Mule Hollow Matchmaking Posse, look out, she thought. The game was on. And it most definitely was going to be interesting.
Chapter Nine
Pace followed Sheri into her house with mixed feelings. He wanted to talk to her, to make it up to her, so he’d come to fix her Jeep at daybreak hoping to speak to her before she left for work. He needed to explain some things to her, needed her to understand why he behaved like an imbecile half the time. The fact that he thought he needed to explain was a plus for him. Until he’d become a Christian, he’d never considered that he should have to explain himself to anyone.
He knew differently now. He knew that as a Christian he had a new code of conduct to live by, and he held himself in strict accountability for that conduct. Strangely, everything seemed to get jumbled around when he was around Sheri. He found himself behaving in an erratic manner around her. It was disconcerting for a man who’d always been in control of everything he did. This thing with Sheri was putting him in unknown territory.
“Sit,” she said, as soon as they entered the bright white kitchen. “And be warned, I don’t do early mornings well.”
He leaned against the door frame, not comfortable sitting while she was standing. He quickly got caught up in watching her as she snatched the glass carafe from the coffeemaker, wheeled around and shoved it beneath the faucet. While she waited for the water to fill it she stretched her back, leaning to the left then to the right before glancing over her shoulder at him, her eyebrows knitted together.
“Well, sit. You make me nervous standing over me.”
He pulled out a chair and sat. She was a moody thing. Cute, but moody.
“So,” she said, punching the button on the coffeemaker and turning toward him, arms crossed. “While we’re on speaking terms, tell me about yourself.”
“You say that like it’s not going to last long. Do you know something I don’t?” He thought for a second that he saw her cringe.
“Um, no, I was just curious.”
He studied her. She was hedging. He could see it in her eyes. The question was why? “Why do I get the feeling you’re hiding something?”
“Hey, you came over here waving the white flag this morning. Remember? So talk, bucko.” That almost made him laugh. She had the funniest way of firing off her sentences. Sarcastic, yet there was something about her, something he’d glimpsed yesterday. He’d seen it for only a moment when she jumped out of his cab, but Sheri Marsh had been hurt by his accusations. It astounded him, shamed him and was part of his reason for coming here. Sheri intrigued him with her almost chameleon-like—he pushed away the thoughts. He didn’t want to analyze his neighbor. He’d come to make peace, clear his conscience and then go home and go about his business.
There was no sound in the room other than the ticking of the clock and the gurgle of the coffeemaker. “You want me to talk. About what?” He didn’t know what to talk to her about.
“I know you don’t like to talk. Tell me about…”
Pace got caught up watching her think. Her eyes were twinkling in a way that had him thinking again how beautiful she was. Do not go there, Gentry.
“Coffee,” she snapped suddenly. “How did you make it out there in that cabin up in Idaho?”
He crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair, his gaze holding hers. “On an open fire most mornings.”
“You didn’t have a stove?”
“I had a gas burner, but when you’re in the middle of nowhere and the nearest place to get more propane is more than a hundred miles away, on bad roads, you conserve your fuel. Besides, I like the flavor of it on the fire.”
“Do you miss it?”
“Coffee on the open flame? Yeah.”
“No, silly. Idaho. Living in that shack out in the boonies?”
He nodded ever so slightly, the grip of longing sweeping over him. “Yeah.” More than you know.
She took the chair across from him, resting her chin on her fist. Her eyes glistened like honey warmed in the sun. Looking into them, Pace suddenly wondered what it would be like to kiss Sheri?
For Pace, her beauty wasn’t all about perfection. The most intriguing thing about Sheri Marsh was her attitude. The this-is-me-take-it-or-leave-it attitude…he wasn’t so sure he bought into it completely. He wondered about that rough edge. He’d thought about it all night. Something about Sheri Marsh didn’t fit.
Still, it wasn’t up to him to figure it out, he told himself once more.
“If you loved it so much, then I don’t get why you’re here. Lacy said you were here under duress.”
The realization that she’d been discussing him with Lacy might have irritated him at one time. Now it didn’t. “Look, I came over here to tell you that I’ve behaved wrong. This getting used to being around people is harder than I expected. I’m not excusing my actions. But—”
“Wait! Cut—” Sheri exclaimed, shooting up from the table. “Coffee first. My mind can’t quite grasp the immensity of what you’re saying without a wake-up call. How do you drink yours?”
“Black.”
“My kind of man—” She laughed. “I might have a sweet tooth the size of a mammoth tusk, but coffee is supposed to be black.”
Pace chuckled. She swung around instantly, sloshing coffee on the floor.
“Call the doctor! Pace Gentry just laughed.”
“It happens. But you keep that hot coffee swinging around, and we’re going to have to call the doctor after you slip.”
“Don’t try and change the subject. You chuckled. Wow.”
She traded the carafe for the coffee mugs and carefully stepped around the spilled liquid. “I’ll mop it up after I can function better,” she said, setting his mug in front of him before taking her seat and holding her cup beneath her nose, inhaling.
Pace forced himself to look at his cup of coffee. He hadn’t come over here to let his imagination run wild watching Sheri. He’d come here to explain himself and leave. That hadn’t changed.
They sipped their coffee in silence for a few minutes. He figured if it meant that much to her he’d do well to let her drink in silence at least for a few moments.
“Okay, continue. You were saying you were having a hard time adjusting to being around people.”
She had been listening. He lifted an eyebrow and studied her over the rim of his cup. “I just thought you should know that, like I tried to explain yesterday. It isn’t personal.” That was not entirely true. “Not exactly, anyway. The part about you being a loose woman was completely uncalled for. I only know what I’ve seen, and you look like you have fun—”
She leveled her gaze on him and set her coffee down with a thud. “That made you think I was a loose woman? The fact that I have fun?”
“With cowboys.”
“You mean with men. Here we go again. I get exactly what you’re saying. I just don’t like it. Didn’t last night. Don’t this morning.”
He was saying this all wrong. “Look, I’m trying to explain. The problem isn’t with you. It’s with me. I might be a Christian now, and I might like my solitude, but I’m not a saint. I have a pretty sordid past when it comes to women. And if I was headed into town after months of being alone…well, I’d think you were fair game. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it looked to me.”
Her eyes narrowed. He was not saying this right. He said a silent prayer that the Lord would help him not make any more of a mess out of this bungled apology. “Don’t go getting all hot under the collar. I said it was my problem, not yours.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel better? Despite what you think, I do have standards.”
“I know that. Don’t you see that appearances…”
She sprang to her feet. “I see plenty, cowboy.”
Pace ran a hand over his face and wished for his hat, which was sitting on the seat of his truck. If he had his hat he could pull it down low over his eyes and block her accusing glare. This was exactly why he liked solitude. No explaining himself
. No figuring out somebody else.
For a moment he wondered if the Lord meant what he said about calling Christians out. Maybe some people, like him, were excluded from such a command. After all, what exactly did he have to offer the world? It wasn’t as if he had an understanding of all of this. Pushing back his chair, he stood. It was time to get back to his horses. At least there he knew what he was doing. Being around Sheri made him think he didn’t understand anything. Anything at all.
“Look,” he said, searching her eyes for a second. She stood rigid, a challenge in her eyes. The woman made him crazy. “You don’t have to worry. I’m done here. I’ve got work to do so I’m out of here. First, though, I need to know exactly what happened at Norma Sue’s last night…other than the fact that I made you mad.”
She surprised him with a smile. “Oh, that. Well, let’s just say that you are about to become very much acquainted with the posse.”
“And what does that mean exactly?”
She crossed her arms, her smile flattened but her eyes laughing. “Oh, I couldn’t possibly explain it. I might say the wrong thing. Wouldn’t want to upset you.”
The woman was killing him. There was no talking to her. It was obvious that she wasn’t going to let him forget that he’d insulted her again. Being around her made him feel as if he had his boots on backward. Totally confused, Pace strode toward the door. “Thanks for the coffee,” was all he felt safe saying as he shut the door and left her.
He had come here to repair the bridge he’d burned and try to figure out what had happened at Norma Sue’s…. He’d come up short on both counts.
Chapter Ten
Sheri and Lacy walked into Sam’s diner for lunch. They’d both been busy all morning at the salon and Sheri was starving, nothing new about that. Her mind was still boggled by how their business was growing. True, she wasn’t getting rich, but she was enjoying it for now.
“Hey, Applegate and Stanley,” she called to the old-timers hunched over their usual game of checkers.
“I think their hearing aids must be turned down,” Lacy whispered, taking a booth near the kitchen doors. “That, or whatever they’re whispering about is of mega-importance.”
“Yeah right, like world peace.” Everyone knew that the two older men had something going on all the time. They’d recently tried their own hand at matchmaking, and it had gone awry. “Hey, Sam,” she called as he ambled over on his skinny little bowed legs. “I’m starving. What’s cookin’ today?”
“Sam, watch her,” Lacy warned. “She’s been acting particularly peculiar today, and you know how hungry she gets when her weirdness comes out.” Lacy made a face at Sheri, and Sheri anticipated that she was about to be drilled about what was going on between her and Pace. Sheri’s stomach knotted.
“I made enchiladas today, and I made extra just for you, Sheri. Knowin’ how you like them. Even on days when yer not so weird.”
“That’s my man,” Sheri sighed, already tasting the delicious enchiladas. Sam believed in spicing things up and dousing them in queso.
“He ain’t yer man. He’s Adela’s man,” Applegate snapped. So much for their hearing aids being off.
“She was just joking, App,” Stanley said.
Sam crossed his arms and stared at them. “You two just sit over there and hush. I told you before Sheri and Lacy walked in that I didn’t want to hear another word out of your flappers while my lunch crowd was in here.”
Sheri and Lacy’s gazes met. Lacy lifted an eyebrow, and Sheri returned the gesture.
“You guys aren’t about to feud again, are you?” Sheri asked. They’d just gotten over a feud that had sent the two checker players to Pete’s Feed and Seed for a few weeks. It had just about sent poor Pete over the edge. Sheri wasn’t so sure all was well between the three longtime friends, but with these guys it was hard to tell when they were being ornery for real or just being their regular cantankerous selves. Thinking of Pace, Sheri decided that some men were just hard to read all the time.
“Tell him he ain’t gettin’ no younger and neither are we. If he’s ever gonna ask Adela to marry him he needs to do it soon,” Applegate rambled, glaring at Sam.
“Yup, we done gave him pert near two months to get his act together and what’s he done? Nothin’.” Stanley shook his balding head.
Sheri almost smiled. Without comment Sam scowled and stormed to the kitchen.
“You fellas are going to drive Sam crazy,” Lacy said. “Really, he and Adela have things under control.”
“That’s what you think. We’re his friends. Thar ain’t no reason on earth why that man don’t fulfill the one dream he’s ever had in life and ask Adela to marry him.” Applegate stood and placed his cowboy hat on his head in a signal that he was about to call it a day.
Stanley followed. “Yep, we figure if we drive him crazy we’ll drive him into action. We done found out we ain’t matchmakers, but we’re pretty good checker players.”
“That’s right,” Applegate said as he strode past them toward the door. “The way you win a game of checkers is by driving yer foe into a corner he can’t get out of.”
Stanley winked at them as he followed Applegate. “Believe me, if thar’s one thang App knows, it’s about losing at checkers.”
“I heard that.”
“Yeah, well I don’t hear you denying it.”
They griped all the way out the door.
“They never stop,” Lacy laughed after the door swung shut behind them.
“Nope, but you know they might be right. Poor Sam.”
“Don’t ya be sayin’ poor Sam,” Sam snapped as he came blowing out of the kitchen with two plates of steaming food. The smell was enough to send Sheri’s taste buds into overdrive. She was glad she and Lacy had come in before the crowd because despite the fact that he’d made extra, Sam’s enchiladas wouldn’t last long with a herd of hungry cowboys.
“Sam, my man,” she sighed as he placed the plate before her. “I love you. How’s about you and me tie the knot and put an end to those nosy matchmakers trying to run our lives?”
Sam frowned. “Eat,” he snapped, spun and marched back to the kitchen.
Sheri blinked at the swinging door. “Boy, the man has absolutely no sense of humor lately.”
“Love…” Lacy crooned.
Lacy loved to sing about love. Sheri rolled her eyes.
“Down, girl. I’ve got to eat.”
Lacy sent her a look. “Okay. Are you blessing the food or am I?”
“Go for it, sister.” Sheri bowed her head, feeling a bit awkward since she hadn’t said a prayer in a while. Then again, what good would it have done anyway? It wasn’t as if He was paying her much mind. “I wonder if everyone said a blessing over everything they ate if there wouldn’t be any more high cholesterol and high blood pressure?” Despite everything, she still liked to contemplate things.
Lacy paused the forkful of enchilada that was heading toward her lips. “What does that mean?” She took the bite.
Sheri paused her own loaded fork midair. “Well, you know the Bible does say that as a Christian everything we eat is okay with the Lord. You know, how the disciples didn’t think they could eat pig and stuff like that. What about cinnamon rolls and fudge? If we bless it, then I just wonder if that levels out the bad stuff?”
Lacy almost choked on her food laughing. “You’ve been talking to Esther Mae too much,” she finally said.
“How’d you guess?”
“That was an Esther Mae kind of observation.”
“Yes, but it is valid. Don’t you agree?”
“Good try, girlfriend, but this conversation is not going to derail the questions you know I’m fixin’ to ask you.”
“Don’t mean I’m fixin’ to answer you,” Sheri shot back.
Lacy laughed. “C’mon, you know you want to tell me all about what’s happening between you and that hunky cowboy that showed up at the crack of dawn to fix your Jeep. Yep, I’ve got to tell you I saw this co
ming from a mile away.”
“Nothing’s happening. Well, nothing really.”
“Okay, so what does that mean?”
“Well, the man is a hunk—no denying that, even though I tried. But that doesn’t change the fact that the man really gets under my skin. Why, do you know that he actually thinks that I am a loose woman? A floozy, basically.” She felt her blood pressure rise just talking about it again. It had taken her most of the morning to cool down. “After he fixed my Jeep and I let him have a cup of coffee, the man was lucky I let him walk out of my house this morning, I was tempted to toss the entire pot of coffee on him. What?”
Lacy was grinning so wide that her blue eyes were dancing.
“Stop that.” Sheri held up her hand. “Stop that thought right now. I have to confess, I’m getting pretty devious, wanting to give out some major payback. There’s nothing wrong with me wanting to stay single.”
“You are the one who pushed me to follow my heart with Clint. What makes you different? Come on, Sheri. I’m so happy, and I want you to be, too.”
“I am happy, Lacy. You were meant to marry Clint Matlock. Everyone could see it the moment the two of you met. Me, I’m not meant—I’m not,” she huffed and slapped her hand on the table. “You know how my parents were—how they are. Nothing has changed. It’s getting about time for one of them to add another divorce to their list.”
“Sheri, that has nothing to do with you.”
“Lacy Matlock, you above everyone knows how I am.”
“You betcha I do. You are the best, most loyal, most supportive friend a girl could have. Don’t you get that, Sheri? I’m not certain what’s up with you and the sudden way you are avoiding God, but He created you special. And someday, you’re going to take all of your wonderful attributes and make the most fantastic wife in the world for the man you fall madly in love with.”
Meeting Her Match Page 9