Trouble In Dixie (3 page)

His attitude toward her made it more than
plain to her she was just hired help here, even though she thought,
hoped, he might think more of her, at least enough to tell her he
was going to be away from the ranch. Tommy didn't answer to her
though. Where he went was his business, but he needed to keep track
of his daughter better. Earlier today, Katie had caught Dixie out
in the field in that pink golf cart chasing calves. That wasn't
good for the calves, or her. She could get hurt, if one of the mama
cows lit out after her.

Katie had a talk with the ten-year-old
hellion, but she didn't think it had done any good. Dixie had the
same look on her face that her sister Karlie always had when Katie
lectured her, closed off, biding her time, pretending to listen.
Maybe she'd talk to Tommy about Dixie, if she ever saw him again.
His housekeeper, Cookie, had been taking care of Dixie, while he
was doing whatever he was doing, but Cookie was too old to chase
Dixie, or to keep up with her, and the bitchy old woman didn't seem
inclined to do that anyway. The rest of the hands on the ranch
indulged Dixie, worse than her daddy did.

It wasn't that Katie didn't like Dixie, she
did, she cared about the funny, precocious, and too cute for words
little girl. It was because she cared about her that her
shenanigans worried Katie so much. Dixie reminded her so much of
her sister Karlie at that age, she knew she needed boundaries, or
she was gonna wind up hog ass wild when she got to be a teenager,
and by then it'd be too late. Just like it had been for Karlie.
Katie blew out a breath and emptied her water bottle then threw it
in the trash.

Katie needed a shower, and something to eat,
since she'd spent her lunch break with Dixie, so she headed toward
the office door, but stopped when she heard Dixie talking to
someone, then realized it was her daddy. Evidently, Tommy was back,
but he hadn't bothered to find her and get a report on the cutter
prospects she was working with . That made her angry, but it also
hurt her heart, even though she wouldn't admit it. Standing at the
door, she craned her neck to listen, instead of walking out the
door. She was curious about what they were talking about. The
King
was home holding court with his princess, evidently.
Katie sure didn't rate that consideration, she thought with a
huff.

"But Daddy...please, I can't stand it, she's
so boring," she heard Dixie whine.

"Katie might be boring, honey, but you are
going to be nice to her," Tommy told her in an even voice.

"I want Karlie back, she's fun, and she
played with me, taught me things, and let me help her," Dixie told
him petulantly.

Hurt surged up inside Katie's chest and she
sucked in a breath, then took a step back into the office. So she
was boring? And Tommy Tucker evidently agreed with his daughter's
conclusion, because he didn't correct her, he agreed with her! It
was becoming obvious to Katie who ruled the roost around this
ranch, and it wasn't Tommy Tucker.

In a shrill demanding voice, she told her
daddy, "I want Karlie back, they can trade out, they're twins."

Tommy chuckled, then told Dixie, "They might
be twins, but they are not anything alike, sugar."

"I
know
that!" she shouted, then told
him angrily, "Katie is
boring
, and Karlie is fun. She
wouldn't even show me how to throw a rope today!"

Katie's anger ramped up when the child
failed to mention she'd given up her lunch breaks to give her
damned riding lessons, or that she'd given her a roping
demonstrations
. The ten-year-old tyrant was putting her own
slant on things to incite her daddy.

"I didn't hire her to keep you entertained,
Dixie...she's here to work with the horses," he reminded Dixie, and
that made Katie feel a little better, but not much.

His description of her purpose for being at
the ranch also reminded Katie that she was just hired help to him.
He didn't care a fig about her, and would take his daughter's side
over hers every time. Even though he'd tested the waters with her,
evidently he found her lacking. Why else would he have apologized
for kissing her, then avoided her like he had after they got back
to the ranch? Boring...that was what he thought of her. It
explained a lot.

"But Karlie let me work the horses with her,
she said I was a good trainer's assistant! I want to learn that
stuff! Make Katie let me help too!"

"She's busy, sugar..." Tommy told her in a
patient tone.

"She doesn't like me," Dixie pouted.

"Go get your golf cart and ride in the
field," he suggested then added, "I need to go check on the
foals.

"I can't ride in it...Katie punished me from
it," she told him flatly.

There was a long hesitation then he said,
"She did? What did you do?"

"I was riding it in the field, and she got
mad and told me to bring it back to the house, and said I couldn't
ride it anymore today." Katie noticed she didn't mention what she'd
been doing out in that field, and her anger notched up again.

"I'll talk to her...go get your cart and go
riding, I need to get to work," he repeated to Dixie
distractedly.

"Whatcha gonna say to her?" Dixie asked in a
huffy tone. "You gonna tell her not to punish me no more? She's
not
my mama, you know..."

Tommy hesitated a moment then said in a
choked voice, "I know she's not your mama, baby...I'll tell her
that. I'll see if she has time to do some fun things with you
too."

"I want to learn to throw a rope around a
calf...and I need more riding lessons," Dixie demanded, then said
with a snort, "Probably won't matter, because whatever she does,
it'll be boring."

"Boring or not, Dixie, if she takes time to
show you things, you're gonna show respect."

"Yes, sir..." she capitulated, although
Katie heard the rebellion in her tone. "But tell her not to be
boring, or mean to me anymore."

"I will baby, now go get your golf cart and
I'll see you at dinner. Cookie might have a snack for you too, go
in the house and ask her."

Anger like she'd never known rose up inside
Katie's chest, then scalded her throat, before it went to her head
and felt like it was going to set her hair on fire. Katie pushed
her hat up on her forehead then strode out of the office. She
looked at Dixie first, then pinned Tommy's hazel eyes with her own.
He looked shocked, then embarrassed, and his face turned red.

Katie rocked back on her heels and crossed
her arms under her breasts, then said in a low lethal tone, "You
got something to say to me?"

"Um, we can talk later...I have to go check
on the foals," he stammered then turned to walk off.

"Hold your damned horses there, bucko!"
Katie yelled ferociously, then spat, "
I
have some things to
say to
you
." Tommy stopped in his tracks, then slowly turned
around to face her. She looked down at Dixie who's face had gone
red too, and her eyes were as round as her mouth. "And you might
want to send your daughter up to the house, because you may not
want her to hear what I have to say."

"Dixie go on up to the house, sugar," he
told her sternly.

"But, daddy...I don't want--"

"
Now
, Dixie, go up to the house!" he
yelled and Dixie jumped. Katie had never heard him raise his voice
to his daughter, but he did now. She turned and took off running
for the barn entrance, and when Dixie disappeared, he looked back
at her and asked shortly, "What is it you want to say to me,
Katie?"

"Don't you take that tone with me,
mister...I'm the one hurt here. I've been working my ass off around
here to train your cutting horses, which you hired me to do. You're
absolutely right though, you did
not
hire me to entertain
your spoiled rotten daughter, but I have been doing just that, but
evidently not to
princess's
satisfaction."

Tommy's face got redder and he took a step
toward her, then warned in a threatening tone, "Watch what you say
about my daughter, Katie."

"What the truth?" Katie spat then pointed at
his chest, and told him, "I didn't eat lunch three days this week
so I could give her riding lessons, and roping demonstrations, but
that's not good enough, right?"

"Thank you for doing that, I didn't know..."
he said and huffed out a breath.

"No, you weren't
here
to know, you
just took Dixie's word as gospel, and were going to
talk
to
me about reprimanding her for chasing calves in that damned golf
cart," Katie hissed then leaned toward him and said, "Excuse me for
caring if she got stomped to death, but you know what? You don't
have to bother telling me I'm not her mama, I
know
that...and I'm not
your
mama either, so take care of your
fucking daughter and teach her some manners!"

"I'm sorry you heard all that, and you're
right, she's out of control," he admitted then dropped his chin,
"And I need to spend more time with her, but running this ranch
takes most of my time."

"You make the time for what's important in
your life, Tommy...you don't just let time go by, then one day you
wake up and she's a fourteen year old hellion like my sister was,
and you don't know how it happened, like my Uncle Jerry."

When he just stood there looking at her
defensively, with his arms folded over his chest, saying nothing,
Katie had had enough. "I spent my whole life watching out for
Karlie and cleaning up her messes, I'm not doing that with your
daughter too. I've had enough of being the nice girl, the good
twin, and letting everyone and his brother use me for a doormat,"
she told him fiercely, then took a step forward.

Poking him in the chest with her finger, she
added, "It's time I let
my
fucking hair down for a change,
maybe then I wouldn't be so
boring
. I think I'm gonna take a
walk on the wild side and see what the attraction is, starting
right now," she told him then shoved her finger in his chest again,
and said furiously, "Kiss my lily white ass, Tommy Tucker, I'm out
of here," then spun on her heel and walked to the tack room to get
her stuff.

Katie didn't need this crap, she was going
back to the rodeo, and she was going to channel her inner Karlie
when she got there. That side had to be inside of her somewhere,
they were identical twins for God's sake. Let other people clean up
her
messes for a change, and she planned to make a lot of
them. None of them would be saying she was
boring
soon, she
was gonna make sure of it.

Not saying another word to anyone, Katie
loaded up her stuff, and loaded Laramie into the horse trailer
behind her rig, then got in the truck and spun out of the Rockin' D
for good. Her head was spinning with so many thoughts, her brain
consumed with so much anger, she drove all night without even
realizing it. The adrenaline pumping through her wouldn't have
allowed her to sleep anyway.

The next day around noon, Katie hit the
outskirts of Dallas and the first thing she did was make calls to
the rodeo administrative office trying to get back on the circuit.
They told her it was probably too late this year, she'd been gone
too long and would never catch up in the standings. Even the new
partner she'd picked up after her sister quit, had found someone
else to ride with already, so rejoining the rodeo was not an
option, until next year.

Katie and her new partner weren't in the
money anyway, even though they had decent points, it surely wasn't
what she was used to when she had been roping with her sister.
Karlie and Katie just knew what each other was thinking, and that
made them unbeatable. Those days were over for good now though,
since Karlie had quit riding, and married Gabe Kelley then settled
in Bowie, Texas. Katie was happy for her twin, but out of sorts now
that she didn't have to take care of her anymore. It gave her too
much time to think about her own life...her
boring
life...how boring she'd really become.

Since she couldn't rejoin the circuit now,
she thought she might head to the Double B and check on her sister.
Karlie was training horses there for Cassie and Luke Matthews.
Maybe she could use some help with that. If not, Katie was sure
there was something else she could get into around Bowie, since
there were plenty of farms and ranches around there.

Or maybe she'd just take a vacation for a
while...it had been a long time, since she'd done that. Money
wasn't an issue for Katie, because she never spent what she earned,
she'd been saving it for years, so she'd have it when she retired
from the rodeo. It looked like that time was coming sooner, rather
than later, so Katie was glad she'd been frugal.

She had no idea where she was going to stay
in Dallas, because she hadn't ever needed an apartment, because her
pull behind trailer was her home, while she was rodeoing. Wherever
the rodeo was, she and Karlie had been. In essence, they were
gypsies, living rodeo venue to rodeo venue, like a lot of the
cowboys on the circuit.

If they had a home base, they weren't there
often anyway. Katie had always got her mail through the admin
office at the rodeo, and they'd forward it to her, wherever she
landed. She needed to call them back and get it forwarded to her
sister at the Double B. Katie had only been at the Rockin' D for
three months, and wasn't sure she'd be staying, so she hadn't
requested it be forwarded there yet, thank goodness.