Another jab of jealousy hit Raylen’s heart like a dagger.
“You ever kiss anyone that felt like that?” Liz asked.
“Becca,” he said too quickly. “When we were in eighth grade, we were at a Valentine’s party and got locked in a closet together after a game of spin the bottle. I don’t know if I kissed her or if she kissed me, but it was like kissing a sister. Never did ask her out or kiss her again.”
Liz actually felt green jealousy infiltrating her veins. Why in the hell had he brought up her name?
She clamped her mouth shut and counted to ten. It didn’t work.
She counted to ten again. Still didn’t work.
On the tenth time, she’d cooled down enough to point out the window and change the subject. “Look at those wire reindeer. I want some of those. Where can you buy them? Oh, look, there’s a horse pulling a carriage out of that stuff, too. They are open and airy so they’d look good in among all the wood things.”
She didn’t want to talk about Becca or Blaze anymore.
“You can buy those things at Hobby Lobby or sometimes at Big Lots or in the Walmart garden center,” he said. “I thought we’d start at Hobby Lobby looking for a tree since you decided on an artificial one, so you can check there first.”
“I want a real one, but Momma reminded me that I’m allergic to cedar and pine trees. Do you think they’ll have one that doesn’t look perfect? I want it to look real even if it’s not.”
“They’ll have dozens. We can always lop off a limb or two to make it look real,” he teased.
She slapped him playfully on the shoulder. “Don’t tease me. This is important.”
“Why?”
She swallowed hard and decided to be truthful. “Momma asked me every year what I wanted for Christmas and I told her that I wanted a house without wheels. When I was a teenager I added one more thing to my list and that was a sexy cowboy. So this year I’ve got my house with no wheels and I want it to be special.”
“And the cowboy?” Raylen turned to look into her dark eyes.
She met his gaze and didn’t blink. “The jury is still out on that one, and besides, it’s not Christmas until December 25th. I might have a cowboy by then.”
“After Thanksgiving, Santa Claus will be at the mall. You might have to sit on his lap and ask for a cowboy,” Raylen teased.
“Been doin’ that every year since I was four. Uncle Haskell says it takes a long time to make a house with no wheels and a cowboy. They aren’t like Barbie dolls or skateboards. Oh, look at those.” She pointed while they were stopped at a red light in Henrietta. “I want a swing in my yard like that so I can string lights around it at Christmas.”
Raylen put on the blinker and pulled over to the display of picnic tables, benches, and one swing with room for two people.
“What are you doing?” Liz asked.
“Let’s look at them. Can’t get one tonight because we’ll have your tree and your wire reindeer in the truck so we won’t have room, but we can find out if he’s here all the time or if he’s ever over in Bowie.” He was out of the truck and had her door open before she could blink.
“Evenin’, kids. What can I talk you into buyin’? Missus interested in a picnic table? I’ll make you a great deal. Picnickin’ season is over and I’m tryin’ to get rid of the rest of my stock.” The man had two days’ worth of white whiskers on his round face, a bald head, and bright blue eyes. He wore bib overalls and a long sleeved thermal shirt. His denim jacket hung on the back of a chair.
“How long you goin’ to be set up in Henrietta?” Raylen asked.
“I live up the road a piece. I’ll be here until Thanksgiving if there’s anything left to sell. That’s so I’ll be out of Momma’s hair while she fixes up the holiday dinner. Kids are all comin’ home this year. Got six and it’ll be a zoo at our house with them and all the grandkids,” he said.
Raylen ran a hand over the swing. It was sturdy and well built. “What are you askin’ for it?”
“Summer price is three hundred but it’s the last one, and I’ve got it down to two hundred. I’d throw in one of them Adirondack chairs for that price too, just to get rid of the stock. You want one of them picnic tables for your backyard too? More you buy the better the price. I knock twenty-five off each big piece when you buy two or more,” the man said. “I know you. You’re one of Cash’s boys, ain’t you? He bought a set of them rockers over there for Maddie’s Christmas. I’m haulin’ it out to hide it in his barn on Monday while she’s over at the beauty shop. Want me to haul any of this stuff for you?”
“I’m his third son, Raylen. Guess I won’t be needin’ anything right now since Daddy already bought the rockers,” he said.
“How ’bout you, missus?”
“Not tonight. Maybe I’ll be back in a couple of days. I really do like that swing,” Liz said.
“Well, darlin’, you and the husband, there, y’all have a seat in it for a few minutes. You’ll really want it when you see how good it sets,” he said.
Liz smiled. “I better not or Raylen will throw me out beside the road for griping about how much I want it all the way to Wichita Falls.”
“We might stop back sometime.” Raylen steered Liz toward the pickup.
“That is some sturdy furniture. I really, really like that swing,” Liz said.
“Well, dammit!” Raylen said when he’d settled Liz into the truck. “I left my keys on the table over there. Laid them down to run my hand over the wood. Be right back.”
The old fellow looked up and grinned. “Which pieces you want me to put in the barn, son?”
“The picnic table, the swing, and two of those chairs.”
“I’ll just charge you for the table and the swing. Throw them two chairs in like I said I would. Go on now and you can pay me when I deliver them on Tuesday. I knowed you’d come back. She can swing the new babies in that swing and your grandbabies will eat off that table. I don’t do no shabby work,” he said.
“Thank you.” Raylen picked up his keys and whistled all the way back to the truck.
Liz looked across the seat at him. “Old fellow must get lonely. He sure likes to talk.”
“Reminds me of my grandpa. What does your grandpa look like?” Raylen asked.
“He’s six feet tall and thin as a rail. Totally unlike Uncle Haskell who took after Granny. She was short and round. Pictures tell a different story about her though. When she and my grandpa got married, she was built like a movie star of the forties. She had dark, wavy hair and this big, pretty smile. You could tell by the way he looked at her that Poppa always saw her as that gorgeous woman that he was lucky to get.”
“Were they always carnival folks?” Raylen asked.
She nodded. “My great-grandparents started it up in the thirties when times were tough. It was cheap entertainment, and folks needed that. Then they retired and gave it to Poppa about the time he and Granny got married. You know the rest. Haskell decided he didn’t want that kind of life but Momma and Aunt Tressa thrived on it.”
She pointed out a western furniture store between Jolly and Wichita Falls. “I want to go there sometime. It’s closed now, but when I get ready to redo the house I’d like to look at their stock.”
“What have you got in mind for the house?” Raylen asked.
“Comfortable western or maybe early attic,” she said.
He raised an eyebrow.
“Momma and I lived in a trailer my whole life. We don’t use travel trailers or RVs because we’d have to take it into town every time we had to make a grocery or laundry run. We use fifth wheelers that hook into our pickup. I’ve never had space like I’ve got in the house, and I love it. Early attic is junk you’d find in estate sales. We never got to go to things like that or have anything that wasn’t necessary. So I might decorate with early attic just so I can buy junk,” she said.
“Then next spring, you and Granny can hit the estate sales. She loves to go and Grandpa hates them,” Raylen
said.
“That would be great,” she said. “Is that the Olive Garden we’re going to? There’s a mall and a Ross store and a Hobby Lobby. I’m in love.”
The waitress seated them in a corner booth right away, took their drink order, and handed them menus. While they made their selections she brought Raylen a beer and Liz a Diet Coke.
“I’ll have the chicken fettuccine,” Liz said.
“And I’ll have spaghetti with meatballs,” Raylen said.
“I’ll be right back with your salad and bread. Hey, aren’t you Raylen O’Donnell? I’ve seen you in here with Ace. Where is that cowboy? Haven’t seen him in months. He used to come in once a week,” the waitress said.
“Been busy. Lost his grandpa and inherited a ranch to run. Doesn’t stray as far from home as he used to,” Raylen said.
“Well, you tell him Katrina said hello.” She hurried off to the kitchen with their order.
“Tat stamp, I swear,” Liz said.
Raylen looked at her with a question on his face then remembered their previous conversation and smiled.
“I like this place. It’s got a nice atmosphere,” she said.
“Food is pretty good, too.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to say she’d reserve judgment until she tasted it. Then she’d tell him if it was as good as what Blaze cooked, but as much as she liked makeup sex, she really didn’t want to fight with Raylen. So far, other than having to cool her jealousy by counting, the date had been wonderful. Conversation had been good. Stopping on a whim to look at outdoor furniture had been fun. The kiss had been steaming damn fine.
Raylen reached across the table and covered her hands with his. “Did I tell you that you look pretty tonight?”
“Yes, sir, you surely did. I think the words were beautiful, exotic, and something to do with heavenly.”
“Did I tell you that your eyes fascinate me? That I thought of them all the time after that year when you were leaning on the fence watching me ride?”
She smiled and her dark eyes glittered. “No, but I sure like that talk so you can keep right on with it.”
“Well, well, well, lookee who’s out on the town tonight.”
Liz looked up slowly, hoping she’d been wrong about that voice, but she wasn’t.
“Hello, Becca,” she said.
God hated her! Or maybe it was the devil messing with her life. Whichever one it was, she wished they’d go on back to passing down judgment or stokin’ up hell’s furnace and forget all about Liz Hanson.
Becca slid into the booth with Raylen, plastering her side against his. “I bet I can tell you what Raylen ordered. He’s a plain old spaghetti and meatball man. Never does try anything new. That’s his life. He’ll never go out on a limb and put something new in his life.”
Liz didn’t need to stay up all night reading Catfights for Dummies to figure out Becca’s underlying message. She was telling her that in the end Raylen would settle down with a woman from that area that he’d known his whole life, that he didn’t have the nerve or the balls to fall for someone new.
Becca patted him on the arm. “Steady old reliable Raylen. Course, he’ll be just the ticket for some woman. She can trust him and never fear that he’ll cheat on her. Might bore her to death, but he wouldn’t be unfaithful.”
“Lord, I’d hate to have you for an enemy,” Liz said.
Becca’s smile faded. Her back straightened ramrod stiff and she toyed with her bracelet as she shot daggers across the table. “Why’d you say that?”
“Because all you’ve done is put Raylen down since you sat down. If you’re his lifetime friend and you do that, God only knows what you’d do if you were his enemy,” Liz said.
Raylen squeezed Liz’s hands.
“You talk big for someone your size,” Becca said.
“I just tell the truth. Size ain’t got a lot to do with it.”
A tall, lanky cowboy stopped by their booth and held out his hand to Becca. “They’ve got a table for us now. Hello, Raylen. Hi, Liz. Nice to see you.”
“Brandon.” Raylen nodded.
“Y’all have a nice evenin’. We’re off to the movies soon as we get something to eat,” Brandon said.
“Have fun,” Liz said.
When they were seated across the room, Raylen said, “That was interesting. Never had a woman take up for me before.”
“She always that bitchy?” Liz asked.
“No, she’s really not. She’s usually a lot of fun.”
“Then she just plain don’t like me.”
Raylen shrugged. “Don’t take it personal. She doesn’t like anyone I go out with. And she really hates Jasmine. She thinks Ace has a thing for Jasmine because he’s always goin’ in there after the café is shut down and she and Ace were an item back in high school.”
“That was years ago, and besides, I’m there most of the time when Ace comes in. He and Jasmine are the best friends ever.” She caught herself before she said, “Like me and Blaze.”
Chapter 13
The Hobby Lobby store buzzed with excitement. Anything that had to do with Halloween was fifty percent off, and Thanksgiving items were displayed on two long aisles. But Christmas was what took Liz’s eye. Several aisles displayed thousands of bright, sparkly ornaments that hung from the floor to above Raylen’s head. Pretty paper, shiny ribbons, glittery garland, and beautiful tree toppers were on another aisle, and Liz could have all she wanted of everything that year. In years past, Marva Jo had set up a two-foot tree on the kitchen table and scattered the presents around it. They’d always put lights on the trees outside Poppa’s trailer, and sometimes he even had a small tree, but nothing that went from floor to ceiling. She’d always wanted to buy lots of pretty decorations and that night she had the basket full before she and Raylen even turned into the Christmas tree aisle.
“From the look in your pretty eyes, maybe we should’ve brought a horse trailer to get all your purchases back to Ringgold,” Raylen said.
She pointed at the biggest tree on display. “Oh, oh! Look at that big one. Will it fit in the truck?”
He hugged her tightly to his side. “They come dismantled and in a box so the answer is yes; however, you might want to reconsider. It says right here this tree is ten feet tall. It’s eight feet from your floor to your ceiling. We’ll have to cut at least two or three feet out of the top of that one,” he said.
She cocked her head to one side. “You are saying I should buy a six foot tree in order to get the topper on it?”
He brushed a sweet kiss across her lips and wished he could have more than a taste. “That’s right, but look at all the different six footers. There’s the skinny one that doesn’t take up much room, and there’s a fat one that’ll cover a quarter of your living room.” He pointed as he spoke.
Liz pushed her cart toward the six footers, folded her arms, and studied each one. “I want the fat one. I don’t care how much room it takes up. It looks like one we’d really cut down out in the woods. And I want some of that pine smellin’ spray stuff to go on it so it will smell real. And…” She hesitated.
“And what?” Raylen asked.
“Can we cut a real tree down tomorrow and put it up in the barn? That’s where we’ll have our carnie dinner on Wednesday night. And I’d like to have a tree in the corner and presents for everyone who is there, and we could put up a cedar in the barn because I’d only be out there a little while, and besides, we could open the big doors and…”
Raylen drew her close to his side, liking the way she fit so perfectly next to him. “We’ll go cut down a tree tomorrow and decorate one in the barn and one in the house.” She grabbed his cheeks with her hands and rolled up on her toes. The kiss was supposed to be quick and no one was supposed to see it, but it lingered and grew more passionate by the second.
“Wow!”
“Yep,” he said.
“Did that really happen? Did anyone see us?”
“I believe it did. I don’t thin
k anyone was around, but I bet they saw the smoke risin’ off the fire we created. Do you picture that tree with a star or an angel on top?”
She smiled. “I know this cowboy with a cute butt that I might get to help me put a big star right on top of it. A star on the one in the house and an angel with fluffy wings on the one in the barn.”
“Oh, really?”
She looped her arm through his. “You reckon you are strong enough to chop down a cedar tree?”
“Just how cute is my butt?”
Liz hugged up close to him and whispered, “Mighty fine when it’s soakin’ wet in the shower and pretty damn fine the way it fills out a pair of tight fittin’ Wranglers.”
Raylen planted a kiss on the top of her head. “If Madam Dallydinger will keep up that kind of talk, this cowboy just might even help her get the lights on her house tomorrow while she hangs half a gazillion ornaments on her two trees, and Sunday we can chop down a cedar tree and Thursday, you are going to dance for me again, remember?”
“Madam Drabami isn’t going to be hanging balls on the tree, but she’d rather be outside watching her handsome cowboy’s butt as he puts up lights. Now let’s go find some wrapping paper. I’ve got dozens and dozens of boxes of candy and cans of popcorn to wrap. And yes, I’m going to dance for you on Thursday night. I’m looking forward to it, darlin’.”
“Candy? You was serious?”
“Darlin’, if you can’t eat it, wear it out, or use it up in a few weeks, you don’t give it to a carnie. They have no place to put it,” she explained as she led the way to the wrapping paper and bows. “Is my sexy cowboy going to help me wrap presents too? And after the big carnie Christmas party, we’ll go shopping again so I can buy presents for Jasmine and Gemma and your momma and even Ellen and Nellie. I’m so excited about Christmas that I could dance…”
“Oh, no, not here!”
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