”

  “At my medical school graduation.”

  She smiled and returned the photograph to the shelf and then reached to the shelf above it. There she found two photographs mounted side-by-side in one frame, both obviously from his rodeo days. The picture on the left was of a much younger Trey sitting astride what appeared to be a bronc awaiting its turn to flee the chute. The one on the left, also of Trey, featured the cowboy kneeling down to speak to a little boy.

  Something in the black-and-white picture seemed familiar. The dark-haired child’s face wasn’t visible, but from the way the cowboy smiled, their exchange must have been memorable to both of them. Trey seemed quite interested in whatever the boy was holding in his hands. Was it a hat? Maybe a program. Hard to tell.

  “What did you find?” He closed the distance between them.

  “Rodeo,” she said as she held the photograph up for his inspection.

  “That was a long time ago. Those were the days, though. My mom loved those two pictures. I believe they came from the local newspaper, or maybe one of those sports magazines. I really can’t remember. Anyway, she had them framed and kept them where everyone who came to the house could see them.”

  “Sounds like your mother was proud of you.”

  He wrapped his arm around Sessa. “She was. My dad, too. I miss them.”

  Rather than ask what happened, she leaned her head on his shoulder and looked up at the picture of the little boy. What was it that seemed so familiar?

  “So,” Trey said as he broke off the embrace. “You approve?”

  “Oh, yes,” she said. “I definitely approve.”

  He nodded toward the door. “Then I’ve got one more surprise for you.”

  She gave him an incredulous look. “You don’t think this is enough surprise for one day?”

  “Trust me.” He ushered her out of the front door and then locked it behind him.

  “Wait.” Sessa pointed inside. “We forgot the chicken.”

  Trey laughed and went in to retrieve it. When he returned, he placed a hand on the small of her back and urged her toward his truck. “Come on, woman. Time for a picnic.”

  “What’d you have in mind ?”


  He helped her inside and then handed her the bag of food. “Just wait.”

  Trey climbed into the truck and started the engine. A few minutes later they were headed toward Firefly Lane. Just when Sessa figured Trey was taking her home, he made a sharp left turn and headed down a dirt road that ran parallel to her street. They bounced around under an almost purple sky until he slowed to a stop in front of a familiar gate.

  “This is the Landrum ranch,” she said.

  He grinned. “I know. I negotiated both properties as a package deal.”

  “But this place—”

  “Backs up to yours?” he supplied. At her nod, he upped his grin. “I know. Now come see what I’ve been doing here.”

  Once they got inside the gate, Trey drove the truck to the old farmhouse and stopped. Apparently he’d spent much of the past two weeks here, too. The exterior lights lit the grounds so well that it could have been midday. Had she been so busy with the Smithsonian horses that she had missed commotion this close to home?

  “I haven’t touched the house yet except to make it comfortable enough to sleep. It’ll need a complete redo if I decide to keep it.”

  “Why wouldn’t you keep it?” She surveyed the grand old farmhouse from her spot in front of the truck. “It’s just about the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  “No, Sessa.” He stood beside her. “That would be you.”

  She thought he would kiss her then, but he didn’t. Instead, he took her hand and led her down the path toward the barn. Here, too, there was plenty of light, thanks to the spotlights positioned in the tops of trees and on poles all around the perimeter.

  She wandered into the barn. “What are you going to do here?” The room was hidden in shadows, no lights to show off any of his handiwork.

  “Stand right there.” A moment later, the room filled with light, revealing a glorious barn with stables for two dozen horses and a tack room that would be the envy of any horseman.

  “Oh, Trey,” she whispered. “Wow.”

  “My feelings exactly.” He turned her to face him. “Wow.” And then he kissed her.