One Lucky Cowboy

by Carolyn Brown

  Ellen wasted no time getting to the bar at the same time Jane did and standing between the two. "How did that hussy get here?" she asked Slade.

  "I wouldn't know. I didn't bring her. You sure you and Granny didn't have something to do with it just to watch the fireworks?"

  "I promise. I wouldn't do that to Milli and Beau for anything. Wouldn't be right, causing a scene at their barn dance."

  "Guess she crashed the party," Jane said.

  "I'd like to crash her head," Ellen said.

  "Here comes your chance. Looks like she's hauling Mr. Clumsy Feet over here for a drink," Jane said.

  "Who?" Slade frowned.

  "That man. I don't know his name, but he doesn't dance as well as you do," Jane said.

  "I'm leaving. Can't trust myself around that hussy. She's trouble on wheels," Ellen said.

  "Could you mix me up two martinis with double olives?" Kristy asked the bartender. "Well, looky here. The two little sweethearts of the dance. Bet they make y'all prom queen and king."

  "Who's your friend?" Jane asked.

  "That would be Kevin Felder. He's the brother of the man who owns a ranch up near Springer. Brother got invited. Kevin was visiting so he came along. He's from McKinney. Has a dry cleaning business down there."

  "Well, tell Kevin Felder that I'm voting for you two to be prom celebrities. I got it back in high school and I don't think you can have the honors twice," Jane said.

  "You come with him?" Slade asked.

  "Of course not. I crashed the party. Marty and my uncle were at the feed store at the same time and Marty told him y'all were coming up here tonight, so I crashed it. I was going to tell everyone that you invited me but now I'll just let them think I came with Kevin, since I intend to go home with him as soon as we drink these martinis."

  Jane threw her hand over her heart. "And miss getting the plastic crown? I'm shocked."

  "Honey, what I intend to get will be much, much better." Kristy talked to Jane but looked Slade right in the eye. "And what he is going to get is going to make him the happiest little prom king in Texas."

  "You going to get him over the state line before you buy him a candy bar?" Jane asked, all wide-eyed and innocent.

  "Oh yes, all the way to that hotel in Gainesville and darlin', it'll be sweet and he can unwrap it, but it won't be chocolate," Kristy shot right back.

  Slade crossed his arms and watched the cat fight. It was amusing, really, and Jane wasn't losing an inch of ground. He should be at least a little sad or jealous since he'd been dating Kristy for three months, but all he felt was relief.

  "Have fun. Want to dance, Slade?" Jane quickly switched her attention from Kristy back to Slade.

  "Think I'll sit this one out. How about we grab another beer and find a table?"

  Jane nodded and followed him, leaving Kristy to wallow in happiness, since she felt she'd gotten the last word. They'd no more than sat down when Nellie and Ellen joined them.

  "What did she say?" Nellie asked.

  "She said she's going home with that fellow over there that is not so slick on his feet, that she crashed the party to make me mad and Slade jealous, and that she'll let everyone think she came with the other man," Jane said.

  "Good," Nellie said. "Milli works hard on her parties and I wouldn't want any trouble."

  "That mean I can't follow her outside and snatch her bald-headed?" Jane teased.

  "That means you can, but bury her cold dead carcass and don't let anyone know what you did. Beau keeps a shovel in the tack room," Ellen said.

  "You ever do that?" Jane asked.

  "I'm layin' claim to middle-aged dementia. Can't remember what happened back in my heyday. 'Course it might have been that Jack Daniels fogged my memories a bit," Ellen answered.

  "Middle-aged. Hummppph," Nellie snorted.

  "I am middle-aged. Old age begins at seventy."

  They began to banter back and forth. Slade and Jane finished their beers at the same time and he held out his hand. They disappeared in among the dancers and left the two ladies to discuss the finer points of aging.

  *********

  Jane tiptoed out to the deck and sat down on a lounge chair, tugging the bottom of her knit nightshirt down over her drawn-up knees. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had so much fun: the dancing, meeting new people who had no idea who she was or how much money she was worth, yet treated her with respect and kindness—even the cat fight with Kristy. The excitement kept her awake like afterglow following good sex.

  Dark clouds drifted over the moon, giving it an eerie look. She wondered where John was in his search for her. Had he counted his losses and given up? Had Ramona consoled him for the loss of the money he'd paid on an insurance policy he'd never be able to cash? She didn't feel anger anymore, just a foggy sense of detachment.

  She had a lot of decisions to make in the next three weeks. Perhaps fate had sent her to Ringgold, Texas to show her what was important and what would make her happy. She'd gone to college with the understanding she needed a degree in business to aid her in running the oil company when her time came to take over but looking back, she'd done it out of necessity, not because she loved the job.

  Ranger women did what they had to do and she needed to run an oil company. Her father had inherited a ranch from his father and her mother had loved it. She had managed to run it and the oil company. Maybe Jane could do that, but she decided in that moment that she didn't want to do both. She wanted out of the oil busi ness, and she wanted to devote more time to ranching. So should she hire a competent, trustworthy CEO to run Ranger Oil, or should she sell it outright?

  "Not to Paul. He's not getting his hands on one single penny of what is mine," she whispered.

  "Who's not getting what?" Slade asked from the doorway. He wore a pair of knit pajama bottoms with John Deere tractors printed on them and no shirt or shoes.

  "Just thinking out loud," she said. "Having trouble sleeping?"

  "A little. You'd think as much as we danced we'd be asleep like kids after a long day of running and playing," he said.

  "Adrenaline settles down faster in little kids," she said. "No wonder Nellie and Ellen have trouble getting to sleep after a big night. Theirs must take forever to level out at their age."

  "Shhh. If they hear you even thinking they are getting old, they'll string you up from the nearest oak tree with a worn-out rope," he teased.

  "That should make you happy. At least I'd be gone," she taunted.

  He ignored the barb. "You see that tall blonde I was dancing with this evening? I'm thinking about asking her out to dinner next week. What's your opinion?"

  She almost choked. Surely she'd heard wrong. Maybe he wasn't even standing in the doorway and she was dreaming. She slapped her leg. "Ouch," she said.

  "Mosquito?" He moved to another chaise lounge and stretched out.

  "Big one."

  "Well?"

  "I saw her and my opinion doesn't mean jack shit. You don't even like me, much less respect my opinion on any given matter."

  "We danced good together, didn't we?" he said, changing the subject.

  "Yes, but two trained monkeys could two-step together."

  "Think we might be friends?"

  "Are you drunk?"

  "Sober as a judge."

  "Whatever changed your mind about me?"

  He couldn't tell her that the minute he'd touched her hand, all kinds of indecent thoughts sped through his mind like a class five tornado on its way to tear up a row of tar paper shanties. That his mouth went dry and his palms began to sweat. He couldn't tell her that holding her in his arms during the dances felt so right. After the way he'd acted ever since she'd arrived on the ranch, she'd think he was certifiably goofy.

  He wasn't sure he wasn't ready for the boys in the white jackets to come and take him away. After thinking about it since they'd gotten home, he'd come to the conclusion that she could be his friend and give him girl-type advice about his other women. That s
hould erase any crazy notions of physical attraction right out of his mind.

  "You hunting for an answer, or didn't you hear me?" she asked.

  "Truce. Let's bury the hatchet and at least be civil for the next few weeks. After that, you'll leave and never even look back or remember us. So are you going to answer me? What do you think of me asking her out?"

  "Did you ask Kristy? She's already marked you as her territory. You don't belong to me. I didn't hike my leg on your boots."

  He chuckled. "I think Kevin is busy helping her forget all about me right now. Maybe she's marking new territory."

  "Poor Kevin."

  "So?"

  "I'm to be your little sister, then?"

  Lord, why hadn't he thought of that? Instead of a friend she could be the sister he never had. He couldn't be attracted to his sister; that was just plain repulsive.

  "Friend. Sister. Confidant. Whatever."

  "Never shut a door God opens. That's what my granny used to tell me. God opened a door and let you meet Elaine tonight. If you liked what you saw and she liked you—though that does make her a complete idiot—then ask her out. See what happens. Don't expect miracles but don't throw ice water on her if she holds her fork wrong or snorts when she laughs."

  "Wow! I had to drag it out, but you aren't bad with the advice. I'll call her tomorrow morning and ask her out for Friday night."

  "Good luck."

  "Thanks, Jane."

  "I'll be damned. Miracles do still happen. You said thank you to me."

  He slapped at the air above her bare arm. Sparks flew from the almost-contact. He had to get over this attraction to Jane. He had no intentions of a serious relationship with Elaine because she was too clingy, but at least he would forget Jane for a few hours.

  "Don't expect me to be nice just because we are burying the hatchet. It's not my style," he said.

  "Nor is it mine. I tried nice once and it blew up right in my face. I'm not sure I'd live through any more nice."

  "Want to talk about it?"

  "Not on your life, cowboy. You want to tell me all your deepest secrets now that we've planted the ax?"

  He shook his head. "I'm sure Granny and Aunt Ellen have told you most of them, but the ones they don't know… the answer is no."

  "Then we're even."

  "I'm going back to bed. Got hay ready for baling tomorrow morning soon as it dries up. I'll be cranky without any sleep."

  "You'll be an old bear. Cranky is for sweet little children who've eaten too much sugar and have a tummy ache."

  "Whatever," he snapped and left her sitting alone.

  She watched the dark clouds shifting and moving. It was a symbolic sign of what was tormenting her soul. Her life was shifting from what it used to be and moving toward something to make her happy.

  She straightened out her legs and headed back inside. "Enough deep analyzin'. Like Scarlett O'Hara said at the end of the book, 'Tomorrow is another day.' I've got time. John hasn't found me yet and he won't. I'm hidden better right here than any other place on earth."

  The nightmare surfaced again that night. In it, John held her head under the water and she couldn't breathe. She awoke to the sound of the alarm, her chest aching and gasping for air. She stumbled out of bed and was still clutching her chest when she opened her bedroom door.

  Slade came out of the bathroom, took one look at her, and reached out to catch her when she dropped into a pile of loose bones.

  He picked her up and carried her back to her bed and gently laid her down. Her eyes fluttered open and she grabbed her chest again.

  "What in the hell? Jane, what is the matter? Are you having a heart attack?"

  "Nightmare. Can't get enough air in my chest," she gasped.

  "I'll get Granny," he said.

  "No!" She grabbed his hand and sucked in a lung full of fresh air. "I'll be fine."

  "You're as white as snow."

  "It was a scary nightmare. It's gone now. It's all right. I can breathe."

  "What happened to you?" he asked.

  "Go on and get dressed. I'll have breakfast ready in thirty minutes."

  "You'll lay right here. I can make myself a bowl of cereal. You ladies can eat when you get up."

  She shook her head. "It's my job and I need to get my mind off the dream. I'm fine now. Thanks for catching me."

  He nodded curtly and left her alone. He'd heard that pregnant women fainted. Was Jane expecting a baby and that's why she was hiding out? Did it have something to do with a sorry husband or boyfriend abusing her? A million thoughts chased through his mind as he dressed. One minute he was ready to put on his armor, mount his white horse, and go take care of the sorry culprit who'd hurt her. The next he was furious with himself for caring a whit about the woman. She'd be gone in a few more weeks, and he doubted he'd ever know what happened to her after that. She'd been damned secretive about her problems and what she was running from ever since she got to their place. Maybe that's what she did. Simply went from one job to another. Saved her money and bought bus tickets until the money ran out and then used her little girl innocent look to get someone to take her home.

  The smell of bacon and coffee wafted down the hallway as he made his way to the kitchen. She couldn't be pregnant or she'd be upchucking at those mixed aromas. And when they'd gone to dinner, she'd ordered beer without hesitation. She'd drunk five or six in the course of the previous evening. He would give her credit for having enough sense and loving children enough not to drink if she was expecting a baby. He didn't know he'd been holding his breath until it expelled with a whoosh into the kitchen.

  "What brought that on?" She looked up from the stove. She wore one of her three pairs of jeans and a T-shirt that had been pink once but had faded to almost white.

  He thought she was beautiful, barefoot and with her hair in a ponytail.

  "I didn't want to crawl out of bed this morning. Then I had to catch this broad who faked a faint just to see if I'd be nice," he said.

  "I wasn't faking," she protested.

  "Looked like it to me. You sure recovered fast."

  "I told you it was a dream, damn it."

  "Your momma know you cuss?"

  "My momma could put a sailor to shame when she got mad. I'm told my grandmother could out cuss and out drink any man who worked on her…" she stopped dead.

  "On what, Jane?" He helped himself to a piece of bacon.

  "Nothing. Fried or scrambled this morning?"

  "Scrambled with cheese. What did your grandmother do? She worked outside the home at what?"

  "My grandmother was a lady. She would wash my mouth out if she caught me using dirty words. She did a few times. I think her words were for me to do as she said and not as she did. And that's all you are getting, Slade. So sit down and I'll bring your plate to the table."

  Ellen appeared with one eye still closed. "Just toast for me this morning and lots of black coffee. God, I'm glad we aren't making fried chicken today. Jane, put something in the oven and open some peaches. Like Danny Glover said in Lethal Weapon, 'I'm too old for this shit.'"

  "You admitting something like that? Can I tell Nellie?"

  Ellen came to life enough that both eyes opened. "You do and I'll cut your tongue out with a rusty pocket knife, one that Slade used to castrate hogs."

  "You are a vicious woman," Slade said.

  Ellen nodded. "Little girls are all born vicious, darlin'. We just don't let the boys know it. It would hurt their little egos. Eat your breakfast and get on out of here. I'll be human by dinnertime."

  Slade dug into his breakfast without a word.

  Ellen sipped her coffee. "So what did Kristy do? Did she finally leave with that loser?"

  "Isn't a loser, according to Kristy. She said he owns a dry cleaning business in McKinney and she was going to make him very happy. I think she was just trying to make Slade jealous, but he's too stupid to know it. She probably went right home and cried her little eyes out. With good reason. He's asking th
e big blonde bimbo out on Friday night. They're doing dinner and a movie. Maybe she'll make him very happy," Jane said as she buttered Ellen's toast.