“Now I’ll ask Truman O’Dell for the benediction,” the preacher said.
Fiona jumped back to the present and wondered where the thirty minutes had gone. She hadn’t heard anything the preacher said. Maybe he’d talk more about the birth of Jesus next week and she vowed she’d pay more attention.
“Where have you been?” Dora June caught her at the end of the pew.
“Driving and soul searching,” Fiona answered honestly. “Are we ready to go see Granny and do some shopping this afternoon?”
“Did you do any good by driving all night?” Dora June’s expression left no doubt that she was serious and that she would have answers.
Fiona nodded. “Yes, ma’am, I did.”
“Good. We’ll talk details later. For now let’s gather up the family and go shopping. I could get used to this kind of lifestyle.” Dora June smiled.
“Yes, we will talk details later,” Lizzy said right behind her. “You scared the hell out of us.”
“I lived in Houston for years. You didn’t know where I was for a whole week, maybe more, at a time and you didn’t act like this,” Fiona said.
“Things were different in those days,” Jud whispered close to her ear. His breath on her neck sent shivers down her spine.
“Hey, if you’re through whisperin’ sweet things in Fiona’s ear, I’m ready to go eat. If we slip out the back door, we can beat the rest of these people to Nadine’s and get our dinner quicker,” Truman said.
“Truman O’Dell,” Dora June gasped.
“Y’all could be about your shopping trip sooner if you’d do the same thing,” Truman told her.
“Do what?” Allie returned from the nursery with Audrey.
“Sneak out the back door to go shopping,” Fiona laughed.
“I will if Dora June will,” Allie said.
“I reckon the preacher has plenty of people to shake his hand.” Dora June nodded. “Lead the way, Truman. I feel like a kid again. Remember when we was dating and we’d do this so we could have a little bit of time together?”
“Shhh.” Truman actually blushed. “You’ll be givin’ these kids ideas.”
Jud touched Fiona on the arm. “Tonight?”
She nodded.
Tonight might not be sex or making love, and when she was done telling him what she intended to say, he might not even want to talk to her again. Thinking of the talk they were going to have, she decided it would occur while sitting in the two wingback chairs and not in either of their bedrooms.
“I want to eat at that little family restaurant in Seymour,” Dora June said on the way to Allie’s van. “I’m buying today and there’ll be no arguments. I hear they’ve got fried chicken on the all-you-can-eat buffet and it’s been a long time since I got to eat fried chicken that I didn’t cook.” She opened the door and crawled up into the front passenger seat.
Allie tossed the keys to Lizzy. “You can drive. Baby girl is fussy today.”
Lizzy caught the keys, got inside, and buckled the seat belt.
“I do hope Irene is herself today,” Dora June said. “I’d love to sit and talk to her like we did for that little while when we decorated the tree.” She fixed her big black shiny purse just right in her lap and wrapped her arms around it. “Do any of y’all know what’s going on with Truman? He’s actin’ strange lately. Talkin’ to himself and frownin’ like he’s arguing with someone.”
“Blake told me this morning that he’s arguing with God over something,” Allie said. “We’re all ready, Lizzy. You can go now.”
Lizzy started the engine, backed out, and headed north toward Seymour. “Okay, Fiona, start talking.”
“About what? I told you I drove most of the night and most of the morning to get to church on time.” This feeling was all so new that she didn’t want to talk about it right then. Selfishly, she wanted to hug it close and let it all sink in before she tried to explain what she’d figured out. Besides, what if she was wrong? Why give them false hope if in a few days the aura of peace disappeared?
“Why did you drive all night and where did you go?” Allie asked.
“Y’all ever hear that song by Sara Evans called ‘Suds in the Bucket’?”
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Lizzy asked. “Don’t change the subject. We want details and we aren’t going to talk about old songs.”
“It is a detail,” Fiona said. “I think it was a detail before I ever left home to go to college. I left the suds in the bucket and the clothes hanging on the line.”
“You did not,” Allie said.
“Figuratively speaking, I did. I left behind all the things that I did back then. My boots and my country girl clothes. I didn’t leave them on the line but hanging in my closet and in my dresser drawers,” she argued.
“Go on,” Dora June said.
“Last night, I left the store and when I got home the house was dark. Jud was delivering another calf and that song came on the radio and I got that same feeling I had back then. The same thing that I felt when I was a little girl and decided to leave Dry Creek and go on an adventure,” Fiona said. “I wanted to run away. It didn’t matter where or how long. I could not go in that house. It reminded me of all those times I went home to that depressing little apartment in Houston.”
“Okay, then what?” Allie asked.
“I drove to Seymour and then to Vernon and all the way to Claude, right on the edge of the Palo Duro Canyon. I stopped and got coffee because I was getting tired. Every single song on the radio reminded me of Dry Creek.” She wasn’t going to tell them that most of them reminded her of Jud. “On a whim, I turned down into the canyon rather than going on to Amarillo, which was my first plan. I got sleepy, almost ran off the road and…” She went on to tell them the rest of the story, leaving out the part that Sara Evans’s other song played in settling her mind.
“So now what?” Dora June asked.
“So now I’m through making plans. They always fail me and I’m going to see what each day brings. It’s not easy for me because I’ve always had a plan but knowing that I don’t have my life mapped out for the next ten or twenty years brings me a certain amount of tranquility.”
“Good,” Allie said.
“Does that mean you aren’t leaving Dry Creek?” Dora June asked.
“It means that I’m not closing the door to anything, even living in Dry Creek. Seems like the harder I fight against living here, the more miserable I get and the more trouble it gets me into,” she said. “And now can we please talk about the ranch party and Christmas?”
“Not until I fuss at you for sleeping in your car. You should have stopped in Claude and rented a room,” Dora June said sternly.
“Sleeping in the car and my near brush with an accident is what brought me to my senses,” Fiona said.
“Well, I’m glad that I didn’t know that’s what you were doing. I wouldn’t have slept a wink. Okay, now, girls, I expect you all to get your ten dollars’ worth at this buffet dinner,” Dora June giggled.
Before she took their order, Sharlene leaned close to Jud’s ear and whispered, “What in the hell is going on? Did y’all drug Truman?”
Jud cupped a hand over her ear and said softly, “No, he’s here of his own free will.”
“With all y’all Dawsons? He hates you,” Sharlene said.
“Not anymore.” Jud smiled.
“Good God, man! Do you whisper sweet things in all the women’s ears?” Truman asked.
“Most of them,” Blake chuckled. “It’s the Dawson in us. Be careful or you’ll be whispering in Dora June’s ear. Our bad habits are contagious.”
“Lord, I hope not,” Truman sputtered. “Do y’all have to play Christmas music in here? I swear it’s all a man hears from Thanksgiving until after the twenty-fifth of the month.”
“Well, it is the holiday. Don’t be an old scrooge, Truman. What can I get you?”
“I’m sick of turkey and dressing already, so I want a big old greasy hamburge
r basket with a double order of French fries and a piece of Nadine’s apple pie for dessert. And I’m paying for Jud’s dinner but not these other two.”
Blake held up a finger. “I’ll have the same and I’ll take the ticket for all of us.”
“Bullshit! I ain’t acceptin’ no charity from you.” Truman’s eyes narrowed and his jaw set so hard that Jud thought he might break the bone.
“It isn’t charity. I intend to take all your money when we play dominoes and I don’t want you to run short and quit playing after the first game,” Blake said. “It would be a shame for you to have to go pout in your room and for us to have to call Herman in to finish up the afternoon game.”
“Y’all best stop threatening me with him or I’ll go over there and eat all by myself,” Truman said. “Besides, he can’t play dominoes worth shit. So you can buy my dinner but don’t you think for one minute you’ll come out the winner when this day is done.”
“That true, Jud?” Toby asked. “Is he really that good?”
“He’s tellin’ the truth.” Jud nodded.
“Okay, then Blake is paying, right?” Sharlene asked. “And just for the books, if I was bettin’ on who’d win the most games today, I’d put my money on Truman. He won the competition last summer at our first annual summer festival. They set up tables over there in the corner and he beat the socks off everyone.”
Truman nodded curtly. “Herman was the first one to fall. Too bad we wasn’t bettin’ that day or I’d have taken all his money, too.”
“I’ll have the same thing he’s eating,” Toby said. “Maybe his luck is in the dinner.”
“My luck, son, is in my skill,” Truman told him.
“Just make it four,” Jud said.
“Will do. Sweet tea all around?” Sharlene asked. “And apple pie after?”
“Pecan pie for me,” Blake said.
Sharlene nodded and hurried off to give Nadine the order and the gossip before the next group of church folks came into the café.
“So y’all goin’ to take my advice and keep them two bull calves?” Truman asked.
“I think we are,” Blake said. “You’ve got a good eye for cattle, Truman. Why would you ever raise goats?”
“Them is Dora June’s goats. She says them kids that come along in the spring is her babies. She don’t seem as took with them the past couple of weeks since she’s got your wives to tear around the country with on Sundays.” He sat back in his chair so that Sharlene could unload four glasses of sweet tea on their table.
“Maybe Audrey has replaced them,” Blake said. “That little girl’s going to be a charmer.”
“She already is,” Toby said.
“I need some advice and I reckon you three can keep a secret, can’t you?” Truman blurted out.
“I don’t know about these two”—Jud pointed in either direction—“but you can count on me.”
“Come on now,” Blake said. “I never did tattle on you, not one time.”
“You got to promise me you won’t breathe a word,” Truman leaned in and whispered.
“Promise,” they said in unison.
“I’m tired of arguing with God. He wins. Dora June has stood beside me for fifty years, and I think she was serious about seeing the whole United States in an RV. So I’m thinkin’ about buyin’ her one for Christmas as a surprise.”
Jud came close to spewing tea across the table. “And you’re going to live in it on your property until you get things sold?”
“Hell no! This is where I need you boys. I ain’t got the time to get rid of my livestock, and that’s all I got left on my place. I’m not even sure I want to sell the ranch until we see if we want to keep livin’ like hoboes or if we want to come back home and rebuild.” He paused.
The silence at the table was so pronounced that it reverberated in Jud’s ears. “When are you going to buy this thing?”
“One day next week when me and you is doin’ our chores. She saw one up in Wichita, so we could go up that way and pick out a real nice one and pay for it. Then if one of y’all would help me, I’d—”
“Hey, y’all mind if I sit with you?” Deke asked.
“Drag up a chair,” Blake said.
“I reckon he’ll have to know now,” Truman sighed.
“Know what?” Deke motioned for Sharlene to bring him a glass of sweet tea. “And I want the turkey and dressing special,” he said.
She nodded and brought the tea right over to the table.
“You want to tell him?” Blake asked.
Truman brought him up to speed.
Deke’s eyes were about to pop out of his head when the old guy stopped talking. “You serious? If you are selling, I want first chance at your cattle.”
“Get in line behind these boys. You want my goats?” Truman asked.
“If you’ll let me have first choice of the cattle, I’ll take all those goats.”
“What do y’all think?” Truman asked the other three. “You want the goats to get the cattle?”
Blake shook his head. “Allie will want to bring every kid in the house in the springtime. I’ll stand back and let Deke have the cattle if he’ll take the goats.”
“I’ll make you a deal on the whole lot of them and throw in all the hay in my barn as a bonus,” Truman said.
“You be sure about this before we shake on it, Truman,” Deke said. “I’ll give you a couple of days to think about it.”
“I’ll think about it until I go look at them RV things. If it don’t seem right, then all bets are off. Since we got five of us, why don’t we play poker this afternoon, instead of dominoes?”
“You as good at poker as you are at dominoes?” Jud asked.
“You’ll have to play a few games to find out,” Truman answered.
“I’m in if it’s poker. What time are we playin’?” Deke asked.
“Right after we get through eatin’. You got enough energy to play after chasin’ women all night?” Truman asked.
“It’s chasin’ them women that has my blood pumpin’, Truman. This might be the day that goes down in the history books as the day Deke Sullivan whipped Truman,” Deke answered.
“When pigs fly,” Truman growled.
“You better be duckin’ because there’s a possibility they’ve sprouted wings. Look around the table at who you are having Sunday dinner with. Bet you never thought that was possible, did you?”
“I was right about one thing. All y’all ain’t nothing but a bunch of smartass kids,” Truman said.
Chapter Twenty
Laden with shopping bags, Fiona climbed the stairs, hoping that Jud would appear anytime and take part of the weight from her. She set all four bags on the floor in front of the credenza and plopped down in a wingback chair and kicked off her boots. Flipping around and throwing her legs over the chair arm, she sighed and wished that Jud were there to massage her aching feet.
She snuggled down into the curve of the chair back and shut her eyes, just to rest them for a couple of minutes. She fell asleep and dreamed of building a huge snowman with Jud. Two big yellow dogs and half a dozen kids, with hair that went from blond to every shade of red, romped in the snow around them.
In the dream, Jud leaned around the snowman and kissed her. She awoke with a start to find that in reality he was leaning around the edge of the chair and she could actually feel the heat from his lips as they came down on hers.
Visions of tangled sheets, his arms around her, and afterglow danced through her head as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Somewhere in the background she could hear Truman fussing about all the stuff Dora June brought home, but nothing mattered except Jud Dawson.
“I’ve missed you,” he said when the kiss ended, and he straightened up.
“Me too,” she said softly.
He was dressed in a long-sleeved thermal knit shirt, the three undone buttons at the neck revealing soft brown chest hair and a pair of red and green plaid pajama pants. He held out a hand and she w
as tempted—Lord help her but she was tempted—to forget what she’d figured out and go with him to the bedroom where the drawer full of glow-in-the-dark condoms awaited.
But she shook her head and pointed to the other chair. “We’ve got to talk.”
He dropped his hand. “Uh-oh. Nothing good has ever come from those four words.”
“I don’t know. That will be up to you when we get finished. I figured you’d be really mad at me for not returning your calls and texts.” She twisted around until she was sitting in the chair with her feet on the floor. “If this is more than casual sex, then you should be storming around in anger, demanding where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing.”
He combed back his damp hair with his fingers. “Is this where you’re going to tell me exactly why you didn’t come home last night?”
Fiona shrugged. “Are you mad at me?”
Jud shrugged.
“So you don’t even care? Were you just leading me on by saying this is more than sex? You aren’t even angry. God bless, Jud! Dora June was right after all and I never thought I’d say those words, not to you.”
Jud’s eyes narrowed. “Right about what?”
“That all along you just tell women what they want to hear so you can get them into bed with you.”
Jud’s jaw worked in anger. When he finally spoke, it was through clenched teeth. “Jesus, woman, I was ready to call out half the country and all the Dawsons to go looking for you.”
“Just how many Dawsons is that?” she asked.
“A hell of a lot.” He took a breath and settled down, his expression softening. He scooted his chair over and took her hand in his. “Now are you going to tell me what happened to make you run and where you were all night?”
“Is this our first fight?” she asked.
“No, this is a bump in the road. A fight will include some of that storming around you talked about.” He scooted his chair closer to hers, picked up her hand, and held it on the arm of his chair.
There was comfort in the touch of his hand but he still had a worried expression on his face. She opened her mouth and told the story, all of it, not leaving out anything from start to finish. With more detail than she’d told her sisters and Dora June, she told him every emotion she’d felt through the whole experience.
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