“Hey, you.”
“Hey, yourself.”
“How are you?” Her heart raced at the rumble of his voice. She hadn’t talked to Travis in a few days as he’d been in Arkansas to ship some new mares to his ranch. She tilted the phone up away from her mouth and nose and prayed he wouldn’t hear how rapid her breathing had become.
“Good, although I’ll admit my bed’s a little empty these days.”
She drew in a sharp breath. “Travis—”
“No, that’s okay. You made it clear that you wanted to go home. Anyway, I was calling about tonight.”
“Tonight?” She felt her brows draw down into a frown. “What about it?”
“How do you want to play it?”
“Play what?”
“Us.”
“What about us?” She opened the car door and slid into the driver’s seat. “There is no us.” Saying that made her heart ache. She had to keep reminding herself of that painful fact.
“I’m fully aware of that, Caroline.” She heard him give a long exhale. “Sorry. Been a bear of a day. What I meant was that we might let my family know we’re…friends.”
“Friends.” She repeated the word. Friends. Yep. That’s what they were…friends. “Sure. Whatever, Travis. They know we’re friends.”
“My mom’s pretty sensitive. She might pick up something’s different in our…friendship.”
Caroline blew out a loud sigh. “Good Lord, Travis. You’re not that irresistible. I’m sure I’ll be able to keep my hands off you.” She said the words, but they were all lies. He was that irresistible. She would love to run her hands over his rock-hard chest. Feel his large fingers touching her. Enjoy the bliss of the neck and back massages he’d given her while lying on his soft sheets.
His responding chuckle sent chills skittering down her spine.
“Well, gee thanks. Good to know you find me so resistible.” He chuckled again. “Okay. Next topic. Tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow night?” she asked as though she could forget the End of Summer dance at the WSCC. Like that day hadn’t been circled on her calendar and in her mind.
What Caroline would never confess to him was that she’d headed into Dallas the previous weekend to pick up a dress designed to take his breath away and knock his socks off. Step one: Get the dress. Mission accomplished. Step two: Knock his socks off. She’d have to wait and see on that one.
“The dance. At the club.” He chuckled. “Don’t pretend you don’t remember.”
Playing it cool, she replied, “Oh right. The dance. Is that this weekend? It totally skipped my mind.” Lying wasn’t one of her strengths. She figured he could hear right through it.
“Yeah. Tomorrow. I know I sort of forced you into saying you’d go. We don’t have to go if you don’t want to. It wasn’t like you had any say on whether or not to be my date for the dance, especially after Elsie Belle decided it was her place to tell everybody I was bringing you. But you don’t have to. Really. I’ll understand if you want to back out.”
Was he trying to give her an out, a way to gracefully extricate herself from a date she’d never agreed to?
Or was he trying to give himself an out? Would he rather go with someone else?
After so much close time together, had he spent all the time he wanted with her and was now trying to distance himself back to where they’d been before the insane fake wedding and the fabulous sex? Sometimes the direct approach was the best, and she decided this was one of those times.
“Color me a tad confused, Travis. Are you asking if I want out of the date or are you trying to tell me that you want out of the date? If you don’t want to go or if you don’t want to take me, that’s fine. Just say so. My mind-reading skills appear to be a little rusty.”
“What? No, no. I don’t think I’m making myself very clear.” His chuckle sounded a little nervous. “It’s sort of a tradition for the Montgomery clan to attend this dance each year as a family. The money raised is for a good cause and the family wants to show full public support. But to tell you the truth, I haven’t gone the last few years.”
“Too many single women hitting on you?”
He snorted. “Yeah, that’s it. Anyway, Olivia told me you were coming to dinner tonight. With all the Montgomerys tonight and then again tomorrow night at the dance, I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t be overdosed on all that Montgomery charm. That could be a real Montgomery overdose for some people.”
To Caroline, the big family, all the members being together and supportive sounded downright wonderful. However, she was still a little confused on exactly how to respond. “So, are you saying that if I still want to go to the dance you’ll take me?”
“Exactly.”
Caroline dropped her head back on the car-seat headrest. What she really wanted to know was…did he really want to go with her or did he simply feel an obligation because of Elsie Belle’s blabber mouth? She couldn’t ask him of course, because he’d certainly assure her he wanted to take her and it had nothing to do with being painted into a corner by a jealous admirer. So it really was up to her. Did she want to go to a major country-club dance on the arm of the most handsome but least available bachelor in the county? Who was she kidding?
“Of course I want to go. I’m looking forward to it.”
She heard him suck in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Great. Me too.”
“Great,” she repeated and grimaced. They sounded like teenagers…all giddy that the other had agreed to a date.
“I guess I’ll see you tonight then,” he said.
“Absolutely.”
As she was pulling her phone away from her ear to hang up, she heard him call her name. She pressed the phone back to her head and said, “What did you say?”
“I asked if you wanted me to drive you to Olivia and Mitch’s place tonight.”
She smiled. “Talk about going out of your way for someone.” She chuckled. “Thanks for offering, but I’m on call tonight. Probably won’t need to come back to town, but I’ll need my own car just in case. Speaking of which, I swear I’m going to buy a new car soon and get your Porsche back to you. It’s just…”
“Too fun to give up?”
She laughed. “Something like that.”
“Okay then. I’ll see you tonight. Oh, and, Caroline?”
“Yes?”
“Think about a stay-over at my place after the dance tomorrow night.”
Her cheeks hurt from the wide grin on her face. “I’ll think about it.”
She clicked off her phone and dropped it into her purse.
Maybe she should call Leslie or Pat and check on Noah. It’d been a couple of days since she’d talked to him. Was it too much to hope things were going a little better? Probably.
She sighed. Damn. Today had been such a nice day so far, and she was in such a fabulous mood after talking to Travis and she was going to a good news celebration dinner. Call her selfish, but she didn’t want to spoil her good mood by hearing about the latest trouble her brother had gotten himself into. She’d call tomorrow. She promised. Just let her have one day of peace and happiness. There was always tomorrow to face reality.
Chapter Twelve
“Turn left.”
Caroline followed the female metallic voice of the GPS and turned left, passed under an archway and drove down a curved paved driveway until she came to a grouping of trucks and cars parked in a circle drive in front of a white-columned two-story estate. White-wicker rockers on the porch moved in the early evening breeze. Hanging baskets overflowing with bright red and yellow flowers swayed as though playing tag with each other. A black and white dog raced from the back of the house followed by a dark-haired little boy. She smiled and opened her door.
“Hi, Adam.”
The boy skid to a stop and stared at her. His head tilted to one side as though trying to remember if he knew her.
“I’m Dr. Graham, remember me? You came to see me when you fell and hurt your head wh
ile playing.”
About a month before, Adam had been swinging on a weight bar in Olivia’s gym after repeatedly being told not to. The hot gym had led to sweaty palms and to a crash to the floor and a big bump over his eye. There had been no real damage and just enough pain to convince him not to do that again.
He gave her a gap-tooth grin. “I remember.”
“Looks like you lost something since I last saw you.”
He stuck his tongue in the gap between his teeth. “My toof.”
“I see that. Did the tooth fairy come?”
He nodded his head vigorously. “Yep. Gave me a dollar.”
She smiled. The tooth fairy was paying more these days than when she was six. Inflation got them all. “Got big plans for all that money?”
He nodded again. “Gonna buy me a horse.”
She laughed. “You sound like a man with a plan.” The dog ran over to her. “Who’s this?”
“Daisy.”
When the dog heard her name, she began jumping and barking and running around Adam. In response, he started yelling and running so the dog would chase him. After a minute, the front door opened.
“Adam! What in the…oh, Caroline. I didn’t know you’d arrived. I’m so glad you could make it.” Olivia Montgomery stood in her doorway, a dishtowel thrown over her left shoulder.
“I love the welcoming committee.”
Olivia laughed. “Yes, well, my committee is enthusiastic but noisy. Still driving Travis’s car, I see.”
Caroline grinned. “I know. My brain says it’s time to buy a new car and give Travis his car back, but my wild side says ‘no way, man. Let’s keep it’.”
“I think I agree with your wild child. Keep it until he makes you give it back. C’mon in.” She turned toward the side of the house. “Adam. Take Daisy to the backyard to play please.” She looked back at Caroline. “We’re so far off the road I’m not worried about cars, but I feel better when I can see both of them from the kitchen window.”
“Am I the last one here?”
“Still waiting on Travis. He called to say he was on the way.”
The mention of Travis’s name sent the tutu-attired hippos whirling in her stomach. No, sir. No butterflies for her. She had full-grown stomping hippos dancing around inside, accompanied by shaking hands on the outside.
She followed Olivia into a sunlit foyer. The sound of people talking and laughing filtered from a room off to the right. Olivia tilted her head in that direction. “Mitch’s man cave.”
Caroline grinned. “No kidding. Let me guess. It has a sixty-inch flat screen and overstuffed chairs.”
“And you’d be wrong.”
“What? How?”
“It has an eighty-inch flat screen. You’d be right about the overstuffed chairs.”
Caroline laughed. “So what can I do to help you with dinner?”
“Follow me.”
She followed Olivia toward the back of the house, the sound of female voices getting louder the nearer they got to the rear. They moved into a bright, stainless-steel kitchen with green and gray granite countertops. Lydia stood with Travis’s mother, Jackie, and a woman Caroline didn’t know.
Olivia took her arm and led her over to the unfamiliar woman. “Caroline, this is Mitch’s mother Sylvia Landry. Sylvia, this is Dr. Caroline Graham. She’s been here working with Lydia at the medical clinic for about a year and a half.” She stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. “But she’s leaving us at the end of the year. See if you can get any good blackmail material out of her so we can force her to stay.”
Sylvia Landry held out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Dr. Graham. Olivia speaks so highly of you.”
“Caroline, please,” she said as she took the older woman’s hand. “And I feel that way about Olivia.” She leaned forward and said in a stage whisper, “But it’s your grandson who’s stolen my heart.”
Sylvia’s face lit up at the mention of her grandson. “Ain’t he a little corker? You meet Daisy yet?”
“Oh, yes. It was quite the welcoming party out front.”
“Yes, Daisy was a little surprise from his Nana Su-Su,” Olivia said with a hip bump to Sylvia. “Good thing I’m so awesome to let her stay.”
“Do you mean Sylvia or the dog?” Lydia asked with a wink.
All the women laughed.
Sylvia was obviously not put off at all by Olivia’s comments and simply laughed with the rest of them. “Every little boy needs a dog.”
“That’s right,” Jackie Montgomery said as she came over to give Caroline a quick peck on the cheek. “How are you? You look wonderful.”
“Thank you. By the way, I meant to tell you that the flowers you sent for Mamie’s service were lovely. It was so thoughtful of you.”
“Of course, dear. You’re like one of the family.”
“See?” Olivia said over her shoulder. She’d stepped across the room to check whatever dish was in the oven. “That’s what I told her, Mom.”
“Can I do something to help?” Caroline asked, not wanting to think about those days in Arkansas. If she did, she’d remember the feel of Travis’s lips on hers, the heat from his body when he’d held her while she wept, the roughness of his fingers when he’d stroked the tears from her cheeks.
Damn. Too late. Her heart sighed. She didn’t need to get attached to people she’d be leaving soon.
“Oh, yes,” Lydia said. She handed Caroline a wineglass with a golden-colored liquid. “You can help by drinking this wine before it goes bad.”
Caroline laughed. “I’m here to help,” she said and took a sip. Pinot grigio. Her favorite.
A dog barking followed by the sound of dog nails scratching on the hardwood floor announced the arrival of Adam and Daisy.
“Hey, Mom,” Adam said. “Dad wants to know if you bought that spensive water for Uncle Travis?”
“You can go tell him yes,” Olivia answered without turning around.
“Dad!” Adam yelled down the hall. “Mom says yes.”
“Adam.” Olivia turned, her hands on her hips. “We have guests. Plus, you know better than to yell in the house.”
“Sorry,” her son replied, not an ounce of sincerity in his voice. His gaze rolled to the plate of chocolate-chip cookies on the counter. “Can I have a cookie?”
“Don’t you think it’s a little too close to dinner for a cookie?”
In a motion that looked so much like his father, Adam looked at the inexpensive watch he’d gotten for his sixth birthday and sighed loudly. “It’s ten minutes after six.” Looking up at her, he added, “Dad says it’s never the wrong time for a cookie or a beer.”
Caroline stifled a laugh and watched Olivia pull the best stern face she could manage in the situation. The other women in the room suddenly found the need to take gulps of wine.
“Did he now?” Olivia said. “I’ll be having a word with him.”
Adam shrugged. “Anyway, Dad says Uncle Travis needs something to drink.”
“Your poor Uncle Travis have broken legs that prevent him from coming for his own drink?”
Adam frowned. “No.” His eyes rolled up and to the left as though in thought. “But Uncle Travis said he’d give me a dollar if I’d bring him a bottle of water.”
Olivia looked at her mother, who returned the look with a one-shoulder shrug. “Don’t look at me,” Jackie said.
“You spoiled him rotten, Mom.” She went over to the refrigerator, took out a bottle of sparkling water and handed it to her son. “Tell your dad it’s time to eat.”
“Dad!” Adam yelled as he charged down the hall. “Mom says come eat.”
As soon as the boy cleared the room, all the women burst into laughter, Jackie Montgomery laughing the hardest. She looked at Sylvia and said, “Don’t you love when they pay for their upbringing?”
Olivia rolled her eyes at the two cackling women.
“Okay, now what can we do to help?” Caroline asked.
Olivia pulled a large roast from th
e oven, followed by mashed potatoes, gravy, black-eyed peas, creamed corn and rolls. She cradled each dish with a heavy towel and passed it to one of the willing kitchen helpers. Heavenly aromas filled the air as each dish was withdrawn. “Will you take these to the serving sideboard? There should be hot-plate trivets already there. I thought each person could fill his own plate from there. It makes the table less crowded.”
Caroline took the corn and peas and followed Lydia into a large formal dining room set for ten adults and one child. Each adult place had been set with translucent bone china, sterling-silver flatware and crystal. Adam’s spot sported a superhero plate with matching glass and small utensils. The sparkling chandelier over the table threw rainbow colors across the white tablecloth and onto the off-white china. An arch of burgundy candles stood at the ready to be lit.
“Your room is lovely,” Caroline said to Olivia when she entered carrying the sliced roast.
“Thanks. I guess you’ve heard the story about this house?”
Caroline nodded. “I heard it was kind of a surprise.”
Olivia snorted. “You could say that. But I can’t imagine finding a house I love more than this one.”
“Could it be the man and boy you share it with?” Caroline suggested.
“Could be. Help me get some drinks in here?”
“Sure.”
When they came back with the pitchers of sweet tea, the men had found their way from the man cave to the dining room. Someone had lit the candle arch on the table.
“Grab a plate,” Olivia said. “It’s family-style serve yourself.”
Caroline smiled. Family-style. When was the last time anyone she knew used fine china and sterling for a casual family dinner? On the other hand, why have nice things if you didn’t share them with family and friends?
“Here you go.” A plate bumped against Caroline’s knuckles. She looked up into Travis’s blue eyes. Her knees did their usual melting act whenever he was around. No matter what she had thought about him before this past month, she now knew beyond a shadow of a doubt he was one of the good guys.
“Thanks.” She took the plate offered. “Everything smells so good.”
Texas Tango: Texas Montgomery Mavericks, Book 2 Page 16