A True-Blue Texas Twosome

by Kim Mckade

  Corinne had been extremely careful to make sure no one knew about the distant relationship she had with her mother. Her guilt and shame were no one else’s business. She was sure—if the rumors about Becca and her mother were true—Becca would feel the same way.

  Corinne made a noncommittal noise and continued to shuffle through her papers.

  Mrs. Meddlar didn’t get the hint. “Now she just needs to find herself a good man—like you—and she’ll be happy.”

  Corinne snorted. A good man. Now that was a joke. “I guess you haven’t heard. I’m divorced.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t talking about that. I meant Toby Haskell. Now that you’re back in town, you two are together again.”

  “Who said we were together again?”

  “Everybody. He was with you at the track last week. And Mrs. Kirby said you had a nice dinner together the other night. About time, too. You two were meant for each other.”

  Corinne sighed. She had little doubt that whatever she said next would be repeated and translated across countless telephone wires throughout Aloma county tonight.

  “I don’t know how these rumors get started,” Corinne said, shaking her head. Of course, she knew very well how they got started, and the source was standing right in front of her. She slid the papers into her briefcase.

  Mrs Meddlar frowned and shook her head. “You mean it’s not true? Well, that was just what I heard, you know.”

  “You know how people will talk, whether they know what they’re talking about or not,” Corinne said.

  Mrs. Meddlar nodded her head and clucked her tongue. “It’s a shame.”

  “At least you and I know the truth.”

  “Mmm-hmm... Hmm?”

  Corinne drained the last of her coffee and snapped the latches shut on her briefcase. “I’m glad at least you and I can have a discussion without it getting twisted and exaggerated as it’s passed all over town. Toby and I were talking at the track the other night because he was welcoming me back to town. Mom’s house had been empty for a while, and he wanted to know if I needed help with anything. Which I did, so he came over the next night to look at the hot-water heater. But of course, you know small-town gossips. I’ve seen him twice, and the next thing you know they’ll be running our engagement announcement in the newspaper.”

  “Some people just have too much tune on their hands,” Mrs. Meddlar said as she followed Corinne out of the classroom.

  Corinne nodded her head in agreement. “Some people are more interested in a good story than they are in the truth. But you and I know the truth—that it was over between Toby and me years ago. We’re friends now, and that’s all we are. I’m glad, too. He’s a good friend to have.”

  “That’s nice. I’m happy for you two, that you can get past the...well, the past. It’s nice when you can—”

  Mrs. Meddlar turned left to her office. Corinne hooked a sharp right to the book room. “I’m sorry, I have to check out my manuals. But we’ll talk later ” She flashed Mrs. Meddlar a dazzling smile—the one she had once used quite effectively on reluctant interviewees—and nodded as if Mrs. Meddlar had been the one to suggest it. “It was great seeing you again.”

  Corinne stood in front of the shelves of books a few seconds later and blew out a great sigh. The last thing she wanted to face every time she went to the grocery store or the gas station was speculation about her and Toby. Her cheeks grew warm at the memory of Toby’s kiss, and at her immediate response to it. She hoped Mrs. Kirby wasn’t peering through her window at that particular moment, or all Corinne’s protestations would be added fuel to the flames. The thought of people thinking of Toby and her as a couple didn’t sit well. She felt suddenly, irrationally, as if she were the only person on a losing team. All of Aloma was on the other side, and Toby was their team captain.

  Perhaps the absurd conversation she’d just had with Mrs. Meddlar would steer the gossip in another direction at least. People would stop talking when they learned there was really nothing to talk about.

  She realized the naivete of that assumption a few minutes later as she walked by the school secretary’s office and overheard the conversation Mrs. Meddlar was having on the phone.

  “That’s what she said, Helen. She told him flat out, she just wanted to be friends. Well, of course he was upset. You know how he’s always been crazy about her. But if you ask me, if he just bides his time... Yeah, me too. She came back for a reason, and it sure wasn’t to teach English.... I don’t know. Her own mother hasn’t even been to see her. But then, they’ve never been what you’d call close. Me, too. I’ve got to go, Helen, so I can get home and put the beans on. Call me later.”

  The sight of Corinne walking down the long hallway in his direction hit Toby like a fist in the gut. She looked tired. She gazed absently at the floor in front of her as she walked, her lower lip caught between her teeth.

  He ducked around the corner and pressed against the wall, then peeked back. Her heels clicked and the sound echoed off the walls. She was wearing a maroon pencil-slim skirt and a white blouse, all pressed and polished. She reminded him of a present wrapped in thick, shiny white paper—all class, and hiding untold treasures.

  “Hey there,” he said smoothly and reached out a hand as she walked by.

  He was met with a fist solidly planted in his midsection.

  “Uh,” was all he could say as he attempted to stand straight and face the murderous rage on Corinne’s face.

  “Toby Haskell, you idiot!” She swiped her hair back from her face and clenched her teeth. “What do you think you’re doing, scaring me like that?”

  “Uh,” he said again, trying to inhale.

  “When are you going to grow up?”

  She glared at him and drew herself up to her full height of five foot ten, a good four inches shorter than he. She somehow managed to look down her nose at him.

  He held a hand out to stop her tirade. “Sorry,” he managed to wheeze. He put his hand to his ribs and gingerly checked them.

  “Are you okay?” she asked finally, calming a little.

  “I will be. I think.”

  “I’m sorry But you shouldn’t have done that.”

  “Believe me, I won’t do it again.”

  The sound of voices and footsteps came from the end of the hallway Corinne had just walked down. Mrs. Meddlar was talking to Mr. Sammons, the principal.

  She took a deep breath and blew it out. After their conversation, there was no way she was going to have Mrs. Meddlar catch her talking to Toby.

  “Uh-oh,” Toby groaned, still testing his ribs. “Quick, in here ”

  Before she could protest, he pulled her through a doorway into the dark auditorium.

  Chapter 4

  “Toby!” she whispered in the darkness of the auditorium. “What are you doing?”

  “I don’t want to talk to Mrs. Meddlar right now.”

  “Neither do I, but I’m too old to be hiding out with you.”

  “If you go out now, you’re just going to have to explain what you’re doing in a dark auditorium with your boyfriend.”

  He had a point. She decided to stay put.

  “You are not my boyfriend,” she argued.

  “Maybe not, but that’s what the town will be calling me as soon as Mrs. Meddlar catches you in here with me.”

  “I just got through telling her—shh!”

  The voices grew louder.

  Corinne took a deep breath and tried to ignore the pressing of the dark around her. She would not have a panic attack in front of Toby. She mentally began counting down from five hundred, another technique her doctor had taught her to focus her attention on something besides her growing anxiety.

  Almost as disconcerting, however, was the warm feel of Toby at her side. But at least his presence was something else to focus on.

  “What are you doing here, anyway?” she whispered.

  “I came up here to look at you for a while.”

  She didn’t realize how clo
se he was until his knuckle brushed lightly against her collarbone. She jumped and took a step back.

  “You’re jumpy today,” he said.

  “I’m not jumpy!” she snapped, then took another deep breath and smoothed her hands on her skirt. “I just...wasn’t expecting that.”

  “Sorry,” he said. “As a matter of fact, I guess I should apologize for the other night, too.”

  More than a little startled by that admission, Corinne couldn’t think of anything to say except, “Yes, you should.”

  “I was out of line. I know. And I ought to be sorry.”

  “Ought to be?”

  It was too dark to see, but she knew he was grinning. “But I’m not.”

  “Why am I not surprised?”

  “I was, believe it or not. I felt bad when I left your house I was pretty crude.”

  “And overbearing. And rude.”

  “I should have taken my time, courted you a little.”

  “And assuming. And boorish.”

  “So I do apologize. But I’m not really sorry.”

  “Excuse me. Is that supposed to make sense?”

  “I apologize for upsetting you. But I enjoyed it too much to be sorry for it.”

  Corinne shook her head. “You’re something else, Toby.”

  “As a matter of fact, I felt bad enough that I told myself I was going to stay away from you.”

  “What a great idea.”

  “But I can’t.”

  She felt his breath on her cheek a half second before his lips lowered to hers. His lips were firm. Not demanding, but insistent. Not harsh, but gently thoughtful. Not heated, but calmly determined.

  His knuckles slowly trailed against her sides. He opened his hands and cupped her rib cage, his thumbs resting just under her breasts.

  Where was all her indignant resistance? Where was her cool aloofness, the surety that her response to Toby’s kiss the other night had been a fluke, a moment of weakness? It was all swept away with barely more than a token sound of protest, as his lips covered hers, and his strength seeped into her with the feeling of slipping into a warm bath. She didn’t have what it took to stop him—or if she did have it, she wasn’t interested enough at the moment to dredge it up. Her blood pounded and a dozen tiny explosions touched off through her body.

  Toby moaned and slanted his head, and the sound pierced straight through Corinne like a sharp needle.

  He pulled his head up. She took a deep breath and put her hand to his chest, lightly pushing him away.

  “Stop,” she said.

  “I will if you really want me to.”

  “I want you to.” In the dark he wouldn’t see it was a lie.

  He took a half step back, his hands trailing down her arms. Taking her hands, he lifted them to his mouth and kissed the palms, then her wrists.

  Even in the dark, Corinne could feel his eyes on her, could taste the self-satisfied smile on his lips.

  “Okay, I’ll stop. For now.”

  “I mean it, Toby. I don’t want to start anything with you.”

  “The hell you don’t.” His thumbs played in the palms of her hands, caressing. His breath was ragged, and she struggled to keep hers from sounding the same. “You put as much into that kiss as I did, Corinne.”

  She knew she couldn’t argue with him, but that still didn’t make it right. “So what? So you’ve proved that you can kiss me and I enjoy it. It’s purely physical, Toby. It changes nothing. It means nothing.”

  “Means plenty to me. I happen to like purely physical. As a matter of fact, purely physical is one of my favorite things in life.” He lifted her hands again and nibbled softly at the base of her thumb.

  She pulled her hands away, and stifled mild disappointment when he let her.

  “I’m not interested in physical or anything else, Toby.”

  “The hell you’re not,” he said again, quite cheerfully. “This is me, Corinne Remember? I was your first in every way. You want me as much as I want you. Don’t bother denying it. I can feel it from here.”

  His hand reached out and softly covered her breast, his thumb lightly caressing the tip. With a gasp she pressed back against the wall.

  “See, they’re hard as little pebbles. You want me as much as I want you. You’re just afraid to admit it.”

  The crack echoed through the deserted auditorium as she slapped his face. His breath drew in with a hiss.

  “I’m not afraid of you or anything else.” The indignation in her voice was as much for herself as for him. In a frightfully short time, he’d managed to push all her buttons. And she’d stood right there like an idiot and let him.

  After his initial moment of shock, he went on as if he hadn’t felt her anger. “You remember how it was between us. You know you do. You said it yourself.” His voice slipped over her, easygoing and calm, as if they were talking about the price of tomatoes. She could feel his breath on her neck. So close. But not touching.

  “You remember how it was. That was heat. We couldn’t have stopped ourselves back then if we’d wanted to. Remember that night, out at the peach orchard? I do. You were wearing a redand-black sweater. For a while, anyway. Our song was on the radio. Remember, Corinne?” His voice was soft, hypnotic. The memories swirled, making Corinne feel as if she were about to pitch forward. She hugged the wall behind her, her throat closed against the words of protest she should be uttering

  “Remember? How I made you feel? We had something special. A connection. It’s still there, sweetheart, and it’s stronger than ever. All you gotta do is say the word.”

  He stepped back then, and Corinne slumped against the wall, feeling drained.

  Mrs. Meddlar was long gone by now. Corinne knew she could leave the auditorium without anyone seeing But she stood there, fighting to get her composure back before she stepped into the light and Toby saw just how much he affected her.

  She dragged a shaky hand through her hair and pressed her lips tightly together “Listen, Toby,” she said, angry at how tremulous her voice sounded. “Listen,” she said again, with more force. “We’re going to be bumping into each other a lot—”

  “I plan on it.”

  “And this is not going to happen again. You can’t just come in here and.. and—”

  “Relax, Corinne. Believe it or not, I didn’t come here to hassle you. I’m here on official business This was just a perk.”

  “Don’t do this again. I don’t have the time or the inclination to get involved with you. I’ve never denied that I was attracted to you. And that what we had once was special to me. But I’m not the same person I was back then.”

  Beside her, he steeled. “So, are you afraid you won’t be cold-blooded enough to walk away without a backward glance this time?”

  If the bitterness wasn’t so raw in his voice, she might have laughed. Without a backward glance. If he only knew.

  She’d been anything but cold-blooded back then. She’d been desperate, determined. She was going to prove to her mother—and herself—that she was not a mistake. She was going to change the world and show them both that she was worthy of love and respect. It had almost killed her to leave Toby, and the only way she’d been able to do it was because she hadn’t looked back, hadn’t dared. If she had, she would have been back in his arms before the sun set.

  She hadn’t been cold back then. But she was now, she reminded herself. She could thank her ex-husband for that. He’d taught her to be cold—cold enough to use the bitterness in Toby’s voice against him. “Of course I’m not worried about that. No matter what happens—or doesn’t happen—between me and you, I’ll be leaving Aloma when this job is over. I’d prefer not to have to sneak out of town like I did last time, though.”

  Beside her, she heard him step away, felt the hurt her hateful words had caused. She wanted to reach out, to hug him and take the words back.

  Maybe she wasn’t as cold as she’d thought.

  They stood in silence for a tense moment. Then she heard To
by give a soft chuckle, one totally devoid of humor. “It didn’t exactly have a happy ending last time, did it? But then, last time, I admit, I wanted you to stay forever. This time, I just want...well, you know what I want.”

  “And I know it won’t happen.”

  “Maybe not. God knows I have enough on my plate without spending all my time sniffing after you.” He sighed, and she got the feeling the weariness in his voice had nothing to do with her “But you’re here for five months. And that’s a long time for you to keep lying to yourself. We’ll see if you can last that long. Or if the memories don’t haunt you, too, and you decide a little ‘purely physical’ is just what you need.”

  “Don’t hold your breath, Sheriff.”

  He opened the door and a sliver of light pierced the darkness, illuminating his wicked smile “I could be holding more than my breath before too long, sweetheart.”

  Corinne closed her eyes and sighed in exasperation, smoothing her clothes before she followed Toby out of the auditorium. She held her head high and determinedly put one foot in front of the other, heading for the front door. She was almost there when she turned.

  “Toby?”

  He spun on one booted foot and faced her, his eyebrow raised.

  “You said you were here on official business. Is something wrong?”

  His face instantly grew grim. “Jeremy Huckaby was busted for shoplifting in Abilene this morning.”

  Corinne caught herself pacing nervously in front of the desk and stopped. She’d made it through the entire first day—almost. Her feet ached, her head pounded, and her stomach twisted. She faced the final period. Senior English Composition—the class she dreaded most.