Not sleeping with her, for chrissake. Sleeping meant a real relationship. Hell, it was one step away from a ring and a lifetime of servitude.
At least that’s what Josh told himself over the next few weeks as he and Holly not only finished the menu selections, with the exception of the elusive house special, but came up with a few delicacies of their own. The trouble was, the more time he spent with her, the more he started to think that it might be nice, real nice, to not only hold her in his arms all night, but wake up next to her in the morning.
Every morning.
His brain must be fogged. That was the only explanation. Because no way was Josh falling for one particular woman. No damn way.
“NO LACTOSE or strawberries,” Holly told old Duke early the next morning on the way back from the library. After two hours searching old newspapers for some clue as to the house special, she’d given up.
But not on Duke. Not without giving it one more try.The old man eyed the platter of Climactic Cookies and shook his head. “My boy cain’t do oats. Gets all red and itchy and his throat damn near closes up. Everybody knows that.”
Everybody but Holly.
“Then again,” he continued, “I’m sure it was an honest mistake. You wouldn’t be privy to that information being from Huntsville and all.”
“It’s Houston.”
“Houston?” He shook his head. “Never did like those Oilers back in the day ’afore they lost their common sense and hightailed it to Tennessee. The Cowboys… now there’s a football team worth its salt.” He glanced behind him. “Speaking of which, ESPN’s about to show highlights from the last game.” He took the platter of cookies from her hands. “You just run on along now and I’ll take care of these.”
Strike three…you’re outttt!
“DO YOU EVER SLEEP?”
At the sound of Sue’s voice, Holly glanced up from the stack of pictures in her hand. She sat cross-legged on the floor surrounded by stacks of pictures, old magazines and past issues of the Romeo Daily. She’d already sorted through everything, but now it was time to get organized and get everything packed away into boxes for storage.“It’s nearly noon.”
“Too early for a woman who’s been burning the candle till all hours.”
“I didn’t work late last night.”
“I’m talking personally. Grace Jackson at the dry cleaner’s heard from her son who works at the gas station who heard from Mr. Milby who drives the feed delivery truck that a certain pickup truck was still parked in your driveway as of midnight last night.”
“Mr. Milby was delivering feed at midnight?”
“Actually, he was hog hunting up the road at Marv Jackson’s place—it’s better at night—and he saw Josh’s truck on his way over.” Her eyes lit. “He spent the night, didn’t he?”
“He did not spend the night.”
“But he was here after hours,” Sue prodded, obviously wanting more details.
But Holly had never been into details. She’d never been the center of attention in the girls’ locker room. Never dished about her dates or confided a crush. She’d been too busy keeping her distance, mentally preparing herself for the next move. And the next. And the next.
Not this time, she reminded herself.
“If you tell me he was cutting the grass, I’m going to crawl into that supersize commercial oven of yours and turn it on high,” Sue pressed. “Come on. Be a good friend and throw me a bone. Let me live vicariously through you.”
Holly gave in to the smile tugging at her lips. “He wasn’t cutting the grass.”
“I didn’t think so.”
“We’ve been seeing each other.” When Sue’s smile faded, Holly rushed on, “Since you let him down easy, that is.”
“I tried to be as nice as I could. I mean, he’s so good-looking, but he’s just not Bert Wayne. Speaking of which—” she took Holly’s hands “—it happened.”
“Bert Wayne asked you back?”
“Not officially. But he called this morning and said he wants to talk. He’s coming by my place tonight for dinner.” Excitement lit her eyes. “This is it, Holly. He’s going to take me back. I just know it.”
“That’s great.”
“That’s why I came by so early. I’ve got a million things to do today—I scheduled a facial and a mud bath over at Earline’s in half an hour—but I wanted to tell you the good news and say thank you. If I hadn’t met you at the saloon that night, I don’t think I would have had the courage to do any of this.” She held up her hands and indicated the Daisy Duke short-shorts she wore, complete with a red-and-white checkered peasant blouse that rode low on her shoulders and matching high heels. “There you were about to change your life by moving to a small town where you had no friends whatsoever, while I was doing nothing but wallowing in my own misery. Why, it was positively life-changing, that’s what it was. Talk about courageous. You had nobody, meanwhile I was surrounded by friends and still couldn’t pull myself together enough to make a change.”
“Um, thanks.”
“Not only didn’t you have friends, but didn’t have a clue as to how to take care of a place this size.”
“I was a little overwhelmed.”
“Most people would have given up after the first tractor incident, but not you. You’ve got guts.”
That, or a great big hole in her head.
“I couldn’t very well keep feeling sorry for myself when you had all the odds against you—heck, you still do—but you’re still trying anyway.”
“Thanks. I, um, think.”
Sue smiled. “You deserve some fun with Josh. Speaking of which, if I’m going to show Bert Wayne just how fun I can be, I need to get going. After Earline’s, I’ve got an appointment at the Hair Saloon for my hair and nails. And then I’ve got to practice in case things get really hot and heated once he asks to come home.”
Practice?
Holly had a quick mental image of Sue and Billy the Buckaroo—the Warm Bodies doll—before she managed to force it away.
Some things were better left alone.
“I’ll see you Monday.” She gave Holly a quick hug, knocking over a stack of pictures in the process. “Look at me! I’m so excited I’m a nervous wreck.” She reached for the scattered photographs. “Your grandmother really was a beautiful woman,” she said as she picked up one black-and-white photo in particular.
Red Rose Farraday stood on the front porch surrounded by her “girls.” It was the actual picture that had inspired the portrait that sat in Holly’s bedroom. The same artistic rendition that graced the front of the infamous menu.
“Back then,” Holly said, remembering the more recent photographs she’d found of her grandmother just before she’d passed away. “But her lifestyle caught up with her and took its toll.”
“I don’t think it was her lifestyle, so much as it was Mother Nature. Everybody gets old. But some give up along with it. They let their spirits die long before anything else. I think that’s what happened with your grandmother. For whatever reason, she gave up. But not everybody goes quietly. Take Miss Martha, there.” She pointed to the woman on the far right. “She’s every bit as spunky as she always was and it keeps her looking and acting young. At the rate she’s going, she’ll probably live to be a hundred, and not look a day over seventy-five.”
“Miss Martha?” Holly eyed the slender young woman and for the first time, she noted the china cup and saucer she held in her hand. A smile curved her lips. A familiar smile. “But that’s Hearty Marty.” Her heart kicked up speed as the truth registered.
“Marty, as in Martha,” Sue said. “Miss Martha. The lady who owns the tearoom.”
13
“YOU USED TO work for my grandmother,” Holly said that afternoon when she walked into Miss Martha’s Tearoom to find the old woman arranging a plate of petit fours.
“Keep it down, child,” the old woman said, motioning to the table of women that sat in the far corner, sampling pimento cheese and watercres
s sandwiches. “I’ve got customers.”“You’re Hearty Marty.” Holly slid into the seat across from Miss Martha.
“Once upon a time, but thanks to high blood pressure and my diabetes, I get shaky when the wind blows. I ain’t nearly the healthy horse I once was.” A wistful smile touched the old woman’s lips. “I’m afraid those days are gone forever.” She finished the petit fours and placed them in the glass display case before reaching for another platter and a box of tea biscuits.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You didn’t ask. Besides, that isn’t the sort of thing I go around telling folks.”
“I’m sorry. Of course not. It’s probably better forgotten.”
“Are you kidding? That was the happiest, most exciting time of life, which is precisely the reason I keep my mouth shut. Why, if those busybody Juliets were to find out I was one of Rose’s girls, I wouldn’t get a moment’s peace. They’d be after me to find out all of my secrets what with them all so obsessed with pleasing their men. They ought to start with some blessed silence. I swear I ain’t met a one of ’em—and I’ve met ’em all since they’re in and out of here lunching all the time—that can keep quiet for two minutes. And I surely ain’t ever met a man who likes to listen to all that nonsense all the time.”
It was the happiest, most exciting time of my life….
The words echoed in Holly’s head and she remembered the pictures of her mother. She’d never realized her mother could actually smile so much. She hadn’t looked at all like a woman who’d been stuck in a bad situation. She’d looked…happy.
“She was happy,” Miss Martha said as if reading Holly’s mind.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Your mother. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? Because you want to know about her. I knew the first time I met you that you had it all wrong. You talked about her as if she had every right to run away.”
“She was in a bad situation. I would have—”
“You would have stayed,” Miss Martha cut in. “You would have stayed because your mother loved you and wanted the best for you and you would have respected her for it. But your mother resented Rose.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your mother was too much like Rose. Pessimistic when it came to men and relationships. Distrustful. Jaded.” Her gaze met Holly’s. “She never fantasized about getting married or having kids or living happily ever after like other young girls her age. She didn’t have any big dreams beyond joining the other girls at the Farraday Inn, and it broke Rose’s heart. She’d started her business out of necessity. She’d wanted to provide for your mother and give her the choices she’d never had. Instead, she inadvertently taught your mother that a body was just another thing to be bartered or sold. She hated herself for that and she was determined to save your mother and give her a chance at a normal life. She made arrangements to send her to live with her second cousin in Arizona. Your mother didn’t want to go and so she ran away.”
The full weight of the truth weighed down on Holly and she sank to the edge of the sofa. Memories rushed at her and tears burned her eyes. They’d run so many times, picking up at the spur of the moment and moving on to escape her mother’s past. To outrun her legacy.
Or so Holly had thought when she’d discovered her grandmother’s identity. “I thought she left home because she didn’t want to end up like her mother.” Her memory reached back to the child’s drawings she’d found along with the pictures. There’d been so many of them. So much love. “She wanted to be just like her, didn’t she?”
Miss Martha nodded. “Rose loved Jeanine too much to let that happen. She’d convinced herself that she could keep things strictly business and keep our way of life from tainting Jeanine. She never let the girls walk around with little on, and she sure as heck didn’t let any customers in the house while Jeanine was there.” At Holly’s raised eyebrow, Miss Martha added, “Rose and Jeanine lived in a small cottage that used to be out back. I know it was crazy for her to think that Jeanine could be so close and not realize what was going on, but we all put on blinders every now and then. Rose thought Jeanine believed the inn to be a restaurant like everybody else. Until one Saturday afternoon when Jeanine showed up wearing one of Rose’s old negligees. She was fourteen and it was career week at school.”
“And she’d made her career choice,” Holly added.
“Exactly.” Miss Martha smiled, as if remembering. “I’d never seen Rose so shocked in all my life. And angry. Why, she marched Jeanine back to the cottage and grounded her for two weeks. That’s when Rose finally admitted to herself that Jeanine knew and, even worse, she approved of Rose’s business. She admired it. She aspired to step up and take Rose’s place when the time came. Rose vowed she would never let that happen and so she wrote to her second cousin and made the arrangements for Jeanine to go to this fancy girls’school in Arizona. She was determined to give Jeanine a better way of life.” Miss Martha shook her head. “But the girl had her own ideas and so she packed up and left. Rose was devastated. She closed up the inn and cried for weeks, until she smartened up and realized that she needed the money from the inn if she hoped to find Jeanine. She hired several private investigators and she came close to catching up with your mother many times.”
Holly’s mind raced and she thought back to her childhood, to the first memory she had of her mother packing them up. “But my mom stayed one step ahead and kept us moving.”
Miss Martha nodded. “When Rose finally caught up to Jeanine in Chicago, it was too late. Your mother had just died. Rose tore down the cottage then and gave up hope of Jeanine ever coming back. By the time she found out about you, you’d gone into the system. She knew she didn’t stand a chance in hell of getting custody of you, not with her background, so she stayed away. She had no choice.” The old woman touched Holly’s cheek. “But she was always there, keeping an eye on you. Helping out when you needed her.”
Holly thought of the large grant that had miraculously appeared after every bank in town, and on the Internet, had turned her down when she’d been trying to launch Sweet Sinful.
“She’s the one who helped me start my business, wasn’t she? She was the source of the grant.”
Martha gave her a knowing smile. “She was mighty proud when you graduated from college. It was her gift to you.”
“I wish I had known.”
“She wanted you to. At the same time, she was afraid of what you would think of her. Jeanine left here as mad as a hornet because Rose wanted to send her away. She didn’t know if Jeanine ever got over that hurt and realized it was for her own good, or if it turned into hate and she passed it on to you.”
But the only thing Jeanine Farraday had passed on was her fear of getting close to anyone. In her eyes, she’d been betrayed by Rose who’d wanted to send her away, and so she’d raised her own daughter to keep her emotions to herself. To stay distant and guarded and wary when it came to people. To trust no one.
No trust, no bust.
The notion echoed in Holly’s head and caused a tightness in her chest. She blinked back a sudden rush of tears.
“What was my grandmother really like?”
“She was beautiful, but you already know that. What most folks don’t realize is that she was smart, too. And she had a big heart. She looked out for her girls and she didn’t put up with nonsense. Why, I remember the time when old Wilbur—he was this rancher from Blue County—came out to our place and tried to give Rose an IOU for my company. That didn’t sit too well, I can tell you right now. She pulled out her old shotgun and put him to work in the laundry room until he’d washed and folded every last sheet and towel. And then she handed him over to me. Let me tell you, I put that man to work washing my unmentionables, until his hands pruned up and he practically begged for mercy. Of course, I showed him a little once I felt he’d learned his lesson. I was sweet on him for a while and I never could resist a man with his shirtsleeves rolled up and a wet pair of undies
in his hands. Not to mention, he brought me a big bouquet of flowers on his next visit. And his next. And eventually an engagement ring. Not that I married him, mind you. He just wasn’t my type. But then there was Jessie Langford. Tall, dark and handsome, and he knew how to treat a lady. Never showed up without a great big box of candy in his hands. And he did this thing when he kissed.” The old woman gave an excited shiver. “I’ve never been one to kiss and tell, so let’s just say that man was sweeter than a box of Hershey’s chocolate and just as sinful….”
While Miss Martha went on about her past loves, Holly’s own past kept nagging at her.
No trust, no bust.
Holly had learned well. Too well. Despite her own vow to settle down and start cultivating relationships, she was still running from the people in her life, still putting up walls, still terrified of getting hurt.
Still sleeping alone.
Because of Josh. She was holding back because it was pointless to fall in love with a man who didn’t believe in the concept.
At least that’s what she’d been telling herself.
But it was just an excuse to keep from taking a chance and getting hurt. While she couldn’t make Josh return her feelings, she could be true to herself. Honest. Open. Regardless of the consequences.
Better to have loved and lost…
She’d always thought the saying completely ludicrous. But as she listened to Miss Martha reminisce about her past and saw the happiness in the old woman’s eyes, Holly realized that she, herself, wanted to feel the same way. Just once.
“Miss Martha,” Holly said when the woman finished her stories and Holly pushed to her feet to leave. “I know you’ve never been one to kiss and tell, but there’s one thing that’s been driving me crazy.”
“Yes, child?”
“What was the house special?”
“SORRY, I’M LATE,” Josh said when Holly opened the door to him on Friday afternoon. “I got stuck with a feed delivery at the last minute, but if we hurry, we’ll just make the chamber of commerce meeting—” His words stumbled to a halt as Holly stepped into full view.
Texas Fever Page 17