“If you’re absolutely sure,” she said. “Aunt Luna would probably love a party and being around people right now.”
“I’m positive,” he assured her, again.
“Thanks, Hud. We’ll be there.” She ended the call.
His phone rang as soon as he’d gotten it tucked into his hip pocket. Emily’s picture popped up, and he groaned as he answered it. “We’re runnin’ a little behind. Had to fix a broke-down fence and…”
Emily giggled. “That’s what I’m calling to tell you. We’re doin’ the same over here. I should’ve planned it for six, but we’ll be ready right after five thirty. Will that work?”
“Perfectly, sis.” He smiled. “And can I bring a couple of guests?”
“Rose?” Emily asked.
“And her aunt,” he answered.
“Sure,” Emily agreed. “The more the merrier, and I’ve been wanting to catch up with Rose anyway. I remember her being at our school in Tulia when I was a senior and she was either a freshman or sophomore. It’ll be fun to catch up. Claire says her aunt is a hoot. See you soon, and don’t forget that you’re down to bring a case of beer.”
He had forgotten—totally—and he sure didn’t have time to run back into town, but if he could catch Rose and Luna in time, maybe they’d be willing to stop by a convenience store for him. He made the call, and waited through three rings, four rings, and finally on the fifth one, Rose answered.
“I have a huge favor to ask,” he said. “Have you left town yet?”
“No, we’re just pulling out of the driveway,” she said.
“My only job was to pick up a case of beer and I forgot,” he said. “Could you—”
“What kind? Bottles or cans?” She butted in before he could finish.
“Cans are fine. Could you get Coors out of the cooler so they’re already cold?” he replied.
“Do you need ice too?” she asked.
He hadn’t thought of that. “Good idea. Why don’t you get a bag, just in case.”
“No problem.”
“Thank you. You’re a lifesaver.”
“See you soon!” she trilled.
The call ended, and he shoved the phone into his hip pocket.
When he opened his bedroom door, Paxton was just coming out into the hallway. Hud could see boxes stacked everywhere. Some were still open, but several were taped shut.
“You reckon you’ll be able to get all those in your truck?” Hud asked.
“I think so,” Paxton said. “I’ve got the whole backseat, plus the extra one in the front, unless you want to send Red with me.”
“Naw.” Hud grinned. “I’ll need him here to keep me company. When you get over there in the flat country, you won’t have all these mesquite trees to hide behind. I reckon in six months, Alana will have lassoed you and dragged you to the altar.”
“I bet you a hundred dollars you are standin’ in front of a preacher before I am,” Paxton countered.
Hud stuck out his hand. “You’re on, and you can pay me right after y’all get married.”
They shook on it, and Paxton headed toward the door.
“Not yet,” Hud said. “They’re not ready over at Emily’s, and Rose is bringing the beer that I forgot to get. I invited her and Luna to the party.”
Paxton chuckled, then laughed and then roared. “I’m going to spend my hundred dollars buying beers for everyone in the honky-tonk. I’m definitely going to be the last bachelor among us for sure.”
“We’ll see about that,” Hud told him, but he figured it might be the best hundred dollars he’d ever spend if Paxton was right.
* * *
Rose dashed into the convenience store, bought a case of Coors, a six-pack of Bud Light, and a bag of ice. She tipped the young guy behind the checkout counter when he carried it all out to her car for her.
“Just how big is this party?” Aunt Luna asked.
“I’m not sure, but I’m kind of guessing that there’ll be about a dozen people there, and I know that you are partial to Bud Light, so I got that six-pack for us,” she said as she drove south to Sunset.
Luna turned on the radio and sang the words she knew to an old country music tune by Waylon and Willie called “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.”
When the song ended, Luna glanced over at Rose. “You know you could marry a doctor or a lawyer instead of a cowboy. You’re a smart girl.”
“So are you, and you married a carnie.” Rose turned off the road and headed east toward the ranch.
“But I wanted excitement and adventure,” Luna argued.
Rose mentally relived the excitement of the rainbow phone call. “You think that being in a relationship with a cowboy wouldn’t be an adventure?”
“I’m thinkin’ about you, darlin’,” Luna told her. “The way you’ve traveled around the world and had a new life at each duty station. Can you imagine being tied down to a ranch and dealing with small-town politics? It’d be kinda like eternity with cows, calves, and a man who comes home every night smelling like bullshit and has hay all up in his hair.”
Rose pulled into the lane leading back to the ranch. The next song on the radio was Travis Tritt’s “Where Corn Don’t Grow.”
“This is more my song,” Rose said. “I couldn’t wait to get out of the commune and get to see the big cities, and now that I’ve been away so long, I kind of miss some of it. I liked living in the country. It was just those rigid rules that drove me crazy.”
“Just be sure that you know how deep the water is before you jump in with both feet.” Luna pointed toward the small house. “That’s cute as a button.”
“I know,” Rose agreed. “And a cowboy comes with it.”
“Two cowboys.” Luna nodded toward the house where two men were coming out of the house.
“That’s Paxton. He’s leaving tomorrow to go back to West Texas, so the party is for him tonight,” Rose explained.
“If I don’t hear from Wilbur right soon, I might follow that one out to the panhandle,” Luna giggled. “Look at the way he fills out them jeans, and that swagger. All he’d have to do is wink, and a woman would fall backward on the bed and pull him down on top of her.”
“Aunt Luna!” Rose scolded.
“Truth is truth, no matter how much bullshit you spread on top of it,” Luna told her. “And that cowboy that’s been givin’ your heart a hard time don’t come in far behind him for looks.”
Far behind him? Rose thought. The sun hasn’t come up on a day that Paxton Callahan could outdo Hud Baker for sexiness.
Hud crossed the yard and tapped on the window. She rolled it down. He propped his elbows on the edge of the window and leaned into the car just slightly. The woodsy scent of his cologne and his lips that close sent her senses reeling.
“Y’all want to ride with me or follow me?” he asked.
“We’ll just follow. That way, we’ll have our car there when it’s time to leave,” Rose said. “You got a cooler to put the beer and ice into?”
“I forgot that. I’ll go back in and get it,” he said and then yelled at Paxton, “Don’t go in until I get there.”
Paxton gave him a thumbs-up and then got into his truck. Hud jogged back to the house and brought out a big red and white cooler. He carried it to the back of her car and opened the back door. He dumped all the cans into the cooler and then added the bag of ice. “That should keep them cold. I can’t thank you enough for picking all this up for me.”
“No problem.” Rose watched him lift the heavy cooler up as if it weighed two pounds. She couldn’t see his biceps under the suede jacket, but she had no doubt that they were bulging. Hudson Baker was a real cowboy, and he got his muscles from hard work on the ranch, not from a set of weights in a gym. He didn’t just put on cowboy boots on Saturday night to go to the honky-tonk—no, sir, he wore them all week, no matter if he was shoveling bullshit, as Aunt Luna would say, or if he was sitting on a church pew.
Luna laid a hand ove
r her heart. “I don’t know if I can survive so much testosterone in one place. I’m used to old men sitting out on the trailer park picnic table. It would take all four of them to pick up that cooler, and they would have to call out two more to lift it over the top of that pickup bed.”
“You’re funny,” Rose said. “Do they play chess?”
“Oh, hell no!” Luna shook her head. “Honey, they relive the carnie days. Just about all the folks in the park are our old carnival friends. I’m startin’ to miss them pretty bad.”
Rose patted her shoulder. “I bet that he’s getting pretty lonesome to see you.”
“I hope so,” Luna sighed. “But for now get this buggy turned around and follow that cowboy. I’m thirsty for one of them Bud Lights.”
They were at the other ranch in only a couple of minutes. Rose parked right beside Hud. She and Luna got out of the car and followed him onto the porch. Paxton hung back, like he was listening to a song on the radio. Emily came to the door and motioned them inside.
“We’re so glad y’all could come with Hud,” she said. “We’ve been dyin’ to get to spend some time with you, Rose. I remember you from the year you were in Tulia, but I didn’t know that you were friends with Alana until Maverick’s wedding.”
“How did you know Alana?” Rose asked.
“We were the kids growin’ up on ranches in the same area, so we saw each other at all the functions—parties, stock sales, you name it.” Emily led the way into the living room. “Put that cooler in the dining room at the end of the table, Hud. I’ll introduce Luna and Rose to everyone.” She pointed over to a tall cowboy with light brown hair, steely blue eyes, and a square jaw. “This is my husband, Justin. The guy beside him is his brother, Cade.”
Believing that the two men were brothers was no problem. Cade’s eyes were a little lighter and he might have been an inch or two taller, but they had the same face shape and both were tall.
“The lady sitting on the end of the sofa with the baby is Cade’s wife, Retta, and the baby is Annie.” Rose could tell that Retta, even though she was sitting down, was tall. Her chestnut-colored hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and her big brown eyes glittered with happiness.
“I heard that you’ve met Levi and Claire, and Dixie and Sally,” Emily said, bypassing the next four folks in the room, “and that you sat beside Tag and Nikki in church this morning. That’s everyone, except Paxton, who’ll be coming in any minute. He thinks it’s bad luck to not finish listening to a song on the radio.” Emily smiled. “Everyone, this is Rose O’Malley and her aunt Luna. Luna is Miz Molly’s sister, one of the other ladies on the tour with our Fab Five.”
As if on cue, Paxton came in the door and yelled, “Hey, Emily, Hud said you needed to see me before I left?”
“In the living room,” Emily called out.
Hud slipped inside and crossed the room to stand beside Rose. When Paxton entered the room, everyone there yelled, “Surprise!”
“Whose birthday is it?” Paxton asked.
“It’s your going-away supper.” Emily pointed toward a banner with We’ll Miss You written in glitter with a set of twinkling Christmas lights around it. “We couldn’t let you leave us without throwing a party.”
Leaving without a party—the thought stuck in Rose’s mind. When she’d left the commune to go to the army, there had been no party. Her father rode to work with another guy that morning, and her mother had driven her into town. Normally, the women only got away from the commune once a month for necessary items they couldn’t supply themselves—like feminine items or maybe quilting fabric if they could afford it.
She wondered what kind of concession her mother had made for the privilege of taking her to the recruiter’s office that day.
“This is too much,” Paxton said. “Y’all know I hate goodbyes. You’re liable to see me cry over all this.”
“Well, don’t start boo-hooing right now,” Hud said. “Emily’s been cooking all your favorites all day, so what do you say we kick this party off with food, and since it’s your party, you can even go first. Just leave a little rigatoni for me, please.”
“And don’t go too hard on those hot yeast rolls.” Claire stood up with the help of a hand from her husband. “I’ve been craving them for a week.”
“Now this is a party,” Luna whispered to Rose and then leaned around to look up at Hud. “Thank you for inviting us.”
“My pleasure.” Hud took Rose’s hand in his. “Let me show you where the food and drinks are, and don’t be shy. My sister cooks for an army.”
“That comes from dealing with three big strapping brothers my whole life,” Emily said. “We didn’t even start breakfast if we didn’t have three dozen eggs in the house.”
“And two pounds of sausage,” Tag added as he picked up a plate at the end of the buffet line. “And you should see Hud put away pancakes. He can put the Hulk to shame.”
That word, goodbye, had stuck in Rose’s mind. It wouldn’t be long until she had to leave Texas and make the trip to Kentucky. Just thinking about leaving Hud put a lump in her throat.
Chapter Eleven
Monday turned out to be a decent day—cold but the sun was shining, so Hud and Tag worked all day getting a section of new fence put in and the old wood posts that were mostly rotten and the sagging barbed wire redone. At noon Hud went back to Tag’s house, where Nikki had left a slow cooker full of beef stew for them that day. Tag dipped it up into two bowls while Hud sliced a loaf of homemade bread.
“She was a cute kid, but she’s turned into a pretty woman,” Tag said as he sat down at the table.
“Who?”
“Come on now,” Tag teased. “You know exactly who I’m talking about. I saw the way you looked at her in church yesterday, and I heard about your trip to the jailhouse on Saturday night.”
“I don’t know about being a hero, or if I was if it would do any good.” Hud set the bread on the table, pulled out a chair, and eased down into it. “She’ll most likely be leaving in a few weeks to reenlist. I might never see her again.”
“That’s a half-empty-bottle-of-beer attitude.” Tag slathered a piece of bread with butter. “Think of it more like a half full bottle of beer. As in you’ve got a few weeks to change her mind. Believe me, I had a hard time changing Nikki’s mind. You weren’t nearly as wild as I was, so it might be easier on you. What is it about her that makes you want her to stay? You can kick any mesquite bush between here and Oklahoma and a dozen women will come runnin’ toward you, so why Rose?”
Hud removed his hat and ran his hands through his hair. “I can’t put it into words. It’s something in here.” He touched his chest.
“Then she’s the one. That’s the way I felt about Nikki,” Tag said.
“I don’t want to rush things, and I’m afraid that she couldn’t find work around here even if she didn’t reenlist.” Hud sighed.
“What’d she do in the army?” Tag asked.
“She speaks a gazillion languages, so she translated. She’s been everywhere, including two tours in Afghanistan.”
“There’s not much call for that sort of thing in this part of the country unless she can speak cow language.”
Hud shook his head and frowned. “Don’t think she knows that one.”
“Too bad,” Tag said. “If she did, I’d hire her to work here.”
They finished eating and then went back out to take care of more fencing until dark. Hud was used to hard work. He’d been putting up fence, hauling hay, and plowing fields since before he was a teenager. His muscles might ache at the end of the day, but it was a good tired, as his grandpa used to say. One that could see progress. That evening his muscles told him that he’d put in a long day, but his mind was just as weary as his body. He’d thought all afternoon about the conversation he’d had with Tag. He tried to figure out more reasons why he loved being with Rose, and it all came back to what he felt in his heart.
After he’d taken a long, hot shower, he put o
n a pair of pajama pants and sent Rose a text: Busy?
She replied: Not really? Want to talk?
He called her and she answered on the first ring. “Thank you so much for last night,” she said. “It really helped Aunt Luna to get out, but she’s gone back into a pout. I swear, if I had Uncle Wilbur’s number, I’d get in touch with him and tell him that it was time to end this argument.”
“I wanted to kiss you good night, but there were so many people that…” He paused.
“I would have blushed for sure, and Aunt Luna would have teased me all the way home. Speaking of embarrassment, I hope Aunt Luna didn’t…” She hesitated.
“Honey, she was the life of the party,” Hud cut in. “We all love getting together, and Emily likes to entertain, so we celebrate everything. I sure miss Paxton this evening. Want to come out here and keep an old cowboy company?”
“Can’t tonight.” She sighed. “Aunt Luna won’t get far away from the phone, so I should stay with her. I don’t know what she’ll do if Wilbur doesn’t call in the next couple of days.”
“So, no square dancing on Wednesday night if he doesn’t call?” Hud asked.
“She says we’re going to that dance for sure, and he can just wait until the next day. That’ll be his punishment for not calling when she’s here. But I’m a little worried,” Rose said. “It’s crazy the way I feel all protective of her. I haven’t even known her a whole week, but we’ve been through so much together.”
“They say that blood is thicker than water. What did they fight about anyway?” he asked.
“I’m not real sure, but I’d bet it was over some checker at the grocery store who’s been makin’ eyes at her Wilbur,” Rose replied.
“Sure about what?” He heard Luna say and then there was a distant buzz of conversation that he couldn’t make out.
“It’s Aunt Molly on the house phone,” Rose told him. “I’d better go. Aunt Luna needs me to show her how to put the phone on speaker so we can both talk.”
“Good night,” Hud said.
“Night to you.” She ended the call.
* * *
Cowboy Courage: Includes a bonus novella Page 13