“Come with Daddy, Princess.” Ethan wrapped his hands around his little girl and hefted her into his arms. “It’s all right. Uncle Jamie was just playing a silly game.”
Adam pointed to the large wolf-looking animal sitting a couple of feet away, a puppy with a hunk of corned beef at its feet to one side and at the opposite side another puppy clenching an open ketchup bottle between its teeth wagged its tail. “I gather you’ve never met Gray?”
“Gray?” Jamie did a double take to make sure the gentle sitting animal was the same one he’d seen targeting the little girls. “That’s someone’s pet?”
“Not exactly,” Ethan laughed.
The other dog that had been snarling at the tablecloth snatching pup came and sat beside the dog Adam called Gray. If Jamie didn’t know better, he’d have sworn the two dogs were smiling. He also thought he saw them nod their heads at him. Pushing to his feet, he dusted off his jeans and smiled at the crowd that had gathered. “Sorry folks, please go enjoy your food.”
He took one step forward to check if one of the puppies was the puppy when his foot skidded on a puddle of ketchup and before he could catch his balance, the third puppy dragging the plastic tablecloth behind him like superman’s cape bumped against him, knocking his other leg out from under him. Like a Sunday morning cartoon strip his feet went up and his bottom went down. In slow motion he felt his head bounce on the concrete and the thought he should have kissed Abbie when he had the chance flashed through his mind seconds before closing his eyes and seeing black.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Loaded down with a full tray, Abbie shoved the door open and pushed her way into the café, surprised to see half the customers crowding around the side windows, gasping, murmuring and muttering.
“Look at those teeth!” one voice shouted.
Another cried, “The baby!”
When a third yelled, “That animal is going to eat him alive,” Abbie handed the tray off to Shannon.
“Any idea what’s going on?” she asked.
Shannon shrugged. “No, something about a wolf.”
“Wolf?” Abbie’s voice went up several octaves. No wonder half the place was gathered around the window. Rubberneckers were nothing new to big cities or small towns. She spun around and stormed toward the door. “I’m going to see for myself what the heck is going on.”
“I wouldn’t worry,” Donna called to her. “Jamie’s on it.”
The words “Jamie” and “wolf” so close together had Abbie hurrying out the door twice as fast as she’d intended. Careening around the corner past the new food tent, she pushed through the mulling crowds. When her gaze landed on Jamie stepping forward and both legs flying out from under him, her heart skipped a beat. As he landed flat on his back, she couldn’t stop the scream that burst from deep in her lungs.
“Brooks!” one of the Farradays yelled. Not a calm ‘hey brother’ but a more urgent ‘where the hell are you’ tone.
Someone in the crowd cried out, “he’s bleeding,” and Abbie’s gaze immediately landed on the large red pool beside his head.
This time it was Jamie’s name that tore from her throat as she nearly catapulted over the remaining people lolling about. Sliding to the ground beside him, she took in his pale color and the surrounding puddle, not of blood, but ketchup. Only when she saw his eyelids fluttering did she take a real breath. Even so, he wasn’t actually opening his eyes and that had her worrying still. A lot.
A hand on his cousin’s shoulder, Adam was on one knee. “Can you hear me, Jamie?”
Tears pressed against her eyes. “Jamie,” she said, more shakily than she’d wanted to. Her hand gently stroking his cheek. “Don’t do this to me.”
His eyelids fluttered again.
Both her hands enfolded his in hers. “Jamie,” her voice came out high pitched and squeaky.
“What happened?” Brooks dropped to bended knee, edging his brother Adam aside.
“Did a ninja somersault saving Brittany from Gray,” Adam started.
Pulling a pen light from his pocket, Brooks cast a quick are-you-kidding-me glance in his brother’s direction. “Gray?”
“Yeah, I know that and you know that but Jamie’s never seen either of the dogs. But what got him was the ketchup spill and a wayward puppy. The combo sent him flying.”
Brooks flashed the light in Jamie’s eye. “How long has he been out?”
“He,” Jamie muttered, “is right here.”
“Oh, thank God.” Abbie blew out a relieved breath, tightening her grip on his hand.
“Where are we?” Brooks timed his patient’s heart rate.
“You mean Tuckers Bluff, or the café, or were you referring to the more existential existence of this mortal life?”
Brooks rolled his eyes. “Apparently you didn’t hit your head hard enough. Still, to be sure, I want to do a more thorough check in my office.”
Still hanging onto his hand, Abbie nodded. “I’m coming with you.”
Jamie lifted his eyes to meet hers. “Don’t look so worried.”
“Of course I’m worried. The man I love almost killed himself over ketchup.”
Eyebrows squeezing his forehead, Jamie’s eyes circled round. “You love me?”
“Oh, uh.” This wasn’t the way any reasonable woman would plan to tell a man that she was in love with him. “Maybe?” She smiled sheepishly.
His head lolled back and squeezing her hand, he smiled. “Close enough. And it’s a good thing because I love you too.”
Whether the eruption of applause around her was because of the declarations of love or the fact that he was awake and all right, Abbie didn’t know, but right now, nothing in this world could be any sweeter than loving a man who loved her back.
****
The last thing Jamie wanted was to be stuck alone in a doctor’s office. Even if the doctor was his cousin Brooks. Any other day and he’d want to be back at the cafe or the parking lot battling it out for his pub. Except today wasn’t any day. Today was the day Abbie said she loved him. And in front of witnesses.
“Good news is you’re going to live.” Brooks turned off the light on the x-ray reading panel.
“I could have told you that.” He rubbed at the back of his neck. “Except for a bump on the head and a bruised ego for making a fool of myself over the town mascots, I’m healthy as a horse.”
“And I hear,” Brooks looked down his nose at Jamie, “in love too.”
“Yes.” His cheeks almost hurt from smiling.
“Good thing, cause she and half the family have been out in the lobby pacing.”
“Only half?” Jamie teased.
“The other half has been keeping up with the cook-off.”
His reality smacked him upside the head. “Speaking of which, I need to get back.”
“Not today you don’t. That knot on your head means aspirin, nothing stressful, and someone nearby to keep an eye on you for at least twenty-four hours.”
“That would be me.” His aunt came through the door. “Cook-off is officially over.”
Meg followed her. “Some of the shops are staying open a while longer taking advantage of the crowds.”
“Frank is directing the cleanup,” Becky reported.
“Frank?” Brooks frowned.
“Don’t worry,” Aunt Eileen waved at him. “He’s doing it from a stool with his leg propped on a chair.”
Most of the family filed in before Abbie finally appeared in the doorway. Sitting up on the exam table, he extended his arm to her.
“You sure know how to impress a girl, don’t ya?” Taking his hand, she used her other one to brush a lock of hair away from his forehead. “Gives a whole new meaning to head over heels.”
He used his free hand to rub the back of his neck. “Don’t remind me.”
Boot heels clicked down the hall, the sound arriving a few seconds before Grace appeared in the doorway. “I hear you put on quite the show today.”
“I’m never
going to live this down, am I?” Jamie asked.
All the voices in the room echoed, “No.”
“I do come with news.” Grace stepped further into the room. “I’ve conducted an informal exit poll of sorts. The council still doesn’t have a majority to vote in favor of Farradays.”
“So they’re voting for Hemingway’s?” Abbie asked, her grip on Jamie’s hand tightening.
Abbie shook her head. “No one has enough of a majority.”
“So we’re back where we started,” Jamie said softly.
“Not exactly.” Grace leaned against the exam table and crossed her arms. “Seems Crocker and Hemingway’s are going to withdraw their permit request and are no longer interested in buying property in Tuckers Bluff.”
“You’re kidding?” Jamie and Abbie chorused.
“Nope. Apparently, they saw with their own eyes what Jamie’s been saying all along. This town, this county, is loyal to their own.” One side of her smile lifted a little higher. “And it didn’t hurt any when Stan Rankin , surrounded by three generations of one of the county’s largest families, asked the lead rep to his face why in the name of all that was holy would they want to serve vegan burgers and eggplant bacon in meat eating cattle country?”
“Remind me to bake that man a blueberry pie,” Aunt Eileen beamed. “Two.”
Not caring who was watching, Jamie gave a tug of his wrist and pulled Abbie into the fold of his arms and planted a quick firm kiss smack on her lips. “We did it.”
“Yes, well,” Aunt Eileen cleared her throat, “I’d better go check on the cleanup.”
“Good idea,” Becky and Meg muttered simultaneously.
Aunt Eileen crossed the small room and pausing in front of Brooks, jabbed him in the side with her elbow.
“Ow.” Brooks stared down at his aunt and quickly took a step back. “Yes, it’s getting late. I think I’ll take a minute here and call Joanna, see how she and Finn are doing with the baby.”
All the visitors muttered polite conversation, proceeding out the office door in near military formation.
Jamie draped his arms around her waist. “Did you mean what you said out there?”
“Don’t do this to me. Of course I did. My heart can’t take much more loss in one lifetime.”
“No,” he shook his head, smiling at her. “The man I love part.”
“Oh, that.” Inching closer, she draped her arms over his shoulders. “Abso-love-you-lutely.”
EPILOGUE
“Slainte,” Sean and Brian Farraday toasted in unison. The packed house raised their glasses of beer, wine, water, cola, whatever was in front of them and echoed the celebratory call of ‘to your health.’
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the lead singer of the Irish band brought in from Austin for opening night of O’Fearadaigh’s spoke into the mic. “We’d like to officially open the dance floor in this little bit of the old country here in Tuckers Bluff. Jamie, if you and your lovely lady would please come front and center.”
Fortunately, every minute of the evening’s events had been scheduled and orchestrated including this dance. From the moment he took Abbie’s hand in his, their eyes locked on each other and the connection never broke. Not as she sat at the bar waiting for him to circle around, not when he took hold of her hand, not when they walked across the large room that felt as though it had been picked out of an Irish town and dropped in the middle of West Texas, and not while they moved around the dancefloor two stepping to an old Irish fiddle tune.
“They really are so well suited to each other.” Meg Farraday watched her husband’s cousin and her first friend in Tuckers Bluff glide around the floor.
“I’m not surprised.” Eileen took a sip of her drink. “After all, the dogs haven’t gotten it wrong yet.” The rational part of her mind, the logical intelligent person in her knew there was no such thing as matchmaking dogs or their matchmaking offspring. But another part of her, perhaps the whimsical Irish side, really wanted to believe in the dogs’ matchmaking skills.
Meg burst out laughing. “If that’s true, I wonder who those other two puppies are for.”
“Oh,” Eileen tore her gaze away from her nephew and Abbie, “I hadn’t thought of that.” Scanning the packed pub, she spied Sally May and Roy sharing a booth. Even though the council never got the chance to vote on who got the permit for the license with only one application on file, Roy had been so sweet in asking Sally May to accompany him for opening night that she didn’t have the heart to say no. “Who knew?”
“Huh?” Meg asked, following Eileen’s gaze.
“Turns out Roy has had his eye on Sally May since high school. Back then he was too young for her. Now a few years don’t seem to matter.”
“Apparently not. They seem to be hitting it off now, and Old Octopus Arms is keeping his hands to himself.”
Eileen nearly choked on her craft beer. “Where’d you hear that?” Poor man hadn’t been able to live that name down since high school.
“I think from Abbie.”
Shaking her head, Eileen set her drink on the table. “I’ll admit in school he had a reputation for being a little too handy—if you know what I mean—but once his brains caught up to his hormones, he’s been a fine upstanding citizen and his late wife Sharlene was the salt of the earth.” Still, just in case, Eileen planned to keep an eye out for those other puppies.
The lead singer called for the audience to join in on the dance and chairs scraped against the hardwood floors as most of the folks around them joined in on the fun.
“It was a surprise to learn Abbie was closing the café tonight.” Meg had been keeping a close eye on Jamie and her old boss.
“Not any more surprising than her hiring on a new waitress and taking three nights a week off.” The minute Eileen had heard all the plans the two were making, she knew it wouldn’t be long before there was a ring on Abbie’s finger and another wedding to organize. Though frankly, she was a little surprised the ring hadn’t already come. After all, neither of them was getting any younger.
Meg’s phone dinged and from the bright smile that took over her face, Eileen was pretty sure who it was.
“Adam?”
“Yep. The Brady’s have a new healthy calf and mama is doing fine. He’s on his way home.”
“Good. Plenty of time for two stepping.”
“What about you? Surely there’s a nice single man around who can give you a whirl around the floor?”
“Ha,” Eileen scoffed. “That’ll be the day.”
“You never know.” Meg shrugged. “The pub’s going to bring a lot of changes to town. Good changes. Already bookings at the B&B are up.”
“That is good news.”
“Yes. Soon we may have to actually open a small hotel.”
While a little economic growth was good for everyone, Eileen sure hoped things wouldn’t change that much. She’d grown accustom to the perks of small town living. “I don’t know that we’ll bring in that many new people.”
“Maybe not. But even now we’ve got a nice older guy staying with us. That doesn’t happen often.”
“Traveling alone?” Eileen asked. Meg was right, typically couples and families passed through town.
“Yeah, that surprised me. He’s pretty good looking for his age. Likes to talk. His wife passed a couple of years ago. Not sure he’s over her yet.”
“What brings him to Tuckers Bluff? Surely not the pub?”
“Not really sure about that either. He said something about ghosts but I don’t think he was referring to the ghost town trail, since except for meals, he’s been mostly holed up in his room for a few days now.”
“Maybe he and his late wife had something special about Tuckers Bluff?”
“Don’t know. Got the impression he’d never been here before. I feel like this is his first trip to Texas.”
The music came to a slow stop and the lights in the place dimmed dramatically. Only the lights over the dance floor remained on. When the c
rowd separated, Eileen had a clear view of her nephew on bended knee and shot her hand out to Meg. “Oh, look.”
The proverbial pin could have been heard falling to the ground.
“Abbie,” Jamie cleared his throat, “I’ve waited a long time to find my better half. Would you do me the honor of making me the happiest man on the planet? Marry me?”
Eyes wide and right hand on her heart, Abbie bobbed her head, throwing her arms around his neck, toppling them both over onto the floor.
The crowd cheered and applauded. Eileen could barely hear what Jamie said next, but seated on the wooden dance floor he slipped a ring onto her finger and kissed her in front of half the town.
“That’s just too sweet,” Meg said on a sigh.
Eileen nodded, unable to stop grinning. Romance was alive and well in Tuckers Bluff.
The lights still dimmed, a ray of streetlight beamed into the pub. Eileen turned to the door and not till it closed behind the tall silhouette and the overhead lighting came back on did she see clearly who had come inside. At first she thought she must have had one beer too many except she hadn’t finished her first. By the time he’d made his way a few more feet inside, Eileen was sure he was no hallucination. “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world…”
****
If you enjoyed Jamison, at the end of this boxed set, please take a second to leave a review.
Now, turn the page to see who falls in love next!
Ready for the next romance and latest shenanigans in Tuckers Bluff? Love Aunt Eileen and the Ladies Afternoon Social Club? Can't get enough of the mysterious dogs? Then join the Farraday clan as the arrival of a stranger in town spins their world topsy-turvy:
Once upon a time, Eileen Callahan walked away from love to mother her sister’s children. Since that day, life on the Farraday ranch has been good. Very good. That is, until a silhouette in the doorway brings her former dreams back to life.
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