Cathy ignored him and looked at Angel. “What brings you out so early?”
“To see if Amos talked you into coming to work for us. I’m here to beg if you didn’t say yes. Did I get here before you turned him down?”
“Just barely,” Travis said.
Cathy shot him an evil look.
“You sure about that rabies shot?” Travis asked Amos.
“I told you to keep me out of this.” Amos grinned.
Cathy set a cup of coffee in front of Angel. Her small dining area was full with four people. If anyone else came knocking, they’d have to sit on the floor.
Travis held up his cup for a refill before Cathy sat back down. “I was only teasing about the rabies shot, but she’s surly until she’s had a pot or two of coffee. Just remember that and you’ll get along fine.”
Angel frowned. “Stop teasing and tell me that she’s going to work for us. I hate to be cooped up in the office as much as you do.”
Cathy was warming up to the offer so quickly that it made her head spin.
“So?” Travis asked.
“What?” She needed more time. She couldn’t bring herself to take it at that moment, yet she didn’t want to close the door to the possibility.
“You going to take the job?”
“Why should I?”
“I hate being stuck in an office. It’s like prison. I can’t breathe. All I do is pace the floor and want out. I feel like a caged animal.”
Their eyes locked in the middle of the table. Sparks danced around the crowded room like pole dancers in a strip joint. He could see flashes of color bouncing off her dark blue eyes. She felt like she was standing in front of an old open-face heater.
“Say something. Don’t just stare at me like that,” he said.
Her face began to burn. “I’m thinkin’ about it.”
“Hell, woman, spit out what’s on your mind. You women are always beatin’ around the bush. No wonder men don’t understand you.” He wanted to kiss her so bad his lips hurt. To taste the sweetness again, to see if it was as good as it had been the night before.
She whispered, “I am not a hard woman to understand. I just don’t know if I want to take on a second job.”
Angel tapped Travis on the shoulder. “What’s going on here? You two drawin’ a line in the dirt and spittin’ on your knuckles?” She looked from one to the other so quickly that her kinky ponytail flopped back and forth.
Cathy stood up. “Give me time to think about it, okay?”
Travis drew his eyebrows together in a single line and pressed his fingertips to his forehead. Women! His sisters said they were from Venus and men were from Mars. Well, that wasn’t so hard to understand. He’d be willing to bet that when little girl babies were born an ethereal being snatched their souls and took them to live on an all female planet for thirteen years. When they hit puberty they slung them back to earth and men had to try to understand the impossible from that age on.
Angel waved a hand between them to break the tension. “Both of us hate to be cooped up in an office. Please come to work for us! We’re working on a tight deadline and we’re both needed at the rig. Believe me, you won’t see hardly anyone in the office.”
“Give me until tonight. I’ll think about it until then,” she said.
“Fair enough. Me and a bunch of the bikers are planning to come to the Honky Tonk tonight so we’ll talk then,” Amos said.
“Please,” Angel whispered as she followed Amos out the door.
Travis grabbed another doughnut, put it in his mouth, and started making the bed.
“Get on out of here. I’ll do that. You are probably already late for work,” she said.
“Thanks,” Travis said around the pastry and darted out the door in his bare feet.
* * *
The Honky Tonk was absolutely rocking an hour after they opened that night. The jukebox wasn’t quiet one second and the dance floor always had at least a dozen people either two-stepping or even more doing line dances.
Travis arrived at ten o’clock and hiked a hip on the last remaining barstool.
“Hey, good lookin’. You from around these parts?” The girl next to him winked.
“Just for a couple of months. Where y’all from?” Travis asked.
“We’re at a family reunion in Mineral Wells and had to get away for a while,” she said.
“How’d you know about the Honky Tonk?” Cathy asked.
“One of the cousins is from down in Huckabay. He’s been here before and said it’s got the best dance floor around. Got a tray? I’ll take them in two trips,” she said.
“Hey, Travis, you up for a game?” Merle asked.
“No, my mind wouldn’t be on it,” he said honestly.
Cathy worked at the other end of the bar, barely keeping up with the orders. She wished Sally would show up and offer to draw beers while she mixed drinks. Maybe she should offer the schoolteacher a job on Friday and Saturday nights.
Yeah, right, can’t you just see that? Schoolteacher working as a bartender in the Honky Tonk. That would send her superintendent and half the Bible totin’ parents of her students into a whirlwind.
She caught up just in time to start over. The kids who’d escaped the family reunion were ready for refills. The tall red-haired girl who had ordered the first round showed up with empty trays. She wore her jeans slung low and her skintight knit top short enough to show a belly button ring and was evidently the designated driver because she was not drinking. She delivered them to the table and two-stepped through “Broken Road” by Rascal Flatts with Rudy.
Cathy was working on a pitcher of hurricanes when she looked up to see the girl at the bar again. “Be with you in a minute,” she said.
“I got to stay sober and drive these yahoos home tonight. Want some help? I’m twenty-two, got my bartender’s card, and would rather be working than sitting,” she said.
“You are hired,” Cathy said.
“I’d have helped if you’d asked me,” Travis said.
Cathy smiled. “Are you twenty-two and own a bartender’s card?”
“I’m more’n twenty-two so that should make up for not having a card,” he said.
The girl efficiently filled an order for a martini and then went to work on a tequila sunrise. “I’m Mindy. Live over in Mineral Wells. Used to work at the Lazy Circle Bar before it shut down.”
“I’m Cathy and the whining cowboy is Travis,” she said.
Travis narrowed his eyes. “I’m not whining.”
“I think he’s cute,” Mindy said.
Travis grinned. “Thank you.”
“Looks like that movie star, the blond one. What’s his name? He played in The Wedding Planner. Matthew McConaughey. That’s who he looks like.”
Travis grinned bigger.
“Don’t feed his ego,” Cathy said.
Mindy giggled and set up a clean blender to make a piña colada.
“Want a job on Friday and Saturday nights?” Cathy asked.
“Not really. I’m usually out with my boyfriend those nights. He’s off on a conference trip to Germany this weekend so I’m out partying with my rowdy Oklahoma relatives. I work all week at a computer consulting firm.”
“I’ll work for you on Friday and Saturday nights if you’ll take the job for Amos,” Travis offered. “For free. I might not be able to brew up whatever she’s doing, but you can do that and I can draw beer. See, the handles are even marked so I wouldn’t make a mistake.”
“Deal,” she said.
“Are you serious?”
“I am very serious. You work for me those nights and I’ll work for Amos, but remember…” She looked up and almost lost her train of thought. “Just remember that Amos is my boss.”
“I’ll be your superior since it’ll be my house you are working in,” Travis argued.
“And I will be your boss two nights a week and you will answer to me. Remember that if you get all cocky,” she smiled again.
> “I’d dang sure hire him if I owned a bar. Lord, the women would flock in here to buy drinks,” Mindy whispered.
“Then they’d start fighting over him,” Cathy said out the side of her mouth.
“What kind of secrets are you two tellin’?” Travis raised his voice above Garth Brooks singing about beer for his horses.
“We don’t tell our secrets. It’s a woman thing,” Mindy answered.
Travis yelled across the room at Amos who’d claimed a table with his biker buddies. “She says yes.”
“Well hallelujah. Make me a fancy martini and I will definitely celebrate,” Amos said.
“What are you celebrating?” Mindy asked.
“Cathy is going to work for me. I won’t have to waste time doing interviews,” Amos answered.
“Then make me one too. That’s the best news I’ve had since… I can’t remember when,” Angel said from between Travis and Amos.
“What are you going to do for them?” Mindy asked as she shook a martini.
“Bookkeeping.”
“But you are a bartender,” she said.
“Yep, I am, but I can answer the phone and take messages,” Cathy said.
“Don’t let her fool you. She’s got a resume that would knock your socks off,” Amos said. “I’d hire her full-time if she’d take the job and put Maggie to work in the Dallas office. She didn’t really want to move to Mingus anyway.”
Cathy put up both hands defensively. “Oh, no! Two months and then I’m finished.”
“We’ll celebrate with a movie out at the trailer after closing time. I’ll make the popcorn,” Travis said.
“What movie?” she asked.
“Your choice. I bring a box full of them with me to every new site. You can choose.”
“Joint don’t shut down until two.”
“And you always watch a movie before you go to bed anyway,” he said.
She smiled. “Ice cream?”
“Rocky road and pecan pralines and cream.”
“My two favorite kinds. I’ll be there.”
Chapter 7
He left an hour before the Honky Tonk closed. Dark clouds hung in the sky and he could almost smell rain. At least it wasn’t cold enough to freeze again and the city had fixed the water problem. Lightning zipped through the sky and thunder rolled through the clouds down to the southwest. It was too early in the year for a tornado, but the sky had that strange, eerie cast to it like one was on the horizon and twisting its way toward Mingus.
He forgot all about the weather as he straightened up the kitchen and the living room and office combination. They’d have to sit in kitchen chairs and watch the movie on the small television set on the bar. The one in his bedroom was bigger and the bed would be much more comfortable, but he didn’t trust himself to invite her back there. Not after the kiss they’d shared in her apartment.
Ice cream waited in the freezer and popcorn was ready beside the microwave. He made a pitcher of sweet tea in case she’d rather have that than a cold beer. He fidgeted with the DVD player and laid out four movies for her to choose from.
He splashed on a little more Stetson shaving lotion and combed his hair at two o’clock. When she knocked on the door ten minutes later his hands were sweaty and his heart was doing double time.
“Come in,” he called out.
She eased the door open and looked inside. The whole living room area had been turned into an office with a desk and chair taking up most of the room. The place smelled like buttered popcorn and shaving lotion. Both sent her senses reeling.
“That smells wonderful. I’m hungry,” she said.
“Ice cream, popcorn, ham sandwiches, or yogurt. Past that you’ll have to find a can of soup,” he said.
“Popcorn first. Ice cream later,” she said.
He motioned toward the movies while he poured bowls full of popcorn from the microwaveable bag. “Your choice.”
“You sure are being nice.” She looked through the stack on the counter. “Do we have to watch one of these?”
“We don’t have cable out here. I have a couple of series things back in my bedroom. I’ve got Nikita and the first two seasons of NCIS, but…” He let the sentence hang.
“NCIS,” she said quickly. “I just got started watching that lately and I’d love to see the first episodes.”
“Really?” he asked.
“Yes, don’t you just love Mark Harmon? He’s got the sexiest grin.”
“I like Ziva better,” he said.
She giggled. “I suppose you wouldn’t think Leroy Jethro Gibbs had a sexy grin. Got a quilt and a couple of pillows back there too. We can make a pallet.”
“Give me a minute,” he said. He found the first season of NCIS in a box inside the closet, yanked the big brown comforter from the bed along with two pillows, and lugged it all to the kitchen where she helped him make a pallet on the kitchen floor.
“Now put the television on a chair and set it right there and we’ll pretend we’re at a drive-in,” she said.
“Something tells me you’ve done this before.” He dragged a chair across the floor and put it where she’d pointed.
“I lived in a trailer. Sometimes Momma let me have a kitchen party while she read in the living room.”
He put the first disc in the DVD player and turned to find her sitting against a pillow propped against the refrigerator door, her boots off and her mouth full of popcorn.
“Did you know from the beginning that you were going to work for Amos and you just drug it out to see what you could get me to agree to do?” he asked.
“Skeptical little fellow, ain’t you?” she said when she’d swallowed.
“Tea or beer?” he asked.
“Tea.”
He poured two tall glasses of tea and joined her on the comforter. “You didn’t answer me.”
“I like what I do in the Honky Tonk. I love the place, the people, and my hours. But sometimes I miss the oil business too. I had to think about the time involved. I decided I could manage,” she said.
“So do I still have to work for you two nights a week?”
“Damn straight you do,” she said. “Shhhh, I can’t wait to see the pilot episode.”
At the end of the first forty-five-minute episode she was yawning but determined to watch one more. While the credits rolled she ran to the bathroom and hurried back to settle into her pillow. Travis picked up the remote and hit pause right when the music started.
“Why’d you do that?”
“Because if you want ice cream, you’ll have to move,” he said.
“I changed my mind.” She reached for the remote at the same time he did. Both their hands closed on it and she looked up to find his lips only inches from hers. They met in a clash with one kiss leading to another and another, his hands under her shirt and on her bare skin, making her shiver in anticipation, and hers toying with the curls at the back of his neck and meeting him kiss for passionate kiss until they were both panting. She’d stretched out on the pallet and he had one leg thrown over hers when the next kiss made the trailer begin to rock.
“Pretty damn forceful making out,” she mumbled and opened her eyes to see that the trailer really was moving from side to side.
“Damn!” He sat straight up. No kiss in his entire life had left him dizzy. Then he realized that the kiss hadn’t sent him into a tailspin but that the wind was causing the trailer to shake.
“Tornado?” he said.
“I don’t know, but I’m not staying in a tin can if it is. Grab your pajamas and let’s go to the Honky Tonk. It’s got more stability.” She was already on her feet and headed for the door when he chased down the hall and shoved what he needed into a duffle bag and zipped it tightly. She had the door open when he returned and was watching the wind bend trees into pretzels.
“Hold my hand and run,” he said. “Don’t let go no matter what.”
It sounded like a freight train moving across the sky above them. Black clouds sw
irled around with funnels dipping down and back up, picking up whatever was in its pathway and pulling it up to the skies to check it out. What it wanted it kept to sling back down to earth later on. What it didn’t like it pitched right back like a child with toys he had grown bored with.
Rain and hail pelted down on them like bullets stinging their skin. Travis grasped her hand tightly and kept moving until they made it to the porch. It took forever for her to get the key worked up from the bottom of her tight jeans.
“Well, hell,” she swore as the wind whipped the key from her hands.
“Hold on to the porch post and don’t let go no matter what happens,” he yelled. He braved the fierce wind and went after it, dropping his duffle bag in the mud when he did. He never let his eyes leave the thing for fear the storm would grab it and haul it up to the sky with the rest of the debris. He picked up his wet bag and held the key firmly in the palm of his hand until he reached the door. He shoved it into the keyhole, turned it, and rushed into the apartment behind her.
She threw herself onto the leather sofa. “I thought we were goners for sure.”
He sprawled out beside her, both of them dripping cold water everywhere. “Me too.”
He reached across the middle of the sofa and put his hand over hers. “Ice storm, no water, now a tornado. Do they have tsunamis in Texas?”
“In this state anything is possible.” She shivered.
“You better head for the shower and get warmed up. You are shaking,” he said.
“So are you.”
An evil gleam flashed in his eyes. “Are you suggesting…”
She withdrew her hand and slapped his arm. “I am not. You go first. If your pajamas are wet I’ll pitch them in the dryer.”
“The duffle is weatherproof. I think they’ll be fine,” he said. “Go on. I don’t think I can move yet. That was a scary sumbitch.” He scooted over slightly, tipped her chin back, and kissed her sweetly on the lips. “That’s a relief. I thought your kisses were making the trailer shake around.”
“You mean they don’t?” she asked.
“Honey, they send my mind straight to the gutter. But if they made the whole trailer shake then we’d be in big trouble if we did anything more than share a few hot kisses,” he said.
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