Trouble in Dixie

by Becky McGraw

  When Gabe and Karlie came down the steps in front of the station, of course they were arm in arm, as usual. Instead of getting back in the passenger seat beside Katie, Karlie and Gabe both sat in the back seat together, Karlie stood and shoved Sarge over to the door, so they could sit next to each other. Katie met Karlie’s eyes in the mirror when she sat back down, and saw blatant happiness in her sister’s eyes. Katie was determined she was going to find the same kind of happiness in her life, and soon.

  With a forceful motion, she put the truck into gear and backed out of the slot, then pulled forward and headed out of the parking lot. She followed Gabe’s directions to get to the lake, and was lost in her own thoughts, when Gabe said suddenly, “Hey stop at the store, we need to pick up some groceries.”

  Katie looked around and didn’t see a store, she just saw a gas station and convenience store up on the right. He leaned over the seat and pointed, then said, “There…stop there, they have the basics. I’ll got back to town to the Piggly Wiggly tomorrow.” She guided the truck in and stopped in front of the store, and he got out, then came back a few minutes later with two sacks.

  Karlie groaned and said, “He probably paid a mint for all that crap, we should’ve stopped at the Pig on the way here.”

  “We can go back…” Katie offered, although she wanted to start her mini-vacation more than she wanted to eat.

  “He’ll work it out, until tomorrow. Gabe’s a good cook, believe it or not,” she snorted.

  He opened the door just then, and handed Karlie the bags then jumped in beside her and shut the door. With a big smile, he said, “Let the relaxation begin!” then took off the ugly tan Stetson that went with the uniform and tossed it on the floorboard, then ran his hands through his dark curly hair.

  Karlie reached up and pulled his hands down and purred, “Here, sugar, let me do that for you,” then she slid over onto his lap, shoved her fingers into his hair, and latched her lips on his.

  Holy shit, Katie thought, if I have to watch that all weekend, it’s gonna be pure hell. She avoided looking in the mirror, as she cranked the truck and pulled back on the road. A few minutes later, she pulled up in front of the adorable little cottage with the red door and turned off the engine. Looking around, she saw two canoes propped on the left side of the house, and a section of what looked to be a huge deck jutting off the side of the house. Down the hill, there was a floating wooden dock with a small motorboat tied there. Nirvana, she thought, and sighed peacefully.

  Karlie leaned up over the seat and put her hand on Katie’s shoulder then asked, “Whatcha think, sis?”

  “Beautiful…looks like just what I need,” she said softly.

  ***

  It had been a week and a half, and Tommy still couldn’t erase the image of Katie’s tortured face when he’d left her in that parking lot at the rodeo arena, from his mind. He also couldn’t remove the memory of how incredible it had felt to be inside of her, when they made love in his truck.

  His body reacted as unbidden images replayed in his head, and Tommy groaned then tossed the last hay bale from the flat bed into the shed. He couldn’t get the beautiful redhead out of his head, or his heart. As much as his brain told him she was bad news, and he needed to stay away from her, his heart told him to go find her and make things right. That particular organ, above all others ached every time he thought about her. And she’d been right, she was bothering him, almost every minute, of every day, since the last time he’d seen her.

  Calling out Maggie’s name in the throes of ecstasy had been a real bonehead move, even though he hadn’t meant to do it. He hadn’t been fantasizing about Maggie, he was fully in the moment with Katie, wanted her, not Maggie, but his guilt over that fact is probably why it happened.

  Tommy felt things for Katie that he’d never felt for Maggie, or any woman before. She excited him, intrigued him, had him mesmerized with her mind and her beauty. He enjoyed Katie’s edge, enjoyed that she pushed him to do things he wouldn’t otherwise do. She was sweet, but wild too, a conflicting mix of light and dark, and she set him on fire like nobody else ever had. He definitely was not thinking about his dead wife when he was loving Katie…he couldn’t think of anything, except how unbelievable she was.

  The reason he’d gone backstage at the rodeo was to apologize again for what happened that night in the truck, to ask Katie out to dinner to try and make it up to her. Dixie had wanted to see her yeah, but Tommy had wanted to see her more. To find her sucking face with that burly blond cowboy in the hall had sent him spiraling into hell, on many levels.

  His anger and the pain in his chest had gotten the better of him, and even though Dixie was right there beside him, he wanted to knock the smug smile off that cowboy’s face more than anything else at that moment. Tommy had also been afraid that he’d made a mistake thinking that she cared about him, that their lovemaking in the truck had meant something to her. Those things combined made him overreact, and say things that probably made redemption impossible now.

  Hopping down off the trailer, Tommy went around to the truck and cranked it up to go get another load of bales. Jud was already on his way back with a load. They were two-timing the trips, to get done faster. He’d been at this all afternoon, and he was sweaty and tired and needed a shower and a beer. Maybe if he drank the edge off of the feelings that were ripping him to shreds, he could get some sleep tonight, something that had been in short supply for almost two weeks.

  He’d been such an ass to everyone on the ranch, they were avoiding him like he had a communicable disease, even Dixie and Cookie were avoiding him. He pulled the truck to a stop by the baling machine and was about to get down when his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. Reaching inside, he pulled it out and said sharply, “Yeah?”

  “Tommy?” a soft familiar voice said on the other end of the line.

  Relief and a weak thread of hope pushed through him and he said, “Katie?”

  “Karlie…Katie’s, um…out,” she told him haltingly, then hurried on to ask, “I was wondering if you and Dixie wanted to come out to the lake for the weekend? We’re just hanging out here relaxing.”

  He huffed out a breath and asked, “Is Katie there?” unsure if he wanted her to be or not. Although he needed to talk to her, clear the air, he was afraid she wouldn’t want to see him.

  “Yeah, she’s here for the weekend too,” Karlie said hesitantly.

  “You know she probably doesn’t want to see me, right?” he asked with dread in his tone.

  “She might think she doesn’t want to see you, but she needs to see you…trust me,” Katie said firmly. “You two have some things to work out, and you can’t do that three hundred miles apart.”

  Tommy sat there staring at the huge stack of hay bales he still had to move yet today, and contemplated what he should do…what he wanted to do was drop everything and run, not walk to Bowie, but he had Dixie to think about too. He didn’t want her to witness a scene, or know that he and Katie were anything other than friends. “I don’t know, Karlie….”

  “C’mon Tommy, loosen up those drawers of yours and breathe for a change. You probably need a little break and Dixie does too. I have Sarge out here, and he misses Snuggles,” she said with a chuckle, then added, “And I miss Dixie.”

  “Okay,” he agreed before he could change his mind. “I have to go get cleaned up and get us packed, but I’ll be there in a few hours. I hope I don’t regret this, Karlie,” he said darkly then disconnected the phone.

  Dixie was bouncing on the truck seat, as much as she could in her seatbelt. When he’d gone to the house to ask her if she wanted to go, she’d squealed so loud he thought he might have lost a little of his hearing. She’d started school again this week, so he knew she was as stressed out as he was, and really could use some fun. He hadn’t been called to the principal’s office this week, so she deserved a treat too. “Thank you for being a good girl at school this week, sugar,” he told her and glanced over at her with a smile.

>   “You’re welcome, daddy…I’m trying really hard,” she said seriously.

  “Well, you’re doing good so far, darlin’. Keep up the good work,” he told her.

  “Katie told me I could come back to the Double B and ride again, if I was good…” she said with a huge grin.

  His breath hitched at the mention of Katie’s name, and his heart squeezed thinking that Katie had been trying to help him with Dixie. “That’s good, honey…you had fun when you went there?”

  “Oh, my god, yes…we had a blast! They have a pony there named Clem that is the bestest pony in the world! He loves me!” she said excitedly, her blue eyes shining in the dim interior of the truck.

  “Better than your pony?” he asked with a snort.

  “Nah, Buster is the best, but Clem is just as good, and I’m gonna learn to rope on him, when I ride better. Katie said so.”

  “Did she now? What else did Katie say?” he asked with her name rolling over his tongue. He savored it and sucked in a breath as memories of their night in this truck flashed back through his mind and he hardened.

  “She said that I’m a good dog trainer,” Dixie told him proudly.

  “Oh, yeah? How does she know that?” Tommy asked his precocious little girl.

  “She’s teaching me how to train Snuggles to sit and stay, then she’s gonna show me how to make him fetch too.”

  Wow, Katie really had been spending time with Dixie, a lot more than he had, that was for sure. Tommy was going to change that…Dixie needed him…needed more of his attention. Maybe that would help her do better in school too.

  “Maybe she’ll teach me how to swim this weekend too,” Dixie said eagerly.

  Fear clutched his throat, and then guilt poured through him, because he hadn’t taken the time to teach her to swim. “I’ll try to teach you to swim this weekend, sugar. You be careful around the water, promise me…”

  “I promise, daddy…don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” she said with a smile.

  The cool automated voice of the GPS mounted on the dash announced that they their destination was ahead on the left, so Tommy slowed down and started looking at address numbers. His headlights danced over a silver box with the right number, and he pulled into the driveway and killed the engine. He couldn’t see a whole lot in the dark, but what he saw was a perfect little lake cottage with a bright red front door.

  The porch light was on and he saw a few sturdy whitewashed wooden rockers there, with various pieces of clothing draped over them. “Let’s go, punkin, fun’s a waiting!” he told Dixie brightly, then slid out of the truck and grabbed their duffle bags from the bed, before they walked to the door. He saw two yellow canoes leaning against the side of the house, and thought that would be something fun to do. He hadn’t been canoeing in years. They walked up the three steps to the front door and he knocked.

  Nobody answered the door and he heard faint voices in the distance, and figured they must be out back by the lake. When he walked around the corner of the house, he saw a large fire surrounded by stones off to the right by the next door property, down by the lake. He grabbed Dixie’s hand and helped her go down the steep hill, and then they walked over to the fire.

  He saw Gabe and Karlie first sitting on a log holding wire coat hangers stabbed through hot dogs, twirling them expertly over the fire. Then his eyes moved to the log next to them, and his heart twisted in his chest and bile surged up into his throat. Katie sat there with a towel wrapped around her shoulders, along with some slick looking guy’s arm. The guy had a wire with two hot dogs on it, roasting in the fire.

  Karlie jumped up and clapped, “Glad ya’ll finally made it, you hungry, Dix?” she said and leaned down to give Dixie a hug. Tommy was still in shock, just staring at Katie and that guy sitting over there with his arm around her. It took her several minutes of smiling and talking with him, before she finally dragged her eyes away from him and noticed he and Dixie were there. She stood up, the towel fell from her shoulders, and Tommy stopped breathing. The red bikini, if you could call it that, barely covered her anywhere, and it highlighted the tattoo she’d gotten on her hip. It flickered evilly in the firelight, and he was mesmerized by it.

  She took a few careful steps toward him, until she was in front of him with her arms wrapped around her waist. “What are you doing here?” she demanded angrily.

  “I was invited,” he told her flatly, then looked over her shoulder at the guy she’d been sitting with, whose eyes were fixed on Katie’s ass. He growled and jerked her to the other side of the fire. “Karlie invited Dixie and I to come out for the weekend,” he grated.

  “Why the hell would she do that—” she stopped mid sentence and cocked an eyebrow, as her lips pinched. “I’m gonna kill her,” she hissed, then pushed him aside and stomped up to the back deck, where her sister and Dixie had gone with their luggage.

  Tommy decided to find out who the prick she’d been so cozy with was, so he pulled off his t-shirt and walked over to sit on the log beside where he was sitting. He leaned over and stuck out his hand, and introduced himself, “Tommy Tucker.”

  “Chase Rhodes,” he took Tommy’s hand and shook it firmly, then told him with a grin he was sure could melt panties at a hundred paces, it didn’t work on Tommy. “I’m the next door neighbor.”

  “Nice,” Tommy said insincerely.

  “What do you do, Tommy?” Chase Rhodes asked him with a raised eyebrow.

  “Rancher,” he said shortly, “How about you?”

  Tommy had him pegged as a panty-waist banker, he was too slick to be a working man. Those muscles of his didn’t come from hard work, they came from pumping iron in a gym somewhere, and his tan looked like it was the spray-on variety. His hand, when he’d shaken Tommy’s, was soft as a woman’s.

  “I’m in oil…I’m vice-president of my dad’s drilling company,” he said evenly.

  “You still work on the derricks?” Tommy asked him barely able to contain his snort.

  “Nah, I’m in the office now, but I did when I was younger. Dad doesn’t believe in handing out shit,” he said with a chuckle and turned the two weenies in the fire again.

  “Katie and I were going back out on the boat for a ride, you and your daughter want to go with us?” he asked congenially.

  Jealousy punched Tommy in the gut, so when he responded it was breathless, “I don’t think so, but thank you.” His hands clenched and unclenched and he sucked in a pained breath.

  Chase shrugged then smiled. “It’s a beautiful night…”

  “Yeah it is…is there a beer around here somewhere?” Tommy asked because he definitely needed one, or a six-pack.

  “Think they’re in the fridge in the house,” he said and sat up then grabbed the two buns from the napkin beside the log and slid the hot dogs off inside. “I’ll get you one, I need to bring Katie her hot dog anyway,” he told him and stood. “I’ll be right back.”

  With that the tall, muscle-bound geek headed off toward the house. Tommy ground his teeth, then got up and grabbed one of the hangers he’d seen by Karlie’s chair earlier and rammed a wiener on the end of it and stuck it in the fire. Gabe walked up behind him and clapped a hand on his shoulder then said in a low voice, “He’s just the neighbor, she just met him earlier…there’s nothing going on.”

  Tommy nodded and twirled the hot dog in the fire then said, “She’s a single woman, and it’s a free world, if that’s what she wants, what can I do about it?”

  “I don’t think it’s what she wants, Tommy…but she’s a little pissed at you, I think. She didn’t say why, but she’s been in the room at our cabin crying for a week and a half. I’m just glad she finally came out of it,” Gabe told him and guilt pierced Tommy’s chest and he rubbed his sternum.

  She’d been crying? Over him? Jesus, hurting her was the last thing he wanted to do, but it looked like he was doing a damned good job of it by being a selfish bastard and dragging her into his fucked up life.