by A. J. Pine
She turned to find Brody standing in the middle of the floor. He held a bouquet of wildflowers tied with a bright red ribbon in one hand and a black cowboy hat in the other. The top button of his blue and white plaid shirt was left undone, showing a tuft of dark hair. Her eyes had trouble moving away from the belt buckle engraved with a bull rider.
“You look amazing.” He stuck the flowers out toward her. “I picked these for you.”
“Did I hear that you were meeting someone about the café?” Daisy asked.
“Yes. They’re coming tomorrow morning.” Lila smiled. “Thank you so much for these, Brody. Give me a minute to put them in some water.”
“I’ll do it for you and they’ll be on the dresser in your room when you get home this evening. I’ll shut the door to keep the cats out.” Daisy took them from him.
“Thank you, Mama,” Lila said, but her eyes didn’t leave Brody’s. “They are beautiful.”
“Not as beautiful as you are. Does she have a curfew, Miz Daisy?” Brody asked.
“Only if I do,” Daisy said.
Lila hugged Daisy and whispered, “Wish me luck.”
“Never, not with that guy,” Daisy told her.
“Ready?” Brody asked.
“As I’ll ever be. Excited but nervous.”
He settled his hat on his head and held the door open for her. “You have a good time, Miz Daisy.”
“I’m sure I will,” she said.
When they were near the truck, he put both hands on her shoulders and turned her around. His gaze started at her toes and traveled slowly to her hair and then back to settle on her lips. “You take my breath away, Lila. You’re stunning.”
“You clean up pretty good, cowboy, but I got to admit, I kind of like a little dirt on your shirt.”
His lips landed on hers for a brief, sweet kiss as he helped her into the truck. “I like you in your tight jeans and tops, too, but, darlin’, you look like something out of a movie in that outfit.”
She flipped the visor mirror down and checked her lipstick as he rounded the hood of the truck and took his place behind the wheel.
“Brody, I’m really stressed about this.” She put the mirror back up and fastened her seat belt.
He drove to the highway and turned right. “Would you have been if we were still in high school and I’d asked you to our reunion?”
“Of course, but I bluffed my way through things better in those days,” she answered.
“I’ve got a confession. I felt like a kid tonight when I knocked on your door. My hands were sweaty and I almost threw the flowers behind the garage. I should have thought to go to Amarillo and get you roses. You deserve something more than wildflowers picked from our back pasture.” He parked the car at the end of a long row of other vehicles in the pasture beside the ranch’s sale barn. “Ready?”
She shook her head.
“Hey, any woman who would be willin’ to climb on a bull that refuses to get out of Hope Springs and ride the critter with me isn’t afraid of anything.” He grinned.
She hit the button to undo the seat belt and threw open the door.
“Whoa, darlin’,” he said. “You see all those cowboys around the barn door? They need to see me bein’ a gentleman or I’ll have to beat them off with a stick all evening.”
She sat still until he made it around the truck and held out his hand. Putting hers into his turned the whole world around. The jitters in her stomach settled. Her heart stopped racing.
“Is that your cousin Toby with Jace?” she asked.
“It sure is, but he’s married now so I don’t have to worry about him.” With an arm slung around her shoulders, Brody led her toward the barn.
She tried to take it all in with a glance but it was impossible. A group of cowboys had gathered around Toby and Jace, and they were all staring at her. Kids were running around everywhere, but she didn’t see Emma or Rustin. Country music was playing. The aroma of smoked brisket filled the air.
“A band?” she asked.
“Just a local group. It’s not Blake Shelton,” Brody said. “But I’m askin’ right now for every dance.”
“Yes,” she said without hesitation.
“Lila Harris?” Toby smiled. “Is that you?”
Toby was a Dawson—tall, sexy, great angles to his face and gorgeous eyes. But in Lila’s eyes, he fell far short of Brody when it came to looks and charm.
“It is really me,” she said. “You haven’t changed a bit, Toby Dawson. And I hear that you’re married.”
“I am,” he said. “You’ll have to meet my Lizzy. We’re expecting our first baby in a few months.”
“Congratulations! And Blake?”
“He and Allie are here somewhere. They have a little girl already.” Toby nudged Brody on the shoulder. “You’d best keep her close, Brody. We still got lots of cousins who’d just love to steal this one from you.”
“Don’t I know it!” Brody nodded. “We’ll see y’all later, I’m sure.”
“Lila?” Hope was suddenly right there in front of them when they walked inside the barn. Her eyes started at Lila’s red lipstick, then traveled to her boots and back up again.
“Doesn’t she look beautiful tonight?” Brody flashed a smile.
“She’s always been a pretty girl. I do like those boots and I’m a sucker for red lipstick,” Hope said. “Girls today ain’t got a bit of style with all them browns and pinks on their lips.”
“Thank you.” Lila nodded.
“You should wear more red.” Hope looped her arm through Lila’s. “Brody, you go on and visit with your cousins a little bit before Jace says grace and we’re turned loose on the food. I’m going to take Lila around and show her everything.”
Rustin appeared out of nowhere and tugged at Hope’s hand. “Granny, I’m hungry. When are we going to eat?” Then his eyes grew big and he yelled, “Emma, Lila is here!”
Emma squealed and she ran across the barn toward them.
Lila dropped down to a squat and hugged both kids at the same time. “This looks like a great party. What’s your favorite thing on the food table?”
“The baked beans,” Emma said.
“Chocolate pie but you got to eat everything on your plate before you get any,” Rustin said seriously.
“You’re not my boss, Rustin, but you can dance with me.” Emma pulled him out to the dance floor.
Hope wrapped her hand around Lila’s upper arm. “They’re cute kids. We’d like to have a dozen more on Hope Springs.”
Lila was stunned speechless. Hope might be telling her that she wanted her to produce twelve little Dawson kids or else she was being nice to lure her to her death in a dark corner of the barn. Lila wasn’t ready for either one of those options right then.
“Hey, Valerie, look who I found,” Hope called out to her daughter, who was in the midst of several women.
Valerie’s quick glance said that she’d rather be home with a migraine than attending a reunion with Lila.
“We’ll be around to introduce you later.” Hope waved as she kept walking toward the stairs leading to the buyer’s balcony. “Now it’s your turn to hold my arm. My knees ain’t what they used to be.”
Lila took the steps slowly and waited for Hope to get a firm stand on every one before she moved on. Was the old gal going to push her over the top railing to her death or did she have a gun hiding between the bleacher seats?
“I used to sneak up here with my boyfriend,” Hope said when they reached the top. Three layers of wooden benches ran the length of the balcony. During the fall livestock sale, the buyers could have a bird’s-eye view of the cattle being offered.
Without thinking, Lila glanced to the top bench on the far end—the one where she and Brody always had a making-out sesssion.
Hope giggled. “That was our favorite spot, too, but we’ll sit right here on the bottom seat because my legs need to rest.”
Lila waited for Hope to get comfortable before she removed h
er hand from her arm. Then she sat down beside her and looked down at a barn full of people. There was Valerie still visiting with a group of women that Lila didn’t know.
From the way Kasey was motioning with her hands, she was giving the caterers their last orders before they took all the lids off the food dishes. Kids were running every which way and the band was playing one country music song after another.
Then she spotted Brody talking to Jace and Toby. He kept scanning the barn and finally as if a sixth sense got a hold on him, he looked up. She waved and he grinned—she had no doubt that they were sharing the same memory. Her cheeks filled with high color but she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
“Looking down from here puts a new perspective on things. Getting away from the forest so you can see the trees. Henry was my neighbor, you know. We grew up right across a barbed-wire fence from each other. Even graduated from high school together.”
Lila shook her head. “I guess I did know that but it never dawned on me that y’all were the same age.”
Hope sighed and blinked a few times. “We were very different.”
Lila sucked in a lungful of air when she realized why Hope was talking and why they were sitting in the balcony. Henry Thomas had been her boyfriend at one time. Holy crap!
“Do you love my grandson, or are you going to break his heart to pay him back for the way he treated you?” Hope changed the subject so abruptly that her question shocked Lila.
“I’m not that kind of person.”
“Okay, then do you love him?”
“I’ve been terrified of you in the past, Miz Hope. I respect you in the present but that is something I’m not going to discuss with you. It’s between me and Brody,” Lila answered.
Hope giggled. “Yep, I knew I was right. You’ve grown into a responsible woman who would do good on Hope Springs. Now if you can stand up to Valerie like that, you’ll be fine.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Lila let the air out of her lungs slowly.
“Hey, what’re y’all doin’?” Brody asked as he cleared the top step.
“We’re visitin’ away from all that gawd-awful noise. That stuff ain’t country music. Why don’t they play some Hank Williams or some Ray Price,” Hope fussed. “You can help me get back down the stairs. I bet it’s time for Jace to say the blessin’ on the food, ain’t it?”
“Kasey says in fifteen minutes. I’ve got time for one dance with Lila before then,” he answered, and raised an eyebrow at Lila.
She hoped that her smile told him that everything was all right.
Hope headed off in Valerie’s direction when they reached the bottom of the steps and Brody pulled Lila onto the wooden dance floor. He twirled her around a couple of times, then brought her back to his chest. He sang along with the band when the lyrics talked about them getting a little wild on Saturday night and then she went to church on Sunday in ribbons and pearls.
“Ain’t this the truth?” he said.
“I don’t own any pearls and never did wear ribbons in my hair but we did get a little wild on Saturday nights,” she answered breathlessly. The whole world had always disappeared when she danced with Brody, whether it was at the Silver Spur to a live band or in an old hay barn to the music of a truck radio turned up as loud as it would go.
Barely taking a breath, the singer went right into Sammy Kershaw’s “Don’t Go Near the Water.” Lila swished her red skirt a few times and then Brody grabbed her hand.
She caught Valerie glaring from the sidelines but she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to take Brody to the springs after dark for a night of hot, passionate sex under the willow trees and then a time of skinny-dipping to cool off, so the woman could back off.
Jace hopped up on the bandstand and rang a cow bell to get everyone’s attention. When the noise settled, he picked up the microphone. “Welcome to the Dawson family reunion. Looks like we all took that verse in the Good Book about going forth and multiplyin’ very literally.”
Laughter rang out and he gave it time to settle down before he went on. “Rustin, that would be Kasey’s son, has been tellin’ me for nearly an hour that he’s starving and his sister, Emma, says that she is hungry to death. So without any more comments, I’m going to say grace and y’all can hit the food tables. As usual, Prairie Rose is catering the meat and the drinks but we thank all the rest of you for bringing a covered dish to go with it. Now if you’ll bow your heads.”
Brody whipped off his cowboy hat with all the other men in the barn and laid it over his heart but he kept Lila’s hand in his left one. Jace said a brief prayer and then folks began to form a line in front of the tables.
“If I remember right, you eat when you’re stressed. Hungry?” He kissed Lila on the forehead.
“Starving,” she answered.
“Then we’ll eat and then I want my older aunts who aren’t from Happy to see that I am with you. Maybe they’ll stop trying to fix me up with every woman in their church or at their school or— You understand.”
“Oh, yeah, I do,” she said. “You brought me here so all your relatives would stop trying to get you married off?”
“I brought you to the reunion because I want to spend the evening with the most beautiful woman in Texas. The other is a little bonus,” he said. “What did Granny want to talk to you about or is that confidential?”
“Did you know that she and Henry Thomas dated?”
He looked as stunned as if she’d hit him between the eyes with a shovel. “Did she say that?”
“Not in so many words but I figured it out.”
“We had a conversation a few days ago and that does make sense. But Henry?” He frowned.
“About as likely a match as Brody and Lila, right?” she asked.
“Oh, honey, we make a beautiful match.” He grinned.
“Brody!” Hope waved from a table where she’d claimed a seat. “You kids bring your plates and sit here beside me.”
Brody nodded. “The queen bee has summoned us. You don’t mind, do you? We can go skinny dippin’ afterwards.”
“In your dreams, cowboy,” she said. “This is a real date. We will stay in plain sight all evening and you will take me home and come straight back here.”
“Then they’ll all think you’re respectable, right?” he asked.
“What do you think? You’re really the only one that matters to me.”
“I feel like my world has stopped spinning and it’s tilted right on its axis again. I like you the way you are and anyone who doesn’t can go to hell.” He handed her a plate. “I told you everything would be okay.”
“I’ll be respectable but I insist on a good night kiss.” She grinned. “I’ve waited too many years for this date to be left at the door with no kiss.”
“Yes, ma’am. Eat hearty so you’ll have the energy to dance all evening. I’ve waited too long for this night to waste a single minute of it. And before you say a word, yes, it’s my fault that it didn’t happen sooner.”
She loaded her plate and waited at the end of the table for Brody and they crossed the barn together. Forget about hiding in the shadows. Everyone in the whole place could see her. She felt like turning around and running when Hope motioned to the chair right beside her. Brody set his plate down and pulled out a chair for her before he took his place on her right.
“Where is your mama this evening? You should have brought her with you,” Hope asked.
“She’s out with Laura and Teresa.”
“Just between me and you”—Hope leaned over and whispered—“I’d rather be with them. This is too many people for me at one time. I can BS my way through it for Valerie’s sake but I like smaller groups.”
“A little BS and a lot of ‘ain’t that nice’ gets us through,” Lila said.
Hope laughed loudly, drawing a lot of attention to the table, and then she leaned around Lila to speak to Brody. “Darlin’, would you go get me a couple of hot rolls? I forgot to put any on my plate and Gracie makes the best yeas
t bread in the state.”
“Sure thing, Granny. You need anything, Lila?”
“Maybe another glass of tea,” she answered.
When he was halfway across the barn, Hope leaned over to whisper softly, “And now everyone in the place knows that we’re talkin’ and playin’ nice. But, sweetheart, know this, if you hurt my grandson or break his heart, you’ll answer to me, and that’s not BS. You treat him right and you’ve got a friend in me for life, but if you don’t, well, I can be a real bitch.”
“Tell him the same thing and you won’t have a thing to worry about,” Lila said.
Hope patted her on the shoulder. “Glad we had this talk and the one in the balcony. You’ve got brass as well as class.”
Brody returned and took his seat; then he leaned over and whispered, “What was she sayin’ when I left? Your face went all serious and I was afraid you were going to leave.”
“Just girl talk,” Lila said. “This is excellent potato salad, Miz Hope. Which one of the relatives made it?”
“I did,” Hope said. “Brody loves bacon, so I fry a couple of pounds good and crispy to add to the mixture.”
“I’d love to have the recipe,” Lila said.
“I’ll write it off and send it with Brody tomorrow night when y’all have your second date,” Hope said.
“You think we’re going to have a second date?”
“You’ve invited him to church tomorrow and that’s a date in my books. Brody, did you hear that Henry’s sister isn’t going to renew Paul’s lease this fall? She says that she’s got other plans for the ranch. Wonder if Henry might be ready to come back home?”
“First I’ve heard of it,” Brody said.
“If she’s interested in selling that ranch, we’ll sure make her a good offer. It would be a nice addition to Hope Springs. I’ll call her in the next week or so,” Hope said.
Jace sat down on the other side of Hope and soon they were deep in a discussion about the possibility of buying the Texas Star.
Brody draped an arm across the back of Lila’s chair and asked, “You remember the night before the fall sale when we snuck away and went to the buyer’s balcony?”
“That was the closest we got to gettin’ caught. I thought for sure your dad would…”