“I did. She’s different. You’ve got to admit you don’t see Cleopatra in East Hope every day.”
“She’s had a tough time.” Cary glared at him. “Micah’s told me about you. You stay away from her.”
“Cary, this isn’t any of our business.” Micah rose and pulled his wife into a hug. “Kade’s promised to be good.”
He hadn’t exactly promised anything, but the last thing Kade wanted to do was make Cary mad. She’d been kind enough to invite him into their home at a time when she probably didn’t need any guests.
Cary brought a two-layer cake to the table, the pink frosting piled into fluffy mounds around the top. “Sorry, I tend to fly off the handle before I think these days.” She pulled two plates from the cupboard and put a large serving of cake on each.
Kade took a bite and got lost in the sensation of sweet. Cary was a genius when it came to cakes and pastries. Her voice brought him back.
“Pansy was a friend when I needed one. She’s still helping.” Cary pinched a bit of cake between her fingers and popped it into her mouth. “She’s offered to run the café until the baby gets here.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, how did you two meet?” Kade inhaled the cherry cake and wondered if he dared ask for more.
Micah reached across the table, cut two more large pieces of cake and flopped one on Kade’s plate. “Nobody can eat just one serving of Cary’s sweets.”
Cary sank into a chair, lowering her bulk carefully. She ran her hands through her spiky, white-blonde hair then leaned back. “I was living in Denver, trying to earn enough money to pay my tuition at Cordon Bleu. Pansy came to work at Chez Romeo about a week after I did, and we hit it off right away.”
Kade took another bite and chewed slowly. Be cool. “How long ago was that?”
Micah watched him, his eyebrows raised.
“We’d worked there about two years before I came here. Three years ago, I guess.” Cary tipped her head and squinted. “You seem very interested in Pansy.”
Kade stood and carried his dishes to the sink. “Do you want me to wash these?” He turned to find both Wests looking at him. “What, hasn’t a guest offered to help before?”
Cary and Micah burst out laughing.
“Nice deflection,” Micah said. “But not good enough. If you think you can ask about my wife’s best friend and not have her question you about your motives, think again.” He put his arm around Cary’s shoulder and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
The look she gave Micah filled Kade with a hot spurt of regret followed by the cold feeling of loss. There had been a time Pansy had looked at him like that, a time he’d been everything to her.
Could he get that back? Did he want to? The idea was intriguing, and something he’d have to think about when he was alone.
If he wasn’t careful, she might run. He’d been given the chance to connect with Pansy again. He didn’t want to blow it.
“You’ve got to admit she’s a fascinating woman.” Kade looked into Cary’s eyes, trying to portray sincerity.
“Yes, and?” Cary’s hands went to her hips, or at least where her hips used to be.
“It can’t hurt to get to know her a little better, right?” He already knew Pansy better than anyone. At least, he had known her then.
Cary circled the table and put her hand on Kade’s shoulder. “You’re leaving soon. Don’t start something you can’t finish. Pansy’s never said, but something or someone hurt her badly. And I don’t want to see that happen again.”
Kade took her hand in his. “I won’t. I promise.”
She nodded then turned to her husband. “Micah, I feel a nap coming on.” She gave him a peck on the cheek and left the room.
“Think about what Cary said.” Micah stacked the plates in the sink.
“I’d never hurt her.” The word again was left unspoken, but Kade felt it reverberate against his skull.
The vision of Pansy standing beside the horse trailer at their last college rodeo filled his mind. She’d been so excited when she’d won the barrel race. When he’d told her he was leaving her behind, that he was going on the road to ride bulls for a living, he’d broken her heart. That was something he’d regret ‘til his dying day.
Micah’s look said his lies weren’t working. “Maybe you should just leave her alone. There’s plenty of other women around here who would love to date a champion bull rider.”
“So now you get to tell me who I can talk to?” He should have agreed with his cousin. He should have been able to walk away without a care, but caring about Pansy was something he’d never given up.
Micah’s slow smile made him mad.
This man spent years with a woman the devil wouldn’t have given a second glance to, and he was going to tell Kade how to live his life? No way.
Kade drew his finger through a glob of frosting on his plate before stacking it in the sink. He turned to face Micah. “Fine. I’ll leave the dress-up doll alone. Will that make you happy?”
CHAPTER TWO
As she plated the latest lunch order, Pansy caught sight of herself in the big mirror on the kitchen wall. Her carrot red wig was pulled into curls on top of her head. She smoothed the full skirt of her navy blue polka dot housedress and touched the snowy white collar.
Retro fit her new personality like a tailored jacket. With bright red lipstick and long black false eyelashes, she’d come as close as she could to recreating Lucy Ricardo. The redhead’s feisty spirit was something she channeled when knew she’d have a trying day.
She used her hip to open the swinging door into the dining room then placed heaping plates in front of Henry and Cheney, two of her regular customers.
“Can’t complain of too little food when you do the cooking, Miss Pansy,” Cheney said.
“Need more coffee?” Pansy had filled Cheney’s cup to the brim when the bell over the door rang for the fourth time in the last few minutes. Tempted to rip the damned thing off the wall, she stopped and drew in a breath.
For the past six days, she’d jumped every time the café door opened thinking she’d see Kade’s smiling face. The tension was making her batty as a bucket calf at feeding time.
At the sight of the tiny woman waving her fingers, Pansy couldn’t help but smile. “Hi, Mrs. LeBeouf.”
“Now honey. You just call me Wanda Lu. Friends don’t call friends by their last names.” The caustic scent of old school Aqua Net hairspray overlaid with the spicy aroma of Tabu perfume surrounded the little woman like a dense fog. Wisps of coal-black hair had been teased to add several inches to the miniscule woman’s height. A couple of strands had escaped the lacquer to float around her head.
Wanda Lu stopped, plopped her hands on her hips and tsked at Pansy. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, you know, not knowing how to do your own hair, but that doesn’t mean you have to wear a wig all the time. I’m as big a Lucille Ball fan as anyone, but y’all come on in to Wanda Lu’s Locks, and I’ll show you a simple do. One even a youngster like you can master.”
What was Pansy supposed to say to that? “Thank you for the offer, but…” But I don’t want to look like Dolly Parton’s poor relation. “Let’s find you a place to sit. The special today is chicken-fried steak and home fries.” Since being in East Hope, Pansy had learned a universal truth about small town cafes—you couldn’t have too much fried food.
Wanda Lu followed Pansy to the booth in the corner.
As soon as she sat down, the hairdresser pulled off one of her vintage high-top Reeboks and rubbed the ball of her foot with gnarled fingers. “Danged bunions. Got ‘em from standing on my feet all day, you know. Watch out or they’ll get you, too.” She slipped her shoe back on and slid to the middle of the seat. Her feet swung a few inches from the black and white linoleum floor, gently bumping the plywood base of the bench.
“I’ll have your coffee in just a minute.” Pansy opened a menu and placed it in front of Wanda Lu. “You just give me a wave when you’re ready to or
der.”
Pansy left the elderly woman perusing the menu and made her way back to the counter. As she lifted the coffee pot to refill Henry’s cup, the bell rang again.
Mother of all things holy! The doorway to the café was filled with Wranglers and muscles and cool gray eyes. Kade had aged well, if she could call twenty-nine aging. The lines of his face had thinned, his muscles were more defined. She found it hard to look away.
What was wrong with her brain? She was hardworking, smart and knew enough to take care of herself. Why did the mere sight of this man turn her into a five-year-old coveting a candy bar?
Without acknowledging the cowboy, Pansy turned to the two older gentlemen at the counter. “Refill?”
Henry Potter nodded his shiny, bald head then pushed his cup toward her without saying a word.
“I’d love one, Miss Pansy.” Cheney Mills gave her a nearly toothless grin. “Did I ever tell you about the time the cougar came right in the front door of our old farmhouse when I was a kid?”
“She doesn’t want to hear that old lie.” Henry pulled his cup closer and turned to his friend. “Besides, she’s been in town long enough to have heard all your stories several times.”
Cheney leaned back, almost falling off the barstool, and jabbed Henry in the shoulder with a bony finger. “You don’t know that. Pansy loves hearing my stories.”
“Stop poking me, you old reprobate.” Henry swiveled until he faced Cheney.
“And if I don’t?”
“Now gentlemen.” One thing Pansy didn’t need today was an octogenarian fistfight.
Kade crossed the room and stood between the two men. He laid one hand on each of their shoulders. “Every time I see you two, you’re arguing about something.” He raised his gaze to meet Pansy’s. “But I guess Miss Pansy is as good a thing to argue about as any.”
Pansy’s chest tightened as she tried to pull in a breath. She was struggling for something to say when Wanda Lu appeared at Kade’s elbow.
“Come on, you cute thing, you.” Wanda Lu’s face dissolved into creases when she smiled, her orange lipstick bleeding into the wrinkles around her lips. She grabbed hold of Kade’s arm and pulled him toward two empty stools. “Have you met our Pansy?”
Pansy gave him a short nod. “Mr. Vaughn.”
“It’s Kade.” Kade shot a grin at Pansy then turned his attention back to Wanda Lu. “Micah introduced us the other day.”
“I been trying to talk this guy into being my boy toy for years.” Wanda Lu’s arthritic fingers wrapped around Kade’s arm as she beamed up at him. “But he just wants to be friends.”
Kade looked down at the older woman. “I keep trying to tell you, you’re too much woman for me.”
Wanda Lu turned to Pansy, a wide grin on her face. “I’m what they call a cougar. I always thought my spirit animal was a big cat.”
Pansy scrubbed at a non-existent spot on the counter, trying to control her laughter.
Wanda Lu held up her hand to the side of her mouth as she turned back to Kade. “I heard she wears those wigs because of the cancer. The chemo ate up all her hair. Heard she’s bald as old Henry over there beneath them but lucky to be alive. Don’t know if that’s true, so don’t quote me.”
Did the older woman think she couldn’t hear?
Wanda Lu and Kade stood less than three feet from her.
Pansy opened her mouth then closed it again. Rumors had been flying since the day she’d arrived as to why she wore wigs and where she got her outlandish costumes. Pansy wasn’t about to get into her personal business to set them straight.
Kade’s head jerked up, and he stared into Pansy’s eyes, a fleeting expression that could be fear crossing his face. When she didn’t respond, he shrugged and put his hand on Wanda Lu’s. “It’d probably be better if we didn’t spread gossip. Tell me what you were up to while I was on the road.”
“You’re right about the rumors.” Wanda Lu grasped the edge of the counter and spun herself back and forth on the stool, her tangerine nail polish bright against the white Formica. “Nothing special going on with me, but I heard you had some excitement. Heard that nasty old bull almost killed you.”
Almost killed? Pansy’s heart sprinted in her chest, trying to outrun the panic coursing through her veins. A world without Kade was unthinkable!
No, she wasn’t going there.
Wanda Lu squinted in her direction. “Lost my glasses again, but I don’t need to see the menu here. I’ll have the special.” She turned to Kade. “What do you want, hot stuff? I’m buying.”
“No you’re not. You bought last time.” With a wink at Pansy, he fixed his attention on the small woman. “It’s my turn.”
Pansy couldn’t help herself. She was still shaken by the thought of Kade dying. “You almost got killed?”
A strange expression flickered across the cowboy’s face. Regret, or anger, maybe? She couldn’t be sure.
“Nah. Just banged me up a little. Comes with the job.”
“Then you need to find another job.” She reached for her order pad in the pocket of her dress, keeping her eyes fixed on the small tablet. “What can I get you, Mr. Vaughn?”
Kade kept his eyes on her face. “What’s good? And it’s Kade.”
What’s good? Certainly not the feelings bubbling up from a cauldron of old memories. It was time to put some distance between her and Mr. Vaughn. She’d hoped when she saw Kade again, his presence wouldn’t throw her into a spin, but just call her the Tasmanian devil. “Everything.”
“I’ll take the special, too.”
With a nod, Pansy escaped to the kitchen. She really needed to get a grip. This must be what addiction felt like. You knew it wasn’t good for you, but you couldn’t help yourself. Time to remember what had happened the last time she’d given her heart to Kade Vaughn.
When she’d needed him the most, he’d been nowhere to be found.
She’d serve his meal like he was any other customer. He was Mr. Vaughn now, not the boy she’d loved and lost.
After pan-frying the steaks, she smothered them with gravy, heaped on the fries and carried the loaded plates out to Wanda Lu and Kade.
Only Kade’s seat was empty.
Pansy settled one plate in front of Wanda Lu then looked around the room. The cowboy wasn’t in sight. “Where did your friend go?”
Wands Lu pulled her plate closer and doused the food with pepper. After taking a bite, she chewed then swallowed. “He had something he had to do. This is real good.” Wanda Lu added more pepper then took another bite.
“Is he coming back?”
“He said to box his up. He’ll be back later.”
Pansy took the plate into the kitchen and scraped the contents into a heap in a Styrofoam box. She set it in the industrial size refrigerator then sank into the old oak chair beside the door.
Kade was gone—again.
Leaving her to pick up the pieces. His pattern hadn’t altered in all this time. Sure, this time it wasn’t so important.
This time it was only a dinner, not a baby.
~*~
Cancer? Could Wanda Lu be right? Why hadn’t he tried harder to find Pansy?
Because, for a big, tough man who rode bulls for a living, he was a big ol’coward. He didn’t have the guts to watch pain fill her eyes when he told her he still didn’t want to settle down, still wasn’t husband material. He’d handed Wanda Lu a ten to cover his meal and fled.
Leaning against the faded brick wall at the side of the East Hope Savings and Loan, he looked down the quiet main street of his adopted hometown. It hadn’t changed much since the first time he’d been here when he was twelve. The same stores were in the same buildings. The same people ran them.
“Kade. Are you standing on the street waiting for a pretty woman to take you to lunch?” Millie’s bright blue eyes contrasted with her candy apple red hair. She and her husband had owned the local grocery store for as long as he could remember.
“Nah, just waitin
g for the action to start.” Kade stood and put his arm around Millie’s shoulder. “Good to see you again, sweetheart.”
“You’re in for a long wait if you’re waiting for action in this town.” Millie gave him a quick hug then took his hand and pulled him toward the café. “I’m in bad need of a cup of coffee and a piece Cary’s pie.”
He’d just run out on lunch. Now wasn’t the time to go back in and face Pansy. “Oh, hey, no. Can’t.” Kade pulled his fingers free and stepped back. “Got things to do.”
Millie snorted. “Like you’re busy. You’re here to recuperate from that bang to your noggin. Clinton talked to Cary and got your whole story.” She pulled the door open and stood back waiting for Kade to enter.
He’d learned long ago not to cross Millie. She’d been part mother and part warden when he’d spent time in East Hope with Micah as a youth. She’d back you up unless you screwed up. Then she was a kid’s worst nightmare. He hadn’t been in Millie’s sights for years, but he was sure she could be an adult’s nightmare, too.
He could be thickheaded, but he wasn’t stupid. “I’d love to have a cup with the prettiest woman in town.” He followed Millie to an empty booth.
A faded black and white photo of John Wayne shaking an elderly man’s hand hung on the wall above the booth, right beside a poster advertising the 1938 Pendleton rodeo. He’d just stuffed his keys into his pocket and slid onto the bench when a plastic menu slapped onto the table in front of him with a thwack.
Pansy stood beside the booth, looking like an angry angel, her blue eyes snapping with irritation.
She turned to Millie, sat a full mug of coffee in front of the older woman and ignored Kade completely. “What can I get you, Millie?”
“I was thinking of cherry raspberry pie, but I gotta watch my figure.” Millie grinned as she looked from Kade to Pansy and back. “The coffee’s enough. I just need a little pick-me-up.”
With a nod, Pansy turned and returned to the kitchen.
Millie shook her head. “Poor girl. I heard she tried a do-it-yourself hair color, and it burned up all her hair follicles. That’s why she wears the wigs.”
Sweet Cowboy Kisses (Sugar Coated Cowboys Book 2) Page 3