The Trouble With Lacy Brown

by Debra Clopton

  She had come full circle now and was back beside the paint cans. “And as they draw closer, the white spot starts taking shape and soon there he is. General Sam Houston himself, and looking at him is so cool. He even has a wart on his nose. Many people who would have passed on by stop and get out of their cars and look at the monument. Now what does that have to do with us, with Mule Hollow? Everything. What did you used to see when you hit the five-mile mark outside of town?”

  “Some ugly brown buildings,” Clint said, pushing back his Stetson.

  Lacy nodded, beaming. “Yep, yep, yep. Boring brown wood. Now what do you see?”

  “Well, it sure ain’t nothing white,” J.P. said with a grin. “But I kinda like seein’ your pink building popping out at me like a big surprise. I’ve kinda started looking forward to it.”

  “You do? I mean, yes. That’s what I mean.” Lacy was ecstatic when all the guys started nodding and voicing agreement with J.P. When Clint caught the edge of his hat and tipped it to her, her heart started thumping harder. “Okay,” she said to the group, “so now we paint.”

  She was busy after that splitting the fellas into groups of two and three, showing them how appealing each colored building would be with the right trim and adornment. The vision God had given her was there and it thrilled her when everyone seemed to warm to it.

  Right before they broke into their groups, she was as thrilled as the cowboys, when Sam’s niece Amy drove in to town from San Angelo with a carload of girlfriends. College students wanted every opportunity to be around a bunch of hunks, as she put it to Lacy a few minutes after they climbed out of their car.

  Clint was heading up the replacement of sidewalk planks and broken windows. And Lacy found herself pausing her painting to watch him in action.

  He was quite handy with a saw and a hammer. Norma Sue had suggested he be appointed head of the carpentry duties, after telling Lacy that he had practically renovated his ranch house all by himself.

  Lacy had been impressed with the beauty of his home. She wondered why he hadn’t told her he’d done the work. She had commented on certain things while she was there, like the massive tiled outdoor kitchen that surrounded the patio where they had eaten lunch. Norma told her that he had just finished that project last winter. It made sense; a cowboy needed something to do after dark on a winter night. He was humble, and though it looked like a talented professional had done the work, Clint had kept that to himself.

  Lacy went back to painting, liking the raspberry paint she was applying to the building next to her salon. She kept having to remind herself more and more that she hadn’t come to Mule Hollow to think about Clint Matlock. But every so often she would catch him watching her, and when she happened to catch him at it, he would tip his hat at her again, and turn those lips into a slow smile that seemed to light a path right up to her feet.

  It was really hard not to think about that, and get lost in her confusion. But she forced herself to have fun like everyone else seemed to be having. It was almost like a fair day without the planning.

  Adela and Esther Mae served colas, sandwiches and chicken all through the day, while Norma Sue supplied paint refills to anyone whose paint trays started drying up. Pete, a robust man with a quick smile, stood around and told jokes to anyone who would listen as he watched his old weather-beaten building become a bright grass-green, trimmed in daffodil-yellow. And when it was complete, that’s when Lacy got excited. It looked awesome. It looked fantastic! It looked just the way she had envisioned it that first morning when she’d surveyed her new home from the seat of her Caddy.

  Best of all, the bright paint brought excitement to the dusty streets of Mule Hollow. The college girls commented on how much fun they were having and how much nicer the painted buildings made the town.

  And no one complained about the colors anymore. Everyone had started to see “her vision” as they’d begun to call it. She kept explaining to each person who would listen that it was God’s vision.

  Clint guided his horse over the dry riverbed and up the bank onto the other side of the ravine. He’d neglected his ranch for three days, while he and his ranch hands had helped paint the town.

  Now he was checking back pastures for tire tracks and broken fence line. He’d also come to the more remote area of his ranch to think.

  He couldn’t deny the enjoyment he’d gotten watching Lacy Brown in action. The woman was something. She had ramrodded the painting of the town with such excitement that every skeptic had begun to believe in what she wanted to accomplish.

  The transformation Main Street had gone through in three days was amazing. Once sad and ghostlike, the town was now bright and inviting. She had instructed him to build window boxes for second-story windows, and she’d filled them to overflowing with lively silk flowers. Getting into the swing of things, Clint had taken a few hours, nailed together some planks, and now Sam’s Place and Pete’s had picnic tables sitting out front. There were even tablecloths and flowers adorning the ones outside of Sam’s.

  He chuckled, remembering the looks on all the guy’s faces when she’d started popping off can tops to expose the colors. For a moment he’d thought everyone was going to turn and run. But Lacy had calmed them down and talked them into going along with her ideas.

  One look into those sparkling eyes and he’d been hooked. Despite his trepidation about her in the beginning, he was starting to think using his mother as a yardstick to judge Lacy by had been wrong. Lacy’s sincerity exploded from her with everything she did. Her worries about God wanting her to tame her tongue tickled him. And touched him. For her to be concerned about being the right kind of woman in a world filled with excuses for everything…well, that spoke volumes for her character.

  Clint brought his horse to a halt at the edge of a ravine overlooking a huge portion of his ranch. As far as he could see, he owned the land. He was thirty-five years old and tired. Tired of working all day and going home to a silent house. Tired of working on projects for his home when there was no one to share it with. He was tired of having his king-size bed all to himself. What good did everything he owned do him, when there was no one to share it with and no child to leave it to?

  His mother had run away with the owner of a smalltime circus that had camped out on the outskirts of Mule Hollow for the winter. Clint had only been eight but he’d been old enough to know his mother wasn’t happy. There had been a time when she was so high on life that all they did was laugh at home. And then something had changed around the time the town started dying and people moved away.

  Many of his mother’s friends were forced to leave, and with his dad always working on the ranch, she’d become lonely. He hadn’t understood everything then, but over the years the understanding came to him. She’d been lonely, and the owner of the circus had offered a diversion. His dad had tried not to let Clint blame her, by taking on most of the blame himself for having neglected her.

  The letter he’d refused to open tugged at his conscience. He pushed the thought away and directed his horse to start the treacherous path down into the valley. His mother’s betrayal had devastated his dad, who had thrown himself into his work in order to live through the pain. That had become their way of life.

  It had been fifteen years since his dad’s death, and Clint had carried on his legacy. Work, work and more work. Until Lacy Brown had blasted into his life, he hadn’t known how much he wanted more.

  But the more he thought about her, the more he wondered. What if this was simply a phase Lacy was going through? What if she grew bored with Mule Hollow?

  What if he fell in love with her before she left?

  Chapter Twelve

  “Okay, are you reaaaddddy to rummmbbbble?” Lacy asked Esther Mae as they stared at each other’s reflections in the mirror. Lacy held her scissors right above a lock of red hair. Behind them Norma Sue, Adela and Sheri watched expectantly.

  Esther Mae squeezed her eyes shut and nodded her head. “It’s now or never. Let’s do
it.”

  That was all the encouragement Lacy needed. With one quick motion she sliced through the hair and tossed it over her shoulder. “How’d that feel?”

  Esther grinned, “Like a relief. More please. I can’t wait to see the new me.”

  “Anything would be an improvement,” Norma Sue yelled, from under the dryer, not realizing she was yelling. She was sitting half under the hood with a bag over her head and one ear turned their way so she wouldn’t miss any of the conversation.

  “Your hair will look wonderful shorter,” Adela said calmly from the manicure table where Sheri was pampering her hands with a paraffin treatment.

  The music was playing and Lacy was happily snipping away. The only picture of what Esther Mae was going to look like was in her creative mind’s eye. Having fun with it, she continued to toss hair over her shoulder as she cut, thrilled to be open for business and that Esther’s red bird’s nest was Heavenly Inspirations’ first casualty.

  Everything was coming together for the fair day, and now that her salon was open for business, she felt great.

  “We’re almost there, Esther. Just a few more snips and you’ll be able to wash and go.”

  “Am I going to be as good a makeover as Main Street was?”

  “Nothing can compare to Main Street,” yelled Norma Sue from beneath the hair drier.

  “She’s going to break our eardrums.” Adela chuckled.

  “What?” Norma Sue barked and, everyone burst out laughing. Norma raised an eyebrow and lifted the hood. “What’s so funny?”

  “You,” Esther snapped. “You’re screaming.”

  “Oh—” Norma laughed “—can you tell I’m not used to this sort of thing?”

  “It’s not just you, Norma,” Lacy said. “A lot of people do the same thing. And now that I’m here, this is going to become like a second home to you. I’m going to pamper you all the time. Okay, Esther, let’s blow-dry and we’re done.”

  A few minutes later everyone was speechless.

  “Wow,” Esther Mae gasped. “Who is that?”

  Lacy smiled proudly. Esther’s huge hair was gone and in its place was a softly curling short cut that swept away from her face on both sides in a gentle wave. Her cheek bones seemed to lift off her plump face, creating hollows that hadn’t been there before. Her eyebrows were just exposed by a soft wisp of a half bang creating an updated and casual new look.

  Everyone finally found their voices and let Esther Mae know how wonderful she looked. Lacy felt a satisfaction deep inside, and once again she knew this was a career she could love for a lifetime.

  “Okay, so when is it my turn?” asked Norma.

  “Right now. Let’s rinse out this conditioner, and then we’ll get started.”

  “Do you have any idea what to do with this stuff?”

  Lacy started rinsing out the conditioner. “Yes, I do. I’ve been thinking about how to fix your hair since the first time I saw you.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yup, that’s so. Now come over to the hot seat.” Norma hurried over and hopped into the chair. Her kinky hair was all spiked. Lacy started combing.

  “While I do this, let’s talk about what else we need to do to get this fair day off the ground.”

  “I’m supposed to take flyers to Ranger tomorrow,” Sheri offered. “J.P. is going with me.”

  “Good. Make sure you put them all over the place,” Norma said. “Lacy, are you cutting all my hair off?”

  “No, Norma, just half of it. Relax, would you?”

  “Clint is going to supply the hay for the seating,” Adela said, intent on picking out a nail polish. “Lacy, have any of the men been in for haircuts?”

  Lacy shook her head. “They think this is a beauty parlor. I’ll have to do some convincing to get the guys in here. When you talk to them about coming here, please refer to it as the salon.”

  “When are some of the boarders coming?” Esther asked as Sheri helped her dip her hands into the paraffin.

  Adela looked up from polish picking. “Some will be here Saturday for the fair.”

  “I certainly hope we have a good turnout,” Esther said.

  “We will have a great turnout.” Lacy spun around and faced everyone. “Think positive.”

  “Now, we are clear on what games we are going to play, right?” Norma asked, eyeing her vanishing hair with a worried expression.

  “Yup.” Lacy smiled and kept on cutting. “Horseshoes, washers, watermelon seed spitting, the three-legged race, cow chip toss—”

  “Cow what toss?” Sheri asked, looking appalled.

  “You heard right.” Lacy laughed. “With all these dried cow patties, why shouldn’t we have a Texas Frisbee-throwing contest?”

  “For starters, it’s gross!”

  “Sheri, you are going to toss one and I’m going to toss two or three. It’ll be great fun.”

  “I’m tossin’ one, too,” Esther Mae said.

  “Okay, Norma Sue,” Lacy said, picking up a bottle of leave-in conditioner. She squirted a little in her palm then rubbed it through Norma’s hair. “This is a must-have for your wiry curl. I’ve textured the curls so that with just a little of the moisturizer you should have an entirely different feeling to your hair. There, what do you think?”

  Norma blinked. “How’d you do that? Look, ya’ll, my curls are soft. Lacy Brown, I love you.”

  “Knock, knock.” Everyone turned to find Clint peeking in the doorway. “Is this a private party? Or can a cowboy get a haircut?”

  “I’d love to give a cowboy a haircut,” Lacy said. She was so glad to see Clint. “Come in. I was just finishing with Norma. What do you think?”

  Clint placed his hat on the rack next to the door and strode into the room. “Goodness, Norma, you look great.”

  He circled the beaming Norma, and Lacy enjoyed watching the way she blushed. Lacy knew that Clint and Norma had a close relationship and she enjoyed watching them together.

  “You think Roy Don will like it?” she asked, patting her soft curls.

  “Like it. Yeah, he’s going to like it. Make him take you out on the town. Not our town. Make him take you to a nice restaurant in Ranger. Whoa…” He whistled as he glimpsed Esther Mae. “Lacy, you are good. Esther, you look spiffy. Ya’ll better make it a double date.”

  The ladies laughed and patted their new hairstyles.

  Esther spun to look at Norma. “We could go try out that new steak house in Ranger. You know, the Texas Roadkill, or something like that.”

  “It’s the Texas Road House. They have something named after roadkill on the menu,” Norma said. “But I heard it was real good. Come on, let’s go snag our boys and head that way. Adela, do you want to come? We could grab Sam. That man probably hasn’t been out of the county in decades.”

  Adela looked thoughtful for a moment. “You know, I bet you’re right. It would do Sam good to get out from behind that counter of his.”

  Lacy and Clint exchanged hidden smiles as Adela stood up and smoothed her dainty dress.

  “I think I’ll go over and invite Sam to come along.”

  “Atta girl, Miss Adela,” Clint said, holding the door open for the ladies. They strolled out onto the sidewalk shoulders back, heads up. “You all have a good time. And remember your curfews.”

  “Clint Matlock,” Esther Mae said, wagging a finger at him, “you mind your own business. We just might not come home till the rooster crows.”

  Everybody chuckled then practically bounced down the sidewalk chattering excitedly.

  “Lacy—” Sheri sighed “—see what we did. That makes me glad I followed you on this adventure.”

  “Yep, and I’m glad you came, too, ’cause if I had to paint those nails, they wouldn’t be too happy right now.”

  “That’s the awful truth.” Sheri laughed, turning to remove her smock.

  Clint closed the door and looked from one to the other of them. “What does that mean?”

  Sheri turned back and
walked toward the door. “Only that Lacy is really good with hair, but she literally can’t paint the broad side of a barn, much less a fingernail.”

  Lacy shrugged. “It’s true. I make a mess just thinking about nail polish.”

  Clint relaxed against the counter, next to the small cash register. “But I thought they taught you those things at school.”

  “Oh, they try,” Lacy said, widening her eyes. “But some things have to come naturally. And just because they teach both at beauty school doesn’t mean a person will have talent in both.”

  Sheri was looking out the window. “That’s why we make a great team. We both appreciate what the other does. Oh, there’s my ride. Catch ya later.”

  The room was suddenly silent as the door slammed shut behind Sheri.

  “Wow, I can really clean out a joint. Is it something I said?” Clint asked.

  “Naa, it wasn’t you. They were all just excited. And Sheri had already said she was going with J.P. again to do something.” It was obvious to Lacy that everyone wanted her and Clint to be alone together. Who was she kidding? She wanted to be alone with Clint. She had enjoyed their lunch on Sunday. And that had nearly been a week ago. Though she’d seen him every day that they worked on the town, they hadn’t had the chance to really talk a lot. His being here in the salon reminded her of the last time he’d been here with his pink hair, and suddenly her mouth went dry.

  “Looks like you’ve been busy.”

  Lacy looked at all the hair on the floor and reached for the broom. She needed something to distract her. “I have. It felt wonderful. I wanted the gals to be my first clients, so I could pamper them a bit. I’ve wanted to do that for Norma and Esther from the moment I met them.”