by Claire Adams
“I’d be happy to,” Emma said with a smile. After a moment, she nodded. “I’ve got it.”
We went around the table, starting with me, picking numbers while she told us lower or higher. I tended towards being unlucky and this morning was no different. It came down to me and Winston. I picked the second to last number.
Emma grinned, her green eyes teasing me so I knew before she even opened her mouth how this was going to go. “You lose, Pete.” She bumped me a little with her shoulder as the table erupted in laughter, the guys cheering her and poking fun at me, the way they had been my whole life. Being around them made me miss my daddy a lot less.
We ordered our usual breakfasts — why improve on a good thing? — and kept chattering.
“You haven’t gotten sick of this old boy yet, Emma?” Laraby asked, sending a sly grin across the table to her.
She flashed those knockout eyes at me before answering. “Not yet.”
“It’s only a matter of time!” Tex announced, and the guys had another hardy laugh at my expense. I didn’t mind one bit. I was here with the prettiest lady in Round Rock. And, somehow, she hadn’t gotten tired of me yet.
“I don’t know,” she said, bumping my shoulder again. “He’s not so bad.”
“That’s the God’s honest truth,” Big Tom said, his weathered face suddenly serious. He looked from Emma to me. “You have to hold on when you find someone special in this life. I was fortunate enough to have my dream girl in my life for forty-six years before she passed. We met in high school, raised a family, and grew old together.” He smiled sadly, his old eyes glistening. “Not as old as I’d have liked, but I’m thankful for every minute I spent with that woman.”
Emma glanced at me, her eyes shining, and I felt that kick to my gut that I sometimes did when I met her eyes.
“Y’all remind me so strongly of me and my Luanne when we were young,” Big Tom said. “I can see what you have is really special. Don’t let go of that. You might not find it again.”
Emma shifted in her seat, clearly uncomfortable from all the attention. I didn’t know what to do or say. I couldn’t turn to meet her eyes again. Big Tom cracked a smile and went on talking about some nonsense going on at another farm just past the border of Round Rock, but I couldn’t shake the worry twisting in my gut. It kept churning, making eating breakfast hard. Emma seemed to relax as soon as the conversation steered away from us, but I couldn’t.
“Ain’t you hungry, boy?” Winston asked, eyeing me closely. He mostly kept to himself at these breakfasts, letting the chatter go by without adding much to it. But he watched everything. I had a feeling he knew just about everything about everybody in town.
I forced a big grin. “I’m just thinking about the work I’ve got to do on the farm.”
“All the more reason to eat while you can,” Laraby replied. None of them had food. They sat here for hours in the morning. Every single one of them had retired a number of years ago. This served as their social club. I’d once asked my daddy about it, and he told me a person could do whatever the hell he wanted after working hard his whole life, that it was the best version of the American dream.
I dug into my food, forcing it down so no one would say anything else about it, the biscuits sitting heavy in my stomach. After we finished, I paid the tab — our food plus everyone’s coffee — and Emma and I left, telling the old timers goodbye until the next time, probably tomorrow.
We drove home in silence, Emma sticking her arm out the window and opening her hand to the breeze. She didn’t seem troubled by the lack of conversation, which was good. I couldn’t shake the worry that was turning in my gut. I was sick from putting food on top of all that unease.
I couldn’t deny that things were getting serious with Emma. Hell, I’d fully admit that I loved her and wanted to spend my life with her, but I didn’t know how she felt. She liked me, I knew that, but if she felt the same way about me that I did about her, that spelled trouble for me and Lacey. I dreaded the moment the woman I loved would ask me to choose between her and my best friend. I wasn’t ready for it.
And, I had no idea what I would do if she asked me. Refusing to pick at all was the same as picking Lacey. And picking Emma would mean stabbing Lacey right in the middle of the back.
We pulled up into the driveway, and saw that Lacey was here already. The sliding door to the barn was open. Emma looked just as relaxed and content as usual when we climbed out of the truck, dressed in her usual t-shirt, jeans, and boots, her dark hair pulled into a tight ponytail.
“I’ve got to spend all day at the back of the property working on the fence line. There’s plenty to do.” I really did have a pile of wood that I’d bought a few weeks ago and piled into the back of the storage barn. And, there really were a few hundred yards of fencing that could use repairing, but it wasn’t an emergency. In this weather, it would be long, sweaty work. I was saving it for the late fall after the weather cooled. But I needed some time to get things figured out, and I could barely think with Emma around. “I might not see you before you leave tonight.”
She kicked the dirt with the toe of her boot, a small smile on her face as she looked up at me.
“You want to come by for dinner tomorrow night?” I asked. “We could grill.”
She nodded, her smile expanding to put a twinkle in her dark green eyes. “That sounds nice. I can bring dessert and a few sides since you’re doing the grilling.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said.
I watched her walk off to the barn, enjoying the sight of her swinging hips and firm little ass in her jeans. I wandered back up to the house and went inside. I had a lot of thinking to get done today. I might as well just go start on that damned fence. Sweating hard cleared my mind and made it easier to puzzle through my problems.
I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t good at making hard choices. And, I never wanted to betray anyone I cared about. I loved both of these women in different ways. I wanted them both in my life. If I had to choose, I knew I’d never be happy with the consequences either way.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Emma
Friday
I finished my work in the barn just as the sun was setting. I gave the horses each a good scratch before I left, sliding the door shut behind me. Pete wasn’t up on the porch. I squinted in the direction of the rear of the property, but it was a long ways off.
I hadn’t seen him since breakfast. Things between us had been good, natural, on the way to the Texan. But then Big Tom had to go and say that stuff about us reminding him of the relationship he’d had his wife. I’d thought it sweet at the time, but Pete got strange immediately after that, staying distant all the way back to the farm before he scurried the hell off and stayed scarce all day.
I wanted to talk to him about all this, hating to leave things as uneasy as they were, but maybe this was his way of telling me he needed his space. We were seeing each other tomorrow night. I’d see how things were then. Maybe he had something else going on that he needed to work through.
I drove home to shower and change into something that didn’t smell like sweat, hay, and horses, and then went over to Daddy’s house. He was cooking tonight, which meant he’d have something going on the grill.
I walked into the house without knocking, finding Daddy and Kasey in the dining room. The meat was already on the table — three steaming slabs of steak that got my stomach growing to see — and Kasey was adding the sides: green beans and her special lumpy mashed potatoes glistening with butter.
“Hi, Daddy. Kasey,” I said, sliding into my place at the table. I took a deep swallow of the iced tea Kasey’d been nice enough to pour for me. She might not be able to cook worth a damn, but the girl could brew a pitcher of sun tea that would give you a run for your money.
“Just in time!” she said and started serving herself first.
Daddy reached for the steaks, putting one on my plate first, then Kasey’s, then his own while my sister chattered on
about something that’d happened at the bar the night before.
“I’m working tomorrow and Sunday,” she finished, rolling her eyes dramatically. Her eyes were pale green tonight with all the dark eye shadow she had on.
“All the more reason to get back to school,” Daddy said, and left it at that. He didn’t often tell us his opinions on things, especially now that we were adults, but he still found a way to make his thoughts known. He wanted Kasey in school. So did I. She was a smart girl and didn’t need to spend her life working in some bar.
She rolled her eyes, ignoring that briar patch by turning to me. “How’s things on the farm, Em?”
“Things are good,” I said. Today had been a little off, but I hoped they’d be back to normal tomorrow for dinner. “I really enjoy the farm. I’ve been learning a lot more about how to train the horses for competition. You should see Lacey ride.”
Daddy’s pale blue eyes were trained on me, but he didn’t say a word. His dark hair was shorter. He’d gotten a haircut since the last time I’d seen him. I needed to make it over here a little more. I’d been spending so much time on the farm with Pete. A smile crept onto my face just thinking about him.
“Pete goes out to the Texan nearly every morning for breakfast before the sun rises.”
Kasey made a face. She’d never been a morning person. Daddy’d had to damn near drag her ass out of bed in the mornings when we were growing up. It was another reason why she loved working at Murdock’s so much — they didn’t even open before noon.
“I started going with him. There’s a group of retired old cowboys that Pete’s friends with, and we sit with them every time we go in. They are funny as hell. You should meet them, Daddy. I think you’d like them.” I shared a long look with him. He nodded once, and we went back to eating our food.
“Just when I think you can’t get any more boring,” Kasey said, staring across the table at me, her light eyes round. “You start telling me about hanging out with retirees. Damn. Pete’s rubbing off on you. Before you know it, you’ll be acting like an eighty-year-old, just like he does!”
I smiled at that. I had told her how old I thought he had to be because he’d put that want ad in the Round Rock Register instead of online. But I liked that about him. It reminded me of Daddy, who was the only reason I even heard about the job to begin with.
“Ain’t nothing wrong with being old,” Daddy said, and Kasey giggled at him.
“Pete really is an old soul, though,” I admitted, unable to wipe the grin from my face as I thought of him. “You should see how well he gets along with these men at the Texan. They were friends with his daddy, and he still keeps up with them a few days a week. I think he feels more comfortable with them than he does people our age.”
“Things are going good between the two of you, too?” Kasey asked, light eyes shining.
She was smiling wider than I was at the promise of some juicy gossip. But there wasn’t any. Pete and I just fit. I felt comfortable around him. He was silly and chatty, but that was a good thing because I could be my quiet self around him.
Daddy’d said once that the reason things had worked so well between him and Mama was because they were opposites. Two of the same kinds of people would kill each other. You needed someone to complement you and balance out the parts that were too far to one side.
“They are. I worried some in the beginning because we work together.” I paused a second, thinking hard to remember some of those objections that had almost kept me from taking a chance with him. I couldn’t think of a single one. I wasn’t a risk taker, but I was happy I’d made the leap this time.
“But nothing has changed on the farm. Pete and I really don’t see much of each other during the day. He doesn’t train the horses or keep after them. He used to, before I came, but now he just does damned near everything else on the farm while Lacey and I handle the animals.”
“The working on a ranch part sounds terrible,” Kasey said, grinning her troublemaking grin. “But I’m glad you’re happy. And, you found someone!”
Daddy cleared his throat, which was his way of gathering our attention at the table. Even Kasey would stop chattering at the sound. His kind eyes met mine.
“Might be time I met this Pete,” he said.
My mouth dropped open a little. From the corner of my eye, I could see Kasey’s had done the same. Daddy had never asked to meet anyone we’d dated. None of the relationships I’d been in with boys from school — both high school and college — had been serious enough to consider bringing someone home to my father. It was the same with Kasey. No one had ever been good enough.
“I can see this guy means something to you,” he continued. “I’d like to meet him.”
I nodded. “Of course, Daddy.” But I was freaking out at the same time. What would he say to Pete? I didn’t have the faintest idea. I couldn’t even recall the last man who’d walked past the front door who wasn’t my father. I looked at Kasey, lifting my eyebrows, a helpless look in my eyes. But she wasn’t any damned help. She was just as clueless as I was and twice as surprised.
“I can do some grilling on Sunday night,” Daddy said, and I knew by the way he turned his eyes back to his nearly empty plate that that was the end of it.
“Alright,” I agreed. I had about a day and a half to figure out how this was likely to go. Shit. I also had to find a way to bring this up to Pete without scaring the crap out of him.
Daddy rose from the table, taking his plate to the kitchen while Kasey and I stared dumbly at each other, unable to speak through our combined shock.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Pete
Saturday
I had my feet up on the porch railing and a cold beer in hand when Emma pulled up into the driveway. She climbed out of her little blue sedan and came waltzing over, dressed in sandals, shorts that showed off her shapely, toned thighs, and a tank top made of loose, gauzy fabric that drifted easily in the breeze. She had a plastic bag hanging from each hand, weighed down with whatever she’d prepared for us to eat.
“Aren’t you grilling?” she asked as she walked up.
Before I could answer, Riley jumped up from where he was lying flat on the porch and ran out to meet her.
“What the hell?” I mumbled, sitting up in my chair so I could watch him trotting up to her, his tail wagging excitedly.
She giggled, set one of her plastic bags down in the dirt, and leaned down to scratch him behind the ears. “Who’s a good boy?” she crooned.
“Not him,” I replied, the shock lifting enough for me to grin. “That damned dog has never gotten off his ass to greet anyone like that — not even me, and I’m the one who feeds him.”
Emma picked up her plastic bag and came up to the porch, smiling. “Dogs can sense how good people are.” Her smile expanded, those pretty eyes sparkling in the last of the day’s sunlight. “That’s probably why he likes me best.”
I had to laugh at that.
“You didn’t answer me,” she said, setting her bags down on the empty chair beside mine. “Are you grilling tonight?”
I reached to take her hand and tugged her down into my lap. She came down laughing. I planted a sloppy kiss on her lips.
“I’ve got a brisket baking in the oven. Thought I’d try something different.”
“Sounds good,” she said, looking hard into my eyes like she was searching for something. I wondered what she saw in there. I didn’t get time to ask, though. She leaned into another kiss, this one deeper, her tongue venturing into my mouth much more forcefully than I’d expected. I felt a deep stirring between my legs, and having her on my lap only made it worse.
“What was that for?” I asked as soon as she pulled away.
“Things felt off yesterday after breakfast,” she said, smiling shyly. “I just wanted to make sure things were okay between us.”
“Things are better than okay,” I said, and her smile got brighter. Damn, I’d never get used to being able to light up her fac
e. I never wanted to do a single thing to keep her from smiling like that.
She stood up, and we went into the house through the open front door, banging the screen door behind us. Old Riley stayed outside, content to rest on the porch for the remainder of the night. We went back to the kitchen. I didn’t own a tablecloth — I couldn’t see the point in that — but I’d laid the table with plates, silverware, and napkins. While I checked on the brisket, Emma unloaded her dishes, setting two covered glass containers in the center of the table.
I took the brisket out of the oven, setting it on the stovetop to rest a little before I cut into it. I turned from the oven to find her holding a pie.
“Goddamn, that looks good!” I said.
“It’s apple.” She held it out so I could see the crisscross pattern on top, lightly sprinkled with sugar.
I licked my lips and grinned. Had I told her that was my favorite? Or had she just guessed? “I can’t wait to taste it.”
She set it onto the counter next to the fridge, smiling, too, then took a seat at the table. “That smells so good, Pete.”
“I hope it tastes good, too,” I said, and she giggled. I cut some slices to put on a serving tray and brought it to the table, taking the seat across from hers. “What’d you bring us?”
“Homemade coleslaw and corn casserole.”
I made an appreciative noise, and then dug in, taking huge spoonfuls of each. I was thinking about that pie. I had to make sure not to overdo it on the rest of the food. Who the hell was I kidding? I’d have a slice of that no matter how much I ate. Through some twist of good fortune, I had a half gallon of vanilla ice cream in the freezer.
I looked up in time to see Emma take her first bite of brisket. I held my breath, lifting my eyebrows.
She made an approving noise deep in her throat, her eyes rolling back in her head a little. “That’s so good!”
I relaxed a little more. I’d made brisket a few times before, but never for her.