A Forever Thing (9 page)

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Theron …” Melissa said, concern in her voice.

“Yeah?”

“Watch your back.”

“Always do, and thanks. I’ll be home for Thanksgiving.”

“I’m counting on it “

“Tell them all I love ‘em.”

“Will do. Bye now.”

He sat for a while before he went inside. The back of the house
faced west, so he could watch the famous Texas sunsets. Bright
orange, brilliant scarlet, and an array of shades of pink followed
the sun as it sank below the horizon.

He’d been twenty-seven when Maria came into his life. She was
twenty-five and recently widowed after a seven-year marriage to a
construction worker. He’d met her at a teacher-appreciation dinner
given by the local banks. Maria was a new teller and very, very
beautiful with her long black hair, big dark-chocolate eyes, and
skin just slightly browned by her heritage.

Looking back now, years later, he guessed he’d been afraid that
the best of life was passing him by. His friends were all married or
at least involved in a lasting relationship headed toward the altar.
He was looking thirty in the eye and wanting stability. Maria had
seemed to offer it to him.

But their marriage had been a nightmare. Six months to the day
after the wedding and at least one major argument a day, always
over why she couldn’t have a new car or a home like Melissa’s or a
bigger diamond, she left a note on the kitchen table and disappeared. She’d been there at breakfast. At supper she was gone. The
apartment had been stripped. She had been kind enough to leave
him the sofa bed and his clothing. But everything else, including
the ratty shower curtain, was gone.

Theron had felt nothing but relief.

It didn’t matter that she was in Shamrock. It wouldn’t matter if
she showed up on his doorstep in one hour. Theron was through
with Maria and had declared himself a bachelor from there on out.
Women were nothing but trouble, and he had no intention of ever
having any kind of relationship with any of them.

Well, if it ain’t Fancy Lynn Sawyer,” a high-pitched voice said
from the other side of the rack of jeans.

Fancy tiptoed to look across at the tall lady. She should know the
woman, and in a minute the name would appear, but at that moment nothing came to mind. The voice sounded familiar. Names
flashed across Fancy’s memory like data on a computer, but nothing matched this face with a name.

The woman stepped around the end of the rack and closer to
Fancy Lynn. “I’m not surprised that you don’t remember me. I was
a year ahead of you in school. I’m-was-Becky Barrington, the
one who picked up the pieces when you left Chris behind”

Fancy nodded slowly, trying to force words from her brain through
her mouth. She opened her lips, but nothing came out. Becky had her
chin jutted out and her eyes fixed in a glare. She took another step.
“Tongue-tied, are you? You should be, because there ain’t words to
tell how bad you broke his heart”

Sophie came to the rescue from an aisle nearby. “Hi, Becky. How
are you?”

“Couldn’t be better, thank you. I might have known you three
would be together.”

Kate poked her head around a shirt rack. “Old friendships never
die”

Becky looked to her left. “Hello, Kate. I knew you were here
somewhere. Saw you when we walked in the door.”

Becky was at least five foot eight and so slim that Fancy wondered how she found jeans small enough to fit her. Her hair was
cut in shoulder-length layers, and the roots said she wasn’t really a blond. She’d toned down her makeup since high school but still
managed to use enough eye shadow and mascara to keep the industry from declaring bankruptcy.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize you at first, but now I remember
you,” Fancy said. “I understand you have a daughter.”

“Carrie, come on over here and meet who could’ve been your
momma if she’d stuck around town,” Becky said in a brittle
voice.

A shorter version of Becky strolled over from the boot section.
Blond hair pulled up into a ponytail and twisted around a clamp,
leaving the ends poking out everywhere. Tight-fitting jeans. Roundtoed pink boots that matched a pink tank top with a picture of a
cowgirl on the front.

“Who?” she asked.

Fancy felt the blush crawling up her neck and flushing her
cheeks.

“I’m just teasin’, honey. This is the girl your daddy was dating
before I landed him. This is Fancy Sawyer. That is Sophie Mc-
Swain, and the one by the shirts is Kate Miller”

“Pleased to meet y’all,” Carrie said. “We’d best find that pair of
jeans for Daddy and get on home, Momma. You know how he gets
if Buck wakes up and starts cryin’.”

“We’re back together now, in case you’re wondering,” Becky
said. “Chris always comes back to me. After his second wife, he
did. Now, after this one, he’s right back to me again. This time he’s
promised he won’t even look at another woman again. So, Fancy
Lynn, if you’ve come to town with thoughts of lighting an old
flame, then you’d better think again. Just thought I’d clear that up
right here at the beginning.”

“Fancy came to take care of her grandmother, and, believe me,
she’s not interested in Chris. We all hope you are very happy,”
Sophie said quickly.

“You too? Do you hope me and Chris are happy?” Becky looked
right at Fancy.

Fancy nodded. “I sincerely hope you and Chris are very happy
and stay together long enough to celebrate your fiftieth wedding
anniversary.”

“I appreciate that. Well, Carrie, grab that pair of jeans for your daddy, and let’s get on home. He does get cranky if we leave him
with Buck too long.”

Evidently Kate had a quizzical look on her face, because Becky
giggled. “Buck is our son, mine and Chris’. Born before he married
the last woman. Buck is a year old. That six-year-old ain’t Chris’
son except on the adoption papers. I’ll be glad to have Chris fulltime. Boy needs a father. See y’all around town” Becky followed
her daughter outside.

“Can you believe that?” Sophie said when they’d cleared the
store.

“Only thing that keeps running through my mind is that I owe
my momma my life,” Fancy said.

“Ain’t it the truth?” Kate nodded. “Now tell me, does this shirt
have enough bling to catch an Aussie?”

“You really think an Aussie could be your knight in shining
whatever?” Fancy giggled.

After all that had happened the past two days, it lifted her spirits to laugh. She wondered what on earth she would have done if
Sophie and Kate hadn’t moved back to the area and she’d had to
face her problems with no support group.

`Armor. My knight in shining armor,” Kate said.

“That’s not what you told us when we were talking about our
magic words. You said knight in shining whatever. And I thought
he was Hart Ducaine,” Sophie teased.

“No, his armor is tarnished. It will never shine again,” Kate intoned dramatically.

Fancy picked up a pair of low-slung western jeans and a sleeveless white shirt with pearl snaps and beaded fringe and headed for
the checkout counter. “He might find some silver polish and do a
fine job of fixing it up all shiny and pretty.”

Kate followed her, carrying a turquoise shirt with fake diamonds scattered across the chest. “Honey, there ain’t enough silver polish in the world for that.”

Sophie carried new boots to the counter. “You really think
Becky is stupid enough to think Chris will stay with her?”

“Maybe there’s a whole carload of stupid coming to Albany on the same train as that silver polish,” Fancy teased as she pulled out
several bills to pay for her purchases.

“Let it go. I don’t want to hear anything more about Jethro Hart
Ducaine,” Kate growled.

“The beast is hungry. We’d better feed it,” Sophie said.

Fancy’s face held a quizzical expression.

Sophie shrugged. “Don’t you remember how mean Kate gets
when she’s hungry? Let’s go over to the Texas Roadhouse and have
some barbecue for lunch. If we hurry, we can beat the lunch crowd.”

“I’m not standing in line an hour,” Kate said.

“If there’s a waiting line, we’ll go to McDonald’s or buy a pound
of bologna at the grocery store. Believe me, we won’t stand in line
for an hour. We couldn’t stand that much mean,” Sophie said.

Luck was with them. The lunch rush had barely begun, and there
was a table for four available immediately. They threw their purses
into the extra chair, and all three reached for a handful of peanuts
from the galvanized miniature milk can.

“Thank God for peanuts,” Kate said.

“Amen,” Sophie said.

The waiter arrived, and they ordered ribs, fries, and iced tea.

“This would be a good place to bring a date,” Kate declared.

“I agree, if I ever decide to date again,” Sophie said.

“Why?” Fancy asked.

“Why would I date again, or why would this be a good place to
bring him?” Sophie asked.

“Both,” Fancy replied.

The waiter set iced tea in front of all three women and told them
their order would arrive soon. Then he hurried off to another
table.

Kate answered for Sophie. “Because you need to forget that idiot you were married to, and the best way to put him out of your
mind is with someone new. Someone who is trustworthy. This is
the place to bring him because he could make a mess, and you
wouldn’t have to clean it up.”

“Was your ex a slob?” Fancy asked.

“Nah. My husband was so neat, it was scary. He even insisted that his socks be folded and arranged in the drawers by color,”
Sophie said.

“You’re jokin’. My stepdad, Les, is a career military man, and
he’s not that picky,” Fancy said.

“Who’s picky?” Theron Warren stopped at their table.

Fancy almost choked on a peanut. “What are you doing in Abilene
on a school day?”

“Principals’ meeting here. Got an hour off for lunch. Who’s
picky?” he asked again.

Kate scanned him, from cowboy boots to feathered-back hair.
“Who’s askin’?”

“I’m sorry. This is Theron Warren, principal at the elementary
school in Albany,” Fancy said.

Sophie’s eyes bugged out.

Kate smiled brightly. “Hello, we’ve heard so much about you.
Too bad it wasn’t all good”

Theron arched his eyebrows.

“And these are my friends, Sophie McSwain and Kate Miller,
who’s the outspoken one,” Fancy said.

“If she’s any more outspoken than you, I’m glad I’m not sitting
at your table. It was nice to meet you ladies,” he said politely before he kept walking toward the men’s room.

“So that is the big, bad principal. I thought he’d be bald and
paunchy,” Kate whispered.

Sophie fanned her face with one hand. “Or at least old. Principals didn’t look like that when we were in elementary school. You
see the way he filled out those jeans?”

“Enough to make you think there’s `life after wife’?” Fancy
tried to divert the attention toward Sophie and away from her.

“Almost,” Sophie said.

`Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades,” Fancy
told her.

“And you two would look so cute together. Bet you’re the only
woman in the world he wouldn’t have to look up to,” Kate said.

Fancy held up a hand in mock self-defense. “Enough already. I
told you years ago, I want a Greek god with blond hair and blue eyes, and I’m not settling for anything less than six feet four inches.”
She could have kissed the waiter for bringing their plates at that moment.

“What in the world would you do with that much man? You’d
barely reach his belly button, girl. Kissing him would be a nightmare,” Kate said. “Now, with the green-eyed, yummy, more compact Theron Warren, you’d-”

“Enough,” Fancy said.

“You think you’ve had enough, with Becky Barrington and
Theron Warren all in one day?” Sophie grinned.

“Double enough. I’d looked forward to a simple day of shopping. It couldn’t get any worse than this,” Fancy said.

“Be careful, darlin’. You’ll call down the wrath of God upon
us,” Kate whispered.

“And how’s that?”

“You say it can’t get any worse, but it could,” Sophie said.

“Okay, then, I’ll rephrase it. I hope it doesn’t get any worse. All
I need is for Chris to walk through the doors too,” Fancy said.

“And bring little Buck with him? What a name, but then, Chris
is his father, so what can I say?” Kate said.

Fancy shuddered. “What a mess!”

“Yes, and a big old mess at that. Now, with Theron
Warren…,” Kate began again, giggling.

“His first name sounds Greek, doesn’t it?” Sophie added. “Maybe
he could be-”

“Changing the subject now!” Fancy gave them fair warning.
“Who all is going to be at this party Friday night?”

“Every rancher in north central Texas and lots from all across the
state. Some from up in Oklahoma. The Aussie that Kate is going
to flirt with and whoever else is interested in buying some good
Texas longhorn stock,” Sophie said.

“I’m not going to flirt with him. I’m going to let him flirt with
me,” Kate said.