I Love This Bar

by Carolyn Brown

  "I see," Frankie said coldly.

  Daisy reached under the table and squeezed Jarod's leg. He gave a little start and smiled at her.

  "Something I can do for you?" he whispered.

  "You're in big trouble," she said out of the corner of her mouth.

  "Probably, but it's worth it," he said.

  Jewel leaned around Stephen and said, "Hey, Daisy, did he tell you that he's already bought three engagement rings so you could have had a choice if Uncle Emmett would have ever noticed you weren't wearing rings."

  Jewel had red hair cut in a short bob, green eyes, and enough freckles to give her makeup hell. She might have weighed a hundred and ten but that was with rocks in her pockets.

  "I heard he'd been engaged three times." Daisy's tone was one of icy dismissal before she looked across the table. "Cathy, did you tell Tinker we'd be back in plenty of time to open up tonight?"

  Jarod's face was a study in anger.

  "Just thought you'd like to know he's a three-time loser," Jewel said.

  Daisy leaned forward and smiled at Jewel. "Diamonds don't mean squat to me, darlin'. I want a man's heart, not his damned old ring." She couldn't believe she was taking up for Jarod. She'd told Emmett that he could take care of himself and the first rattle out of the bucket she was fighting his battles. Maybe Emmett had been right when he said every man needed a good woman.

  "Touché, Daisy. Well said. You ought to know that he's spoiled though. You ever hear that song by Blake Shelton, 'The Baby'?" Maria asked.

  "It's on my new jukebox," she said.

  "That's Jarod. He came along when the other two McElroy boys were half grown. Momma Frankie was tired so she spoiled him rotten and protects him like a mountain lion with a cub," Jewel said.

  "Rest assured, Jewel. Jarod and I are not planning a wedding," Daisy said bluntly.

  "Everyone he introduces to the family, he ends up engaged to. I just thought I'd give you the lowdown and save you some time," Jewel said.

  Daisy frowned at Jewel that time. Honey didn't work. Maybe vinegar would shut the woman up. "It's my time and whether I waste it or not is my business."

  "I'm just warnin' you. Everything goes pretty good until he puts the ring on your hand then it all goes in the toilet. We never have figured out why," Jewel kept on.

  "Well, the toilet won't get clogged with my big diamond because I don't want one from any man. I'm not interested in marriage, engagements, or relationships. I'm very content in my Honky Tonk beer joint, and honey, when I leave it'll be after a night of drawing beer and listenin' to good country music. They'll take me out with my boots on and my hand wrapped around a longneck bottle of cold Coors. Now I'm going for a walk around the property one more time before I go home. I've had all this sweet company I can stand for one day." She pushed her chair back.

  Jarod did the same.

  "Where are you going?" she asked.

  "With you," he said.

  "I didn't ask you."

  "I didn't ask you either, but I'm going."

  They locked gazes and the rest of the world disappeared. He intended to pursue her until she was his. She intended to run as fast as she could so that she didn't have to face her own feelings for him.

  She shrugged and started walking but her high heels sank in the ground with every step. After a few feet, she stopped, took them off, and tossed them toward the back porch, and walked out of the fenced yard in her bare feet. Jarod caught up to her, swooped her up in his arms, and carried her like a new bride to the nearest barn.

  Her first impulse was to kick and scream until he put her down. But that would have made Jewel happy. Daisy would have endured walking through hell in her bare feet before she let Jewel win the catfight. The minute they were in the barn she wiggled and squirmed until he lost his grip and put her down.

  She gritted her teeth. "Why'd you do that?"

  "Goat heads," he said.

  "Are you crazy? What has goat heads got to do with anything?"

  "Pasture is full of them."

  He tilted back her chin and claimed her lips with a burning kiss. She clung to him as the bones in her legs dissolved. She wanted more and was angry at herself for the lack of control. She didn't believe in love at first sight. It was something that happened in fairy tales, not real life.

  He broke the kiss but kept her hugged up to his chest tight enough to hear her racing heart keeping time with his. "Tell me again about how you don't want relationships?"

  She rolled up on her tiptoes, wrapped her hand around his neck, and pulled his face down for another searing kiss. "No commitments. Just long slow kisses and what they lead to."

  "What's that?"

  "In this barn with all those people seeing through the wide open doors, it will lead to nothing, especially right after a funeral. Some things are sacred. Carry me back to your truck and take me to my car. I'm ready to go home."

  "Can I come into the apartment for a cup of coffee?"

  "Hell, no. Men aren't allowed in the apartment," she said.

  "I was in it yesterday," he argued.

  "It won't happen again."

  "Then walk," he said.

  "You son-of-a-bitch," she said.

  "Dad might get riled if you call his wife that. See you later, Daisy. Don't forget we got a cowboy date on Sunday." He left her standing there and whistled a tune by Lonestar all the way back to the yard.

  She sat down on a hay bale and drew her bare feet up when she saw a mouse skitter across the barn floor. It's a good thing she didn't have her shotgun or Jarod would be having a close up and personal visit with Uncle Emmett.

  He stopped at the table and said a few words to Cathy, then stopped to speak to some people at another table before he disappeared around the back corner of the house. Daisy bit at her lower lip. Walking across a pasture of burrs would be pure torture and it would be impossible to get her boots on for work that night. Sitting where she was all afternoon in the sweltering heat of the barn would cause dehydration. It was a loselose situation.

  Cathy waved toward the barn. Chigger and Jim Bob did the same as they made their way to Jim Bob's truck and Daisy motioned for them to come and rescue her. Jim Bob backed the truck out of the parking place and drove away in the opposite direction from the barn. Daisy couldn't take her eyes from the tailgate of the big dualtired truck as she watched her rescue disappear. Cathy was going to be calling a taxi to take her back to Dallas to catch a bus to Mena when Daisy got home that evening.

  Another movement caught her attention and a white truck appeared out of the dust coming toward the barn.

  "My knight-in-shining-damn-armor. Billy Bob, you never looked so good. Maybe I'll marry you after all," she said.

  Billy Bob did not step out of the truck when it pulled into the big double doors of the barn. Jarod did with a big smile on his face. Without a word, he scooped her up into his arms for the second time and carried her to the driver's side where he gently set her down. "Scoot over, but not too far. I'd like to feel you next to me."

  "You are a rat," she declared.

  "Had you guessing, didn't I?"

  "Hell, no! I was about to yell for Billy Bob. He wouldn't let me walk across a field of stickers," she said.

  "That's alfalfa in that pasture, Daisy. There's not a sticker or goat head in it. Are you sure you are a vet tech?" he said.

  "I'm a vet tech, all right, but I'm not a rancher. I don't know alfalfa from green beans."

  "Want to learn?" He cocked his head to one side.

  More than you'll ever know, she thought.

  Chapter 12

  Chigger's wedding dress was a demure white spaghetti strap cotton sundress that flowed from an empire waist to the top of her new pink cowboy boots. A wreath of white roses with ribbons flowing down back circled her upswept blond hair and she carried a bouquet of pink and white roses. Jim Bob was dressed in black Wranglers, white shirt, and polished, black eel dress boots.

  Daisy stood on Chigger's left in a pin
k and white checked sundress and white sandals. She wished she had a bouquet to hold to keep her hands from shaking. She'd expected Joe Bob and Billy Bob and maybe even the Walker parents to be present and they were. She had not expected to see Jarod there also. Yet there he was on the other side of Jim Bob, standing right beside Billy Bob and Joe Bob.

  Jarod couldn't keep his eyes off Daisy or his mind on the ceremony. She was beautiful. She was smart. She was funny. She was so many things that he couldn't begin to list them all. And he wanted to be a part of every single bit of her life from that day forward, until death parted them. And not Emmett's death, either.

  Daisy looked around Chigger and locked gazes with him. One eyelid slowly dropped and a slow smile curved his mouth upward.

  Her heart quickened and her pulse raced.

  She calmed both by making a mental list of what

  liquors were getting low at the Honky Tonk; how many bags of peanuts and pretzels were in the storage room; whether or not the old record of George Jones singing "I Always Get Lucky" should be replaced on the jukebox this week.

  Now why in devil did I think of that song right now? I should be listening to vows, not playing a song about getting lucky. What is wrong with me?

  She tried. She really did but Jones's song about getting lucky kept running through her mind. Would she get lucky with Jarod? Or would she never hear from him again when he moved back to Oklahoma? Did she even want to hear from him or would a clean break be the best thing?

  She jumped like she'd stuck her finger in the light socket when the judge pronounced Jim Bob and Chigger man and wife. She watched Jim Bob wrap Chigger protectively up into his arms for the wedding kiss. She stepped back and waited to embrace Chigger until the Walkers and Jarod had their turn.

  "Be happy," Daisy said when she finally hugged Chigger.

  "I am happy. You could be too. Jarod has had your panties on fire for weeks. Do something about it before he's gone forever," she whispered.

  "Chigger!" Daisy exclaimed.

  Chigger giggled. "Truth is truth. Wrap it in chocolate or cow shit, it's still the truth."

  Jim Bob claimed her again with another kiss. "I can't believe it but she's really my wife."

  "You take care of her," Daisy said.

  "You got my word on that, but we got to get going if

  we're going to make it to the airport on time," he said. "Everyone come on outside," Thelma Walker said. "Y'all wait right here for a couple of minutes and then come on out. There might not be many of us but we can give you a sendoff."

  They trooped out and down the courthouse steps, across the lawn to the curb where Jim Bob had parked his truck. Thelma handed each of them a handful of bird seed and a white balloon with JUST MARRIED written in pink letters and pink streamers.

  "Throw the seed and we'll let the balloons go soon as they are in the truck," she said.

  Jim Bob stopped on the steps and removed a blue garter from Chigger's leg. Billy Bob shouted from a few feet away to throw it toward him, but Chigger wrapped it around the stem of the bouquet.

  "That's not tradition," Billy Bob said. "And I need that thing or else Daisy ain't never goin' to marry me."

  "That garter won't make a bit of difference," Daisy said.

  Instead of throwing the bouquet she dropped it in Daisy's hands as she passed her and said, "You give that garter to the cowboy you want to have it. The bouquet is yours and you are next."

  Jim Bob picked Chigger up as if she were a piece of fine China and set her inside the cab of the truck and Daisy tried to shove the bouquet back at her through the window. Chigger just laughed and refused to take it.

  "Give it to me." Jarod picked it out of Daisy's hand. He unwrapped the garter and slipped it on his left arm and handed the roses back to Daisy.

  "But what if I wanted Joe Bob to have it?" she asked.

  He popped the elastic out with the forefinger on his right hand. "You want one of the remaining Walker triplets to have it, then take it off and give it to him."

  "Hell, Daisy, I don't want that thing. You can't play pool good enough to beat me. If Billy Bob wants it, give it to him," Joe Bob said.

  Billy Bob kicked at the dirt in mock embarrassment. "Ahhh, shucks, I don't need that thing to woo Miss Daisy. I can steal her heart with my good looks and pretty eyes. You go ahead and keep it, Jarod, so the playing field will be even."

  "Thank you both," Jarod beamed.

  "Y'all be careful now and call us the minute you get settled in," Thelma said.

  "Momma, them kids ain't going to be interested in talking to you when they get there. Y'all call us if you need anything. We'll see you in a few days," Harlin Walker said.

  Jim Bob honked the truck horn as he backed out of the parking lot. The crew on the courthouse steps waved at them until they turned the corner and disappeared.

  "That was nice." Thelma Walker wiped at her eyes.

  Joe Bob patted her shoulder. "Ah, Momma, don't cry. Me and Billy Bob will stay with you forever."

  Harlin grinned. "That's why she's cryin', son."

  "I want you two to be as happy as Jim Bob," Thelma said.

  Harlin slipped an arm around her waist. "Come on, honey. Let's go on home."

  The Walkers had driven to Palo Pinto in one truck so they left together. Daisy looked from the roses to the garter on Jarod's arm and back again. Cathy should have been there to catch the bouquet. Hell, Merle would have been a better candidate than Daisy. Was it bad luck for Chigger if Daisy wasn't the next bride? If it was then Chigger was in for a world of hurt because Daisy was most definitely not going to get married.

  "Go to dinner with me over in Mineral Wells?" Jarod asked.

  "Too early for dinner, isn't it?"

  "What time did you eat breakfast?" he asked.

  "Didn't. I was in a rush to get dressed and make it here on time."

  "Then it's not too early. By the time we get there it will be past eleven, anyway. Most of the restaurants start serving lunch at that time."

  "My car?"

  "Will be fine sitting right where it is. Might have some drool marks on it by the time I bring you back, but it should be all right. Or we can take your car and leave my truck."

  She dug around in her purse and found the keys and tossed them at him.

  "You are letting me drive your baby again?"

  "Don't put a scratch on her or you'll never sit in that seat again."

  "Yes, ma'am."

  They listened to country music from Palo Pinto to Mineral Wells. Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, and Sara Evans sang and Daisy felt the words sink into her being like she'd never known before. She'd grown up on country music, cut her teeth on Alabama, Marty Stuart, and Travis Tritt. Her grandmother listened to the likes of George Jones, Patsy Cline, Don Williams,

  and Loretta Lynn.

  Daisy started to say something but Jarod's expression said that he was deep in thought and she didn't want to interrupt. What could he be thinking about anyway? Was all that about the garter just a show? Did he really wish she'd given the damn thing to Billy Bob?

  Jarod didn't hear the words to the songs. His mother had called the night before. According to Frankie, he didn't need to take up with a bartender even if she did own her own beer joint and was a vet tech.

  He'd reminded her that he was thirty-five years old and would take care of his own love life. She'd gone silent and hung up on him.

  Mitch had called five minutes later and told Jarod that being on the Double M had turned him into an opinionated old fool like Uncle Emmett. Jarod thanked him for the compliment and hung up on him.

  Ten minutes after that, Stephen's call had come in. "Hear you done pissed off the family powwow."

  "Guess I did but the feeling is mutual."

  "I can't believe that you argued with Momma."

  "No arguing. She stated her opinion. I gave her mine. It's her problem if they don't agree," Jarod had said.

  "Congratulations, Jarod."

  "For what?"r />
  "You think about it." Stephen had hung up.

  He slapped the steering wheel and Daisy jerked her head around. "You don't like this song, change the station. I don't care what we listen to. This remind you of something painful? You look like you've been suckin' on a lemon."