Hot Cowboy Nights

by Carolyn Brown

  They paraded down the old wooden sidewalk, heads held high and determination on their faces. Mary Jo greeted the church ladies with a smile until she saw Lucy and Lizzy right behind them and Katy bringing up the rear.

  “Something going on here?” she asked.

  “Where is Allie? We’ve come to talk to her,” Dora June said loudly.

  “Hey, Allie, you’ve got company,” Mary Jo yelled loudly.

  Wearing cargo pants and a faded orange T-shirt, work boots, and carrying a hammer, Allie peeked over the top of the swinging doors into the kitchen. “What’s going on? Y’all need to put your name on the list for a job?”

  Dora June took a step forward and delivered the news. The wide grin that spread across Allie’s face told Lizzy that her sister wasn’t going to deliver a speech hot enough to melt the paint right off the wall, or throw the hammer at Dora June’s head, either. Lizzy sighed. It wasn’t fair for them to get away with this whole thing without a single black eye, even if they were old women set in their ways.

  Allie nodded curtly. “Well, thank you so much for that. Now I don’t have to make up excuses not to come to the meetings every week, and I can stay home with my wild cowboy and do things that would make your eyes roll around in your heads. I’m going back to work. Y’all have a right nice day.” Allie disappeared into the back room again.

  “You have decided what about my girls?” Katy stepped out of the shadows. Her tone was colder than water dripping off icicles, and if that wasn’t steam blowing out her mother’s ears, Lizzy would clean the house for six months without a single whiny word.

  Martha tilted her head up. “It has nothing to do with you. When they get grown, we realize we can’t control them but they do have to be accountable for their sins.”

  Before Katy could form a sentence, Toby swaggered into the café. His faded blue T-shirt that advertised a rodeo from three years before stretched across his broad chest and his worn work jeans that perfectly hugged his butt.

  “Hey, Lizzy, I need a few more fence posts. I thought the store opened at eight,” he said.

  “It does and I’m on my way back over there right now. You can walk with me. Want Nadine to pour us up a cup of coffee or a sweet tea to go?”

  Martha sighed.

  Dora June gasped.

  Henrietta and Ruby glanced his way and then looked up at the ceiling. Maybe they were praying that he’d drop dead right there between table number four and the checkout counter. If so, God wasn’t listening that day.

  “Your biggest takeout cup of sweet tea would be great, Nadine. Tearing up that mesquite is thirsty work, and Herman is getting ahead of us.” Toby threw an arm around Lizzy’s shoulders and pulled her close.

  “Back to my girls.” Katy glared at all four women.

  “You heard us,” Ruby said.

  “One of those cowboys over at the Lucky Penny is my son-in-law. The other is dating my daughter, so consider this a verbal resignation from my post as president. I will bring all the books to church on Sunday and y’all can do whatever you want. I will not be a part of this ugliness,” Katy said.

  “What is going on here?” Toby whispered.

  “They’re ousting me and Allie from their ladies’ group at church and Mama just resigned. They know they’ve stepped in it because Mama does a hell of a lot for the church,” she said.

  “You don’t need to do that,” Ruby said.

  “It’s done.” Katy held up a palm to stop any more comments. “I’m going back to work like Allie did. See you at lunchtime, Lizzy. Don’t work too hard, Toby.”

  “Because of me and Blake?” Toby asked.

  “Yes, it is.” Dora June took a step forward. “We thought you’d give up and be gone by now. You all have reputations that preceded you into our community. It does look like y’all might succeed at the Lucky Penny. But it is our business who is allowed into our church organization.”

  Lucy got between Toby and Dora June. She shook her head slowly from side to side as if she couldn’t believe what the woman had said. “Y’all need to pull your heads out of your asses and use them for thinkin’ rather than condemnation. It’s going to take five of you to do Katy’s job at the church, not to mention what all she gives in money to keep the church going.”

  Nadine handed Lizzy two tall take-out cups of sweet tea. “These are on the house, Lizzy. I’m so sorry about all this.”

  “Not me. It gives me more time to spend with Toby. Y’all all have a great day, now. Lucy, are you coming with us?”

  “No, I’m stayin’ right here. I’m not nearly finished with what I got to say.”

  Toby waited until they were out on the sidewalk to explode. “That is the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard. This isn’t the cave days. I’m glad we’re out of there before them old gals start pullin’ hair and scratchin’ at each other’s eyes. That was even worse than some bar fights I’ve seen. You sure you want to go on with this?”

  “More than ever. Those old hens are not about to tell me what I can or cannot do with my life. Let them stew. If they sit in hot water long enough, it might even soften them up a little bit. Let’s go get those fence posts.”

  Big black storm clouds gathered in the southwest, blotting out the sun on their journey up tornado alley. The radio weatherman said that the temperatures would drop slightly by midnight because of the rain blowing in but that by morning it would all be over and the sun would be out again.

  Lizzy had gotten out of her truck and was on the first porch step when she noticed Toby sitting on the swing, a beer in his hand and another one opened and sitting on the table beside him.

  “Thought you might like something cold this evening. It looks like rain and feels like a tornado even though we are supposed to be past that season,” he said.

  She sat down on the swing beside him and took the extra beer from his hand. While the first cold sip slid down her throat, she kicked off her boots and drew her legs up on the swing. Toby picked up her feet and spun her around so that they were laying in his lap. With cold hands he massaged her right foot, his fingertips digging into all the right places to make her groan.

  “Feel good?” he asked.

  “You can’t imagine. You have until midnight to stop.”

  He chuckled. “Why midnight?”

  “Because from then until daylight you can work on the other foot.”

  “Equal time, huh?” He started on the left foot.

  This time the coolness from holding the beer bottle had disappeared and his hands were warm. It did not take away from the floating sensation one bit.

  “Why don’t you give up ranching and do this or have sex for a living? You could make lots more money,” she teased.

  “I like sex and I really like having you for a friend, but ranching is my first love. That’s why most women don’t really want to settle with me. They’d always take second place,” he answered. “Besides I don’t reckon that Dry Creek would appreciate a male whorehouse over on the Lucky Penny.”

  She giggled, then laughed and then guffawed until tears rolled and she got a case of hiccups. “We’d make a good pair, then, for sure. Me with my hooker genes. You with your magic hands and…” She paused and blushed.

  “And?” he asked.

  “Your fantastic bedroom skills.” She finished but the crimson in her cheeks deepened.

  “Why, Lizzy Logan, you are blushing.”

  She took a long gulp of the beer and was happier than she’d ever been that things had not worked out with Mitch. She’d missed having a beer occasionally, and besides Mitch had never rubbed her feet or taken her to the heights that Toby did in the bedroom.

  “I should be going,” he said. “Blake is cooking tonight. You want to come over? I’ll tell him to bring an extra one.”

  “Thanks but no thanks. I’ll grab something here so I can have more time to get all prettied up for my date with my boyfriend.” She batted her long eyelashes at him.

  “Don’t forget to eat somet
hing. Drinking on an empty stomach is not a good thing.” He eased out from under her feet, finished off his beer, and set the empty bottle on the table. Then he bent forward at the waist and brushed a kiss across her lips. “That’s for the imaginary guy wearing camouflage up in the tree—the one who spreads the gossip. Good night, Lizzy.”

  She downed the rest of the beer, but it didn’t do much in the way of cooling off her steamy hot lips. It was only a sweet kiss, but it brought back memories of blistering hot sex when their bodies were bathed in sweat. When she went into the house, she headed straight for the bathroom and a cold shower.

  Half an hour later she emerged with a towel around her body and another one wrapped turban-style around her hair to find her mother sitting on the top step of the staircase with a glass in her hand.

  “Mama, is that whiskey?” Lizzy asked.

  “Jack Daniel’s to be exact, and I needed it after that crap Dora June and her evil minions pulled today. People kept coming in the store, including the preacher, trying to talk me out of resigning. But it is done and I’m not undoing it. I’d quit the church and go to one in Throckmorton but that would make them too happy. Want a shot?” Katy held up a square bottle with a black label.

  “I had a beer with Toby before I came in the house.” Lizzy went on to tell her the details of what had been going on for the past two days.

  “I like Toby. I do. I’m glad this isn’t real between y’all, though. Talk about awkward among all the family if you let this build into something and then it ended,” Katy said.

  “I know, Mama.” Lizzy sat down beside her mother and took one tiny sip of the whiskey. “That tastes like heaven from a bottle. So did the beer. Are you still angry?” Lizzy asked.

  “Not angry. Madder’n hell’s blazes.” Katy took another sip. Her dark hair was frosted these days with wisps of white, but her smooth complexion was something that twenty-year-old women would die for. She’d gone from a size ten back before her husband died to a fourteen, but hey, the tabloids said that curvy women were the in thing these days.

  “Want to go dancin’ with me and Toby tomorrow night?” Lizzy treated herself to another small sip right from the bottle. It was silky warmth, not totally unlike the afterglow after sex with Toby.

  “Hell, no! I’m going to Wichita Falls to dinner with my old friends, Janie and Trudy. Janie is getting a divorce and we are going to cheer her up,” Katy answered.

  “Good grief! Hasn’t she been married a long time? And you haven’t talked about them in years.”

  “She’s been married thirty years just like me and your daddy would have been this year if he’d lived. I was her bridesmaid and she was mine. And we kind of lost touch, but Trudy called this evening and I’m going up there to see them.”

  Lizzy eyed the whiskey bottle but didn’t touch it. “I thought Trudy moved off somewhere. Didn’t we get Christmas cards from her from Oregon?”

  “That’s right. She’s been married three times but she’s been divorced from the last one for six years. We’re going to catch up tomorrow night. Maybe they can spend that reunion weekend with us. I hope Fiona can come home for the festival. Seems like a year since last Christmas when we saw her.”

  Lizzy held the towel tightly and stood up. “I’m glad you are reuniting with Janie and Trudy, Mama. Friends are important. And we can gang up on Fiona when we talk to her. I don’t reckon we’ll have to talk too long and hard when we tell her that Mitch will be here. She’s been achin’ to tell him off ever since he broke it off with me.”

  “I hope she listens to you. And darlin’ daughter, you are so right about friends, but they’ll never be as important as family,” Katy said.

  Chapter Seven

  Lizzy slid a Travis Tritt CD in the player to get her in the mood for the evening. She dressed in a pair of low-slung tight jeans with rhinestones on the hip pockets and a form-fitting western-cut shirt of black lace insets on the back yoke. Then she pulled on her oldest, most comfortable dress boots.

  As she brushed her dishwater blond curls out, Travis sang a song about it being a great day to be alive. The lyrics said that there were hard times in the neighborhood and that sometimes it was lonely.

  Travis was preaching to the choir if he was singing just for Lizzy. There were definitely hard times in the neighborhood and she did get lonely. But tough times came and went, and that night she had somewhere to go and a handsome cowboy to dance with her. Plus there had been no bitchy women in her store today. So this day, as Mary Jo had said, was a day to celebrate and it was a great day to be alive.

  The music continued to play as she left the room and headed down the stairs. One song ended and before another began, the empty house echoed the sound of her boots on the wooden steps. Lizzy had discovered that she didn’t like living in the big house with no sisters. They might fight and argue with each other, but she missed having someone around other than her mother.

  She’d been a senior in high school when Allie’s two-year marriage came apart at the seams. Fiona had been a sophomore and suddenly all three girls were back in the house again. Fiona left to go to college two years later, and that left two sisters. But now it was only Lizzy and she had found out pretty quick she wasn’t cut out to be an only child.

  Sitting on the bottom step, Lizzy listened wistfully as every other song Travis sang spoke to her heart. The last song was still playing when the doorbell rang. She opened the door and Toby came right inside, took her in his arms, and started a fast swing dance right there in the foyer. All thoughts of Lizzy’s past disappeared as he smoothly twisted her in circles and deftly brought her back to his chest in perfect time with the music.

  When the song ended, he kissed her on the forehead. “Darlin’, any woman who can dance like that was not cut out to be a preacher’s wife. And may I say that you are absolutely stunning tonight. Maybe I should go on back to the trailer and get my pistol to keep the other cowboys away from my girlfriend.”

  “Don’t bother. There’s a little derringer in my purse and yes, I have a concealed permit and yes, I do know how to shoot the thing,” she said.

  “She dances and she knows how to shoot. My kind of woman.” He draped an arm loosely around her shoulders and kept in step with her from house to truck.

  “I thought your kind of woman was tall, blond, blue eyed, and ready to fall into bed with no questions asked.” She tossed her purse on the console and fastened her seat belt. Of all things, the radio was playing one of Travis Tritt’s songs right then, too. Was it an omen?

  “Well, there is that, but I do like a woman who is light on her feet and who knows her way around a pistol. Plus one who knows how many rolls of barbed wire it takes to fence in forty acres.” He drove to the end of the lane and stopped. “Long way or shortcuts?”

  “Back farm roads can get us there quicker.” She pointed to the left.

  “And?” He made a left-hand turn.

  “The roads aren’t as good as the highway, but it does cut off a few miles,” she answered.

  She felt his eyes on her, and like always before it created an antsy feeling deep down inside.

  “What?” she asked.

  “What what?” he threw back.

  “You are looking at me with questions in your eyes. What is it?”

  He turned the radio off. “You told me that you want what Allie has with Blake. I was wondering what kind of guy would be so lucky as to have you in his life?”

  “I do believe I answered this question the night we decided not to continue with that fling. I don’t want anyone who tries to change me to fit inside his neat little wife mold and who tells me what to do, what to eat, and how to dress. And I will never let another man win at Monopoly, if I ever play that boring game again.” She stopped and took a breath. “Mitch pouted when he lost, so I got real good at losing.”

  “Holy shit!” Toby covered her hand with his. “You must’ve really wanted to be married.”

  “I’ve had a while to analyze my actions.
What I wanted was for folks to see me as a preacher’s wife, not as someone who came from Audrey’s Place. I’ve always hated that,” she said.

  He squeezed gently. “Why? I told you before that what your ancestors did or didn’t do doesn’t affect you.”

  “But it does,” she whispered. “I was a sophomore in high school when a really popular boy from Throckmorton asked me out on a date. We met at a countywide Future Farmers of America conference. To make a long story short, he’d heard of Audrey’s and when he couldn’t talk or force me into the backseat because of course anyone at an old brothel had to put out, didn’t they…he took me home and spread it around that we’d had sex. So yes, it does affect me.”

  “That sorry kid should have been strung up from the nearest scrub oak tree with a length of rusty barbed wire,” Toby said through clenched teeth.

  “Oh, really? Were you different from that at sixteen?”

  Toby put both hands on the steering wheel. “My hormones were raging at that age but if I’d bragged like he did, my daddy would have taken me to the woodshed. And believe me, even at that age, I did not like trips to that place.”

  “Pretty tough with the whippings, was he?” Lizzy asked.

  “Never laid a hand on me, not once. Mama swatted my butt on occasion but not Daddy. I would have rather taken a whipping as listened to the lectures that got dealt out in the woodshed or know that I’d disappointed him. I have no doubt that damaging a lady’s reputation would have been just cause for both.” Toby turned the radio back on.

  For the next thirty minutes every damn song that played on the radio spoke to Lizzy in some form or another. When Blake Shelton sang, “Goodbye Time,” it reminded her again that it was time to let the past go and embrace the future.

  A big neon sign above a rustic-looking building let Lizzy know they had arrived at the Rusty Spur. If the parking lot was any indication, the place was packed that Saturday night. As they walked hand-in-hand toward the place, she hoped it wasn’t filled with people from Dry Creek.