Oklahoma Moonshine (The McIntyre Men #1) (15 page)

“The place has been warm and dry, I don’t know why it wouldn’t be.” He nodded at her to proceed.

Biting her lip, Kiley flipped the latches and opened the hardshell case. Inside, her precious Gibson still gleamed. She took it out and cradled it in her
arms. “I didn’t have the chance to take it with me.”

“It’s special to you.”

She nodded. “It was my mother’s. It’s the only thing of hers I had. Until  I got her ranch back.”

“You didn’t have an easy start in life, did you, Kiley?”

“Does anybody, really?”

He shrugged. She adjusted her grip on the instrument, brushed her thumb across the strings, and made a face at the discordant sounds they made.
“Probably needs all new strings.” She replaced the guitar in the case, and closed the lid. “I really like you, Rob. A lot.”

He smiled. “I like you back.”

“I don’t want to screw up our business stuff,” she said.

“I don’t want that either. But at the same time, I don’t want to pass up what could be…something important. Something
special.”

“You think this might be…something like that?”

“I’m thinking it might be, yeah.”

Her smile was impossible to tame. “I’m glad I’m not the only one.”

He came the rest of the way up, crossed the attic. She stood up when he got to her. “So we take it kind of slow, and
careful.”

“Like normal people do,” she said.

He kissed her, like she’d been waiting for him to, and for a little while, they stood there, making out in the dusty attic, and she felt like a
teenager with her first crush.

No. This was bigger.
Way
bigger than a crush.

And finally, he pulled away gently. “Slow and careful.”

“Within reason,” she said.

Saturday morning came far too early. She’d barely slept. There was something restless inside her, something nervous, and excited and overjoyed and
terrified, all at the same time. And she knew it was all about Rob and her, and those kisses they’d shared yesterday, and her deep down certainty
that she didn’t deserve him.

But she wanted to. She wanted to be the kind of woman a man like Rob could be with. Could…love, maybe.

Her fear came from wondering if she was up to the challenge.

On top of that, she was sure her sister was up to something. And it probably involved one of the McIntyres. They were the most prime hunks of eligible in
town, and Kendra had wormed her way right into the middle of them. Damn, she was good. 

Kiley grabbed her things and slipped through the silent hall, to the bathroom. Either she was up too early, or not quite early enough.

Quick as she could manage it, she stood under the steamy spray. As she let the hot water sooth her, she tried to sort through the cyclone of feelings
swirling around inside.

Kendra was alive. She hadn’t died a horrible, painful death. Kiley was relieved and overjoyed. And yet she was furious at Kendra for deliberately
letting her grieve for nearly two months.

Kendra was dangerous.

Kiley would just have to handle her. She knew Kendra, and she knew all her tricks. Their father had raised them together, side by side, and he’d
taught them together, too. Just because she hadn’t taken to the trade the way Kendra had, that didn’t mean Kiley didn’t know. She knew
everything.

From the moment she’d learned Kendra was alive, all Kiley had thought about was protecting her sister. But suddenly she knew with sparkling clarity
that she had to protect Rob’s family and all of Big Falls
from
Kendra. She
had
to.

She got out of the shower, towel dried her hair and combed it back into a smooth ponytail. Looking into the mirror, she found herself kissing Rob again in
her mind. She closed her eyes and felt his mouth on hers. The way he moved his soft, thick lips, just a little, like a caress.

She nodded to herself, and said, “I’ll fix this, Robby. I’ll find out what she’s up to and send her packing. I will. You’ll
see.”

She was pretty sure she could do it and still keep her sister from being caught or arrested for faking her own death. She could do both.

She closed her eyes and thought about kissing Rob again. And then something occurred to her and she straightened her head and stared bug-eyed at herself.
What if she loved him or something? And what if he found out about her life and her past and all the crap she’d done, and just bailed? That would
hurt.

Her stomach in knots, she dressed in jeans, with a white tank top and a lightweight cotton shirt over it to protect her arms from slivers and the sun. When
she stepped out of the bathroom, she could already hear the voices of Rob’s family, all talking at once outside the house. Trucks were coming and
going, and oh, yes, she smelled coffee.

She took a deep breath, told herself to relax. This was all just part of her transformation. She’d kind of thought it would be easy, but now that
seemed kind of naive. The smell of the coffee was a balm. She took it in and trotted down the stairs.

Vidalia stood in the kitchen, her long raven curls spilling out around a green bandana. She was just filling a big yellow mug with the precious brew. She
had big brown doe eyes and tanned skin and she was ageless. Kiley wanted to
be
her when she got old. 

Vidalia caught her eye, smiled brightly, and held out the mug. “I heard the shower stop. By God, you must be about ready to shoot us all, milling
around here all the time like we own the place.”

Kiley smiled back and took the mug. “I never shoot anyone who gives me coffee,” she said.

“That’s why I made it. Sheer self-preservation.” She laughed, then sipped. “The guys are all out in the bigger barn already.”

Rob’s plan was to hoe the barn out and build stables for his first bunch of horses.

“I knew he wanted to get an early start. I just didn’t know how early,” she said, then she sipped gratefully. “Good coffee.”

“Arabica beans. I ground them up fresh.”

“You brought your own coffee?”

“Coffee is sacred. I didn’t know what you had in the cupboard, so…”

“So Miz Vidalia is a coffee snob!” Kiley said. Then she held her breath and wondered if she’d gone too far.

Vidalia glared at her. Then she slapped her thigh and laughed out loud. “You got me. I am.”

“I, too, appreciate a good cup of coffee.” She took another sip of the really excellent brew. “There’s a lot of junk packed into
that barn. I should get out there and help.”

“Not without a decent breakfast to shore you up. Sit down, Kiley. I’ve been wanting to
have some time to get to know you better.”

Kiley saw the friendly light in Vidalia’s eyes and sat down.

“My husband tells me your sister’s in town.”

“You know?” Kiley closed her eyes, shook her head and said, “Of course you know. Bobby Joe owns the saloon, she’s staying at the
saloon, hence, you know.”

“We’re not real big on keeping secrets from each other in this family,” she said. But Robby asked us not to tell anyone else that
she’s in town. He didn’t tell us why.”

“I’m afraid I can’t either. She’s… she’s my sister. I need to try to help her.”

Vidalia nodded. “I understand protecting family.” Her eyes were loaded with meaning.

“Rob said…he said since we’re partners, I should consider you all family.” She spoke slowly, chose her words carefully. 
“And I’m honored by that. I’ve never seen a family I’d love to be a part of more. I want you to know, I intend to live up to
it.”

“Do you, now?” Vidalia’s gaze sharpened, and she seemed to look her over way more thoroughly than was comfortable.

Then with a tilt of her head and an arch of her brows, she went back to the counter, grabbed a plate filled with scrambled eggs and hash browns, and set it
in front of Kiley. She took a seat opposite her and slid a large, flat book across to her. “I got this for you.”

It was a Big Falls Central School Yearbook. She opened it up to a page marked with a playing card and tapped the photo.

Kiley looked down at her own face and her twin sister’s. Sixth grade and thinking everything would always be just the way it was then.

“Where did you go after that, Kiley?”

“We…we moved east. Dad…couldn’t afford to keep the place. It was never a working ranch, not in my memory anyway. My mother
inherited it.”

“So your dad moved you east?”

Kiley nodded, sipped her coffee to avoid having to say more than that. Then she set her cup down. “It
was really nice of the family to let my sister stay at the saloon,” she said, and mentally she was trying to figure out how to warn Vidalia without
admitting that she was a criminal raised by a family of criminals.

“I was surprised you didn’t want her to stay here at the ranch,” she said. “Seeing that she grew up here.”

“Vidalia…you’re a smart woman.”

“One of the perks of age. There are precious few, but wisdom is a big one.”

She was trying to put her at ease, Kiley realized. She took a deep breath. “My sister…she’s um….”

“She’s a man-eater,” Vidalia said, matter of factly.  “I went over to clean up the room, make sure she had everything she
needed. Met her. She might be foolin’ the boys, but she’s not foolin’ me.”

“I’m…a little worried about Jason and Joey.”

“I appreciate the warning. I’ll keep an eye on things.”

Kiley nodded. “While she’s here, we’re gonna refer to her
as Kendra Jones, my cousin from back east.”

Vidalia sat back in her chair. “Is she wanted by the law?”

“I don’t know, exactly. I need to find out.”

Vidalia nodded. “What are you gonna do?”

She took a deep breath and said, “Honestly, Vidalia, I don’t know yet. But my goal is to get her out of this town. I just need to make sure
she’ll be safe when she leaves.”

She lifted a forefinger. “If you need help, come to me. Don’t wait until it’s too late to prevent the damage. All right?”

“I promise.”

Vidalia searched her eyes for a minute, then reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. “What’s your mobile number?” she
asked.

The change of topic threw her, but after a second, she managed to spit out her digits while Vidalia tapped her phone. “There,” she said.
“You’ve been added to the family’s group text lists. There’s one for just the women, and another for everyone. The guys have a
men-only group, but they don’t think we know about it. Now finish up your food. We’ve got lots to do.”

Feeling as if she’d just experienced a Brand-McIntyre rite-of-passage, Kiley ate.

She didn’t think she’d ever worked as hard in her life as she did that day. The big barn had a lot of stuff inside. When she’d lived
there, it had been deemed off limits by her dad, and though she and Kendra had sneaked out there quite often, all Kiley had ever noticed were broken boards
and hulking metal pieces of rusted-out farm equipment.

By noon, Jason, Joey, Rob, and their father, Bobby Joe, had emptied every ounce of junk from that big barn. It was all in front of the building where Kiley
and Vidalia sorted it into piles. More family had shown up—Vidalia’s sons-in-law. Wade had driven a big red tow-truck over, with ARMSTRONG
painted on the side.

The men were all inside the barn building stalls. The smell of fresh-cut lumber filled the air, and the sounds of power tools and hammers were outshouting
the birds.

Outside, she and Vidalia continued to pick through relics. Tall milk cans from days gone by, wooden crates piled full of tools, the likes of which
she’d never seen before, with hand cranks and wooden handles. There was a box full of hurricane lamps, most of them with intact globes. There were
old tin signs for businesses that no longer existed, Big Falls Livery & Tack. Fanny Mae’s Soda Fountain, and one that just said BLACKSMITH in
block letters on an oval piece of metal with two holes in the top for hooks. “I bet Jason would like this,” Kiley said, holding the sign up.
“Rob said he lives in what was once a blacksmith’s shop.”

Vidalia looked at it and smiled hugely. “He’d love it. That’s such a great idea, Kiley.”

“I’ll put it away. We can surprise him for his birthday or something.” Kiley wiped her forehead and looked around at the piles.
“What are we gonna do with all the rest of this? Is the local dump still open?”

“Sure, but these things are worth some money.” Vidalia paused, too, in her work, and waved Kiley over to a shady spot underneath a gnarled old
tree.  “I think what you’ve got here is a windfall, hon.” She poured a glass of sweet tea from the large pitcher and handed it to
Kiley. They’d set up an inverted wooden box to hold the tea and Solo cups, and two others to sit on.

“Really?” Kiley took the tea and a seat.

Vidalia filled a second cup and sat down beside her, fanning her face with a big woven fan that looked like a giant leaf.  “I have a friend in
antiques. Let me give him a call. Maybe he’d handle selling them for you for a small commission.  Unless you want to do it yourself. You could
take photos, list them online—”

“No, no, I’d be grateful for your friend’s help. I wouldn’t even know what to ask for them.”

“Good.”

“You know, there’s more stuff piled up in the small barn,” Kiley said with a nod in that direction.

Vidalia looked that way with interest. “Oh, we
have
to take a look.”

They worked the entire morning, and when lunchtime rolled around, Maya and the twins showed up with a car full of food.

They sat on upturned plastic buckets and old wooden crates, around a picnic table made from an old barn door laid out across a pair of saw horses. The
whole family was talking, mostly all at once, and somehow it was contagious. Kiley found herself telling Rob excitedly about the barn’s treasures and
Vidalia’s notion that they might be worth some bucks, and he was smiling with his whole heart as he listened.

“Speaking of bucks,” Wade said. Then he nodded toward the old car they’d pulled out of the barn. It was hooked to his tow-truck, its
front end in the air like a rearing stallion. “I know the idea was to fix that baby up for you to drive, but it’s kind of a classic,” he
said. “I’m wondering if you’d consider selling it to me.”