Trouble In Dixie (13 page)

"If it's not, you're going to the damned
doctor!" Karlie told her vehemently.

"Yes, ma'am," she said weakly, then pushed
up to her feet. "Honestly, I just think it's all the stress that
I've been under lately...I need to relax."

"You've been in bed all week, but you sure
weren't relaxing. All that damned crying probably did this to you.
I'm asking Cole if we can use his lake house this weekend, we could
all probably use a break," Karlie told her and squeezed her
shoulders.

"I haven't ever been there, and haven't been
swimming in years," she told Karlie with a nervous laugh.

"Hell, you were a lifeguard when you were
chasing after Joe Morgan, you remember how to swim," Karlie
reminded her.

"Yeah, I remember it all. I worked my ass
off that summer, and he wound up with the blond with big boobs who
hung out there all summer."

Joe had been the head lifeguard at the
public pool in Henrietta, and she'd skipped rodeoing for the
summer, so she could get a job at the pool, just to be near him.
Stupid teenage hormones, she thought, and then compared it to her
situation with Tommy and figured some things never changed. With a
shake of her head, she walked to the sink and rinsed her mouth and
splashed her face, then they walked back to the table where Gabe
studied them with concern.

He set down the salt shaker he'd been
twirling in his fingers and asked, "You okay, Kate?"

"Yeah, fine...got a bug or ulcer or
something. I just need to relax, the last few weeks have been
hell," she huffed out a breath then slid into the booth across from
her sister and Gabe. "Karlie said she's going to see if Cole and
Sabrina mind if we go to the lake house this weekend, I think a
little R&R would help."

"Done," he said and nudged Karlie back out
of the booth, then he strode across the diner to where his sister,
Sabrina, was taking an order at a table. They talked for a minute,
then he turned back toward them smiling, as he returned, holding a
key up in his right hand.

"Our key to paradise," Gabe said in a low
sexy tone, then shot Karlie a sizzling look.

"Thanks, babe," Karlie said and smiled at
Katie, "Neighbor has a boat we can probably borrow too, so we can
teach you to ski."

"Um...I don't ski, sis. I think I'll stick
to sunning and maybe some fishing," she told her adventurous
sister. That was up Karlie's alley, not hers. Hitting the water
going fifty miles an hour did not appeal to Katie.

"I'll talk you into it, watch...Gabe taught
me," she smiled up at him adoringly and squeezed his arm, then
grinned widely at Katie, and told her with a waggle of her
eyebrows, "The neighbor is pretty hot too...maybe he'll be there
this weekend."

Gabe growled and elbowed her, and Karlie let
out an oomph, then giggled. "Just sayin'..." she said, then purred,
and kissed his neck, "But nobody is as hot as my
hubby...
nobody.
"

Katie launched up to her feet, then slammed
her hands down on the table and leaned toward them, to say in a low
fierce tone, "Enough! Get a room you two!"

Karlie's eyes were hurt, and Gabe's eyebrows
shot up and he leaned back. She huffed out a breath then said, "I'm
just crazy, ignore me..." Katie told them in a whisper, then turned
and walked toward the door and shoved it open to walk out into the
cool night air. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She
really did feel crazy...and guilty as hell for coveting the
relationship her sister had with her husband.

CHAPTER SIX

Katie shoved Sarge to the side, where he sat
on her bed on top of the shorts she was trying to pack in her
duffle bag. He grunted then slowly got up and stretched, then moved
over a half a foot and plopped down again. She smiled and scratched
his head, and his long floppy tongue darted out to lick her hand.
With a laugh, she wiped his doggie slobber on her jean shorts, then
finished packing. "You're gonna enjoy the lake too, big guy...if
you're not too lazy to go swimming," she told the ugly, but
adorable bull dog.

"Karlie, where's Sarge's leash?" she yelled
to her sister, who was running in and out of the cabin putting
stuff into the truck. She saw her through the doorway, stop
mid-stride, then spin in a circle, before she threw her hand up
like she remembered finally, before she disappeared. A minute
later, she walked into the doorway with his leash, and a small life
jacket.

"What's that," Katie asked and pointed to
the red life jacket with paw prints on it.

"Sarge's life vest...don't want him
drowning," she said with a big grin, then walked over and strapped
it on him, and clipped on his leash.

"I swear you and that dog are the ones
married," Katie snorted then ruffled his saggy skin again.

"I love Sarge...he's my other best
man...aren't you, baby?" she said and leaned down and let him lick
her face.

Katie groaned and hefted her duffle over her
shoulder. "We ready?"

"Yeah, I just need to get the overnight
package, so we can mail the contract back on the way. We need to
hurry before the post office closes. We're gonna pick Gabe up at
the station on the way too. I packed for him, so we could get there
earlier."

"You need help loading anything?" Katie
asked feeling guilty for not helping earlier.

"Nice time to ask, huh?" she said and Katie
felt the blood rush to her face, then Karlie nudged her and said, "
I'm just kidding, let's go!"

Katie surveyed her twin and saw they were
dressed identically, plain red bikini top and faded blue jean
shorts. The only difference was the color of their flip flops.
Katie's were hot pink, and Karlie's were yellow. "You really are
taking this twin thing too far sis, we're not twelve anymore..."
she told her sister.

"What can I say? I liked your outfit and
knew it would look good on me too. We look hot...times two now,"
she chortled, and linked her arm with Katie's then pulled her
through the door, with Sarge on his leash tagging behind.

They pulled up in front of the station, and
Karlie hopped down then ran inside to get Gabe. Katie sat in the
truck with Sarge, who was spread out on the backseat snoring. She'd
never seen a dog that snored before, but Sarge did. On the way to
the station, they stopped at the post office and kissed the
overnight package that held the signed contract, before Katie sent
it on its way.

Closing was going to be in a week, because
she didn't have to get financing, and the seller owned the property
outright. Once the title opinion was done in a couple of days,
they'd be good to go, so they set the closing up for next Friday.
Katie was excited, but a little scared too. She'd sunk most of the
money she had in this world into doing this, and it was scary.
Sure, she had a few investments that Uncle Jerry had urged her
into, but they weren't liquid cash. If she was frugal, and she
always was, she had just enough to make it through a year, so they
could get their operation going.

When Gabe and Karlie came down the steps in
front of the station, of course they were arm in arm, as usual.
Instead of getting back in the passenger seat beside Katie, Karlie
and Gabe both sat in the back seat together, Karlie stood and
shoved Sarge over to the door, so they could sit next to each
other. Katie met Karlie's eyes in the mirror when she sat back
down, and saw blatant happiness in her sister's eyes. Katie was
determined she was going to find the same kind of happiness in her
life, and soon.

With a forceful motion, she put the truck
into gear and backed out of the slot, then pulled forward and
headed out of the parking lot. She followed Gabe's directions to
get to the lake, and was lost in her own thoughts, when Gabe said
suddenly, "Hey stop at the store, we need to pick up some
groceries."

Katie looked around and didn't see a store,
she just saw a gas station and convenience store up on the right.
He leaned over the seat and pointed, then said, "There...stop
there, they have the basics. I'll got back to town to the Piggly
Wiggly tomorrow." She guided the truck in and stopped in front of
the store, and he got out, then came back a few minutes later with
two sacks.

Karlie groaned and said, "He probably paid a
mint for all that crap, we should've stopped at the Pig on the way
here."

"We can go back..." Katie offered, although
she wanted to start her mini-vacation more than she wanted to
eat.

"He'll work it out, until tomorrow. Gabe's a
good cook, believe it or not," she snorted.

He opened the door just then, and handed
Karlie the bags then jumped in beside her and shut the door. With a
big smile, he said, "Let the relaxation begin!" then took off the
ugly tan Stetson that went with the uniform and tossed it on the
floorboard, then ran his hands through his dark curly hair.

Karlie reached up and pulled his hands down
and purred, "Here, sugar, let
me
do that for you," then she
slid over onto his lap, shoved her fingers into his hair, and
latched her lips on his.

Holy shit, Katie thought, if I have to watch
that all weekend, it's gonna be pure hell. She avoided looking in
the mirror, as she cranked the truck and pulled back on the road. A
few minutes later, she pulled up in front of the adorable little
cottage with the red door and turned off the engine. Looking
around, she saw two canoes propped on the left side of the house,
and a section of what looked to be a huge deck jutting off the side
of the house. Down the hill, there was a floating wooden dock with
a small motorboat tied there. Nirvana, she thought, and sighed
peacefully.

Karlie leaned up over the seat and put her
hand on Katie's shoulder then asked, "Whatcha think, sis?"

"Beautiful...looks like just what I need,"
she said softly.

***

It had been a week and a half, and Tommy
still couldn't erase the image of Katie's tortured face when he'd
left her in that parking lot at the rodeo arena, from his mind. He
also couldn't remove the memory of how incredible it had felt to be
inside of her, when they made love in his truck.

His body reacted as unbidden images replayed
in his head, and Tommy groaned then tossed the last hay bale from
the flat bed into the shed. He couldn't get the beautiful redhead
out of his head, or his heart. As much as his brain told him she
was bad news, and he needed to stay away from her, his heart told
him to go find her and make things right. That particular organ,
above all others ached every time he thought about her. And she'd
been right, she
was
bothering him, almost every minute, of
every day, since the last time he'd seen her.

Calling out Maggie's name in the throes of
ecstasy had been a real bonehead move, even though he hadn't meant
to do it. He hadn't been fantasizing about Maggie, he was fully in
the moment with Katie, wanted her, not Maggie, but his guilt over
that fact is probably why it happened.

Tommy felt things for Katie that he'd never
felt for Maggie, or any woman before. She excited him, intrigued
him, had him mesmerized with her mind and her beauty. He enjoyed
Katie's edge, enjoyed that she pushed him to do things he wouldn't
otherwise do. She was sweet, but wild too, a conflicting mix of
light and dark, and she set him on fire like nobody else ever had.
He definitely was not thinking about his dead wife when he was
loving Katie...he couldn't think of anything, except how
unbelievable she was.

The reason he'd gone backstage at the rodeo
was to apologize again for what happened that night in the truck,
to ask Katie out to dinner to try and make it up to her. Dixie had
wanted to see her yeah, but Tommy had wanted to see her more. To
find her sucking face with that burly blond cowboy in the hall had
sent him spiraling into hell, on many levels.

His anger and the pain in his chest had
gotten the better of him, and even though Dixie was right there
beside him, he wanted to knock the smug smile off that cowboy's
face more than anything else at that moment. Tommy had also been
afraid that he'd made a mistake thinking that she cared about him,
that their lovemaking in the truck had meant something to her.
Those things combined made him overreact, and say things that
probably made redemption impossible now.

Hopping down off the trailer, Tommy went
around to the truck and cranked it up to go get another load of
bales. Jud was already on his way back with a load. They were
two-timing the trips, to get done faster. He'd been at this all
afternoon, and he was sweaty and tired and needed a shower and a
beer. Maybe if he drank the edge off of the feelings that were
ripping him to shreds, he could get some sleep tonight, something
that had been in short supply for almost two weeks.

He'd been such an ass to everyone on the
ranch, they were avoiding him like he had a communicable disease,
even Dixie and Cookie were avoiding him. He pulled the truck to a
stop by the baling machine and was about to get down when his cell
phone vibrated in his pocket. Reaching inside, he pulled it out and
said sharply, "Yeah?"

"Tommy?" a soft familiar voice said on the
other end of the line.

Relief and a weak thread of hope pushed
through him and he said, "Katie?"