The Barefoot Summer

by Carolyn Brown

  “Yes, Waylon, but I’m in shock that it’s over. ‘Thank you’ seems like so little.”

  “Just doin’ my job,” he said. “I thought I’d be home on Friday, but I need to stay over until the middle of next week to get everything finalized.”

  “You’ll be home a week from Sunday for the christening, won’t you? They’re having a baby shower along with the potluck. As godparents, we will need to be there,” she said. “This isn’t a dream, is it?”

  “No, it’s real, and you are free to do whatever you want.” He chuckled. “I’ll call you tomorrow and every day I’m gone.”

  “I’ll miss you,” she said.

  “I’m glad. Good night, darlin’.”

  He’d said home, not back in Bootleg or Mabelle or at the ranch. Waylon was coming home for good, and she’d made up her mind to live in Bootleg. Things were sure enough looking up.

  With a towel around her red hair and wearing a white terry robe, Amanda padded out of the bathroom. “That felt so good, and thank you for watching her so I didn’t have to hurry.”

  “Sit down,” Kate said as she pulled a tissue from the box on the end table and wiped away the baby’s spit-up.

  “Why?” Amanda stopped in her tracks.

  “Because I’m going to deliver good news, and you can’t dance around like a wild woman when I do.”

  Amanda eased into the rocking chair.

  “It’s over. They caught Conrad’s killers.” Kate told her the whole story.

  “Katrina Gonzales is that new swimsuit model, isn’t she?” Jamie came in through the deck doors with Gracie behind her.

  “Can I take my Barbie dolls in the tub with me?” Gracie asked.

  “Go ahead and get her in the tub, and then I’ll tell you,” Kate said.

  Kate told the story again when Jamie returned.

  “The last tabloid news I saw on Katrina was that she was sporting a gorgeous antique engagement ring, but it didn’t show the ring. I wonder if he gave her the same ring he gave me,” Jamie pondered.

  “I can’t believe that he was already engaged when we’d only been married six months,” Amanda said. “And to a gang member’s sister. Was he losing it?”

  “He saw dollar signs, not bullets,” Jamie said.

  “Well, I hope she has better luck with that ring than I did. Maybe she’ll hock it and buy herself something nice with the money. This time it wasn’t seven years in between.” Amanda dried her hair and tossed the towel onto the coffee table.

  “Who knows how many times he was married and divorced between each of us?” Kate said. “So your ring went missing, too, Jamie?”

  “Oh, yeah, not long after we were married.”

  “And yours, Amanda?” Kate asked.

  “About two weeks,” Amanda answered. “I felt so bad about it, but Conrad was real sweet. He said that he should have had it sized down to fit my finger before then so it was his fault. He even said he would replace it, but he hadn’t gotten around to it.”

  Jamie unfolded a lawn chair and sat down. “How about you, Kate?”

  “It disappeared a couple of weeks after we got married. He said it had sentimental value because it was the ring that his father gave his mother. I felt horrible that I’d lost it, until a couple of years later when he told me that he’d taken it back because I wouldn’t give him a divorce.”

  Jamie raised her hand. “I’d be willing to bet we all had Iris’s ring from her first husband and that his new fiancée got the same ring.”

  “That son of a bitch,” Amanda growled. “I’d take my wedding band off and throw it in the lake if I was wearing it. I had to remove it when pregnancy made my hands swell. I’ll get rid of the thing when I bring the rest of my stuff to Bootleg.”

  “Home—that reminds me,” Kate said. “The murder is solved. We are all free.”

  “I like that,” Amanda said. “But I’m kind of glad that this has all happened. I came looking for closure, and I got it. But I also found myself. I like this town and these people, and I’m glad that we don’t have a stink on us. Do you guys feel like it’s not as big a deal as it was a month ago?”

  Kate glanced at Jamie.

  Jamie pushed up out of the chair. “Yes—same story again, but different reasons. I like the future I see here. Let’s have a glass of wine to celebrate. You haven’t put your two cents in yet, Kate. Are you staying or going?”

  “Staying,” Kate said. “I’ve got some things I need to work through that have nothing to do with Conrad. Right now he’s probably more history to me than he is to y’all.”

  “Yes,” Amanda and Jamie said at the same time.

  Kate had gone to bed with damp hair the night before, and now it was sticking up and out in so many directions she could have modeled for a punk rock band. She ran a brush through her hair, drew it up in a ponytail, and got dressed. When she looked into the mirror again, the same Kate stared back at her, but this one was far different than the one who’d left Fort Worth more than a month ago. That corporate lady would never have been caught in denim shorts and a neon-green T-shirt with a picture of a multicolored unicorn on the front. Gracie had picked it out when they’d gone shopping after the court date, and wearing it made Kate smile—every single time.

  She padded to the kitchen in her bare feet and poured a cup of coffee, picked up a leftover breakfast burrito from the stove, and carried both out to the deck. Wednesday morning, five minutes till eight thirty. She’d made an appointment with her mother’s assistant for a fifteen-minute block of time to talk to Teresa.

  At fifteen seconds before the time, Kate dialed the number. Her mother picked up at exactly eight thirty. “Okay, Kate, your vacation time is over on Friday. Your name has been cleared. You don’t have any common sense when it comes to men and that will hurt your business a little, but it won’t ruin you if you go forward with determination to show your worth. It’s time to come home.”

  “Where is home?” Kate asked. “Is it where you hang your hat or where you park your checkbook?”

  “Don’t mess with me,” Teresa warned.

  “Okay, I’ll shoot straight. Either I get a year off, without pay, of course, or my resignation will be faxed to you in ten minutes,” Kate said.

  “You are serious? What are you going to do? Drive a tractor for a living?”

  “Maybe. That does sound exciting.” Kate pictured herself walking across a plowed field hand in hand with Waylon.

  “I’m not giving you a year off, and if you resign, I’ll sell this company and you won’t get a dime of the money.” Teresa’s icy tone left no room for argument.

  “I’ve never been poor. It might be an interesting adventure.” Kate could live for years on the interest from her own investments. She didn’t bother to remind her mother that she owned thirty percent of the stock in Truman Oil.

  “I mean it, Kate. I’m not backing down one inch.”

  “Then you’d better call Red Dirt and see what their offer is, or else get ready to sit on the throne awhile longer. I’m not coming back to Fort Worth.”

  “Send me the resignation.” Teresa hung up on her.

  Ten minutes later, Kate watched her two-line resignation with her signature at the bottom go through the machine in her bedroom. When it finished, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. There were no regrets, and she felt freer than she had in her whole life.

  “What does a godmother wear to a christening?” Kate asked, standing in the living room wearing nothing but her underpants, bra, and a short silk robe.

  “Are you nervous about the godmother thing or about seeing Waylon as a totally free woman?” Jamie asked. Waylon had finally tied up all the ends in Dallas and come home the night before.

  “Don’t go judging me until you walk a mile in my high heels.”

  “High heels, hell!” Jamie laughed. “You aren’t that girl anymore, darlin’. You are a barefoot country girl now, so embrace it. It’s an August Sunday in Texas, so wear one of those cute lit
tle sundresses and sandals.”

  She looked down at her bare feet and unpolished nails. She had taken the time to remove the last remnants of polish and promised Gracie that they would do each other’s toenails when Gracie decided on just the right color.

  “I’m wearing fancy flip-flops,” Jamie said.

  Amanda held up a foot. “My feet still aren’t skinny enough yet to get into my regular shoes. Which reminds me, Aunt Ellie is bringing a truckload of my things today. I told her to sell the furniture because we don’t need it.”

  “Don’t you want a bigger bed?” Kate asked.

  “I’m fine with the one I have. I shared the one in the apartment with Conrad and don’t ever want to see it again. She’s packed up my prebaby clothes and my other things, and the apartment lease is up on the first day of September, so now I don’t have to go up there and deal with it.”

  “And you, Jamie?” Kate asked.

  “House is for sale. I’m leaving the furniture in it, because the Realtor says that it helps sell the place. When papers are ready to sign, we can decide if there’s anything we want out of it,” Jamie answered.

  “Are we ready? Y’all take forever!” Gracie sighed. “I haven’t seen Lisa in four whole days and she hasn’t even met my baby sister.”

  “Give me five minutes.” Kate slipped her feet into a pair of sandals that matched a bright floral sundress with thin straps over the shoulders.

  Waylon waited for her at the front of the church and walked inside with her hand tucked in his. His touch after two weeks made her want to drag him off to the hay barn instead of to a church pew, but today was the christening and she’d have to be good for a little while longer. The service lasted three minutes longer than eternity, but finally the preacher wound down and called Amanda, Jamie, Gracie, Kate, and Waylon to the front and the christening began. Kate tried to listen as he explained the duties of godparents, but she kept shifting her eyes and her thoughts to Waylon. The wink he shot her let her know he was also having trouble paying attention.

  The ceremony ended, and as everyone in the church gathered around Amanda and the baby, Waylon maneuvered the other way and draped an arm around Kate’s bare shoulders. His breath warmed her neck as he whispered, “You sure we can’t sneak out of here?”

  “We are the godparents. We have to stay.”

  “A drive afterward?” He kissed her earlobe.

  “Definitely.” She nodded.

  She’d begun to think the party would never end and the congregation would never stop talking, but at three o’clock, Hattie pulled her to the side. “Why don’t you and Waylon sneak out the back door? I can see he’s getting antsy to talk to you in private, and I bet it’s got more to do with you than that nasty murder business.”

  Kate made her way around the crowd and tapped Waylon on the shoulder. “We’ve been given the green light to leave this party.”

  “Well, halle-damn-lujah!” He looped her arm in his and headed toward the door. “Let’s go before the thing turns red and stops us.”

  Luckily everyone was either involved with the new baby or visiting about whatever gossip was new in town, because no one even tried to start up a conversation with either of them on the way out to the churchyard. The hot August sun burned brightly and there wasn’t even a hint of a breeze, but it didn’t take the truck long to cool down once they were underway.

  “Where are we going?” Kate asked.

  “Anywhere you want to go,” he answered.

  “To the lake, where I can put my toes in the water and then curl up in your arms under that willow tree.”

  “A wonderful place.” He grinned and made a turn to take them in that direction.

  He parked beside her car and held her hand all the way down to the dock. Waylon was one of those cowboys who knew how to hold hands with a woman to make her feel special. Not too tight so that he was in control and she had no say-so over anything. Not so loose as to make her feel like he’d rather be anywhere else in the world other than beside her.

  When they were settled down under the shade of the willow tree, he draped an arm around her shoulders, brushed her hair back, and kissed her. “I missed you so much this week, but I am officially just a Texas rancher now. When are you going back to Fort Worth?”

  “I’m not. I’m looking for a job. I’m real good in a hay truck, and I can turn a tractor on a dime at the end of a field. Know anyone who might need a woman with those skills?”

  “Are you teasing me?” Waylon asked.

  “No, Mother is not happy, but she’ll come around. She’s decided to sell the business since I’m staying in Bootleg.”

  “Why did you decide to make such a drastic change in your life? You had a fantastic financial future and a good life.”

  “That was only existing. What I’ve chosen is living, and it’s far better.”

  “In that case, I could use a good woman on the ranch.” He grinned.

  EPILOGUE

  One year later

  The whole crew, including Hattie and Victor, waited in line that Saturday afternoon at the festival in Bootleg.

  “We’re going to pass on the ride. I’m afraid it will scare Lia,” Amanda said.

  “Well, both of us are still aboveground,” Victor said. “So we’re taking our traditional ride and then we’re going to have funnel cakes.”

  The ride stopped and all the people got off, then the man who took the money let the next bunch fill up the buckets.

  Kate looked at the three kids and all the adults. “How are we doing this?”

  Johnny, Waylon’s right-hand man, kissed Amanda on the forehead. “You go help with the children. Me and Lia Beth will be fine right here. You’ll be able to see her the whole time. She loves the music, so I know she’ll be good. Besides, Victor and Hattie always ride together and”—he lowered his voice to a whisper—“something big is going to happen, so Kate and Waylon need to be together, too.”

  “Okay, then, I’ll ride with Lisa. Gracie can ride with her mama,” Amanda said.

  “Thank you,” Kate said. “Last year I promised Waylon that I would ride with him at this festival.”

  “And Paul and I will get to ride together that way,” Jamie said.

  “Y’all are so welcome.” Amanda grinned.

  Kate buckled herself into the seat and thought about the last year. There had been lots of changes since the three women had decided to stay in Bootleg. Paul and Jamie were married over the Christmas break. They built a house out on twenty acres next to the Double Back Ranch and the little girls were regular visitors to the ranch.

  Kate moved in with Waylon in the fall and never looked back. Teresa sold the business, but Kate had no regrets about that, either. She’d thought about building a bigger place on the ranch, but she and Waylon both were comfortable in the cozy little house. Besides, there was plenty of room for when Gracie and Lisa had a sleepover.

  Johnny and Amanda had been dating for six months now, and she spent more time in his trailer than she did at the cabin. She’d told Kate just last night that he’d asked her to move in with him. That meant the cabin would be completely vacant in the next couple of weeks.

  In some ways that made Kate sad, but then she thought of all the happiness that had come from there and the fact that a new preacher could be living in it within a year, and the good outweighed the sadness.

  “Hey, darlin’, penny for your thoughts.” Waylon drew her close to his side as the ride started.

  “You can have them for free. I was going back over the past year,” she said. “It’s been a good one, even if it did start out on rocky ground.” She smiled. “You told me last year to save you a spot. We couldn’t ride together then, but we can now.”

  Waylon buckled himself in and slung an arm around her. “You remembered.”

  “Of course I did,” she said.

  “Any regrets?”

  “Not a single one,” Kate answered.

  “We’ve lived together for almost a year now
. That’s long enough for you to pass judgment on ranch life, right?” Waylon asked.

  “I wouldn’t be living there if I didn’t like it and love you,” she said.

  “Then”—Waylon pulled a little velvet case from his pocket—“Katherine Elizabeth Truman, will you marry me?” He popped it open to reveal a lovely sapphire-and-diamond ring.

  “Yes,” she said without a second’s hesitation.

  He put the ring on her finger and then kissed each knuckle on her hand. “Blue for your eyes. Diamonds because they last forever, like our love will.”

  Neither of them gave a damn who saw their long, passionate kiss. They were on top of the Ferris wheel when he pulled away and she threw both hands into the sky.

  “I’m engaged!” she squealed, and everyone on the Ferris wheel applauded.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Dear readers,

  The first days of summer are pushing spring into the history books here in southern Oklahoma. You will be getting to know the characters in The Barefoot Summer in the cold winter months, so wrap up in a quilt and sip on a cup of hot chocolate.

  I’m sitting in front of the computer putting the finishing touches on this story and not wanting to tell these characters good-bye. They’ve all been voices in my head for weeks now, and we’ve gotten to know one another really well. I’ve watched them grow from enemies to friends to family in spite of the crazy situation they were tossed into in the middle of a funeral. It’s my hope that when you finish the last words in the book, you feel like they are real people and not just characters.

  As always, it takes a village to turn an idea that filtered through my head into a book. And for that I’m humbled and grateful to the many people who have paved the way from beginning to end. To Montlake Romance, my sincere thanks for continuing to buy my works and have faith in me. To my editors, Anh Schluep and Krista Stroever, I love you both to the moon and back. To my team at Montlake—those amazing people who work on final edits, cover ideas, and all the promotion—big old Texas-size hugs to each and every one of you. To my agent, Erin Cartwright Niumata—having you on my side is a blessing that I never take for granted. A big thanks to my husband, Mr. B., for all the reasons he knows so well.