Authors: Carolyn Brown
“Mother says I can’t hiccup, sneeze, or burp like a lady.”
He patted her leg with his free hand. “Shall we try again?”
“Hell, no! My leg still hurts.”
“Then get dressed and I’ll take you home.”
“Not until I see that head better and bandage the wound. You can’t go to bed like that. What if you bumped it in the night? What have you got in the medicine cabinet?” She didn’t wait for him to tell her but opened the doors and checked for herself. “Besides six boxes of condoms?”
“Man has to be ready.”
“Iodine. Spray antiseptic. Triple antibiotic ointment.” she said as she lined the bottles and tubes up on the cabinet. “Band-Aids.”
“Just slap a Band-Aid on it.”
“I’m the nurse tonight. You are the patient. Put your hands over your eyes and close them as tight as you can.”
“The nurse at my doctor’s office isn’t naked while she treats me,” he said.
“I’m fixin’ to spray this stuff so you’d better close your eyes.”
He did.
She sprayed.
He yelped.
She blew on the burn.
Her warm breath created a fire in the rest of his body that made his wound feel like a warm candle compared to an out-of-control Texas wildfire.
“Okay, now the ointment and then the Band-Aid. What are you going to tell Kent when he asked what happened to your head?”
“I don’t know. What are you going to tell your momma on Sunday when she asks about that big old hickey on your neck?”
She spun around to look in the mirror and sure enough there was a bite mark the size of Rye’s sexy mouth right there below her ear. She’d have to wear high-necked blouses all next week to cover the thing up or else Barbara would demand details.
“That I was in bed with a sexy cowboy and he was making wild passionate love to me when I got a Charlie horse in my leg. And that if that hadn’t happened, I’d have a matching one on the other side and when she starts breathing again, I’ll ask her if she’d like to see the one on my inner thigh.”
“Okay, then I’m telling Kent the truth.”
“You wouldn’t!”
He smiled. “Kiss me and I’ll be good.”
She leaned forward and he wrapped his arms around her naked body. His lips met hers in a searing passion that almost, but not quite, made them forget the bedroom fiasco.
“Promise you won’t tell Kent. I don’t think I could face him,” she said.
“And you think I could face your mother if you told her that story about the hickey?” He teased her mouth open for another fiery kiss.
“I’d better take my sore leg home and you’d better get some sleep. We’ve both got hard work tomorrow and it’s past midnight. Walk me to the door. I can find my own way across the road.”
“I’ll walk you home. Granny Lanier would resurrect and tack me to the cellar door if I wasn’t a gentleman.”
He pulled his boots on after they were dressed and she carried hers as they walked across the dew-kissed grass in his yard, the rough dirt road, and then the sweet wet grass in her yard. He kissed her at the door so hard that she forgot all about the cramp in her leg and pulled him inside the house. He backed her up against the bar separating the living room and kitchen and continued to erase all memories of a failed attempt in his bed. Finally, she broke away and using her forearm brushed every knickknack off the bar. Ceramic animals met their death when they landed on the floor in a clatter. She peeled his shirt over his head and he removed her dress and set her up on the countertop. She laid back and motioned toward him.
They’d had the foreplay and the teasing so he shed his clothes, peeled off her panties, and stretched out on top of her. She was more than ready so he slipped inside and she groaned. The cabinet top was hard as a rock but she couldn’t say a word, not until that deep aching need was satisfied and she was wallowing in the afterglow again, pressed up to his side with his arm thrown around her.
They’d had a king-sized bed, big enough for sumo wrestlers to roll around on and it was a disaster. They’d had a room full of knickknacks and barely enough floor room to have sex without bumping into something and it worked fine. Now tonight they’d had a cabinet top not even as wide as a twin-sized bed and managed not only to have sex but to get comfortable in each other’s arms afterwards.
Austin would bet her under britches on the fact that her grandmother was meddling from the other side of eternity to fix things the way she wanted them to be.
Rye finished work on Saturday afternoon and rushed home with intentions of having a quick shower and calling Austin. His sister’s little red pickup sitting in the driveway was the last thing he wanted to see, but there it was, bigger than Dallas. He slapped the steering wheel but it didn’t make the truck disappear.
Grumbling, he opened the front door to the smell of homemade bread permeating through his house and Blake Shelton singing “Austin” on a CD. Colleen had an apron tied around her waist, her black hair pulled off to one side in a ponytail, and she was grating cheese.
“Hello, brother. I had a weekend off and thought you might like a home cooked meal tonight. We’re having chicken parmigiana with my made-from-scratch spaghetti sauce, which is simmering on the back of the stove, hot Italian bread, and warm apple pie with ice cream for dessert. I’ve got a salad chilling and wine in the bucket so go get a shower and get ready for a big supper. The rest of the family will be here in a few minutes. Momma is bringing the dominoes so we can set up two tables on the deck but you and Raylen don’t get to be on the same team. You cheat.” Colleen prattled on while she placed chicken cutlets in a pan and covered them with grated cheese.
“I’ll call Austin and we can make it two tables of four.”
She pointed the knife at him. “Family only tonight, darlin’. No dates for any of us.”
Rye ignored her, took his phone from his shirt pocket, and hit speed dial for Austin’s number. He got the answering machine in his ear, a chill in the room, and a hateful look from his sister. “Hi, Austin. Guess you’re still out on a tractor. Call me when you get this message, please.”
“What happened to your head? Have you gone plumb crazy or what?” Colleen asked.
“You want the real story or the funny one?”
“Well, I damn sure don’t want to be entertained. You’ve been runnin’ around like a chicken with its head cut off ever since that woman came to town. What are you going to do when the new wears off and she’s left this area for good? Tell me that instead of a funny story.”
His face was flushed. She’d never seen him act like he’d been doing the past few weeks. He couldn’t keep his head on straight and Raylen even did a better job at breaking horses the weekend before. That city chick had sure messed him up. Later he’d thank his sister for interfering and saving his sorry neck. When he found a suitable girlfriend, one that would be happy on a ranch and wouldn’t throw a hissy fit every time he walked in with cow shit on his boots, he’d look back and tell her that he’d been wrong.
“This is my life and my business.”
“Evidently it is but I damn sure don’t have to like it. How is Oma Fay doing? Is her MS getting any worse?” Colleen changed the subject.
“You’ll have to ask Kent. She’s still able to take care of the boys after school until Malee and Kent get home from work so I guess she’s doing all right. I’m going to take a shower. If Austin calls, tell her that I’ll talk to her in a little while.”
Colleen didn’t answer so he left the door open and set his phone on the bathroom vanity so he could hear it. He towel dried his hair, wrapped a towel around his waist, and padded barefoot down the hallway to his bedroom. He chose a pair of faded jeans and a worn T-shirt from his closet. The phone still hadn’t rung when he went back to the kitchen.
“She didn’t call. Maybe she’s gone back to Tulsa. I don’t see her little red car over there,” Colleen said.
“She parks it in the backyard.”
Colleen shrugged. “I hear trucks pulling into the driveway. Momma and the rest of the family must be here. Go on out on the porch and play nice. I’ll make the iced tea and get the bread from the oven,” Colleen said.
He walked out on the porch and saw Austin parking one of the tractors beside the house. She shaded her eyes with her hand and waved back when he held up a hand.
Gemma grabbed him in a fierce hug. “Isn’t it exciting, Rye? I’m moving to Ringgold! You are never going to look like this again when I get here with my scissors. We’re having a family fest tonight to see what I’m going to name my very own shop, so put your thinking cap on. Hey, did you invite Austin? She should be here because she was the one who came up with the idea in the first place.”
“Haven’t yet.”
“It’s family only,” Colleen said from the doorway.
“Bullshit! I’ll call her myself,” Gemma said.
“I won’t play nice. I didn’t plan for dates or friends,” Colleen said.
“Stop your bickering and let’s eat,” Maddie said. “I’ve been craving Colleen’s chicken all day.”
Rye shot his sister a mean look. She’d planned this all day and hadn’t called him because she knew he’d invite Austin.
Colleen bounced the look right back at him.
“You can’t baby-sit me twenty-four-seven,” he muttered as he led the family inside.
“But I can this night,” she whispered.
Gemma dropped her purse on the sofa, fished her phone from it, stepped out onto the deck, and called Austin. “Hey, girl, what are you doin’?”
“Just got off a tractor. I smell horrid and there’s enough dirt in my socks to plant a hill of watermelons. Everything all right? No one died, did they? Is Rye sick?”
“Everything is fine. He doesn’t look dead to me. Colleen decided to make dinner here tonight and surprise him. Come on over and have supper with us. You were the one who helped me make this decision and we’re naming the shop tonight. You should be here.”
“I’m wiped out tired. Thanks for the offer but I think I’ll pass for a long soak in that big old claw-foot tub.”
“Okay, then get your bath and when you get done, I’ll bring a plate across the road. There’s tons of food here and there’s no need for you to eat a sandwich or open a can of soup,” Gemma said.
“Thank you,” Austin said.
Disappointment could have been tattooed on her forehead or better yet, on her neck, right across the hickey that had gotten darker and darker as the day went by. She’d entertained all kinds of scenarios as she drove the tractor up and down the fields that day, plowing up the center lanes to cut out any weeds and keep the dirt soft. They all involved a bed with Rye in it and not a blessed one of them involved two sisters, two brothers, and a mother and father.
“I’ll give you an hour and then I’ll bring food,” Gemma said.
Austin shed clothes all the way down the hallway to the bathroom, where she sat down naked on the edge of the tub and poured bath salts into the water as it shot from the faucet. She barely heard her phone when it rang the second time. It was on the fifth and final ring before it went to voice mail when she flipped it open and said, “Hello.”
She could hear noise in the background before Rye said a word. Dewar said something and Raylen laughed.
“Rye?”
“Colleen decided to do a surprise dinner for the family at my house. I’m sorry. There was nothing I could do about it and I can’t get out of it. I saw you getting off the tractor and everyone is helping their plates right now. Can you take a fast shower and come on over?” he asked.
“I’m tired. I think I’ll pass.”
Chicken!
Verline’s voice said from inside her head.
You should get a shower, dress up all pretty, put on perfume, and walk over there. Kiss Rye right smack on the lips when you walk in the door and be sure to pull your hair back so that hickey shines. That’ll teach that girl a thing or two. I’m shocked that she’s being so tacky but not as much as I am at you for being a wimp.
“Ah, come on,” Rye said in his best “aw-shucks” voice.
“Come over and have a beer with me when they’ve all gone. By the way, Gemma already called and said she’d bring over a plate of food. What am I having?”
“Chicken parmigiana and apple pie,” Rye said. He’d rather be eating bologna sandwiches on the porch with Austin.
Colleen yelled across the kitchen, “Hey, Rye. It’s ready to serve up. Grab a plate. Oh, I forgot to tell you that my friend is coming around after work. She should be here at ten and I told her we could use your two spare bedrooms tonight so we don’t have to drive back until morning.”
“What was that?” Austin asked.
“It was the last straw. I’ll bring your food over in about ten minutes. Leave the door open and I’ll feed you while you soak. How’s that for sexy?”
“Don’t you dare! It’s an important day for Gemma and I will not be the cause of it not being a great evening.”
“Okay, then I’ll be over as soon as we eat and decide what to call her new business. Get that full-sized bed ready because I’m too big for a twin bed and I’m too damned tired for the floor.”
“Rye!”
“Feed you in the tub or spend the night? Your choice.”
“Maybe I want both.”
“It can be arranged, darlin’.”
“Can your whole family hear what you are saying?”
“Frankly, darlin’, I don’t give a shit what they hear. My sister is not going to control my life. I’ll let her have control of the evening until after supper but that’s as nice as I intend to play.”
Colleen yelled again. “Rye! Hang up the phone and come eat supper.”
“On my way,” Rye answered.
“Who are you talking to?” Austin asked.
“Enjoy your bath. I’ll be there in an hour.”
“So,” Gemma said at the supper table, “I was thinking about Cut & Curl.”
“I was thinking about Gemma’s Place,” Maddie said.
“That sounds like a café and people would be coming in expecting a hamburger instead of a haircut,” Colleen said. “Do something exotic.”
Rye raised an eyebrow. “In Ringgold?”
“What do you think, Daddy?” Gemma looked at Cash.
“You going to cut men’s hair as well as fix up the women folks?”
She nodded.
“Then call it Petticoats & Pistols. That way they’ll know they are all welcome. We’ll make a hitchin’ rail out front and you can decorate it all up like a cowboy joint,” Cash said.