“If you’d come to visit me more often, you might just bump into him – with a little bit of help from me.”
She grinned. “It sounds like I might enjoy that.”
We burst into giggles, and for a few moments we were back in our rodeo fan days, before rodeo became a part of our family.
“Hey. Speaking of cowboys, when’s Keith coming home?”
“In a few days, but even if the rodeo is over, he has a lot to do before then with ranching business. He’s never going to be retired if the ranch isn’t running the way he wants it to, and I want him to retire. I have to be patient.”
“The ranch isn’t going well?”
“It is,” I said. “But he’s a stickler when it comes to running things. We have to think long term. Plus, he’s been feeling a lot of pressure lately.”
“Pressure? Keith is always stone-faced calm, to me.”
“Well, he’s my husband. I get to see another side of him. I think he’s also working harder on everything just to prove he’s still got it, sis.” I told her about what the rodeo announcer had said about his age.
Marta opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but bit her lip.
“What?”
“Nothing.” She held her hands up, palms out. “I’m not getting in the middle of it.”
“Since when do you not get in the middle of anything?”
She laughed. “Well, I was just thinking, if he’s under a lot of pressure, he might need his wifey. You don’t think you ought to go back to Pillar Bluff again, do you? You could drive over and have lunch with your hubby and be back by dark. I’ll be here for the kids.”
“I don’t need to go to Pillar Bluff. The rodeo is over. He won his prize, otherwise known as a paycheck. Now he has work to do.” I wasn’t going to admit to Marta how lonely I was without Keith there, or how Peyton and I were constantly at each other’s throats.
“You miss him.”
“He’s working.” I was worried about how hard he’d been working, too, but I knew whatever he was working on was for us.
“But what kind of ranch business takes this long?”
“I’m still figuring out the horse business,” I admitted. “But it doesn’t matter. He’ll be on his way home any time.”
“I don’t see why he has to stay overnight. It’s barely a two-hour drive.”
“It would be a waste of gas to drive every day,” I said. “Honestly, what’s with you, Marta? It’s all fine. I trust Keith.”
“Do you?”
I glared at her. I tolerated a lot from my twin, knowing it was a two-way street, but I didn’t like her talking bull crap about my husband.
“Cut it out, sis.”
She huffed and drank her tea. I huffed back.
“So, what’s up with you?” I felt defensive.
She patted my hand. “You’ve been worried all week, that’s all. I’ve noticed.”
“I’ve been worried about Peyton,” I said.
“About more,” she said, ignoring my frown. “And frankly it shows in your face.”
Despite my frustration with my sister, I touched the corners of my eyes. Nothing a cold compress and an infusion of herbs wouldn’t help.
“You two are newlyweds,” she said, snapping me back to attention.
“And your point is?”
“You have to keep the spark going.”
I laughed. And everybody says I’m the crazy one. “Not that it’s any of your business, sis, but the spark’s not out.”
“Mm-hmmm,” she said, placing a hand on her hip.
“Mm-hmmm,” I said, placing both hands on my matching hips.
“Well,” she said, grabbing her spoon again and dragging it through the oatmeal. “I’m just saying that with everything Peyton is going through, she and Stevie need a dad around, and you should make him hurry home.”
“They have a dad,” I said sharply enough to make her pucker her red lips. I did the same. We were mirror images when angry. I stared that girl down until she let her shoulders drop.
“Fine,” she finally said. “I know it’s none of my business.”
“You’re right,” I said. “What my husband is doing in Pillar Bluff, and anything about our marriage, isn’t any of your business.”
“And your point?”
“Oh, whatever. You’ll say what you want anyway, so go for it.”
“Okay,” she said, not backing down. “It’s not just the kids I’m thinking about. Don’t think I’m crazy, but I know you have a little jealousy thing about rodeo queens and cowgirls, so I just thought you might be worried about him, you know—”
My heart skipped a beat, but I didn’t let it show.
“No. I don’t know. I haven’t been worried. And how dare you insinuate what I think you are.”
The chastened look on her face made me feel better, but only for a moment. I plopped down on the barstool opposite her.
“Do you really think I should be worried?”
She shrugged, and I didn’t know whether to slap her or joke it off. Of course, I couldn’t joke it off. I’d been cheated on before, and if anyone knew how a relationship could change overnight because of a cheating spouse, it was me, and Marta had witnessed my whole sad journey.
“I’m sorry for upsetting you,” she said.
“I’m not upset.” I lied, but as what she suggested sank in, I wondered.
What if some cowgirl turned his head? He was going through a lot, and I could see how the attention might catch him at a vulnerable time. But would he do that to me, the way my first husband had? I felt my cheeks go hot with the thought of it.
“Now, don’t worry,” Marta said. “I’m just trying to help.”
I shook my head, ridding myself of such thoughts. Marta was lonely, so she was stirring the pot in my marriage.
“Bless your heart,” I said. “I love you for caring, but you’re not helping.” I slapped the tea towel onto the counter. “I think what you need is a man, sissy. That way you can stay out of mine.”
She huffed. “That’s not nice.”
“Sorry,” I said.
“No, you’re not.”
I shrugged. “I’m sorry a little bit.”
She sighed. “Fine. Don’t listen to me if you don’t want to, but don’t blame me when he does what all men eventually do to their wives.”
“They do not,” I defended, praying fervently that I was right.
“And you’re right a little bit,” she said. “I do need a man, preferably a cowboy of my own. When can I meet this Quentin?”
I stared. It was hard to believe she was a grown woman for a moment, but then I couldn’t help but smile at the sincerity in her face. I thought about how long she’d been waiting to meet a good man. Maybe causing drama for me and mine was how she was dealing with it.
“This is so high school,” I said.
She smiled. “It always is.”
I laughed with her. It was way too easy to slip into old habits. Sometimes I missed those days when we were single together. I knew she did, too.
“I’ll definitely make sure you two meet.”
“Thank you,” she said. “And I’m sorry. I’m meddling, it’s true. I’m sure I’m wrong. Keith isn’t doing anything bad, but that doesn’t change the fact that newlyweds shouldn’t be apart this much.”
“True. I’m getting tired of my teddy bear. I want the real one.”
“Stop right there,” she said. “No details about your sex life.”
“So much for writing that romance novel,” I said.
We giggled like two teenagers.
“Did you know,” she said, “that in the olden days a warrior had to take a year off from battle to be with his new wife?”
“What days were those?”
She shrugged, adjusting the red frames of her blingy reading glasses and studying an old issue of Bride magazine I’d left on the counter. “I don’t know. I read it in some magazine at the shop.”
“
I do miss him,” I confessed. “But what if I go to Pillar Bluff and Violet shows up here while Keith and I are both gone?”
“Trust me. Daddy and I won’t let her near them.” I knew it was the truth.
“What would my excuse be for showing up in Pillar Bluff, again? Keith’s going to think I’m way too spontaneous.”
“Um, he already knows.”
“That’s true.” I grabbed my phone to text him. “There, now he’s expecting me.”
“Hooray! You get over there and scare those barflies away.”
I felt my smile fade. “Do you still think I should be worried? Be honest, sis.”
“That’s not what I said. Nix the barfly comment. I was being silly.”
“Right. I mean, you’re the one who is always saying nothing to be jealous of.”
“Exactly, so please forget what I said earlier. Don’t be jealous. Besides, look at you. You have nothing to be jealous about.” She ran her hands in a curvy pattern through the air.
I shook my head, trying not to be amused. “Do you realize how self-serving that sounds?”
“Well, the truth is the truth. And I think you’re beautiful.” She giggled.
My phone buzzed with a text from Keith. “I’ll leave in the morning. And I’m staying the night.”
“Now you’re talking. And you can take this. Suzie came by yesterday with it.” Suzie was our Mary Kay rep. Marta reached into her bag and offered me the brand new tube of pink lipstick.
“It came early!”
I walked over to the mirror next to the front door. The lipstick made me feel a little happier. I smiled brightly when Peyton and Pia paused on their way out the back door and Pia said, “Where did you get that lipstick?”
Pia was a girl after my own heart.
“It is pretty,” said Peyton, albeit begrudgingly. Well, what do you know?
I dug through Marta’s bag and pulled out the tube of lipstick.
“You girls come here.” I popped the lid off.
Each girl leaned forward and pursed their lips while I dabbed a little color on their pouty little mouths, enjoying this moment and knowing it would be gone in a few minutes. They popped their lips and smiled in unison, and I don’t care what anyone says, when everything else in the world is going wrong, it’s good to have one thing a girl can count on.
But Peyton needed more than lipstick to make the smile on her face glow. She needed a mom. I hoped that in her heart of hearts Peyton knew she could depend on me someday, but just as Peyton offered me her pink lipstick smile, her cell phone rang. Her face transformed to joy. I knew instantly it wasn’t because of me.
“Hello? Mom? Mom!” She whispered to all of us. “It’s my mom!”
My heart dropped to my toes. For a second, I thought of reaching out and taking the phone from Peyton, giving Violet a piece of my mind, asking her why she thought she could abandon her kids and just breeze back into their lives any time she felt like it, but Marta slapped my hand down. Instead, I had to sit there and listen to Peyton talk to her mother, shyly, not like talking to a mom should be, and then see the tears well up in her eyes as she pressed the off button.
“She had to go.” She scrunched her face. “Something about movie time.”
“Did she say where she was calling from?”
“No.” Her lip quivered. “And—she’s not coming.”
We all sat, Pia, Marta, and I, watching Peyton, nobody sure what to do. When the lonely tear trailed down her cheek, it was her best friend who pulled her into her arms, while Marta squeezed my hand in an effort, I knew, to calm my heart.
But it didn’t work. I was not calm. In fact, there might as well have been a herd of horses running inside my chest. I wasn’t going to let this woman gallop in and out of Peyton’s life without a fight. I was going to Pillar Bluff and have a talk with Keith. We needed to find her and we needed to decide together what to do about Violet’s ghost, somehow resurrected in this house. And we needed to throw away that darned phone and all the negativity attached to it. Peyton must have sensed my thoughts because when I looked at the phone, she gripped it until her delicate knuckles were white.
Chapter Nine
“Hi there,” I said to the receptionist of the Two Sycamores in Pillar Bluff. “I need a key to my husband’s room, please.”
When I told Keith I was coming, he’d arranged to have the RV taken home and moved over to the adorable bed and breakfast he knew I loved. In the room, I threw myself on the bed, exhausted. Keith was meeting with a rancher about twenty miles out of town about some horses and wouldn’t be back for a few hours. That didn’t sound anything like a clandestine affair, or like he was keeping it a secret from me, now did it?
I dialed Keith’s number on my cell. “Hi, honey. I’m here.”
“Hi, sweetheart.” His voice made me melt into a puddle. “I’m afraid I’m going to be another couple hours.”
I sighed. “It’s okay.”
“Why don’t you go shopping or something? Or to the new library. Did you know they remodeled it and it has a coffee shop? We need to bring the kids.”
“Did you say a library and coffee?” A book sounded nice, preferably one that would get me in the mood for love. I chuckled at the memory of making up cowboy hero descriptions with Marta. I had one for Keith, too, but I wasn’t sharing it with anybody.
He laughed. “Yes, and then I’ll call you when I’m on my way back to the bed and breakfast, but don’t wait on me if you want to eat.”
“That sounds like more than two hours.”
“I’ll try to be faster.”
“Okay.” Hanging up, I called my friends, Trace and Dante, at Morris House Bistro to see if they were still in town.
“Hey, guys. I’m in the mood for macaroni and cheese, and I’m in town.” They returned the message right away and told me to come right back to the kitchen. “Okay, I’m stopping at the library first, and then I’ll be over.”
At the library, I bought a coffee. I was dying to check out some books, but wasn’t sure when I’d be back to turn them in, so I settled with perusing some house design books in a quiet corner and enjoying my coffee. I could have stayed all day, but I wanted to see my friends and then, hopefully, Keith would be back. On my way out, I was surprised to bump into Judy from the rodeo. I smiled at her as I passed, but her face had a look that said she had no idea who I was. Instead, I smiled at the person who was helping her. She wore the same t-shirt Judy’s friend at the rodeo had worn.
The library was close to the bistro, so I left my car there and walked. I was still thinking about Judy as I walked toward the entrance, so, at first, I didn’t even notice who Trace had paused to talk to out on the restaurant’s patio. And then I saw him. Who could miss that rust-colored shirt I’d bought for Christmas, or those trademark boots? And guess who was sitting across from my husband?
“Adri,” I whispered.
I wanted to speed dial Marta right away, but something told me I needed to handle this on my own. I loved my sister, but I had to be my own person with my husband.
My heart was in my throat. I thought I heard sirens. I don’t know, but there might have even been smoke shooting from my nostrils and out my ears. Adri had her hand in the crook of Keith’s elbow and was dressed in one of those little country girl numbers that belonged on a very young, leggy country singer. The only problem with her outfit was that she completely pulled it off, like it was designed specifically for her lean itty-bitty body, and definitely not for my curvy one.
But this was Adri, I reminded myself. My new friend. And my husband, whom I trusted – didn’t I? And yet, there they were, together, Adri’s hand now slipping across the table to touch my husband’s.
Mercy. Am I crazy?
“Mandy?” I didn’t realize it, but I’d walked right up to his table.
I offered a weak smile. What was going on?
Keith reached out and took my hand. “Sweetheart. What are you doing here?” His voice was suddenly that of a
stranger.
Of a cheater. A swindler.
“How fun to see you again so soon,” Adri said, her eyes sparkling. Probably from her fascinating meal with my husband.
I glanced down. It looked like they hadn’t eaten, but both had half-finished glasses of iced tea. But still, why wasn’t Keith at that ranch meeting that was supposedly taking him so long? Or with me?
Adri smiled, all innocence, and I wanted to throw up. Instead, I drew myself to my full height, which in my heels was almost six feet, and smiled. Whatever was going on, the whole world didn’t need to know about it.
Instead of asking Keith what he was doing there, I said, “I just left the library and am stopping by to say hi to Trace and Dante. Didn’t I tell you what my plans were?”
Keith’s face went white as my meaning sank in, but what could he do without creating a scene?
“Mandy!” Trace appeared beside me and swept me into his arms.
“Trace!” He settled me down and I pasted on a smile, pretending I wasn’t seeing my husband sitting at lunch with a lovely young woman after lying to me about where he was.
“Are you sitting here? I can pull up a chair.”
Keith jumped up to grab a chair and Adri made a big deal about what a great idea it was. My blood was at a full boil now and by the look on Keith’s face, he’d noticed.
“Yes, have a seat, sweetheart.” He motioned toward the chair, and I thought he looked trapped.
How dumb was my husband to meet a woman here, at the restaurant of my friends? It didn’t make sense. I wanted to freak out, to scream, and to hit him over the head with my purse. That’s exactly what I would have done when I was single, but I was a married woman now. I had rights to this man, whether I decided to keep him or not. I shot him a withering look. If Adri noticed, she didn’t blink.
“No, thank you. Y’all enjoy your visit,” I said sweetly, as if I’d known all along the two were meeting. “I’m going inside to talk to Trace and Dante. It’s why I came. I’ll catch you later, cowboy.”
Trace not missing a beat, offered me his elbow and we walked through the doors of his restaurant. He led me across the gorgeous, hardwood floors and through the swinging doors into the kitchen.
The Real Thing Page 10