"It's not really funny," Daisy said, although she was starting to grin—his laughter was contagious. "Some days I don't know if I'm comin' or goin'. Now, do you think Emmett will be over this married shit when he wakes up?"
Jarod's shook his head. "You are really something, Daisy. I was so mad at you for not taking my calls I couldn't think straight."
"Why?" she asked.
"I wanted to see you again. I thought you had another fellow…" he stammered.
"I thought you didn't call because it was just a one night stand for you," she said softly. "And I was mad enough to call for the backhoe for the local cemetery."
"Guess we both got things wrong, didn't we? Miss Daisy O'Dell, could I please have your cell phone number before you leave here so this doesn't happen again?"
She smiled. "Yes, sir, you can. Now answer my question about Emmett."
"I don't think so. He's been on the kick all week long. First thing he asks every morning is when you are coming downstairs. I finally told him you were trying to get someone to help you at the Honky Tonk and until you did you'd be here on Sunday and Monday. He's been antsy every evening like a little kid asking when you were coming home." Jarod could hardly believe his ears. Daisy, a vet tech? What other tricks did she have up her sleeves?
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"Beg," Jarod said.
She snapped her head around to face him. "Oh, no. Huh-uh, not in a million years. Not for all the dirt in Texas. Besides, I don't owe you jack shit."
"He's been a nightmare. I couldn't leave him all week or I would have driven up to the Honky Tonk."
They were adults, not whimpering teenagers. Sitting beside him with her pulse racing and wanting to reach out and run her hand down his jawline before she kissed him passionately, she wished she was a teenager instead of an adult.
"I'm not staying. You can deal with him," she said. What she didn't say was that she didn't trust herself to stay in the same house with Jarod. Just sitting beside him on the swing put her on an emotional roller coaster.
"I'll pay you," Jarod said quickly. "He won't know when we go upstairs at night that we are sleeping in separate rooms. He's put you into Mavis' place. Whatever she said went around here and he's been lost since she's gone. You've given him a reason to live. I can't believe you got him to agree to a donkey on the property. Next thing you know he'll be puttin' up windmills if you say you think they're a good idea." Hell, woman, I'd buy windmills, a donkey, and anything else you can think of to get you to stay here tonight.
Daisy took a deep breath and let it out very slowly. To sleep one door down the hallway from him every night for several weeks would be pure hell. She'd spent a hell of a week trying to get him out of her mind. She'd never get it done if she slept with him again, and every minute of every night would be a temptation. And like he had just said, letting it go on would be pure foolishness.
The swing stopped and Jarod started it again with the heel of his sandal against the hard packed earth. "Please stay the afternoon and night before you say no. See what happens when he wakes up. Could be he'll get up in a whole new world but I don't think so. It's set in his mind like chiseling on a tombstone."
"The afternoon and night?" she said weakly.
"You told him you'd stay," he protested.
"I was just following your lead in appeasing the old goat."
Jarod crossed his arms over his chest, more in a gesture to keep from touching her than to exhibit an attitude. "If he doesn't forget the whole thing when he wakes up, you're the one telling him you aren't staying. I damn sure am not going to be in his bad graces the rest of the week. He's bad enough when he's looking for you to drive up any minute. If he thinks you aren't staying he'll go off in a tantrum that'll rival any two-year-old kid's fit you've ever seen."
She stood up.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
He damn sure didn't want to worry with Uncle Emmett if she left. He was damned if he got what he wanted and damned if he didn't. He'd get the blame and a ten-hour lecture on how to treat a woman properly if she left. The same one he'd listened to every day all week. However, if she stayed, the scalding heat between them could burn down the place. He'd take a chance on the latter if she'd just consent to stay.
"To get a glass of tea. I can't think when I'm sitting still," she said.
Jarod followed her back into the house. "If you stay it only has to be until he goes to bed or maybe we can even invent an excuse before that. I'll step outside and call on your cell phone and you can say something about having to go take care of one of your animal things. Just until dark tonight, please."
"Until dark and then I'll think about the rest of the time."
Good God Almighty, why did I say that? I don't want to spend my whole afternoon here and I'm damn sure not going to spend nights on end sleeping so close to Jarod that I can smell his cologne in the evenings.
"Thank you," Jarod said. He touched her shoulder and the world stood still. When it started spinning again it made him dizzy.
The heat from his hand left a burn mark on her back. She was sure of it because she could feel each joint of his finger engraved there. A single week of pretending and she'd be a drooling moron in a white straightjacket. "Don't thank me yet. I just agreed to stay until dark."
They were walking up on the porch when Emmett pushed his walker out the door. Jarod grabbed Daisy around the waist and kissed her hard and long. When she pushed him back, he whispered, "It's part of the pretending."
Pretend, hell! I'll show you pretend if you do that again. I'll pretend to haul you out to the barn and I'll pretend to have another bout of sex with you. Don't tell me that kiss was fake. It was more real than anything I've ever experienced short of that night in the truck bed, Daisy thought.
Emmett sat down in his rocker and slapped his thigh. "Now that's what I like to see. You made up. I knew you would. You two go on up and have your afternoon nap now," he said with a broad wink at Jarod. "I'm glad you're home, Daisy."
"Dear God," Daisy whispered.
"Amen! He's sweet as sugar when he gets his way and mean as a cougar when he doesn't. I don't know if I can take it, and I can't leave," Jarod whispered back.
Emmett tilted his chin up in a knowing gesture. "Just like I told you, sweet nothin's in her ear will work every time. Woman likes that more than anything. Glad to see you are finally listenin' to me."
Jarod let go of Daisy and opened the door for her. "So are you ready for a nap?"
She glared at Jarod, angry at him and Chigger and Jim Bob all three for putting her in such a pickle. If Chigger hadn't needed an alibi for her momma none of it would have started to begin with. So the majority of the blame and anger went towards her. A nap might be just the thing to clear her mind. At the very least it would keep her from strangling Jarod and then going after Chigger with her shotgun.
Once they were in the house he threw up both hands to ward off the evil looks. "Hey, don't shoot daggers at me. I didn't create this mess."
"And I did?" she smarted off.
"I did not say that."
"Which room is mine?" she snapped.
He pointed up the stairs. "Mine is the one with the computer in it. You can have the one right beside it. It's pink," he said.
She stomped across the hardwood floor and up the stairs. The door to the first one on the left was open and she peeked in. The faint smell of his cologne was still in the room and a computer sitting on a card table in the corner said the room belonged to him. She went on to the next door to the pink room. Just before she slammed the door, she thought about Emmett. If he heard the crack of a door he'd think they were fighting again and Jarod would have to kiss her to prove they weren't. Easing the door shut was the most difficult thing she'd done all day. She kicked off her boots and removed the snowy white chenille bedspread. No use in getting it all dusty just because she was angry. It hadn't created the mess she was in.
The bed was an antique cher
ry four-poster with a matching vanity that had a round mirror and a little bench with a pink velvet cushion top. A rocking chair with the same color velvet pads sat in the corner of the room. Every flat surface had a crocheted doily covered with knickknacks. Chigger should be the one playing at being the new bride. She'd love all the folderol sitting on every spare inch of space. It gave Daisy an acute case of claustrophobia.
She stared at the ceiling for a long time before she made her up mind to go along with the charade. She could easily kill the two proverbial birds with one big rock. Let Emmett die happy and put the crazy thing she had for Jarod behind her all at the same time. Jarod was probably a real son-of-a-bitch, just like Emmett, when he didn't get his way. She planned to provoke him often so that she could see him at his worst and then presto, the fascination with him would vanish.
She snapped her fingers in the air to show herself how fast it could be done and went to sleep with a smile on her face.
When she awoke she had a plan that she could live with so she bounded out of bed, picked up her boots, and bounced down to the living room. "Hey, I thought we were having steaks. I'm starving. Am I going to have to grill them myself? And after supper I think you should take me for ice cream."
Jarod dropped the book he'd been reading and his jaw at the same time. The book hit the floor with a bang. His jaw came close to unhinging.
"Okay?" he said slowly.
Emmett smiled. "I love ice cream."
"Car is air conditioned. You could come along if you want," she offered.
"Naw, y'all go on and have a good time. Me and Mavis used to go get ice cream on Sundays some of the time. I like it that you're goin'. But first, Jarod, get up off your lazy ass and get those steaks going. Didn't you hear the woman say she's hungry?"
"I'll even help," she offered.
Emmett began to hum. The expression on his face was happy and peaceful.
She shucked six ears of corn and put them in boiling water, popped a dozen brown-and-serve rolls into the oven with the foil-wrapped potatoes already baking, and set the table while Jarod grilled steaks.
Emmett was sitting at the table when Jarod brought in the steaks. "I been waitin' for half an hour. It's a wonder I ain't dead. You tryin' to kill me by starvin' me to death so you can have this ranch faster. If I don't eat I can't take my medicine and it's twenty minutes past time for me to have it. Y'all are the slowest cooks I ever did see."
Daisy put the potatoes and corn on the table. "It's here now so eat and stop your whinin'."
"If I die it'll be on your conscience because you didn't get my food to me so I could take my medicine." He picked up a long pill case with the days of the week lettered on the compartments. "See here, I ain't had my evenin' pills because I got to take them with food."
"Then eat," she said shortly.
"Don't you sass me."
"Don't be a pain in my ass."
Jarod chuckled under his breath.
They both shot him a dirty look.
"What?" He threw up his hands.
"Don't laugh at me."
Emmett settled down immediately. "No more fightin'. Let's eat these steaks. Don't they look good, Daisy?"
She cut a chunk off the corner and popped it into her mouth, chewed slowly, and tamed her anger. "How anyone could ever be a vegetarian is a mystery to me."
"Fools is what they are. God made the Angus for us to eat," Emmett agreed.
"Then why in the devil do you have a bunch of white faced cattle out there? Angus don't get pinkeye like they do and Angus grows off faster and bigger," Daisy said.
"Them white faces was cheaper on the day I bought them than Angus," Emmett said.
"Get rid of them and use the money to buy Angus," Daisy told him.
"You hear the woman. Get rid of them sorry white faces this week, Jarod. Take 'em to the sale barn," Emmett said.
"Last week you said we weren't sellin' off a single head of cattle."
"That was last week. This is today. Sell the sumbitches. If Daisy wants Angus steaks then we'll have Angus steaks. Maybe then I won't have to burn down that sumbitch Honky Tonk."
Daisy pointed her fork at him. "Hey, wait a minute."
"Angus or the Honky Tonk. Your decision," Emmett declared.
She shoved a piece of steak in her mouth to keep from smarting off. All the Angus cattle in the state of Texas could die of mad cow disease before she'd give up her beer joint.
"You going to answer me?" Emmett asked after a few seconds.
"I'm thinkin' about it," she said.
"Well, that's the way it is. You got until sale time to make up your mind. You ain't back here where you belong, I'll sell all the Angus and keep the white faces and you can deal with pinkeye forever."
Jarod coughed.
She huffed.
He grinned.
She bit her tongue to keep from lashing out with a string of cuss words long enough to scorch the hair out of Lucifer's ears.
After supper they shared the cleanup with Emmett rushing them to hurry so the ice cream parlor wouldn't be closed before they arrived.
"You two is the slowest critters on the earth. A possum ain't got a thing on you for lazy. You'd think you didn't even want any ice cream," he said.
"I've got to shake the tablecloth and then we'll go. Why do you want us to leave anyway? You got a hot date with some filly?" Daisy teased.
"Hell no, I ain't got no date with a woman. Mavis would claw her eyes out if I did. Get on out of here and let me watch my television in peace and quiet and don't you dare wake me up if I'm sleeping when you get home," he fussed.
Jarod was amazed when she tossed him the keys as they were leaving.
"You trust me to drive your precious car?" he whispered.
"You are driving because men drive when they go with their wives for ice cream and Emmett will have a fit if I do. We're going to the Honky Tonk so I can pack a few things. If I'm staying over until tomorrow evening, I'll need some clothes and my personal stuff. Can't have the old goat having a stroke out of anger, can we? But it's got to be our secret. Far as anyone knows I'm just coming out here to see you and Emmett. We aren't even dating. We are barely friends. That's the condition," she said softly so Emmett wouldn't hear.
Jarod started up the engine and backed the small car out of the driveway. It had been years since he'd driven anything but a truck and he felt cramped. "You got it."
She leaned her head back and shut her eyes. She could come to the ranch on Sunday morning and stay over until Monday; maybe make a couple of appearances through the week with the excuse she had to leave by seven to get back to the Honky Tonk. It would make Emmett happy.
When he stopped the car she opened her eyes and blinked several times. Surely that wasn't who she thought it was sitting on her back porch. It was simply a trick of the light and the fact that she'd just talked to Cathy the week before. It had to be Chigger stopping by for one more beer or a glass of tea because she didn't want to go home. She squinted and narrowed her eyes.
"Very nice lookin' company," Jarod said.
"My cousin," Daisy mumbled.
Cathy opened the passenger's door for Daisy. "You said I could come anytime. I hope you meant it. I quit my job."
How in the devil am I going to explain Jarod and Emmett to Cathy? She'll have to know at least the part about Emmett being a dying man.
Daisy said, "Of course I meant it. This is Jarod McElroy. I was just coming by to pick up a few things. I'll be gone until tomorrow night. Think you can just hang out and make yourself at home without me?"
Cathy took a step back. "Nice to meet you, Jarod. How'd you talk her into driving her baby?"
"It's a mystery." He smiled.
Cathy was taller than Daisy. She had long, flowing blond hair and the same steely blue eyes as Daisy. Her waist was small and her hips rounded. A bright blue T-shirt was tucked into the waistband of tight jeans and stretched over her skin like blue paint. Not an extra ounce of fat or cellulite bubb
led up under the shirt. If a man didn't take a second look he was either blind or stupid.
Jarod was neither. But she wasn't as pretty as Daisy. Even though her eyes were close to the same color, they didn't sparkle like Daisy's did when she was angry or tickled. She was so tall that if he ever held her in his arms she wouldn't fit there perfectly like Daisy did. And she didn't have the pizzazz that Daisy had when she walked, either. Pretty lady, and most men would already be drooling, but she didn't light up his desire button like Daisy did.
Cathy touched the car and peeled her eyes away from Jarod back to Daisy. "So since he got to drive it, are you goin' to let me drive it?"
"Hell, no. Last time you drove my car it wound up in the junkyard."
I Love This Bar Page 14