Tempting Chase_Burlap and Barbed Wire

by Shirley Penick

  He might not have heard from Katie, but it looked like things were working out for Gwen, and that gave him peace.

  Chapter 30

  Katie was eagerly awaiting Gwen’s arrival at the store. The girl had texted her last night saying that her aunt had arrived, and they were getting to know each other. She’d said she would be by this afternoon to tell Katie everything. Katie had been awake half the night hoping everything was going well and the two of them would bond. She’d probably looked out the window a hundred times today to see if she could catch a glimpse of Gwen and her aunt. Customers had been rung up and helped, but as far as any other work being done today, nope, it just wasn’t happening.

  Gwen hopped in the door about three in the afternoon with the biggest smile Katie had ever seen on the girl’s face. All the anxiety Katie had felt all day melted away and she felt a matching smile form on her own face.

  “I take it you like your aunt.”

  Gwen rushed over to her and threw herself into Katie’s arms. “She’s wonderful. We talked all night and then when we finally got up after sleeping all morning, we had blueberry pancakes for lunch. Aunt Mary is a lot older than my parents were and has grown kids, but she said I’ll fit right in with her grandchildren. She’s got two granddaughters my age.”

  Gwen drew a breath and kept right on speaking. “They all live on a big cattle ranch just like Chase’s family does and she said I can have a horse of my own. And when my brothers get out of jail she said they will come to live there, too. We talked to them a little while ago and they are both excited about that idea. Oh, I hope they don’t have to stay in jail too long. It’s going to be amazing.”

  Katie couldn’t help catching some of the girl’s enthusiasm as it poured all over her and the store, running across the floor like a river and dripping off the counters.

  Before Katie could speak Gwen said, “And it’s only a six-hour drive from here, so maybe you can come visit. Or we can drive over here sometimes to see you.”

  Katie was touched by the girl’s desire to see her, but wondered how long that would last in her new life. “That’s great, we can text back and forth, too.”

  “We can, isn’t it all wonderful?” She grabbed Katie’s hands and brought them up between them pulling Katie close.

  Katie grinned. “It’s super-duper wonderful. I’m so happy for you.”

  “I’m happy for me too. What time does your night guy come in? My aunt wants to take you to dinner, so she can meet you and we can celebrate. I thought if he came in soon, we could go upstairs and get all prettied up.”

  “I’ll call him and see if he can come in early tonight.”

  Gwen clapped her hands and twirled around in glee.

  They spent two hours getting all prettied up with fingernail polish and makeup. Gwen talked Katie into wearing a dress, so they poured through her closet looking for the perfect outfit. Gwen insisted on one that was a bit sexier than she would have normally worn to have dinner with someone’s aunt, but she let the girl have her way. She let Gwen wear one of her more sedate dresses that actually fit her better than it did Katie, so she told Gwen she could keep it.

  Aunt Mary knocked on Katie’s door at six twenty and they spent the next few minutes getting acquainted before they walked down the street toward the Mexican restaurant that Gwen loved.

  Chase walked into the restaurant at six twenty, his whole family stressed punctuality, to the point of believing if you weren’t ten minutes early you were late. So, he knew he would be there before Gwen and Aunt Mary. Which he realized was a good thing, because as soon as he walked in, memories of eating here with Katie assailed him. They’d had so much fun that night, that he felt a physical ache not knowing if he could ever get back to that closeness with her.

  He was surprised when the hostess took him to the back room, it was usually reserved for big parties. But today it was setup with a single table. He wondered if Aunt Mary was trying to shield Gwen from prying eyes, so she had arranged a private area. That was a nice sentiment, but not really necessary, their town wasn’t catty or mean.

  He settled in and started thinking about what his next step should be in his campaign to win Katie back, when she walked in the door with Gwen and an older woman he assumed was Aunt Mary. When Katie saw him, she stopped dead in her tracks, but Aunt Mary and Gwen each took an arm and propelled her forward. His eyes drank her in, she looked amazing all dressed up with makeup on. He was certain if she’d been wearing a gunny sack with dirt on her face, he would have felt the same way.

  He heard Aunt Mary say, “This was my idea, he had nothing to do with it.” Which propelled him to leap to his feet to greet the woman and hold out chairs for all three women to sit. Katie ended up sitting next to him and as he pushed in her chair he breathed in the scent of her, she was wearing the perfume he’d bought her, which made his heart soar.

  Gwen was on his other side with Aunt Mary across the table from him. She looked him up and down, which made him glad he’d worn his good jeans and boots and a nice western shirt with pearl snaps. Then she said to Gwen. “He doesn’t look like an idiot, and he has very nice manners.”

  Katie looked at him with narrowed eyes. “He’s not always an idiot, in fact most of the time he’s a great guy. But when he is an idiot it’s colossal in scope.” He winced, and his heart plummeted at her cool tone of voice.

  Gwen shrugged. “But it does work out for the best.”

  “I was only trying to help,” he said in his own defense.

  Aunt Mary spoke up again. “I very much appreciate the fact that you did act, Chase. Gwen might have gotten hurt living on the streets. Even in this quaint town, something bad could have happened. So, thank you for getting the Sheriff involved so they could contact me.”

  Aunt Mary turned to Katie. “I appreciate you taking care of her, and Gwen tells me you were trying to get her to tell you the truth, when Sir Galahad over there, burst in the door with the police and CPS. So, thank you for that, I wish you’d have confronted her earlier, but I understand that she might have just run off, if you tried before she trusted you.”

  She looked between the two of them. “Thank you so much for taking care of my girl, and also for knocking some sense into her brothers. I believe they got a very fine wakeup call, ending up in jail. Grief and uncertainty, with a large helping of booze made them a little on the crazy side. I think they’ll learn from this, and toe the line when they get out. My husband and I plan to put them to work on the ranch.” She looked at him again. “That should keep them busy, don’t you think, young man?”

  He grinned at her. “Yes ma’am, it surely will. Not much time for acting a fool on a cattle ranch, and if you do, the others will bring you back into line with a quickness.”

  The waitress brought in a pitcher of margaritas and a lemonade for Gwen. They gave her their orders and Katie poured the margaritas.

  Aunt Mary took a drink from hers and then set it down and looked at him again. “Speaking of being a fool.” He winced, and she looked back at Katie. “How long are you going to make this boy suffer? Gwen said he’s done a fine job of apologizing and even some long distance groveling.”

  Katie just looked at him for a long minute and he could not read her at all, he had no idea what she was thinking, and his hands started to sweat. He was glad he’d already set his drink down, so he couldn’t drop it.

  Katie didn’t say a word, she looked back to Aunt Mary and shrugged.

  His heart plummeted to his feet and he felt like throwing up, she was never going to forgive him.

  Aunt Mary wasn’t giving up though, bless her. “You know I’ve been married to that man of mine longer than you’ve been alive, and the one thing I learned is that a man has to be told explicitly what it is we expect from them. What we need from them. Now I know you are a smart woman and you’ve figured out that what Chase actually did, was the correct course of action, and has been a positive thing all around. So, it’s not what he did, but how he did it that’
s got your tail in a twist. Is this correct?”

  Katie nodded, still saying nothing.

  He opened his mouth, but Aunt Mary shook her head at him, so he closed it.

  She said, “Now Katie, tell the poor stupid man what he should have done.”

  Katie frowned and looked at him. “All you had to do was talk to me. Explain what you thought was best. I might have argued, but I’m not an idiot. You didn’t have to go behind my back, like I can’t listen to a good idea and change my mind. You lied to me, you treated me like I was stupid. You let Drake and the CPS woman think I was unreasonable, and you made it look like I betrayed Gwen. And all you had to do was talk to me, dammit.”

  “Katie….”

  She shook her head at him. “Why in the hell didn’t you just talk to me? You’ve known me all my life and you didn’t trust me enough to even talk about it.”

  His heart shattered at the pain he saw in her eyes as they filled with tears.

  “No Katie, it wasn’t like that.”

  “Then what was it like, Chase?”

  He shrugged. “I was just protecting you.”

  “I don’t need protection all the fucking time. I need a partner.”

  He flinched, Katie never used the f-word, she was really, really angry and hurt. And that destroyed him up. “Oh Katie. I’m so sorry, so damn sorry. I do want to be your partner.”

  The waitress came in with their food and Aunt Mary started talking. Chase had no idea what she was talking about because his mind was whirling with what Katie had said. He barely tasted his food and he and Katie didn’t share bites like they had for years. His heart hurt. He didn’t know how to fix it. He’d lost her, he’d lost his best friend and the only woman he wanted to spend his life with.

  When dinner was finished Aunt Mary said, “Chase?”

  “Yes, ma’am?”

  Aunt Mary sighed. “What did Katie say she wanted?”

  “For me to talk to her.”

  Aunt Mary lifted her eyebrows. “And what are you doing now?”

  He looked at Katie who seemed to be as sad as he was. He glanced back at Aunt Mary. “Not talking, and trying to figure out how to fix it. If I even can fix it.”

  Aunt Mary narrowed her eyes. “You can’t fix it.”

  His hopes plummeted even further.

  She glanced at Katie and then back at him. “You can’t fix it by yourself, Chase. But if you talk to Katie, the two of you can fix it.”

  He looked at Katie and she nodded so slightly he wasn’t sure he’d seen it. But his heart knew and there was a tiny glimmer of hope. “Really?”

  Katie nodded again a little bigger this time. He glanced at Aunt Mary and Gwen who were nodding too. His heart leapt.

  He jumped up and took Katie’s hand. Pulling her up and toward the door. Then he stopped, dropped her hand, turned and gave both Gwen and Aunt Mary a bone-crushing hug before rushing back to Katie. He called out over his shoulder, “Thanks for everything. I owe you both.”

  When they got outside he didn’t know where to go to talk. He stood on the side walk looking up and down the street.

  Katie laughed and pulled him toward the parking lot where his truck was. “You want to talk in my truck?”

  “Anywhere is fine.”

  She got into his truck and he shut the door to hurry around to his side.

  “What’s this?” she asked when he got in.

  “Something for later.” He took the package and card out of her hands and put it on the dashboard. “I really am sorry I made such a mess of all of this. I didn’t think any of those things you said. I do trust you. I know you’re not an idiot and are reasonable. I don’t know why I didn’t talk to you about it first. I won’t ever do that again. This has been the worst few days of my entire life. It’s like I can’t draw a full breath. My heart hurts too much. I need you in my life, Katie. Please give me another chance.”

  She looked at him for a long minute while he held his breath. Finally, after what felt like a hundred hours, she nodded. “I’ll give you another chance, but you are going to swear to talk to me about all important decisions, and even the unimportant ones.”

  The breath he’d been holding whooshed out of him. “I promise. I don’t want another week like this one.”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “It’s only been five days.”

  “Well, it felt like five weeks. Can I drive you home and maybe kiss you goodnight?”

  “You can drive me home, then you can come up and give me your blood oath to communicate better. I think I’ll make you sign a contract. Then you can kiss me goodnight.”

  “It’s a deal.”

  When they got in her apartment he handed her the package and card. “Now you can open it.”

  She shrugged and pulled out the card which was another superman card about her being his kryptonite, she laughed and shook her head as she looked at it. Then she opened the gift. He’d gotten the idea for it when he’d been out thinking and checking the fence lines.

  It was a heart made out of barbed wire, with a burlap bow and a twine hanger. But the most important part was a little wooden heart attached to the bow. Into the wood he’d burned their initials. He’d put all his hopes into that heart with their initials, that someday they might be able to get back to loving each other, and she would want the gift.

  She looked at it for a long time and he wondered what she was thinking. Slowly she ran her fingers over their initials. “This one took a lot of guts. What if I’d thrown it at your head?”

  “Not guts. Hope. Tons and tons of hope. I love you Katie, and I don’t want to spend my life without you. I know I have a lot of work to do to get back to where we were five days ago, but I’m willing to put in the time and the energy. I need you in my life. When you’re ready, I want to ask you to be my wife.”

  She sucked in a breath and looked at him.

  He put his fingers over her lips. “Don’t say anything, yet. I know it’s too soon. But I had to tell you that’s my goal. What I plan to work toward. Every day. Every minute of every day, until you’re ready.”

  He pulled her into his arms and kissed her softly, relishing every second. She sighed and melted into him, so he took the kiss deeper. She amped up the heat and wrapped herself around him. He reveled in her response and felt his heart solidify from the fragments it had become.

  She pulled back. “I want to play cards.”

  He was certain all the blood had left his head and he hadn’t understood what she said. “What?”

  “I want to play poker.”

  He blinked at her and pulled back. “Um, okay.”

  He looked stupidly around the room, he didn’t think she even had cards, let alone poker chips. “Do you have cards? And something to use for betting?”

  “Cards? Maybe somewhere. And the betting will be articles of clothing.” She gave him a wicked look.

  “Clothing?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I believe it’s called strip poker.”

  He laughed a strangled laugh, as lust shot through him.

  She shrugged one shoulder. “Or we can skip the cards, and just go straight to stripping.”

  He grinned, and his heart soared. “Katie, I will strip for you anytime, anywhere.”

  She put her hands on the sides of his shirt and tore it open, thank God for snaps on western shirts.

  She grinned at him. “Good, start now.”

  The End