Honky Tonk Christmas

by Carolyn Brown

  Holt held her and said, “I’ll keep the monsters at bay.”

  And she believed him.

  Chapter 17

  A slow cold drizzle came down outside her window when Sharlene awoke. She looked at the clock and stretched. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept until three thirty in the afternoon. Twelve hours of sleep without waking with the taste of sand in her mouth and the sound of gunfire in her ears. Without seeing haunting faces of suicide bombers, maimed children in the hospital, soldiers without arms and legs, or Jonah with the life gone from his eyes.

  She rolled over to find one pillow propped at her back and a note pinned to the other one. She removed it and sat up, wiping the sleep from her eyes as she did.

  She read aloud: “Kids will be home at five. Can’t grill the chicken and burgers outside in the rain so I’m going to make lasagna in the oven. It’s still a date even if we don’t barbecue outside. Expecting you to bring dessert. We eat at six. Signed, Holt.”

  She laid it on the nightstand beside the clock. “My first love letter and it’s so not romantic! But after last night it could be written on Charmin and it would still be wonderful. I slept all night without dreams. Can I have your body every night, Holt Jackson?”

  She had two hours to make a dessert. That left out cinnamon rolls from scratch. Not even putting a rush on the dough by putting it into a warm oven to rise could get them ready in two hours. Pecan pie needed an hour to bake and an hour to cool. It wasn’t completely out of the question. But then she remembered her mother’s old recipe for gooey cake. She hopped out of bed and trotted off to the kitchen to check ingredients.

  “One white cake mix. One stick of butter. Four eggs, cream cheese, powdered sugar.” She talked as she set them on the cabinet. It only took thirty-five minutes to bake so that would give it plenty of time to cool to the proper temperature before she left.

  She picked up an egg to crack against the mixing bowl and the phone rang. She jumped and dropped the egg on the floor. The phone continued to howl and she stepped in the slimy egg when she ran to fetch it from her purse.

  “Hello, dammit!” she said.

  “That’s not a nice way to answer the phone,” Molly scolded.

  “I dropped an egg and stepped in it. I’ve got goo on my foot.” She walked on her heel to the bathroom where she propped her leg on the vanity and washed the sticky egg from between her toes. She talked with the phone propped on her shoulder and had to pick it up twice when it fell.

  “Are you just now making breakfast? Lord, Sharlene, a woman wasn’t meant to work all night and sleep all day. I bet you didn’t even do that in the army, did you?” Molly bombarded her with questions.

  “Good afternoon, Momma. I’m making gooey cake for dessert tonight. I’m having supper at Holt’s,” she said.

  “Well, the kids will love it. You kids always did. I called to check on you and to make sure you’re coming home for Thanksgiving next week,” Molly said.

  “I’m fine and I’ll be there Thursday in time for dinner and stay over until Monday. Tessa and Darla are going to run the Tonk for me on Friday and Saturday night so I can have a long weekend with y’all.”

  “You’ll want pumpkin bread?” Molly asked.

  Sharlene could hear the smile in Molly’s voice. She always made one favorite thing for each of her children on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Molly had shipped pumpkin bread to Iraq both Thanksgiving days that she wasn’t home with her family.

  “Of course, and pumpkin pie and pumpkin roll and pumpkin pancakes for breakfast the day after,” Sharlene laughed.

  “Now tell me about this date? I thought he and Dorie were all hot and heavy into phone talking. She was sitting in church with Wayne last Sunday though so maybe she’s decided to go for the man with stability. I would have sworn she and Holt would have made a better couple than you and him. No way would he ever marry a bartender and Dorie has that farm that would be wonderful to raise up four kids on,” Molly went on and on.

  Sharlene’s mood got worse with each sentence. “Mother, I’ve got to make dessert so can I call you back tomorrow and hear more about Dorie?”

  “Don’t you take that tone with me, young lady. I don’t agree with what you are doing one little bit. Just because I didn’t pitch a big fit in front of the whole family doesn’t mean I’m on your side. I had to keep my temper in check because if I got all fired up then your dad would too, and I’m not losing him with a heart attack because of your unwise decisions.” Molly’s voice was not smiling anymore.

  Sharlene sighed. “Momma, you don’t have to be on my side. I wasn’t expecting you to like what I do or even support me in it. I was surprised as hell that you took it as well as you did. I don’t need your blessing any more than I needed it to join the army. I do need you to be my mother and love me and stop trying to hook me up with every available man in Oklahoma.”

  “What makes you think I’ve limited my search to one state? I’m determined that you aren’t going to die a lonely old maid. We’ll talk more about this next week. I’ll have all your pumpkin goodies ready. Just promise me you’ll be here,” Molly said.

  “I wouldn’t miss Thanksgiving with all the family for anything,” Sharlene assured her.

  “Not even that abominable beer joint?”

  Sharlene laughed. “Not even the Honky Tonk could keep me away from your pumpkin bread. See you next week on Thursday in plenty of time for dinner.”

  “And you’ll really stay until Monday, no matter what?”

  “You’ve got my word on it,” Sharlene said.

  “Okay. I’ll get your room ready and the bread made. I still don’t like you driving all alone that far.”

  “Momma, it’s five hours. I’m not crossing the desert on a motorcycle,” she said.

  “Promise me you’ll be careful and you’ll stay until Monday,” Molly said.

  “I told you I would. Now good-bye. I’ve got a gooey cake to make.” Sharlene flipped the phone shut before Molly could make any more demands.

  What did her mother have up her sleeve anyway to make her promise to stay that long? Was Wayne still on the top of the bachelor list down at the Ladies Circle? Did the women plan some kind of magical voodoo to make the two of them fall in love so Sharlene would move back to Corn?

  Well, it wasn’t happening. The temperature in hell hadn’t dropped that far yet.

  ***

  Judd threw open the back door of the multicolored house before Sharlene could knock. “I been watchin’ for you forever. Come in and see my book about the ice thing last night. You should’ve seen it, Sharlene. It was so pretty. I’m going to grow up and skate on ice and Waylon is going to run one of them big old ice machines that sweep all the lines out of the ice. And Uncle Holt is in the kitchen with Chad and Gloria and they’re making us some supper and is that a cake? What kind? It’s not lemon, is it? I don’t like lemon.”

  Chad poked his head through the archway into the living room. “Okay, magpie, give Sharlene time to bring the dessert in here and then you can show her the book.”

  Judd crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her lower lip. “Well ddd… dang!”

  “Good girl,” Sharlene whispered.

  “It ain’t easy, not sayin’ bad words,” Judd said.

  Chad took the cake from Sharlene and set it on the cabinet. “I want to introduce you to Gloria.”

  “Hello,” Sharlene said. She was surprised when she finally saw the woman she’d heard so much about. Gloria had thick jet-black hair and a round face. Her Hispanic heritage showed up in slightly toasted skin and big dark brown eyes. She wore jeans that nipped in at a small waist between rounded hips and big breasts.

  “This is Gloria Green,” Chad said. “And this is Sharlene Waverly.”

  “I’m glad to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you from the children,” Gloria said.

  “Likewise,” Sharlene said. “They talk so much about you and Chad that I was beginning to get jealo
us.”

  Gloria laughed. “Holt told us that he was afraid we were going to have a custody battle with you.”

  “What’s a testofee battle?” Judd asked.

  “Cus-to-dy,” Sharlene drew the word out by syllables. “It means who gets to keep you and Waylon the most. But we were just joking. Your Uncle Holt has real custody of you and Waylon.”

  Judd ran to Holt and wrapped her arms around his leg. “I love all of you but Uncle Holt is my daddy. We done signed the ’doption papers yesterday at the courthouse and now he can’t even call me Judd Mendoza no more. Now I’m Judd Jackson. But we’re not going to tell it at school right now acause it would ’fuse the teacher so we’re goin’ to wait until we move and then I’ll be really Judd Jackson. And guess what, we got a ’prise next week. Daddy is going to take us somewhere special for Thanksgiving.”

  “Okay, enough,” Holt said hoarsely. “Cake looks good. What kind?”

  “Gooey cake. My momma makes them. Lots of cream cheese and butter,” Sharlene said. “She got the recipe from Dorie’s mother years ago.”

  Holt turned back to the oven. He wanted to go to her and kiss her on the forehead, to show everyone that they’d moved from friendship to relationship but Sharlene looked severely pissed when she handed him the cake.

  Sharlene pulled out a chair and sat down at the end of the table. “Why didn’t you tell me you were doing the adoption yesterday? We would have had a celebration.”

  “It was supposed to be next week but they got the papers done early so we ran in and out and got it finished,” he said. Was that what had her dander up? That she wasn’t asked to go along? In his mind, the whole thing was a formality. Judd and Waylon had been his since the day he took custody of them.

  “I see,” Sharlene said and turned to Gloria. “So I hear there’s a wedding in the works?”

  “Last day of December,” Gloria said. “You’ll get your invitation after Thanksgiving. Judd said that you had to come and see her all dressed up like Cinderella. She wanted to know if she could ride a white horse up to the church.”

  Judd crawled up in Gloria’s lap and another bout of jealousy turned Sharlene bullfrog green. Dorie had been making phone calls behind her back. Holt hadn’t even mentioned that he’d talked to her on a regular basis. Now Gloria had stolen Judd.

  Waylon meandered into the kitchen from his bedroom and laid a hand on Sharlene’s shoulder.

  “I’m going to grow up and drive an ice ’chine,” he said.

  His innocent touch and sweet little voice made Sharlene smile. She patted his hand. “I bet you’d be a good ice ’chine driver.”

  “I have to wear gloves. It’s a cold job but Judd’s skates will make lines in the ice and I’ll have to fix it for her,” he said seriously.

  “You don’t want to skate with her?” Sharlene asked.

  He shook his head and shivered. “Too fast for me.”

  “You ever been ice skating?” Sharlene asked.

  He shook his head again.

  Judd jumped off Gloria’s lap. “Have you been ice skating, Sharlene?”

  “I don’t reckon they had ice skating in Corn or Iraq, did they?” Holt asked.

  “You were in Iraq?” Gloria asked.

  She nodded. “I was there for two tours during my army career. And to answer your question, Holt, no they don’t have ice skating at either place. But I happen to know where they do.”

  “Oh, I forgot about Frisco. Hey, Chad, can we take the kids skating next Sunday?” Gloria said quickly.

  “Can’t,” Holt said.

  “Why?”

  “Next week is Thanksgiving. We’ve got plans from Wednesday through Sunday. If you want to take them the next week that’s fine. Where is this Frisco place?” Holt pulled the pan of lasagna from the oven and set it on a hot pad to cool.

  “At the Frisco mall. They’ve got a rink on the bottom floor. I went there a few years ago,” Gloria said.

  “You want to take a chance like that? What if you sprained an ankle or broke something that close to wedding time?” Sharlene asked.

  Gloria shuddered. “You got a good point. You take them.”

  “Take us where?” Judd and Waylon both danced around the kitchen.

  “Ice skating. But it’ll have to wait until after Christmas, kids. We’ve got plans for this weekend. The next weekend your grandparents have asked for you on Sunday afternoon and the one after that too, for their family holiday. They always do it in between the two big holidays so everyone can come home,” he explained.

  “Ahhh, shucks!” Judd said.

  “That’s a good girl,” Sharlene said. “You didn’t say a bad word.”

  Judd snorted. “But I wanted to.”

  Holt frowned.

  Sharlene shot him a look.

  “What’d Holt do?” Gloria asked.

  “Long story,” Sharlene said.

  “Mr. Perfect has a fault. Tell me, please,” she begged from behind her hand.

  “He’s not Mr. Perfect, darlin’,” Sharlene said.

  Holt tilted his head to one side. “Oh?”

  Chad moved his chair over closer to Gloria. “What are you two talking about?”

  “Recipes,” Sharlene said.

  “They were talking about me not being perfect,” Holt said. Had he been too blunt in his note? Should he have signed it “love or like” rather than just his name?

  “Well, it took a long time but the light finally dawned. Don’t weep and have a gnashing of teeth because you found out Holt wasn’t perfect. Save that for when you figure out I have a tiny flaw in my character,” Chad laughed.

  “Oh, really?” Gloria eyed him up and down. “Maybe we’d better put off the wedding date until I figure out where this flaw is. I might not want a man who’s got stuff wrong with him.”

  “What’s a flawed?” Judd asked.

  “It’s something that makes someone or something not perfect,” Sharlene explained.

  “Waylon, you got a flawed. I think you might have to go to the doctor and get a shot for it,” Judd said.

  “I do not have a flawed. I don’t even have a sore throat and I ain’t gettin’ no shot,” he yelled.

  “Are too,” Judd said.

  “Stop arguing or take it to your room,” Holt said.

  They marched into their room and shut the door. The argument was muted and the word “flawed” was used repeatedly, but they could hear it. All four of them held a hand over their mouths to keep the laughter down.

  “What have you been doing all day besides making a cake?” Holt finally asked when he could talk without chuckling.

  She watched his expression closely. “I talked to Momma.”

  A nervous twitch made his eyebrow dance. “Are they getting geared up for the holiday out on the farm?”

  She nodded. “They are. I’ll be driving up on Thursday and staying until Monday.”

  “Turkey, ham, and all the fixings?” Gloria asked.

  “Every year. I missed it when I was gone.”

  “I would too. This will be my first year outside my family circle.” She reached across and took Chad’s hand. “But we’ll be together and that’s all that matters.”

  “You’re going to Chad’s then?” Sharlene could smell a rat but she couldn’t see or find the critter. That didn’t mean it wasn’t in the room with her.

  “In a roundabout way,” Gloria said. “Tell me. How in the world did someone as young and pretty as you wind up with a beer joint? Do you like it? And I hear you’ve got a big romance book that just hit the racks. That is so exciting. I love romance. Keep one in my purse all the time at work.”

  “I’ll take that young and pretty thing as a compliment and yes, it is exciting and yes, I love all of it. The beer joint, the writing. I even love Mingus, Texas. Where do you work?” Sharlene asked.

  “At a bank drive-by window. That’s where I met Chad. He came by the window one day and I’d never seen a cowboy as handsome as he is.” She smiled.
/>   Chad put his hands on Gloria’s shoulders and stood behind her. “And I thought I was looking at an angel. Took me three weeks to get up the courage to ask for her number.”

  “If he hadn’t asked I’d made up my mind to march outside and get in the car with him,” Gloria said.

  “You going to continue to work after you get married?”

  “Probably not at the bank. I’m thinking about putting in a day care. I love kids,” she said.

  “There should be plenty of customers up around Wichita Falls. That where y’all are going after Christmas?” Sharlene asked Gloria but she looked at Holt.

  “We still got a few irons in the fire that we’re letting heat up but probably not up that direction,” Holt said.

  “He won’t tell us either and I got a best friend at school and she was going to ask her momma if I could come over and play after Christmas time and Uncle Holt, I mean Daddy, said we’d have to wait and see,” Judd sighed.

  “Secrets,” Sharlene said.

  “Not a secret. Just don’t want to broadcast something that would get two little kids’ hopes all up in the air and then have to ruin it all. But I’ll tell you one thing, Judd, if it all pans out you will be a very happy little girl,” Holt said.

  He wished he could tell Sharlene the same thing but she was going to pitch the biggest fit this side of World War II when she found out where he was taking the children.

  Chapter 18

  Sharlene listened to the radio until she lost her favorite country music station. She turned it off and dug around in an old worn case for a cassette to put into the tape deck. She found a Miranda Lambert tape and pushed it into the slot. Her next VW Bug was going to have a CD player instead of the old cassette system and it was going to be bright yellow.

  When the music stopped she didn’t put another one in but let her mind drift as she drove north. Where was Holt today? The children had been excited on Tuesday saying that Uncle Holt slash Daddy had a big surprise for them. They were going somewhere special the next day and they weren’t coming home until Sunday. The passing idea of them being at Dorie’s clinched her stomach up in knots.