“Good.” And Gigi repeated that along with a “Thank God. Because I’ve been so worried.”
“I’m picking up on that. Tell me what happened.”
“That’s just it. I don’t know. Bennie and I flew back to San Antonio earlier today. We went to his house, and a few minutes later, Ida, his foster mom, showed up. She was really, really mad.”
“I can imagine. Did Ida have words with Bennie?”
“Yes. A lot of words. She said he’d better work out things with you or else. But she didn’t say what else would be. Did I mention she was mad? Sorry, yes, I did. It’s hard to concentrate because I’m worried. Because right after she left, Bennie got so upset, he left, too. He said he had to go to Wrangler’s Creek. That was hours ago. I tried to call him, but he didn’t answer.”
“Do you believe something bad happened to Bennie?” Evie asked.
“Maybe. He was so down when he left. You know, he had that really sad look in his eyes.” It sounded as if she was choking back a sob. “Are you back together with him, and you just don’t want to tell me?”
Oh, so that’s what had the woman in tears. “We’re not back together. And it’ll stay that way.”
But it did bother her that Bennie and Ida had gotten into it. Now, Evie just needed to find out what the argument was about. Since that was probably either Ida or Bennie on the phone with Carson, she’d soon find out.
“Let me talk to Carson, and I’ll get back to you,” she promised Gigi.
She ended the call just as Carson came back inside the house. He still had his phone pressed to his ear and was mumbling profanity under his breath. He didn’t stop in the kitchen, where she was, but instead headed straight for the front door and he threw it open. For a moment, Evie thought he was just going to storm to his truck and leave her standing there to wonder what the heck was going on.
However, Evie soon figured out why he’d opened the door.
Bennie was standing on her front porch.
* * *
ALL CARSON HAD wanted was to spend the evening with Evie. An evening that included maybe something to eat that wasn’t burned and another round of sex. But seeing Bennie had Carson facing a hard truth.
That the sex shouldn’t have happened.
At least it shouldn’t have happened tonight. Evie had enough on her plate without adding a new relationship to the mix.
“How’d you know I was here?” Bennie asked him.
Carson held up his phone. “I’d missed your calls, but when I tried to phone you back, you didn’t answer. That’s when I called Mom. She said you were on your way over.”
Actually, what Ida had said was that Bennie was going to see Evie to patch things up with her. But Bennie looked as if he needed some mental patching up of his own. He was soaked to the bone, hunched over and shivering, and his bloodshot eyes told Carson that he probably hadn’t slept much since this whole fiasco started.
Bennie shifted his attention from Carson to Evie. “Can I come in?”
She didn’t jump to say yes. Maybe because she was as surprised by this visit as Carson was. But after a very loud sigh, she stepped to the side to let him in.
“I’ll get you a towel,” she said and immediately walked away.
Bennie waited until she was out of earshot before he spoke. “Did Ida tell you she was mad?”
“Oh, yeah. She made that perfectly clear.” Now it was Carson who sighed. “But here’s the deal. You can’t live your life to please Ida.”
Bennie shook his head. “She did so much for me, and it twists at my gut to know I’ve disappointed her.”
His mother had moved well past the disappointment stage, but Carson kept that to himself. “I can talk to her, try to smooth things over.” It wouldn’t be easy to do that, and it would probably take a decade or more, but Carson figured eventually she would forgive Bennie.
Evie came back, carrying a stack of towels, and she put them on the entry table. Right next to the flowers Carson had brought her. Bennie noticed those flowers, too, when he reached for one of the towels. That sent Bennie’s gaze volleying between the two of them. Bennie wasn’t stupid—about things like this, anyway—so he had probably figured out what had gone on. Especially since both Evie and he looked, well, like unmade beds with their wrinkled clothes and rumpled hair.
“Gigi just called me,” Evie explained. “She’s very worried about you. You should let her know that you’re okay.”
“I’m not okay,” Bennie corrected. He dried his face, and his attention settled on Evie. “Will you hate me if I tell you that I really care for Gigi?” he asked her.
No sigh this time but rather a huff. “Bennie, I hated you before all of this.” But she quickly waved that off. “Correction, I didn’t love you before this. Actually, I’m not even sure I liked you very much. So if you’re asking me for permission to stay married to your wife, you’ve got it.”
That caused Bennie to do more of those volleying looks. “I thought you’d be more upset.”
Welcome to the club. Her reaction had been an eye-opener to Carson, too. A couple of days ago, he’d thought of Evie as a fragile woman recovering from cancer. Now she was a strong, hot babe with a navel ring.
And Carson wanted her.
Bad.
Of course, this probably wasn’t the time to give her a long, heated look, but it was hard to tamp that down. He’d thought if he had sex with her, that it would cool things between them. But no. It had actually made the attraction worse.
“Say, are you two...together?” Bennie asked.
It was the million-dollar question, and Carson didn’t have an answer. Apparently, neither did Evie because she shrugged. Maybe she would have come up with something. Carson might have as well, but the sound of the approaching car caused them all to look at the front of the house.
Bennie cursed. “That’s Gigi.” He tossed down the towel and hurried outside to her.
“Are we together?” Evie asked at the same time Carson said, “Are we together?”
They stared at each other a moment.
“I asked first,” she said at the same time that he said, “I asked first.”
She laughed, and man, he hated to admit it, but that was the right answer. So was the smile that followed. And the kiss she dropped on his mouth.
The kiss was the best answer of all.
Carson might have slid right into that kiss, too, if Gigi and Bennie hadn’t interrupted them, soaking wet. Bennie must have met his bride at her car. Evie handed them both a towel.
No smile or laugh for Gigi. The woman had obviously been crying, and she was eyeing Evie as if she were the enemy.
“Did you mean it when you said Bennie and you weren’t back together?” Gigi asked her.
“I did. As far as I’m concerned, you two have a green light to do whatever it is you’ve been doing.”
“And Carson and you want that same green light,” Bennie concluded before Gigi could say anything.
That was pretty much it as far as Carson was concerned, but they weren’t the only players in this.
“Ida and LuAnn,” Evie said, taking the words right out of his mouth.
For a moment Carson thought they were just on the same wavelength. But no. There was a tad more to it than that. Evie hadn’t said the names because they were on her mind.
It was because she’d seen the approaching car.
The moms had arrived.
CHAPTER SIX
“BE STRONG,” EVIE WHISPERED. She wasn’t just giving advice to herself but to all of them. They were going to have to steel themselves, grow a pair, weather the storm or do whatever cliché would work.
Too bad she just couldn’t turn mean girl and tell Ida and her mom to get a life. One that didn’t involve pestering their childre
n, foster children and the poor stripper who’d married into this chaos. But Evie couldn’t do that.
Because she loved them.
And even if the moms had a funny way of showing it, they loved them, too. Well, with the exception of Gigi. Pole dancing in stilettos and glitter thongs would seem easy peasy compared to this.
Bennie stepped protectively in front of Gigi. Carson did the same to her, but Evie just huffed and stepped out in front of them all.
“I’m the one least likely to catch flak,” she reminded them. “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a woman using cancer to her benefit,” she added when they gave her a blank stare.
Evie ignored them, grabbed two more towels and went to the porch to greet the moms. She also made a mental note to give umbrellas for Christmas since none of her visitors seemed to have one.
“Mom,” Evie greeted, hugging her. “Miss Ida.” She hugged her, too. That caused both women to give her a blank stare, as well. They all possibly thought she’d gone insane. But the truth was, Evie had never seen things clearer.
“It stinks in here,” her mother said. “Did something burn?” But her observation and question went unanswered because Ida spoke right over her.
“Is that the stripper?” Ida asked, her mouth pinched so tight that it sort of resembled a cat’s butt. Best not to mention that comparison, though, to Ida.
“Yes, this is Gigi, Bennie’s wife,” Evie said. “Gigi, this is my mom, LuAnn, and Bennie’s foster mom, Ida.”
The moms clearly didn’t like her polite introductions, and when they stepped into the living room, they gave Gigi a wide berth. Since Gigi looked terrified, she probably didn’t mind that so much.
Ida didn’t waste any time, first doling out a scowl to Carson and then turning to Bennie. “How could you do this to Evie? She has c-a-n-c-e-r.”
“Had c-a-n-c-e-r,” Evie corrected, but Ida ignored that as she always did.
“Look at her.” Ida pointed to Evie. “You broke her heart pulling a stunt like this. And you did it all because of the likes of her.” That pointing finger went in a cowering Gigi’s direction.
“I know,” Bennie admitted. “And I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean for this to happen. Believe me, I’m as surprised by all of this as you two are.”
“Surprised?” Ida howled. “You should be ashamed. I didn’t raise you to do junk like this, though heaven knows I’ve given you plenty of freedom. Too much freedom, and look where that’s landed us.”
Ida finally stopped when LuAnn nudged her and then tipped her head at Carson and Evie. For the first time since this little visit had started, the moms looked Carson over from head to toe.
Though their mothers’ minds likely didn’t go straight to sex, they probably got the idea when they noticed Carson wasn’t fully zipped. Heck, neither was she, Evie realized when she glanced down at her jeans. Plus, she was only wearing one shoe. And there were a couple of buttons missing on Carson’s shirt.
All of that could have perhaps been explained if there hadn’t been a hickey on his chest.
“What went on here?” Ida asked. She spoke the words slowly as if spelling them out.
Carson huffed and stepped to Evie’s side. “Sex went on,” he admitted. “Sex between Evie and me.”
Evie braced herself for howls of protests. Maybe even a fainting or two. But the moms just stared at them. Bennie and Gigi were doing their share of staring, too.
“Good sex,” Evie added because it seemed as if they were waiting to hear more.
Ida shook her head. “But you have c-a-n-c-e-r.”
“Had,” Evie tried one more time, and she got right in Ida’s face and repeated it. “But I’m fine now. I’ve finished all my treatments, and the doctors don’t expect it to return. Even if it does, I’ll deal with it. While I hopefully have more sex with your son.”
That stunned everyone to silence again, and Evie wished she’d worded that better. Or at least she wished that until she looked at Carson. He smiled at her, causing her to go all warm and gooey inside. The warmth and gooeyness didn’t last, though, when her mother took hold of her arm and turned her to face her.
“You slept with Carson?” she asked. It was the same tone a person might use when asking about an impending zombie apocalypse. “You hardly know each other.”
Evie frowned. That was her mother’s argument? “I’ve known Carson for as long as I can remember.”
“I mean, you don’t know each other,” LuAnn corrected.
“I know Evie has a navel ring,” Carson spoke up. “If you flick it with your tongue, it jiggles.”
“And Carson has a cherry tat on his hip,” Evie supplied.
Apparently, this was startling news to everyone in the room, but Evie thought that was excellent proof of carnal knowledge.
“You had sex with Carson?” Bennie asked at the same time Gigi, her mom and Ida asked the identical question.
“Yes,” Carson and Evie answered in unison. He slipped his arm around her and waited for the responses.
They didn’t have to wait long.
Gigi released a breath of relief. Bennie’s mouth dropped open. Her mother reached down, yanked up Evie’s zipper and huffed. Ida burst into tears. Evie and Carson groaned.
“Does this mean you’re okay with me being married to Gigi?” Bennie asked Evie.
“Yes,” she said without hesitation.
Gigi ran to Evie, kissed her and then threw herself into Bennie’s arms to kiss him. Bennie did some kissing right back.
That only caused Ida to cry even more. Caused her mother to scowl harder. And Carson groaned even louder before he went to his mom and pulled her into his arms.
“I love you,” Carson told her.
She looked up at him, blinked back the tears. “But?”
“But I’m tired of you meddling.”
“So am I,” Bennie spoke up. Apparently, he’d grown that pair he needed for this.
“Me, too,” Gigi agreed. “Because I love Bennie, and I want to be with him.”
Ida turned those teary eyes on Evie, probably hoping that she would disagree with the others.
“Sick and tired of it,” Evie verified. But because she truly did love this woman, she went to Ida and hugged her. Since Carson still had his arm around Ida, it meant Evie hugged him, too.
“Try to see it this way.” Carson looked at his mom, then at LuAnn. “You always wanted your kids to fall in love. Well, I’m Ida’s kid, and Evie is yours.”
“You’re in love?” Gigi, Bennie, Ida and LuAnn all said in unison.
Evie would have said it, too, but she was stunned to silence.
Carson smiled. “I could be in love with her, easily.” He leaned in and kissed Evie. “We just need a few dates first. And if it works out, then you both get what you want.”
Yes, and Evie would, too. She was certain of it. Because what she wanted was Carson. She let him know that with a kiss.
Probably not the best time for it, though, considering they were inches away from their mothers. Still, it gave her some nice tingles in her body and made her wish they’d all leave so she could spend some time alone with Carson.
“You really think you two could fall in love?” That from Ida.
Evie and Carson nodded.
“And the age difference doesn’t bother you?” Ida, again.
This time some head shakes from Carson and her.
“And everyone is okay with Gigi and me?” That from Bennie.
Carson and Evie repeated their nods. LuAnn eventually added a nod. Ida either nodded or got a sudden muscle twitch in her neck, but they all decided to take it as a nod because there were breaths of relief. Smiles. And kisses.
Evie liked the kisses from Carson best of all.
“So it’s settled,”
Bennie concluded. He apparently liked kisses from Gigi best of all, but he didn’t budge. He was perhaps waiting for someone to tell him it was okay to haul his bride off to the nearest bed.
As long as it wasn’t Evie’s bed, she was perfectly fine with that. Because she had plans for her bed. Plans that involved Carson.
They all looked at each other, and Evie saw the exact moment that Ida gave in to the notion that her decades-long plan was shot to pieces. But there was a new glimmer in her eyes.
Ida was no doubt planning Carson and Evie’s wedding. Possibly planning grandchildren, too. Well, let her plan. Evie was looking forward to those dates that Carson had mentioned. Obviously so was he because he landed one of those chrome-melting kisses on Evie’s mouth.
The kiss stopped, though, when LuAnn cleared her throat.
It occurred to Evie then that her mother didn’t have wedding planning in her eyes. No, there was something else going on, and it was obvious her mother had not put all of this to rest.
“So, is it true?” LuAnn asked.
Evie braced herself for a rehashing of everything that had already been hashed. “Yes, I care for Carson. I have for years. And yes, we want to try to make a go of this.”
LuAnn shook her head. “No. I got that. But is the other thing true?”
Evie figured this was about sex. Maybe safe sex. It was possible Carson and she were about to get a thoroughly embarrassing lecture about condom use. Evie was certain of it, but then her mother leaned in and asked her a question:
“Do you really have a navel ring?”
It was hard, very hard, but Evie managed to choke back a laugh. Carson was less successful, so rather than let her mother think they were laughing at her—which they were—Evie just pulled Carson to her and kissed him.
* * * * *
Keep reading for a special excerpt from DRURY, part of THE LAWMEN OF SILVER CREEK RANCH miniseries, by USA TODAY bestselling author Delores Fossen and Harlequin Intrigue.
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