"Damn, damn, damn," she swore as she made her way down the split rails to the ground. Using the sleeve of a chambray work shirt she wore over a faded red tank top, she wiped the sweat from her brow as she got into the sweltering hot car and started it up again. How on earth a car that had been so cool ten minutes before could heat up so fast was a mystery as strange as a man who could turn to ice after the hottest sex she'd ever had.
She was halfway back to the ranch before the air conditioner cooled the car. She parked out behind the backyard fence and carried her bag to the porch where Emmett's two old Catahoula dogs were sleeping. She would vaccinate and worm them and tell Emmett to call a certified vet or the Walker men to work his cattle that year. She wasn't wasting another day and putting her car through the torment of driving to the back of his ranch.
"I won't desert you two old boys, but the cattle business is over and that's a promise," she said as she opened her bag.
Neither dog twitched an ear when she popped the needles into their hips.
"See, that didn't hurt and it'll keep you going for another year." She made notes in a small book she carried in her bag concerning dates and times the dogs had their shots. Later she'd transfer the information to her laptop back at the Honky Tonk.
Guinea opened his blue eye.
"It's not your fault I'm in such a foul mood," she said.
Duck opened both his blue and brown eye and wagged his tail a few times.
She rounded the two-story white frame house and found Emmett sitting on the porch in a rocking chair. He wore a sweat-stained, broad-brimmed straw hat, faded bibbed overalls, and a white T-shirt.
"For someone who loves air conditioning and refuses to go anywhere, you sure spend a lot of time on the porch," she grumbled.
He narrowed his eyes and pointed at her. "Where in the hell have you been? I been waitin' on you all day and I can't see you comin' if I'm sittin' in the house. At least you got on enough clothes today. What you had on the other day wouldn't sag a clothesline if you'd been swimmin' in them and they was soppin' wet. Don't know why you have to keep runnin' that Honky Tonk. Hire you some help. Hell, if you can't afford it, I'll even pay for it."
"Don't you be tellin' me how to run my business, Emmett McElroy. And why aren't the cattle in the corral? You usually have the Walkers or someone come get them ready for me. I'll be damned if I'm going to haul those bawling critters up from the farm ponds."
He completely ignored her question and kept talking nonsense. "I want you to stay at the ranch now. Get somebody else to run that damned old beer joint. We need you here."
"What in the hell are you talking about? Why would you think I need to stay here?" Daisy asked.
"Hello, Daisy. You're early," Jarod said from doorway. One look and he forgot that he'd been ready to spit nails that morning when he awoke. His mouth went dry and his hands trembled with the urge to rush out on the porch and gather her into his arms.
"Hello, Jarod," she said, surprised that she could utter a coherent word. She felt as if an elephant was sitting on her chest, crushing her lungs, keeping her from taking the next breath; so much for ending the attraction. She hated the morning after the first night of an affair. It was even more uncomfortable when it was the week later—a whole week of not hearing a single damn word. How dare he stand there, looking all sexy, reminding her how those strong arms felt holding her under a sky filled with twinkling stars and a full moon, and say nothing but that she was early.
Jarod was amazed that he'd gotten out a simple hello. He scanned her from head to toe and back again, stopping several times along the way. She looked like she'd just come in from a hard day's work out on the ranch. Dust on her jeans and scuffed up boots in bad need of polish. Staying away from her for a whole week damn sure hadn't kept him from wanting her. If anything, it made it worse.
She opened the door and handed him the cheesecake. "Yes, I'm early. I'll be leaving in a few minutes, though."
"Why? I do believe it was grilled steaks, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob?"
Daisy shot him her meanest drop-dead look. "Yes, it was, but since you haven't even started cooking, you can forget it."
"Why would I?"
"Because evidently you don't want me here."
"Why do you think that?"
"Come on, you aren't stupid. I haven't heard a word from you all week."
"I called you every single day all week. I called first thing in the morning. I called at noon, in the middle of the afternoon, even at two o'clock one morning, hoping I'd catch you before you left the bar. So don't tell me about not calling, woman. I tried. Don't you ever answer your phone—or do you leave it off the hook so you don't have to talk?"
"Oh!" The air gushed out of her lungs. "I was out on Monday morning and Tuesday a squirrel got in the transformer and blew the lines and…" She stopped. "You could have come to the Honky Tonk any night."
"Emmett's been sick," he whispered.
Emmett hit the rocker arms with his fist. "Now you two stop that bickerin'. I know the first year you do a lot of fightin' and makin' up, but I want to see more makin' up and less fightin'. Has he made you mad, darlin'? Is that why you stayed gone all week? Come on over here and sit down beside me and we'll talk about that boy of mine. He's a lot like me. Until I got Mavis I wasn't too swift with the women folks either, but I've been givin' him advice this week and I think he'll be better today."
"He's been like this all week," Jarod whispered through the screen door.
"Stop that whisperin' behind my back. And for God's sake, Jarod, give her a kiss. I'll shut my eyes if it embarrasses you to do it in front of me. Things I see on television these days would have put my grandma's eyes out and you can't even kiss Daisy in front of me. You ain't seen her all week. Don't know why she has to run that damn Honky Tonk anymore. This place can support her and we need her to help take care of things," Emmett said.
Jarod would have loved to kiss her but not with the tension still hanging between them. She had an excuse for Monday and Tuesday, but every single day in the week? He didn't think so. She owned a Honky Tonk that didn't close until two a.m. What would she be doing out every day?
Daisy sat down beside Emmett. "He'll be out here soon as he gets his boots on. Now you tell me why those cattle aren't in the corral."
Emmett snorted. "You need to go upstairs and put on a dress. Woman shouldn't run around on Sunday lookin' like you do. You expect that boy of mine to be nice then you need to be nice to him. Dress up so he'll take you out for ice cream. Me and Mavis used to drive over to Mineral Wells on Sunday afternoon. They had this little ice cream parlor and she ate strawberry. I damn sure wouldn't take you for strawberry ice cream in that getup. Mavis always dressed up in her best dress and waved her hair all pretty for our ice cream dates."
"I was supposed to vaccinate cows today. I didn't know anything about ice cream," Daisy said.
Emmett snorted. "Don't you make excuses, Daisy. You know very well we never work cattle on Sunday. I want you to be nice to Jarod and stop this bickering with him. He's not too bright. He don't see things as well as I do. He's been busy gettin' the ranch up in crackerjack shape before I die. Me, I got time to notice things now that I'm old," Emmett said. "Why would you think we work cattle on Sunday anyway?"
Emmett's blank eyes said that he really did not remember telling her that he wanted her to come to the ranch and vaccinate the cattle that day. Talking about it would only agitate him further so she changed the subject. "There was a whole family of coyotes in the pasture. Looked like a momma with five or six half grown babies. You got a donkey out there that'll kill them if they try to harm a baby calf? There were enough of them they might try to take down a small heifer. I don't reckon they'd mess with an old rangy bull though."
Before Emmett could answer Jarod joined them. He hadn't put on his boots but rather a pair of sandals. Even his naked toes made her hormones go into overdrive.
He chose a rocking chair on the other side of Emm
ett rather than the one right beside Daisy. He couldn't trust himself to sit that close to her without at least reaching across the space and touching her cheek.
Emmett's blue eyes narrowed and he pursed his mouth so tight the wrinkles from the top blended with those on his chin and erased his narrow lips. He glared at Jarod. "What in the hell have you done with my donkey? I ain't seen it around in a few days. Damn thing didn't die, did it? I hope to hell not. If that bunch of coyotes take down one of my baby calves, I'm holdin' you responsible."
Jarod almost choked. "I guess he's out in the back pasture."
"Well, put him up closer to the house. Them coyotes are gettin' brazen what with the hot summer and all. We might ought to buy another one. Keep one out with the cows and one up close to the house too. I thought I heard a mountain lion the other day settin' up a squall out in the pasture. Bet that donkey killed it 'cause I ain't heard it since then."
Daisy cut her eyes around at Jarod.
He barely shook his head and quickly mouthed that he'd tell her later.
"Let's have some of that cheesecake for an afternoon snack and then I'm going to take my Sunday nap," Emmett said. "Maybe you two can talk out this fight if I'm not here. Don't know why y'all are in a tiff but I know it. Jarod shoulda kissed you when you got here even if you are dressed like shit. You can't fool me, Daisy. You ain't been home all damn week so I know you are fightin' and right here at the first that ain't a good sign. I might be old but there ain't a damn thing wrong with my brain. You make him apologize and toe the line."
"Yes, sir, I will do that," she said.
"And you'll stay here tonight and not go to the Honky Tonk since it's closed, right?"
"Of course I will. I'll go fix us all a piece of cheesecake. Want coffee to go with it or sweet tea?"
"Coffee. Black with just a touch of milk," he said.
"I'll fix it," Jarod said. "You two go on and visit." He had to get away from her even if for only a minute and collect his thoughts. Would he believe her if she had a plausible excuse for every day?
Emmett waited until he was in the house before he started on her again. "You going to tell me what it is you're fightin' about?"
"That's our business and we'll work it out," she said.
"It's my business if I've got to live with you, by damn."
"You're a nosy old fart, aren't you? You tell your mother-in-law everything you and Mavis fought about?"
He chuckled. "Hell, no. Nosy old woman didn't know when to keep her mouth shut."
"Do you know when to keep your mouth shut? What if I told you what we're fightin' about and you told Chigger or Jim Bob?"
Emmett shook his bony finger at her. "Don't you try to hoodwink me, young lady. I'm not so old that I don't know when you're sidetrackin' me. Married folks need to be together. You get rid of that Honky Tonk and come on out here to the ranch where you belong. Jarod can use your smarts as a vet to help with these cows. I'll give you three months and then I'll burn the damn thing down if you don't get rid of it."
For a split second, Daisy couldn't have uttered a word if it had been a matter of life and death. If Jarod hadn't returned with the cheesecake and coffee on a tray she might have bolted and ran. She cleared her throat twice. She looked at Jarod who stood there with a cheesecake on a saucer in front of her. She was careful not to touch him when she reached for it.
She held it in her lap and glowered at Emmett. "What in the hell are you talking about?" She accentuated each word with a jab of her finger against the arm of his rocking chair.
Emmett narrowed his eyes and leaned right up into her face. "I mean it. I'll burn it to the ground and spend the rest of my life in jail for doing it if you don't come to your senses. From what the doctor tells me about these worms in my body, I ain't got long anyway so I don't give a damn if I spend it behind bars or sittin' in my chair. Now I'm going to eat my cheesecake and take my nap and you two are going to get this shit settled. I ain't in the mood to listen to fightin'. It'd make that cheesecake sour on my stomach."
He didn't say another word until he was finished and his coffee cup empty. "And this will be taken care of when I get up. I ain't havin' my supper ruined because you two are acting like a couple of bratty kids."
"Yes sir," Daisy said.
"Sorry about that," Jarod whispered when Emmett slammed the screen door.
"What in the hell is going on? He thinks that we are…" She stumbled over the word.
Jarod nervously ran his fingers through his hair. "I know what he thinks. He's been like this ever since Sunday. Let's go for a walk around to the backyard. I wouldn't put it past him to be eavesdropping."
He led the way across the porch, around the south end of the house, and to the backyard to an old swing hanging from an ancient pecan tree. He sat down on one end of it and patted the other end.
"Have a seat and let me explain."
She sat down and waited.
"I took him to the doctor. He said it's typical of the Alzheimer's and he's got kidney failure on top of that. Said that when the kidneys start to go they produce too much nitrogen and it eats little holes in the brain. Depending on what portion is being destroyed, it affects whether he wants to eat everything in sight or nothing sounds good. That's the worms he says are eating him up. He's got less time than we figured," Jarod said.
"But where did he ever get the idea we were…" She still could not utter the word.
"He got the notion in his head last Sunday night. Started in on me that it wasn't right for you to stay at the Honky Tonk at night and only come out here on Sunday. I argued with him and told him we were not married. He got so mad I thought he'd blow a fuse and have a stroke. Said I couldn't pull the wool over his eyes and he wasn't born yesterday. He could tell by the way we looked at each other that we'd snuck off to Oklahoma on Sunday and got married. What were you two talking about? Why would you be upset because the cattle weren't up in the corral? What would you be doing with cattle on Sunday or any other day?"
"I'm a vet tech. I've been vaccinating his cattle for about four years now. I'm not a licensed vet but I can take care of what he's got left. Herd is diminishing pretty fast but then he's not able to take care of them. Usually he gets the Walkers to come over and round them up for me."
"You are vet tech and you work as a barmaid?" Jarod cocked his head to one side. His dark eyebrows knit into a line across his gray eyes.
"You got a problem with that?" she snapped.
"Why aren't you working for a vet?"
"Bartending pays better. I take care of a few animals on the side. Emmett and Mavis hired me when they got to where it was too much of a job. Most ranchers as you know take care of their own cattle unless it's an emergency. I stay busier than I want."
"But," Jarod started.
Daisy exhaled loudly. "All I ever wanted to do was work with animals, especially on a ranch. I got a job with a vet in Mena, Arkansas, and I really loved it. But one night I had a boyfriend problem, got in the car, and started driving." She sat back and looked off into the distance for a moment with a pained look in her eyes that made Jarod want to jump up, find the jerk who'd hurt her, and beat him senseless. Then, with a little shiver, she seemed to shake off the bad memory and shrugged. "The car broke down on Interstate 20 not far from Thurber. I pulled off and met Ruby. She offered me a job as a bartender and I took it. I'd been working as a bartender for years, even before I was legal. Kept at it on weekends when I finished my tech training to pay the student loans off."
She smiled, thinking about Ruby. That chance encounter with the woman who was like a mother to her had been a turning point in her life. "Anyway, when I took the job Ruby offered, I called my vet boss. He said he was glad I was getting out of Mena and away from the scumbag boyfriend who would never leave the area and to let him know if I needed a reference for a tech job. Ruby told Merle that I had vet tech training and word got out here in Texas. Merle started it when she brought her cat to the Honky Tonk for me to treat it one nig
ht. Before I knew it I was treating everything from chickens to horses. This week on Monday I had to sew up a bull that forced its fat way through a barbed wire fence. I've given a goat Pepto for bloat and talked to a sweet old lady who insists on feeding her dog, George—named for George Jones, no less. Anyway, she wants to let him drink beer. She says she can put up with dog farts."
The chuckle started down deep in his chest and erupted into a guffaw that scared the sparrows out of the pecan tree. He laughed until his sides ached and then laughed some more.
"Go on," he said finally.
I Love This Bar Page 13