Trouble in Dixie

by Becky McGraw

  “Definitely, Kate…I want this too. We’re a good team in whatever we do, and this won’t be any different,” she said with sincerity.

  Katie grinned and hooked her arm through Karlie’s, then they walked out the door, and got into her truck. “Let’s go see our new operation then. The Double K?”

  “Of course…the Double U would be cute, but it won’t work anymore since I’m Kelley now,” she said with a laugh.

  Thirty minutes later, Katie wasn’t as optimistic about the location of their new operation, as she stared at the overgrown fields and broken down fences. The barn looked okay, it had ten stalls, but it needed some work, as did the bunkhouse. With a little elbow grease, and a few repairs, the bunkhouse would do as living quarters, until she could build a small house. The shack that Gabe had mentioned wasn’t fit for anything except a bulldozer. It was leaning to the left, and looked like a stiff breeze would take it down.

  “I can get Luke’s tractor over here and bush hog all this scrub, and get the pastures cleaned up. We’ll probably get some good hay out of it too,” Gabe told them enthusiastically.

  “Can you get the name of that contractor that they used to rebuild their barn too?” Katie asked and shook her head. “He’s gonna have his hands full out here.”

  “I think he’s working on the house for Jess and Wade right now, and they’re pretty hot and heavy for him to finish it, so we’ll have to find someone else. I’ll ask him for a recommendation.”

  “We’re putting the horse before the cart here, I think,” Karlie said and huffed out a breath, then added, “We need to contact the owner and see what he wants for it, and if Katie can afford it. From the looks of things though, I think the purchase price is not going to the be a problem, getting it up to par will be.”

  Gabe pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at it, then told them, “Of course there’s no cell service out here, so we’ll have to go back to town, or go to Luke and Cassie’s to make the call.”

  Katie really did not want to go back out to the Double B…it would just remind her of Tommy and the night he’d shattered her heart. “How about we go back to town and I buy us dinner at the Blue Bird?”

  Karlie whooped, then said with a laugh, “Looks like Gabe isn’t going to have to cook tonight.”

  He cut his eyes at Karlie and smirked. “I was going to eat your mac and cheese and hot dogs tonight, so I didn’t plan on cooking anyway,” he said teasingly, then looked at Katie and added, “I’m trying to teach her how to cook, but I’m doing it at the risk of my stomach.”

  “There’s a lot of things I do quite well,” Karlie said and cast him a sexy glance, then added with a snort, “But cooking ain’t one of ‘em.”

  He chuckled then belly laughed, “That damn sound is one thing you do well, and it kills me every time.” Katie knew that Gabe got tickled every time her sister snorted…because it really was a snort…a pig-sty, nasal dysfunction snort.

  Karlie sniffed and crossed her arms under her breasts then stuck out her lip. At that point, Katie laughed too, because her sister looked ridiculous. Gabe shoved his ugly tan Stetson back on his head and growled, then walked over and picked her up and swung her around, before he kissed her silly.

  Katie’s heart tweaked painfully, and she turned away from them to study the barn. The place was looking better and better to her, even if she had to she’d sleep in the barn, until she could get a small cabin built. She couldn’t take seeing the love that flowed between her sister and her husband in such close quarters, because it just constantly reminded her of how empty her own life was now.

  After a minute, she turned back around and forced a smile then told Gabe, “Okay, I saved you from the dreaded mac and cheese, and I know it’s dreadful, because I’ve been forced to eat it myself once or twice, so let’s go back to the Bird and call on this place.”

  Gabe chuckled then pulled her over into their little snuggle fest and squeezed her shoulders, then kissed her hair. “You got it kiddo, let’s go,” he said then took a double take at her hair and added, “I’m glad you went back red, by the way…blond on you was just too…weird.”

  “Gee, thanks…that’s me, weird,” she told him with a grin and his face flushed. “I’m just kidding, Gabe…I know it looked awful, it was an impulsive thing. My wonderful sister has pulled me back into the twin set now, so we’re good.”

  “Damned straight, and don’t you try to escape again,” Karlie said with a chuckle, then teased with a glance at Gabe out of the corner of her eye, “How the hell can we switch places, if we don’t look alike anymore?”

  Gabe, who had an arm over each of their shoulders, as they walked toward the truck, stopped cold and dropped his arms to his sides. His face was a mask of horror, and he swallowed a couple of times, then he said softly, “Don’t you ever, ever kid about that again.”

  Karlie turned to him and slid her arms around his waist then kissed his cheek. “What, wouldn’t you know your own wife, sugar?”

  He swallowed again, and Katie decided to mess with him a little too, so she sauntered over to him and put her arms around his waist too and kissed his other cheek, “Yeah, sugar, wouldn’t you know your own wife?”

  “Ya’ll stop this shit, now!” he said incredulously, and stepped back, then grabbed Katie and jerked her into his arms and put his mouth on hers, while she pushed on his chest to get away.

  Karlie growled and slugged him in the shoulder, then pulled them apart and glared at him. Katie wiped her arm across her mouth, and stood there stunned.

  Gabe grinned and a dimple popped in his cheek, as he looked at Katie first, then Karlie, and said, “Nice, but definitely not my wife,” before he gently pulled Karlie into his arms and kissed her senseless. He ended the kiss and pulled back then said, “Don’t like tricks, huh, sugar?”

  “No, I don’t…” Karlie pouted then dropped her chin to her chest.

  Gabe tipped her chin up, and kissed her gently, and said, “Then don’t play them on me.”

  “We won’t,” they both said in unison, and Katie wiped her mouth again with the back of her arm.

  Well, there was one thing she knew for sure now, there was absolutely nothing there for her with Gabe, not that she’d wondered. That kiss had been like kissing her brother, if she had one, and it disgusted her.

  Katie laughed and told him, “Point well made.” Her sister shot her a hot look, then tightened her arm around her husband’s waist, as they started toward the truck again.

  After they had dinner at the Blue Bird, they made the call to the owner of the land and found out it was being offered at a ridiculously good price. It was in an estate, and the owner was an heir who lived on the east coast, and he just wanted to get rid of it. He knew it was in bad shape, so he was willing to negotiate even more.

  Although Katie felt a little bad about negotiating with the seller, she did, and they price they settled on meant Katie could buy it outright, and still have enough left to get the buildings refurbished. The owner was going to have his attorney draw up the sale contract and overnight it to Katie.

  When they discussed buying stock, Karlie told her she’d been saving the money she got for taking care of Sarge, the bulldog she was being paid five thousand a month by an estate to care for, she was going to use that and her rodeo winnings to help buy stock for the operation. Katie was going to use her earnings from the Charity Rodeo to buy a good stud. It looked like the Double K was going to become a reality and Katie was so excited she couldn’t stand it…she had a purpose now, and was going to be able to be with her sister again.

  “After you get the contract and send it back, I’ll borrow the bush hog and tractor from Luke, so we can get those fields mowed down. Ya’ll need to look at the property and tell me what else you want cleared,” Gabe told them and forked the last of the pecan pie he and Karlie had shared into his mouth.

  “Hey, that was mine,” Karlie said and pushed her shoulder into him.

  “Too bad, too sad, sugar…yo
u snooze you lose,” he snorted, which caused her to snort, and him to laugh.

  With happiness bubbling in her tone, Katie suggested, “We could ride JoJo and Laramie over there from the Double B tomorrow and check out the property, if you want, sis.”

  They were sitting in a booth close to the kitchen, and the cook evidently put some fried chicken down in the fryer, because the smell wafted to Katie’s nose, and her stomach lurched. She put a hand over her mouth and vaulted out of the booth, then ran for the bathroom.

  Jesus, she thought, she needed to get over this flu or bug, or whatever the hell it was. All this throwing up was getting old. Katie pushed open the stall door and just made it to the toilet before she lost her dinner. Karlie ran in behind her and held her hair back, while she dry heaved.

  “You okay, Kate? This is the second time today…” her sister said with concern in her voice.

  Katie sucked in a breath and let it out slowly, waiting until her stomach stopped somersaulting, then she said, “I think I have a bug or something…maybe an ulcer. I’m fine otherwise though. Just need to rest some, probably, it’ll be gone in a few days.”

  “If it’s not, you’re going to the damned doctor!” Karlie told her vehemently.

  “Yes, ma’am,” she said weakly, then pushed up to her feet. “Honestly, I just think it’s all the stress that I’ve been under lately…I need to relax.”

  “You’ve been in bed all week, but you sure weren’t relaxing. All that damned crying probably did this to you. I’m asking Cole if we can use his lake house this weekend, we could all probably use a break,” Karlie told her and squeezed her shoulders.

  “I haven’t ever been there, and haven’t been swimming in years,” she told Karlie with a nervous laugh.

  “Hell, you were a lifeguard when you were chasing after Joe Morgan, you remember how to swim,” Karlie reminded her.

  “Yeah, I remember it all. I worked my ass off that summer, and he wound up with the blond with big boobs who hung out there all summer.”

  Joe had been the head lifeguard at the public pool in Henrietta, and she’d skipped rodeoing for the summer, so she could get a job at the pool, just to be near him. Stupid teenage hormones, she thought, and then compared it to her situation with Tommy and figured some things never changed. With a shake of her head, she walked to the sink and rinsed her mouth and splashed her face, then they walked back to the table where Gabe studied them with concern.

  He set down the salt shaker he’d been twirling in his fingers and asked, “You okay, Kate?”

  “Yeah, fine…got a bug or ulcer or something. I just need to relax, the last few weeks have been hell,” she huffed out a breath then slid into the booth across from her sister and Gabe. “Karlie said she’s going to see if Cole and Sabrina mind if we go to the lake house this weekend, I think a little R&R would help.”

  “Done,” he said and nudged Karlie back out of the booth, then he strode across the diner to where his sister, Sabrina, was taking an order at a table. They talked for a minute, then he turned back toward them smiling, as he returned, holding a key up in his right hand.

  “Our key to paradise,” Gabe said in a low sexy tone, then shot Karlie a sizzling look.

  “Thanks, babe,” Karlie said and smiled at Katie, “Neighbor has a boat we can probably borrow too, so we can teach you to ski.”

  “Um…I don’t ski, sis. I think I’ll stick to sunning and maybe some fishing,” she told her adventurous sister. That was up Karlie’s alley, not hers. Hitting the water going fifty miles an hour did not appeal to Katie.

  “I’ll talk you into it, watch…Gabe taught me,” she smiled up at him adoringly and squeezed his arm, then grinned widely at Katie, and told her with a waggle of her eyebrows, “The neighbor is pretty hot too…maybe he’ll be there this weekend.”

  Gabe growled and elbowed her, and Karlie let out an oomph, then giggled. “Just sayin’…” she said, then purred, and kissed his neck, “But nobody is as hot as my hubby…nobody.”

  Katie launched up to her feet, then slammed her hands down on the table and leaned toward them, to say in a low fierce tone, “Enough! Get a room you two!”

  Karlie’s eyes were hurt, and Gabe’s eyebrows shot up and he leaned back. She huffed out a breath then said, “I’m just crazy, ignore me…” Katie told them in a whisper, then turned and walked toward the door and shoved it open to walk out into the cool night air. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She really did feel crazy…and guilty as hell for coveting the relationship her sister had with her husband.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Katie shoved Sarge to the side, where he sat on her bed on top of the shorts she was trying to pack in her duffle bag. He grunted then slowly got up and stretched, then moved over a half a foot and plopped down again. She smiled and scratched his head, and his long floppy tongue darted out to lick her hand. With a laugh, she wiped his doggie slobber on her jean shorts, then finished packing. “You’re gonna enjoy the lake too, big guy…if you’re not too lazy to go swimming,” she told the ugly, but adorable bull dog.

  “Karlie, where’s Sarge’s leash?” she yelled to her sister, who was running in and out of the cabin putting stuff into the truck. She saw her through the doorway, stop mid-stride, then spin in a circle, before she threw her hand up like she remembered finally, before she disappeared. A minute later, she walked into the doorway with his leash, and a small life jacket.

  “What’s that,” Katie asked and pointed to the red life jacket with paw prints on it.

  “Sarge’s life vest…don’t want him drowning,” she said with a big grin, then walked over and strapped it on him, and clipped on his leash.

  “I swear you and that dog are the ones married,” Katie snorted then ruffled his saggy skin again.

  “I love Sarge…he’s my other best man…aren’t you, baby?” she said and leaned down and let him lick her face.

  Katie groaned and hefted her duffle over her shoulder. “We ready?”

  “Yeah, I just need to get the overnight package, so we can mail the contract back on the way. We need to hurry before the post office closes. We’re gonna pick Gabe up at the station on the way too. I packed for him, so we could get there earlier.”

  “You need help loading anything?” Katie asked feeling guilty for not helping earlier.

  “Nice time to ask, huh?” she said and Katie felt the blood rush to her face, then Karlie nudged her and said, ” I’m just kidding, let’s go!”

  Katie surveyed her twin and saw they were dressed identically, plain red bikini top and faded blue jean shorts. The only difference was the color of their flip flops. Katie’s were hot pink, and Karlie’s were yellow. “You really are taking this twin thing too far sis, we’re not twelve anymore…” she told her sister.

  “What can I say? I liked your outfit and knew it would look good on me too. We look hot…times two now,” she chortled, and linked her arm with Katie’s then pulled her through the door, with Sarge on his leash tagging behind.

  They pulled up in front of the station, and Karlie hopped down then ran inside to get Gabe. Katie sat in the truck with Sarge, who was spread out on the backseat snoring. She’d never seen a dog that snored before, but Sarge did. On the way to the station, they stopped at the post office and kissed the overnight package that held the signed contract, before Katie sent it on its way.

  Closing was going to be in a week, because she didn’t have to get financing, and the seller owned the property outright. Once the title opinion was done in a couple of days, they’d be good to go, so they set the closing up for next Friday. Katie was excited, but a little scared too. She’d sunk most of the money she had in this world into doing this, and it was scary. Sure, she had a few investments that Uncle Jerry had urged her into, but they weren’t liquid cash. If she was frugal, and she always was, she had just enough to make it through a year, so they could get their operation going.