Echo Falls, Texas Boxed Set

by Patti Ann Colt

  Startled, Chad bobbled the heavy crate into position by the cash register.

  Trudy leaned against the office door munching popcorn and grinning. A middle-aged, down-to-earth grandma, Trudy’s friend-to-every-customer approach kept the pumpkins flying off the farm at a brisk pace.

  “Why would I want to do that?” Chad didn’t so much as flick an eyelash at the change in her hair color. Black yesterday, it was orange this morning.

  Trudy changed her hair and nail color more than he changed his socks.

  Trudy set her popcorn on the counter and poured Chad a cup of apple cider. Parched, he swallowed the contents in one gulp.

  “Seems to me your attention has mostly been on those two sweet little things playing up in the yard.”

  Chad took off his gloves, refusing to comment.

  “The new tire swing is nice. It was thoughtful of you to fence the yard, too, so their mama doesn’t have to worry about them wandering off. And those little red bikes? Perfect for riding in the driveway.”

  “Just stuff my niece and nephews aren’t using. And I fenced the yard to contain the puppies.” Chad stared off in the distance, determined not to look Trudy in the eye and give her a chance to read the lie or another reason to continue.

  “Right. Let’s not forget about their mother. When she’s outside, your attention snaps to her like a heat seeking missile.”

  “I’m keeping track of the girls.” Chad bit his lip, wincing at how defensive his tone sounded. He turned to look at her.

  Trudy raised her eyebrows and smirked. “Uh-huh. She’s not distracting you at all?”

  “Nope.”

  “Hmm. I suppose you have a reason then for having four crates of these little pumpkins by the check stand instead of along the front where they ought to be?”

  Chad stared down in dismay at all the crates and swore. Wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, he tried to make up a plausible excuse. He was the boss after all. “I haven’t moved them there yet.”

  “Works for me.”

  Chad ignored her sarcasm, put his gloves back on and adjusted the fit.

  “They’re cute. The girls, not your gloves.”

  Not bothering to answer, he picked up a crate and carried it to the front.

  “Mother’s gorgeous too. Pretty brown hair, eyes the color God made good earth. Leery, though. Not very trusting. Bet you can get past that. I used to have a body like hers at that age. A little contentment can surely make that change.” Trudy patted her well-rounded hips.

  Chad gritted his teeth, wondering how to convey his displeasure at the topic of conversation without sounding as if he’d taken it too personally. Was that even possible?

  “Not talking, huh? Well, it’s okay. Olivia filled me in on the particulars anyway when she was over yesterday to change the lady’s oil.”

  He choked, his response sitting in his throat like a kernel of popcorn gone down the wrong way.

  If there was one thing he didn’t stand a chance against it was his grandmother working in tandem with Trudy. Still, he kept quiet and hoped.

  “She told me how you helped the girl, gave her a job and that you were smitten with her, that’s all. Calm down.” Trudy patted his arm. “It’s a good thing you gave her a job. I heard she applied to work a few places in town, too. Dr. Rucker’s Vet Clinic for one, but he’s got a full staff. Clem’s restaurant for another. Nothing open there either. Wouldn’t apply at none of the bars, but did get the girls enrolled in Good Shepherd Church’s preschool program.”

  Chad frowned, irritated. She hadn’t told him that. Of course, she was just being practical to get the girls enrolled in preschool so they could make some friends and so she could look for another job. As far as he was concerned, she could draw out her job with him as long as she wanted to. Except for family nights, he hadn’t been to his grandmother’s for meals in two weeks because Robin’s cooking was just plain delicious.

  “It’s about damned time you got the hots for somebody. Ever since that Gwynne girl went and married the kid you played football with in high school, you’ve been a stick in the mud.” Trudy raised her eyebrows in a suggestive fashion.

  “It’s not like that with Robin.”

  “Sure, if that’s your story.” Trudy paused a beat before going on. “Strange, though, how your attention is miles away from your job, your eyes glazed and your face hotter than a fire cracker.”

  He snatched off his baseball cap and wiped his brow. “Look, she needed a helping hand and I gave her one. That’s all. End of story.”

  “Uh-huh. Kiss her yet?”

  Chad glared, words failing him.

  “Man, you’re slow. Do something about that, would you?” Trudy sauntered away. “By the way, clean up those X-rated thoughts before we’re invaded by those two whirlwinds tearing down the road.”

  His face heated. His lethal stare bounced off her back.

  “Hi, Mr. Chad.”

  Chad took a deep breath to settle his pulse.

  Boo and Lindy each grabbed a leg and squeezed. Since that first day, they’d taken to dressing differently. He wasn’t sure whether they did it on purpose, but it sure helped. He bent to hug them both.

  “What have you two been doing today?”

  “Well, Mommy’s teaching us how to feed Bessie and we played with the puppies and we’ve been swinging on the tire and playing dress up with some old clothes Mommy found.” Boo grinned at him.

  “She sent us down here to tell you that lunch is ready.” Lindy squeezed his leg again. “We had to be real careful and watch for cars.”

  Smiling, Chad pulled off his work gloves. “Trudy, I’m going up to the house for lunch.”

  “Okay, boss. I’ve got it covered.”

  Boo laced her fingers through his. Lindy did the same with his other hand. In that moment, his heart dropped straight into the Texas dust. He was a goner. He loved these two little girls. Over the past two weeks, he’d bummed unused toys from his brother, put up the swing and bought two bikes complete with training wheels because he wanted to please them, to see them smile. Robin hadn’t liked it and had argued fervently against any changes that fused her girls into his life.

  Walking up the road to the driveway, Chad struggled to find his balance.

  Kiss her, huh? Yeah, right.

  Robin was more skittish around him than the mice living in the shed. In fact, she had perfected avoiding him until it drove him nuts. His house was torn apart, every room smelled like her and she treated him like a convicted felon. He should be focused on getting his pumpkin crop sold and setting up the hay bale maze for the first grade tour on Friday. Instead, he was knotted up trying to figure out a way to kiss her before he went crazy from wondering how she tasted.

  “Mr. Chad?” Boo kicked at the gravel on the road. “When do we get to pick out a pumpkin for us like you promised?”

  “Boo, Mommy said not to ask, ’member?” Lindy whispered around Chad to Boo.

  Chad stopped and studied Boo’s crestfallen face. Then he knelt next to the two girls. “I don’t know, Boo. Not just any pumpkin will do. It takes some serious work to pick the right one. See some are fat and some are skinny. Some come out round and some come out flat. Some you can tell right up front they deserve to get squashed into pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. It takes a pretty special pumpkin to be a jack-o’-lantern. Usually they pick you.”

  He stood up. “You gotta go stand in the field until one of them tells you it wants to be your jack- o’-lantern. Think you’re up to it?”

  Boo nodded emphatically, but Lindy chewed her lip, a bit more skeptical.

  “What say right after lunch we ask your mom if we can take a special pumpkin-hunting trip out to the field and find just the right ones.”

  “It’ll only take about an hour to run out to the middle of the patch and let them choose.”

  “They need a nap.” Robin fidgeted with the dish towel, not looking at him. The girls hovered in the family room doorway, banishe
d for their ‘please-please’ begging. Robin shooed them with her fingers and they plopped in front of the television. She pushed the start button on the remote and The Aristocrats began.

  Chad continued the argument. “We can go later. Bring a picnic basket. We can have dinner there.”

  “We can’t. I need to be home by six.”

  He tried to smother his frustration. Her mouth was saying no. But if she darted one more quick, longing look at his lips, she was going to get up close and personal with them damned fast. A picnic in the pumpkin patch at sunset, the girls hunting for the perfect pumpkin, well, it was the perfect time for a first kiss. And blast it, he could all but taste it.

  Chad’s patience evaporated. “Is there a particular reason why you’re treating me like I just robbed a convenience store, or is this the way you treat everyone?”

  Shock spread over Robin’s face. “I’m not treating you like a criminal.”

  “Sure you are. But the girls are looking forward to this and I’m not about to let them down just because you seem to have a problem with me.”

  Clamping his mouth shut. Chad ground his teeth to keep from saying any more. At the rate things were going, he would need caps on all his teeth.

  “I don’t have a problem with you.” Robin straightened the chairs at the table. “I just don’t think we can do it today. How about taking them in the morning?”

  “They want you to go and they want to do it today. As far as I can tell, there isn’t any real reason not to do it now.”

  Robin wiped the kitchen counter, nervous fingers scrubbing away at non-existent dirt.

  “I don’t bite. What are you afraid of?”

  “Chad…” Robin began and then trailed off. She walked to the refrigerator to put the mustard and mayonnaise away.

  “Robin, I swear. Getting each girl a pumpkin is the only thing on my agenda. I admit I like you. But I’m not going to do anything about it if you don’t want me to.”

  “You like me?” Robin’s face paled.

  “I thought it was obvious.”

  “Chad, I can’t.”

  “Can’t what?”

  Robin gripped the back of one of the oak chairs at the breakfast table. “I’m a very bad judge when it comes to men. The girls’ father…”

  “Yes, let’s talk about him.” Chad sat down at the table, keeping his voice down. “Chad, I don’t think—”

  “I do. Especially if you’re judging me by him.”

  Robin slumped into the seat. She stared into the family room. She watched her girls position their blankets and settle down in front of the television set. She bit her lip and then sighed. Chad almost took the question back, but damn it, he couldn’t fight what he didn’t know.

  “Robin, everyone has been hurt by someone. Talk to me.”

  Robin checked to be sure the girls were out of hearing range and kept her voice low. “I met the girls’ father when I was nineteen and working at a truck stop in Oklahoma. One look at him and I couldn’t breathe. He was all smiles and charm. All of it was focused on me. I didn’t get much love or approval from my parents or in my foster home and he sucked me right in. Used to call me his darling. I thought I’d found happiness at last. I was willing to do anything to hang on to it. It didn’t take him a month before he had me in bed. Stupid me. I thought all that sexual chemistry was true love.”

  Chad tapped his foot to contain his reaction, knowing damn well what was coming and not liking it.

  Robin rose to pace the length of the table. “I was deliriously happy, building a fairy tale life. I thought he loved me, but now I know I was deluding myself. He’d wanted my body and I made it easy with my naiveté. I wanted a whole happy domestic scene for us. When I found out I was pregnant, I couldn’t wait to tell him. My dreams of a homey white cottage, picket fences and loving nights blew up in my face.” Tears glistened in her eyes. “He said that doing it with a pregnant whore and having a kid to be tied down by wasn’t anything he wanted any part of. In spite of what he said, I was sure I could change his mind over time. I never got the chance. Two days later, he was gone.”

  A red haze blurred his vision. Chad forced himself to remain seated and not reach out and wrap her in his arms until the hurt went away. He also wanted to mutilate the bastard who’d done this to her. He was a farmer, not a fighter, but for the first time in his life, he wanted to choke the life out of someone.

  “I’m sorry.” Chad winced at how trite those words sounded.

  “Not as sorry as I was. But I stuck it out and worked hard. I had the help of a few friends as I raised the girls. I’m here now in this small community, making it our home, so we’ll belong somewhere and not be just another face in the crowd. It’s not an original story. Gullible woman falls for charming man. Gets taken advantage of. Happens all the time, right?” Robin’s voice broke, betraying her false bravado.

  “More often than it should.” Chad leaned forward in his chair, clasping his hands, stretching his control to keep his voice even and his hands to himself. “But, Robin, not all men are like that. Most are honorable. Have good intentions.”

  “He didn’t want the girls.” Robin whispered, glancing in the family room again. Then she faced him, pulling her shoulders back. “I wanted them from the first moment I knew. I love them, do my best for them and I take care of myself. I figured out very quickly that the only person I can depend on is me.”

  “Okay, I get the picture.” Chad studied the determined glint in Robin’s eye. “But letting someone take over your life is completely different than sharing your life with someone.”

  “You’re offering to share your life?” Robin’s skeptical question hurt more than it should have.

  “I don’t know yet. There’s a connection between us and you know it.”

  Robin pointed in the direction of the twins. “I had a connection with their father, too. That doesn’t mean I have to act on it.”

  “You won’t take a chance?”

  “No. In a few weeks, I’ll have worked off what I owe you and we’ll be out of your life. There is no reason to invest our emotions in something that won’t work. I’m sorry. That’s the way it has to be.”

  “Fine.” Chad rose and got a soda from the fridge, her words irritating like a swollen mosquito bite.

  Robin ran from the kitchen. One of the back bedrooms doors opened, then shut.

  He sat for a long time, listening to the girls sing along with the movie. He was strongly tempted to back off and let Robin go. He didn’t need this. But one thing stuck like a sliver under his skin. He’d let Gwynne walk. He’d never admitted that he needed her, that she was tearing out his heart by leaving him. He hadn’t fought for her or for a life with her. Maybe he would have lost out to Greg anyway, but he’d never know now because he’d given up.

  This time was different. Not only were two precious little girls involved, but he’d never felt anything like what he felt for Robin, not even with Gwynne. If he ever hoped to kiss her sweet lips and hold her against him night after night, he was going to have to figure a way around her defenses.

  This time, he would fight and fight hard. He had to win. He couldn’t imagine a life without Robin and the girls. Somehow he had to convince her he wasn’t a bastard like the girls’ father. Show her what promises, loyalty and honor meant when put into action. He popped the top on his soda and took a sip, concocting then discarding ideas on how to get around her defenses.

  When she didn’t hear Chad’s footsteps following her down the hallway, Robin breathed a sigh of relief. He’d apparently accepted her refusal to become involved. She needed to get back to work and finish this job as quickly as possible. Robin swept aside the navy curtains and opened the side-by-side windows, letting some fresh air into the dusty room.

  Painted a rich sky blue, the small room had at one time been cozy and inviting, but somewhere along the way it had become a landing place for discards. A double bed with a cherry headboard sat on a crooked frame. There were two box sp
rings stacked on the frame, but no mattress. A wooden rocking chair sat in the corner, its seat scarred with scratches. An elaborately carved walnut dresser was pushed up against the wall. Waist high, its four large drawers were stuffed with old sheets and musty fabric. A beveled glass mirror was fastened to the top with narrow arms on the left and right. The hinges in the middle of the arms allowed the mirror to swivel up and down. The boxes that had covered the dresser surface were now on the bed and more were stacked four deep in the remaining space.

  Robin lifted a carton from the top of one pile and set it on the bed to sort. She still heard the movie playing, but no sounds from Chad. He said he liked her, wanted to spend time with her. Could she believe him? How could she tell the difference between truth and fancy lies designed to lower her guard? A rush of desire filled her when she was around Chad, stronger than what she’d felt with Lloyd. Was it real or another false dream?

  Disgusted, Robin opened the box and pulled out a pile of tablecloths, yellowed with age. In the two weeks she’d been here, Chad had never grabbed at her like Lloyd used to. In fact, he’d been a perfect gentleman, looking her in the eye and talking with her like she was a human being. There was no denying there were sparks flying between them, though.

  Confused, Robin shook off the apprehension and fluttering excitement in the pit of her stomach. Shoving the box of tablecloths aside, she perched on the bed and began to sort the collection of delicate porcelain thimbles she’d discovered in one of the boxes. They were obviously part of another lovingly gathered collection.

  Robin sighed. She should check on the girls and see if they’d gone to sleep, but she hadn’t heard the back door slam. Chad might still be in the kitchen. She’d wait a little while longer. She just plain didn’t think she could stand any more time in the same room with him. He made her warm, testy and defensive. His presence reminded her of her midnight dreams—some mundane, some enticing, some downright erotic. All of them starred Chad Applegate. Night dreams and daydreams had much in common—mainly, they never came true.

  They weren’t based in reality. It didn’t matter how interested he seemed to be, she had survived broken daydreams before and she never wanted to have to do that again.