by Claire Adams
“I’ll win the stuffed toy for my girlfriend, thank you,” I said, giving her a nasty look before setting more money down. I won the damned thing on the second toss this time. I turned to hand the stuffed horse to my best girl, loving the way she grinned and hugged it to herself. She got up on her tiptoes to kiss me on the lips. She tasted like powdered sugar.
“Y’all want something to drink?” she asked. “I need something to cut through all that sugar.”
I gave her a ten dollar bill. “Grab me a beer if you don’t mind.”
“I’ll take a beer, too.”
I gave Emma another five and she went off, cutting across the midway to one of the booths that sold alcohol.
“How’re things between the two of you?” Lacey asked, looking over at me, her dark eyes gleaming in the flashing lights. “I know they got rough a few weeks ago.”
“We’re good now,” I said.
“I’m glad to see you so happy together.” I could see she meant it.
“I am, too. I almost lost her because of you, though.” I shoved her a little and she belted me one on the arm.
“The hell you did.”
“I’m glad you and her are such good friends. I’d really didn’t want to choose between you.” I smiled at her. She was already giving me a nasty face, expecting the exact smartass dig to come out of my mouth that I had planned. “I’d have hated to see you go, Lacey, after all we’ve been through.”
She just rolled her eyes, but I could see she was happy about the way things had turned out, too.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Emma
Sunday
We got the horses fed and worked early, and were just relaxing into the day, sitting on the porch with Riley snoozing between us, watching the day warm up into the afternoon. I looked over at Pete, smiling at the way the wind ruffled his hair. It was getting long on top. He’d need another haircut soon.
“Let’s go out tonight,” I said.
He raised his dark eyebrows at me, the surprise widening his blue eyes. “To dinner?”
I shook my head. “Let’s drive up to Austin. We can meet up with Jack and have dinner at Murdock’s. Kasey’s working tonight.”
He pouted a little, drawing a giggle from me. “I was hoping to have you to myself tonight.”
“We’ll have all night after dinner. I promise.” I widened my eyes and did my own pouting because I knew he couldn’t say no when I made that face.
“Alright. You know I do just about any damned thing you ask.”
“That’s why I keep you around,” I said and laughed.
We went inside to shower and change, then took off for Austin in Pete’s truck. I called Jack on the way, telling him we’d meet him around five. We got into the city a little earlier than we’d planned, parking down the street from Murdock’s and walking the rest of the way hand in hand.
It was busier inside than I’d expected, but I’d sent Kasey a text message as we were rolling out of Round Rock, so she’d saved a table for us. She came running over to greet us, looking a little out of sorts from the crowd.
“There’s a big game on today,” she said after she’d hugged us both. “So it’s busier in here than usual. I saved y’all a good table, though.” Pete and I sat down, and she took our drink orders.
“Don’t forget to tip your waitress,” she said, grinning, her light eyes sparkling as we laughed. She turned and hurried away, her short hair flying all over her shoulders and back.
“What are you gonna have?” Pete asked, looking down at his menu.
“The burgers here are great.” I wasn’t even bothering with the menu. I already knew I was getting the double bacon cheeseburger and plenty of greasy fries.
Jack came in right after another waitress brought us our drinks — turned out Kasey wasn’t actually our waitress after all. We waved him over. He was dressed the same way we were, in jeans and a t-shirt, his hair even shorter than it’d been the last time I saw him. One day, he was just going to show up bald.
I stood to give him a hug. “You keep cutting your damned hair!”
He smiled at me and then reached to shake Pete’s hand. “Good to see you again, man.” He sat down across from us. The waitress came back to take our food orders. All three of us got a different kind of burger.
“You have to give me some dirt on this girl,” Pete said to Jack, smiling so I could see he meant it. “She seems too good to be true. There must be some skeletons hiding somewhere.”
I slapped his arm and turned to Jack, not able to keep back my grin. “Don’t you dare tell him a damned thing!”
He laughed, his dark eyes jumping from Pete to me. “There’s not much dirt to tell. Most of the trouble we got into growing up was my fault.”
“Except that time in the library,” I said, lifting my eyebrows.
“Oh, shit, that was your fault!” he said, and we both laughed hard enough to start tears running down our faces.
“What happened in the library?” Pete asked, grinning, too.
“Oh my God. We had detention for weeks. I thought Daddy was gonna tan my hide,” Jack said, shaking his blond head. “You tell it, Em.”
I looked at Pete. “Jack was in the library studying when I came looking for him in between periods. He had study hall in there before lunch, and I had some stupid thing I needed to ask him.”
“You wanted to know if I was sitting outside in the quad or in the cafeteria for lunch,” he piped up.
“That’s right! Because you changed your mind every damned day on that.”
“She got mad when I wouldn’t answer her right away,” he continued, glancing over at Pete, who was still smiling and waiting for the punch line. “She grabbed my book and made me come after her to get it.”
I covered my mouth to keep the laughter in, tears streaming from my eyes as my shoulders shook.
“I jumped for her, and she moved out of the way all quick like, only I tripped at the same time and went hurtling into the bookcase, knocking it clean over, sending books flying everywhere.”
I was losing it at this point, bent over my lap and laughing so hard my stomach was in knots. I could see him on the ground on top of that bookcase, which had hit the next bookcase, knocking it over, too.
“Three more bookcases fell after that one. The library was in shambles, and the two of us were the only ones back there.”
I sat up, wiping my face, trying to calm down enough to speak. “You should’ve seen your face, Jack, lying on that damned bookcase. I couldn’t move! I never saw so many books in my life.”
Pete was grinning at me, an amused shine to his eyes.
“The librarian about chewed us the hell out and walked our asses straight to the front office,” Jack said. “We had to miss the rest of our classes and stay that night putting things away until the mess was cleaned up. Took damned near five hours, mostly because we couldn’t stop laughing every time we looked at each other.”
The waitress arrived with our burgers, laying them down on the table in front of us. Pete asked for refills on our beers. In between bites, we talked about the good old days. He couldn’t get enough of the stories of me and Jack in school, and boy, did Jack love to tell them. Nothing was as funny as the incident in the library — Daddy hadn’t been too pleased to have to pick me up after school at well past nine at night, but he hadn’t said another word about it when I said nothing had been broken and I’d learned my lesson.
“Y’all staying in town tonight?” Jack asked after we finished our burgers and beers.
I shook my head. “We got work on the farm tomorrow morning first thing.”
“I have a twenty-four hour shift starting in the morning,” he replied. “I should probably get home.”
Pete snatched up the tab when the waitress came by with it, sending her on her way with some cash before Jack could say anything about it.
“You can treat Emma the next time you see her,” he said, grinning that deep grin I loved, the sexy one
that got me going just about every time.
“You got it,” he said.
After the boys shook hands, I gave Jack a hug.
“We’ll walk out with you,” I said. “Just let me say goodbye to Kase.” I caught her running by and told her goodnight. The three of us — Jack, Pete, and I — walked out together and said our goodbyes on the street where it was a little quieter, then, since we were parked in opposite directions, we went our separate ways.
Pete held my door open, and I gave him a kiss before climbing into the truck. We drove off, rolling the windows down while we were still in the city because I loved to stick my hand out in the wind.
“I’m glad we went out,” he said. “That was fun. Jack’s a good guy.”
I agreed.
We rolled to a stop at a red light, and he reached to take my hand, squeezing my fingers. I looked over at him, smiling as I met his light eyes.
“I love you, Emma,” he said, a sheepish grin curling the corners of his mouth.
My heart beat a little faster as a warm feeling started in my chest and spread out, tingling over my skin. I felt that need for him again, but it was different, sweeter. I squeezed his fingers.
“I love you, too, Pete.” And, I did.
His smile expanded to swallow the whole bottom half of his face, and he turned his eyes back to the road when the light turned green. That warm feeling stayed with me the whole way home, and I didn’t let go of his hand again until we were back on the ranch.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Pete
Six Months Later
I’d just stepped out of the house onto the porch when Emma came tooling up the country road and turned into the driveway. It wasn’t even six yet.
“What’s gotten into our girl, Riley?” I asked, but the dog just went on sleeping, completely ignoring me, as usual. I set my cup of lukewarm coffee on the porch railing and walked down to the driveway to greet her. She just rolled her window down and ordered me to get in.
“We have to get to the Texan,” she said. “Get in and let’s go!”
“You’re damned bossy this morning,” I replied, smiling as I got into her tiny little car, my legs cramped nearly up to my chest. “We’ve got to get you into a pickup, Em.”
“I like my car,” she said. “It gets good gas mileage.”
We drove over to the Texan, getting one of the good spots up front. There were a few more cars out here than usual. When we went inside, I was surprised to see Mr. Flowers sitting at the table with the old timers. He was probably a good ten solid years younger than they were, but he seemed to be getting along with them just fine.
“When did your daddy start coming to the Texan?” I asked as we moseyed over.
She grinned at me, her emerald eyes shining in that pretty way they had. “I talked him into coming a few weeks ago just to meet the guys. Now he comes damned near every morning, whether I’m here or not.”
I pulled up a chair next to the only empty one at the table, letting Emma sit down next to her daddy before I got in on the other side of her. “Morning,” I said to everyone.
Emma leaned to kiss her daddy on the cheek. I looked over at him and nodded.
“Morning, Mr. Flowers.”
He nodded back at me, not really smiling, but not frowning either. I’d take it. I liked the quiet way he carried himself. The better I got to know this man, the more I understood why Emma was as amazing as she was.
The waitress came over to give us some coffee.
“I already got my number,” Big Tom announced. “You starting us off today, John?”
“I reckon so,” Mr. Flowers said. “Fifty-five.”
“Lower,” Big Tom replied.
Emma went next, then me, then Winston, Laraby, and back to Mr. Flowers again. We went around one more time before we were down to two numbers. It had come down to Emma and her daddy. She smiled at him, nodding to tell him to take his turn. I had a good idea of what was about to happen, considering I’d seen Big Tom communicate the number he’d chosen to Mr. Flowers using his fingers when Emma was talking to the waitress, who’d wandered over in the middle of the game to refill our mugs of coffee. I could tell by the high shine in his eyes that he was going to guess the right number so Emma wouldn’t get stuck with the bill.
“Seventeen,” he said, picking the number purposely so he would end up with the tab. The old timers cheered Emma, who smiled, that pretty color blooming in her cheeks the way it did whenever she was truly happy.
As soon as we’d finished a few waitresses came to deliver our breakfasts.
“I never tasted eggs as good as these,” Mr. Flowers said.
“Hey!” Emma said. “I make you eggs all the time.”
“Uh oh, John,” Tex said, grinning. “Looks like you just stepped in it.”
He chuckled low in his throat. “You never put cheese in your eggs, Em.”
“I can start.”
They laughed together. I was smiling just watching them. I’d never seen Mr. Flowers as talkative as he was around the old timers. But it made sense. I’d gotten Emma to open up by bringing her here all those months ago after she first started at the ranch.
“We’re gonna take a drive over to your daddy’s ranch after breakfast, young lady,” Big Tom said, talking right to Emma like he always did. If a pretty girl was around, he never stopped flirting. The few times I’d brought Lacey here, he’d focused right on her, completely forgetting my ass was even there.
“Oh yeah?” Emma turned to her daddy. “What’re y’all doing on the farm?”
“Tom’s got some ideas about what I can do with the land out back of the barn past the garden,” he replied, then took a big bite of his omelet.
“The rest of us are just going to have something to do,” Laraby said, and everyone laughed long and loud.
“Can y’all keep it down over there!” our waitress cried from the counter, then giggled herself when we craned our necks to look over at her.
“Careful, or you won’t get a tip!” Tex hollered, and the table broke up laughing again when she flipped him the bird.
“You ever been out to Pete’s place, John?” Big Tom asked.
“Matter of fact, I have,” he said. “Em showed me around once or twice, and we rode some of the horses.”
I hadn’t heard Mr. Flowers say this much in all the time I’d known him. I could plainly see how pleased Emma was to see him this way. He fit right in with the old timers, even if he was the youngest by nearly a decade. Being younger had never stopped me from fitting in with them, after all.
“We’re barbecuing this weekend, too,” Emma said, grinning first at her daddy before she looked around at each man at the table. “Y’all are welcome to join us.”
The guys had a good deal to say about that, thanking her and arguing over what they needed to bring until she put an end to the back and forth.
“Just bring your appetites,” she said.
“I bring that damned thing wherever I go anyway,” Mr. Flowers said, and the men around the table chuckled.
Emma and I finished our meals slowly, sharing the occasional glance and a smile as we listened to the older men talk. This was my favorite part of the day — or it had been before Emma started spending more nights at my place than she did her own — just soaking up everything these men had to say. Always had been. It made me miss my own daddy something fierce, but they kept him alive somehow. And, I liked that Mr. Flowers was part of this now, too.
“We’d better get back to the farm before those horses get to wondering where we are,” Emma piped up. She gave her daddy a kiss and stood. The men around the table got up when she did, which always made her giggle. I shook hands with every man there, same as I always did, telling them goodbye until the next time. They clapped me on the shoulder, all but Big Tom, who pulled me into a hug.
“You let go of that girl, and I’ll snatch her up myself,” he whispered to me before letting me go.
I smiled at him and moved on
to Mr. Flowers. Emma had drifted to the other side of the table, giving each man a hug and a smile.
Mr. Flowers took my hand and shook it firmly, the way he always did, but, this time, he held our shake for a few seconds longer.
“Thank you, Pete,” he said.
I pulled my eyebrows together some, confused, but he looked past me at Emma, who was laughing at something Big Tom had said, that healthy color high in her cheeks. I turned back to Mr. Flowers, smiling myself. I couldn’t help it after seeing her.
He nodded at me, not saying another word, and I nodded, too. The words passed through us, unspoken, just like they had the first night we met. We let go of each other and turned to watch the girl who’d wrapped us both around her little finger without really even trying.
Epilogue
Emma
One Year Later
With Kasey in Austin full time working and going to school, Daddy and I spent a lot more quiet time in the house together or out back in the yard. We were in the living room today, talking about the last week.
He’d been passing more time with Big Tom and Tex during the day and, with their help, he’d started working his land again, making enough to quit his job in town. He hadn’t been unhappy before, but I could see this was what he’d really wanted to do. After the new barn was complete, he was going to take on a few more horses, stabling them for a few folks in town for some extra money. Pete had been helping him quite a bit, too. I loved seeing that — the two men I loved most in the world working together.
Daddy shook his newspaper, straightening it a little, though he’d been talking more than reading. “What did you say Pete was doing today?”
“We have a few more horses coming to the farm,” I replied. “He’s getting the new barn ready.”
Daddy wasn’t the only one who’d been doing some building. Pete had added onto the barn he already had, giving us enough stall space for ten additional horses on top of the ten we already had. We were going to be busier than we knew what to do with when we finally got all the horses in there. But we were excited about it.