The Barefoot Summer

by Carolyn Brown

  “Mama never wanted a big house until sale time. Then she would have liked a big dining room so we could have the top bidders in the house for a private supper.”

  “Sale time?” she asked.

  “We have a cattle sale in the fall. We cull the herd. There’s a sale barn on the north side of the property. I’ll show it to you sometime. It has stalls for the cattle we want to sell, a balcony for the buyers, and a ring for the auctioneer to bring in the merchandise. It usually starts on Friday, and Saturday night when it’s over, we have a huge party for everyone in the community.”

  “I’d love to see it, and a cattle sale—it sounds like fun,” she said. “Do folks get to attend whether they buy anything or not?” She finished making the salad and set it on the table.

  He slapped the steaks on the grill. “That’s right. Everyone looks forward to the Kramer party every year. We’ve got a couple of hands who smoke a beef, and the women all bring side dishes.”

  “Like a huge potluck?”

  “Something like that.” He circled her waist with his hands and moved her away from the bar into the kitchen nook.

  She was sure that later when she examined her skin, his handprint would have left a mark from the sheer heat that radiated through her entire body.

  “I’m glad they didn’t build anything bigger. I like the coziness of a small house.”

  She heard every word, but she was more interested in the feelings his hand evoked. She hadn’t felt so alive in years, maybe in her entire life.

  She could see two buttery-soft brown leather recliners placed at either end of a long matching sofa facing a huge stone fireplace with bookcases on either side. The room reminded her so much of her father’s study that she got weepy eyed.

  “Do you have an office?”

  He shook his head. “I pay a CPA to take care of all the financial stuff. Once a month I take her the receipts, and every three months I pick up the paperwork for taxes. This isn’t a huge operation, Kate. Nothing like your oil company. By Texas standards, it’s a hobby farm. I run about two hundred head of cattle. We grow our own hay, and I have one full-time employee who lives in a trailer here—Johnny was born on the ranch.”

  “And the rest of your employees?”

  “Live in the area and drive to work. I hire a lot of high school and college kids for summer work and for the cattle sale in the fall, which is a small affair when you consider what some sales involve,” he said.

  He hit a button on the microwave, and the aroma of cheesy potatoes mixed with that of the grilled steak filled the room. Conrad had not cooked, so this scenario was a first time for her, and she liked it.

  When the steaks and potatoes were on the table, Waylon bowed his head and said a quick grace. “Mama insisted on us giving thanks. It was ingrained so deeply into my being that I still do it without thinking.”

  “That’s nice.” She smiled.

  Maybe she should give him the letters after all. It appeared that he genuinely wanted the case settled, and what was in those letters from Iris to Darcy could help him do that, but she wanted to see what was going to happen with that will before she made up her mind.

  “I have ice cream for dessert. Would you like to take it and coffee to the living room?” he said when they’d finished their supper.

  “Thanks for the offer, but it’s getting late, Waylon. If we’re going to have a repeat of this day, then maybe I’d better go on home. Besides, I’m too full for dessert. I’ll help you get things cleaned up, though,” she said.

  “Not necessary. It’ll all go into the dishwasher. I’ll walk you out to your car. Then I can look for you tomorrow, for sure?”

  “Yes, you can,” she answered. “What time?”

  “Ten o’clock is fine. We have to wait for the dew to dry so the hay doesn’t mold when it’s stacked in the barns.”

  He escorted her through the kitchen and the screened porch with his hand on the small of her back. It was such a simple gentlemanly gesture, but it sent her on a roller coaster of emotions, from worry that this was all staged to draw more information about Conrad out of her to plain old hot desire.

  Has he talked about Conrad one time tonight? the voice in her head asked. Has he asked you to confess to anything?

  Don’t confuse me, Kate argued. I’ve been conned before.

  Kate bent to pick up her sandals and tripped over her own two feet. She reached out for something, anything at all, to break her fall, but all she got was an armful of air. Instantly, Waylon’s strong arms were around her, steadying her and drawing her to his chest. She looked up to thank him, but before she could say a word, he had tucked his rough knuckles under her chin. She barely had time to moisten her lips before his mouth closed on hers in a fiery kiss that glued her feet firmly to the soft carpet under them.

  “Wow!” she said when the kiss ended.

  “Yes,” he drawled. “I’ve wanted to do that since I met you.”

  Common sense said that she should go to the car. Her heart wanted to stick around and see if the next kiss could possibly be as good as the first.

  “I have to go,” she whispered as she took a step back.

  “You aren’t angry, are you?”

  She shook her head. Why would she be upset about a kiss like that? “No, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Will you pay me in kisses? I don’t need the money.

  He walked her the rest of the way to her vehicle and brushed a sweeter kiss across her lips after he’d opened the door. “Text me when you get home so I know you made it all right.”

  “Will do,” she said, not trusting herself to say more.

  She drove all the way home and had parked in front of the cabin before she realized that she’d left her sandals lying in his yard. She was still barefoot.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Amanda climbed the three flights of outside steps to her apartment, opened the door, and flipped the light switch. It was only six o’clock, but dark clouds covered the sky, making her little home as dark as midnight. The doctor’s visit had gone well, and she didn’t have to come back for two weeks. Time for a quick shower.

  She’d had lunch in the back room with Aunt Ellie and Wanda after the appointment. They’d talked about the baby, about the weather, but she didn’t mention the argument from the night before. There was no need to upset Aunt Ellie. God was going to answer her prayers and give her the cabin.

  So why did she feel like eating railroad spikes and spitting out thumbtacks? Everything was fine.

  She picked up pictures scattered around the living room one by one. Conrad smiled back at her from every one of them. She gathered them up and laid them on the coffee table. With one hand on her back and using the arm of the sofa as a brace, she lowered her body to a sitting position. Then she started to study the pictures. Her eyes sparkled in every one of them, but Conrad’s looked bored in all the ones after the wedding.

  “I was so happy,” she whispered, “and such a fool. Why did you marry me, anyway? You had Gracie, and she’s a beautiful soul.”

  No answers fell from heaven to land in her lap, but a loud clap of thunder did startle her.

  “I haven’t even changed the sheets on the bed since he was here.” She stood and paced in a circle through the tiny space. “You came to my bed after you’d been with other women. Not Kate and maybe not even Jamie in the past few weeks, but who knows what other hussy slept with you? I can’t stay here with your pictures staring at me.”

  She’d planned to take a shower to get rid of that lotion the ob-gyn had used, and quite possibly to spend the night in her apartment, but the thought turned her stomach. She could throw the pictures in the trash, but the trash man didn’t come until the end of the week.

  Trudging back through the living room, she picked up her purse and turned off the light. When the door was locked, she headed back south to the cabin. Even with the arguments, she felt more at home there than she did in Wichita Falls.

  The heavy summer rain on t
he road obliterated everything from her sight except a vision of Conrad in those pictures in her mind. In the next half hour’s slow progress, she finally admitted to herself that there were probably no divorces. She was nothing more than the third wife of a polygamist who’d married her because she was gullible.

  At Dundee the rain slowed to a drizzle, and by the time she got to Mabelle, the skies were clear, but the sun had set and it was dark. Stars twinkled around a three-quarter moon. Conrad had loved looking at the moon with her out on the minuscule balcony at her apartment. Had it all been a farce, or were some of those tender moments the real deal? Now she’d never know. She wasn’t sure she even wanted the answer.

  She had hoped that she could slip into the cabin and go right to her room. She didn’t want to argue or to even see those other two that night. She wanted to lie in her bed, stare through the darkness at the ceiling, and beg God to help her find closure. Kate’s Cadillac pulled up in front of the cabin at the same time Amanda did, canceling that idea.

  Jamie was sitting in a rocker on the porch with her bare feet propped on the railing.

  “This is not closure. This is another argument,” Amanda muttered as she got out of her truck and started across the yard with Kate on her heels.

  “Where in the hell have y’all been?” Jamie asked. “Better yet, what have you been doing, Kate? You are barefoot.”

  “I worked for Waylon driving a hay truck all afternoon, and then I had supper with him. Amazing steak! You should have tasted the pepper poppers. And I get paid for driving the hay truck anytime I want to work,” Kate answered, her tone so happy that it shocked Amanda.

  “Why would you do that kind of work?” Amanda gasped. “And where are your shoes?”

  “I remembered them when I was halfway home and didn’t want to go back and get them because I didn’t want Waylon to know his kiss affected me like that,” she answered. Words spilled out of her almost as if she were Gracie.

  “Sweet angels in heaven.” Jamie rolled her eyes. “You better start at the beginning.”

  “Before I even get a shower?” Kate grinned.

  “Before you do anything. You can’t be sleeping with the enemy.” Amanda slapped the arm of the rocking chair. “Or maybe you are doing this to throw suspicion on us and get it off you. You sure that you didn’t kill Conrad?”

  “For the last time, I did not kill him or have him murdered, either one. I’ve never had a sister, but I imagine this is the way siblings argue!” Kate grinned.

  “We are not sisters in any sense of the word,” Amanda said coldly. God Almighty! There was no stretch of the definition that would ever make her own kinship with either of those two women. What had Kate been drinking or smoking? Or maybe she’d done a lot more than just kiss Waylon.

  “That’s what Gracie said the first day we were here. She said we were like Sister Wives on television,” Kate said.

  “Well, I don’t share well with others, and I would never have married Conrad if I’d known he already had two wives,” Amanda said. “I think sister wives have a screw loose in their heads.”

  Jamie slapped a hand on her forehead. “Gracie’s babysitter watched that!”

  “You need to be more careful about who you leave her with,” Amanda said.

  Jamie shook a finger at her. “Don’t tell me how to raise my kid.”

  “Don’t you two get your underbritches in a wad. You are definitely not my sisters in any sense of the word, and I’m damn sure glad—even if we are fighting like siblings. Here’s what happened.” Kate started at the beginning and told the tale with every detail, including how Waylon’s kiss made her feel. “So what should I do? Give up my job because I liked his kiss?”

  Jamie pulled her dark hair up into a ponytail and secured it with a rubber band she took from the pocket of her denim shorts. “I expect that real sisters would act like we do sometimes.”

  “But real sisters would love each other sometimes, too,” Amanda said. “And I don’t intend to ever love either one of you. However, if a parent died with no will and only one piece of property, they might all get a little greedy. As for you and your summer job, Kate, go for it.”

  “I disagree. He’s just softening you up for information,” Jamie said.

  “No, he is not,” Amanda argued. “He needs help on the ranch.”

  Jamie held up a hand. “We’ll have to agree to disagree. Now, on to another subject. I got offered a job today, too.”

  Well, crap! Amanda thought. That means she’ll probably stay here.

  Kate sat up straighter. “Go on.”

  “The principal and Victor want me to apply for a position that’s open, but I only have a week or two to think about it.” Jamie paused. “I could sell my house, and I wouldn’t have that mortgage hanging over my head. I could rent something here a lot cheaper, or maybe even live in the cabin until the probate court decides what’s happening to it.”

  “Which, like Kate said, could take months, maybe years.” Amanda sat down in a rocking chair and frowned. Did living in the cabin mean the same as possession being ninety percent of the law?

  Kate nodded and headed inside. “The cabin is better off if it’s occupied. What about Gracie? You should ask her what she thinks.”

  Jamie and Amanda followed her. Amanda opened the cookie jar in the middle of the table and took out a fistful. Jamie went to the refrigerator and brought out a pitcher of freshly squeezed lemonade.

  “Of course I’ll talk to her before I make a decision. But I know what she’ll say. She’s always, always loved this place, and she’ll float on clouds if she thinks we can stay here forever,” Jamie said.

  “Well, she’s definitely like a breath of spring, spreading laughter and smiles everywhere.” Kate filled three glasses with ice cubes and set them on the table. “That lemonade looks wonderful. I haven’t had the real thing in years.”

  “Looks good to me, too,” Amanda said. “About last night and all this arguing?”

  Kate poured three glasses full of lemonade. “No one can live in the same house twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and not disagree. It’s not possible. Doesn’t matter if it’s a married couple, a parent-sibling situation, or an insane one like we have. We are only here for the summer. At the end of it, we’ll split and go our separate ways. You two might stay in touch since you’ll be raising half siblings, but I’ll have no connection with you.”

  “Not even for a Christmas card?” Jamie asked.

  “Well, maybe that much, and maybe you’ll invite me for Gracie’s birthdays or graduation,” Kate said.

  Jamie threw up a hand. “Don’t have her growing up so fast. She’s the only baby I ever get. I want to savor every moment.”

  “You should,” Kate said.

  “And my baby? Are you coming to his birthday parties and graduation?” Amanda asked.

  “If you invite me,” Kate answered.

  “You will be invited.” Amanda sipped at her lemonade. “This is a big jump from what we are talking about, but I went to my apartment and I looked at Conrad’s pictures. It was in his eyes.”

  “What?” Jamie asked.

  “I thought it was a twinkle, but when I really studied him, it was something else, like you see on those big game hunters on television when they bag a tiger or a huge white-tailed deer. I can’t describe it.”

  “How did it make you feel?” Kate asked.

  “Used,” Amanda said without hesitation. “Do you feel Conrad in this house? I don’t. I came here hoping to feel him, but I never have. At first all I had was anger at y’all and then at him.” She sighed. “This is going to sound corny, but I think Iris is smiling that we are here and we’re finding out about him.”

  Kate would probably have something to say about that, but Amanda didn’t care. She wasn’t going to let either of them intimidate her.

  “I believe she is,” Jamie said.

  Amanda glanced at her and then back at Kate, expecting some kind of superintelligent remark
about the dead being dead—forever, amen.

  Kate shrugged. “I agree, Amanda. I have no idea about what happens to good folks in eternity, but it would be nice if Iris and Darcy could see that things didn’t go Conrad’s way.”

  Amanda could hardly believe her ears. “Well, thank you for that.”

  “It’s just my opinion.” Kate yawned.

  Kate took a long shower and was on her way to her bedroom when she noticed that someone had left the kitchen light on, so she went to turn it off. Jamie was sitting at the table with a cup of hot tea in front of her.

  “Still pondering the idea of a drastic move?” Kate asked. “Did you talk to your grandmother about it?”

  “Yes, I did, and she told me to think about me and Gracie before I leap. Sometimes I turn a blind eye to common sense and don’t check to see if I’m leaping into fire or water,” Jamie answered.

  “You have to do what your heart tells you,” Kate said. “Things happen in our lives to turn us around. I’ve never believed in fate or karma or any of that stuff, but I do believe in our choices directing our future.”

  Amanda had gone into the bathroom right behind Kate and now joined them with a big white towel wrapped around her head and a terry robe belted above her pregnant tummy. “And that means?”

  “Think back to the most horrible moments in your life and the happiest ones. Didn’t they both have a bearing on who you are right now?” Kate asked.

  Jamie pushed the cup of tea back. “I saw a lawyer right after Christmas last year. He told me how much it would take for me to get a divorce—I was saving my money.”

  “What has that got to with what Kate said?” Amanda asked.

  “Just going there made me happy, even though I was terrified. It gave me back some of my power. I understand what she is saying,” Jamie answered.

  “When were you going to divorce him?” Amanda asked.

  “I’m not sure I would have gone through with it. Gracie loved her dad, and even having a part-time father was more than I had as a kid.”