Hot Cowboy Nights (17 page)

Thick branches covered with green leaves entangled from one tree to the next, forming walls for a room with the sky for a roof. Two candles were on top of the board covering the well. Ten others surrounded the blanket. Throw pillows had been tossed about randomly on the quilt, but right there in the middle of it was a huge picnic basket. She didn’t know such things existed outside of romance books and movies.

The work. The planning. The whole ball of wax. This had been done for her.

“This is amazing,” she whispered. “It’s a perfect first date.”

Bless his heart.

His face clearly showed relief, which meant he not only went to a lot of work, he was worried that she would think it was silly or stupid. She took a step forward, put both hands on his chest, and rolled up on her toes. His lips met hers in a soft, sweet kiss that told her how vulnerable he really was. The brass and show of the hottest cowboy in Texas was only surface. The real Toby Dawson was holding her in a clearing with a blanket on the ground.

“Hungry?” he asked when the kiss broke.

“Starving. I hope there’s food in that basket.”

He smiled and the stars dimmed. “Yes, ma’am. Fried chicken, potato salad, dinner rolls, and fried okra, and over there by the well in a cooler, there is a six-pack of beer iced down.”

“I really do feel like Cinderella,” she said as her eyes met his.

The flicker of a dozen jar candles reflected his happiness. “I’m so glad that you like it. I wanted to spend time with you, not with the families, not in a café or a bar. Deke bought the candles for me but he doesn’t have any idea about this.” He picked up her hands and led her to the blanket. “I was afraid it would look like a redneck harem.”

“Oh, no! It is an enchanted fairy tale.” She kicked off her boots and walked to the middle of the quilt in her bare feet.

He carried the cooler to the edge of the quilt, removed his boots, and sat down beside the basket. “Come and sit in front of me.”

She eased down and crossed her legs Indian-style, her knees touching his. He opened the basket, drawing out two china plates, flatware, and blue bandannas to use for napkins. Next he took out an aluminum pan full of fried chicken, a bowl of potato salad, and one of fried okra. He leaned forward, cupped her face in his hands, and kissed her on the tip of her nose.

“I’ve said it before but you really are an amazing woman, Lizzy.”

“Right now I’m a hungry woman, Toby.”

“And a very honest one.”

He brought out two bottles of beer, twisted the cap off the first one, and handed it to her. She took a sip and propped it in the corner of the empty basket. He did the same, setting his right beside hers.

“You like legs?” she asked.

“On you, yes. On a chicken, I prefer wings and breasts.”

She picked up both legs with her fingers. “Then we are going to get along just fine.”

“Potato salad?” He held the bowl out to her. “I have to admit, this all came from Nadine’s. I didn’t have time to build an enchanted forest and cook, too. I told her the truth, though.”

Lizzy was glad she hadn’t taken a bite of food because she would have choked on it. “You didn’t?” she gasped.

“Yes, I did. I told her that Allie and Blake were going north for the weekend and that I didn’t want to cook. She laughed and said that if Deke was coming over for supper I might not have enough, and she talked me into buying an apple pie for dessert. It wouldn’t fit into the basket so it’s setting on the top of the well.”

“Apple pie is my favorite.” Lizzy bit into the fried chicken leg.

In spite of the vow she’d made not to think about Mitch or the times they’d had together, a memory popped into her head. The whole family was gathered around the table and Katy had made a cherry and an apple pie. Lizzy had looked forward to having a piece of that apple pie all morning but then when it was time for dessert, Mitch had said that the pie was too fattening and that they’d both have to watch their desserts or they’d be big as circus clowns. Then he’d thrown an arm around her and had led to the living room to set up a Monopoly game. Looking back it had not been an arm of love but a controlling one.

And here was a man who told her that she was amazing, beautiful, and bought a whole apple pie for them to share. How could she not compare?

“You are pretty quiet. What are you thinking about?” Toby asked her.

It was on the tip of her tongue to say something about apple pie, but in a real relationship, two people had to build a foundation and the first stone in it was honesty. “Do you really want to know or should we talk about our favorite desserts?”

“I want to know,” he answered.

She told him, keeping the story straight and the emotion out of her voice. “And I did what my mama says I’m never to do and that’s compare two people.”

“And?” Toby raised a dark eyebrow.

“And I’m real glad I’m sitting in this wonderful place with you and that I can eat all of that apple pie I want.” She smiled and it felt good.

The whole atmosphere, even the howling coyotes and the screeching locusts, had the ring of right to it that evening.

“Me, too,” he said. “Ten-question time while we eat. I’ll ask one, then you can and we have to answer honestly. I’ll go first. What is your favorite food, other than apple pie for dessert?”

“Steak, medium rare. And apple is just my favorite pie. My favorite dessert is Mama’s chocolate sheet cake when it’s still warm with a scoop of ice cream on the top,” she said.

“You can’t ask me the same question because my answer will be the same as yours. I love a good beefsteak cooked the same way you do. And I’d never had that chocolate sheet cake until Allie made it, and it’s my new favorite dessert.”

She scooped up a forkful of potato salad and chewed slowly while she organized her ten questions from least to most important. “Okay, then favorite song?”

“By whom? My favorite two-steppin’ song is different than my favorite shower song or my favorite church song. So which one?” he asked.

“All time. Any artist. Any genre?”

“That would be ‘I’ll Fly Away’ because when we sang it with your granny, it lifted my heart. Her face was so content that day, and the way the sun filtered through the window onto your face made you look like an angel,” he answered. “And that sounds like a bunch of bullshit, but the song has come back to me several times and I always get a vision of you two. It was like seeing the past and the future right there in the room with me,” he answered. “My turn and I’ll ask you the same question. What’s your favorite song?”

She was glad she had popped three small pieces of okra in her mouth. After his comments, she had trouble thinking about anything other than how sweet and sensitive he was once she’d gotten past that outer tough layer.

“My favorite song is the old one by Garth called ‘The Dance,’” she said. “It not only tells the story of an incident but also of life. Every dance we take leads us up to the last one we enjoy before we die, and if we miss one, then we aren’t the same people.”

“So that means that all our past forms us into who we are today, right?” Toby asked.

“I think it does. The pain and the joys intermingled together,” she answered. “Your turn.”

“Flowers? What’s your favorite flowers?” He picked up the second chicken breast and bit into it.

“Any kind of wildflower, but I’m real partial to those wild roses that grow on the fences and bloom all summer. I’m an outdoor person, Toby. I own and manage a store, but when my workday is done I like to be outside. Since you are a rough and tough cowboy I won’t ask you about flowers.”

“Daffodils,” he said quickly. “I love those little yellow flowers that say spring is on the way. Winter is over and it’s time to plant. Time to think of a fall harvest. Time for new baby calves to be born. Daffodils remind me of all that. Your favorite color?”

“Blue, the color of your eyes and the summer sky after a hard rain when the clouds pass on by and the sun comes out. Yours?”

“Green, not dark or olive green but the color of new winter wheat as it comes up through the dirt. Thank you for saying that about my eyes. I’ve always thought they looked a bit out of place with my dark hair. I’m the only blue-eyed Dawson in the family. Blake’s are green and Jud’s are brown. What about your favorite movie?”

She picked up the beer and took a long gulp. “You promise not to laugh.”

“Cross my heart. What is it?
Steel Magnolias
or
Little Mermaid
?”

She shook her head. “How’d you come up with those two?”

“My sisters-in-law and my mother love the first one. My nieces like the last one. I’ve sat through both more times than I can count on my fingers and toes.”

“
Dirty Dancing
,” she said quickly.

“I would have never guessed that one.”

“It tells a story of never giving up and not letting anyone put you down,” she said.

“I’ve never seen it. Maybe sometime we’ll watch it together?” He stacked all their dirty dishes into a plastic bag and put them inside the basket with the leftovers and then brought the pie to the quilt.

She looked around for plates and he held up two clean spoons.

“We’ll eat it right out of the pie pan. My favorite all-time movie is
The Cowboy Way
.”

“Haven’t seen it.”

“That’s two date nights, then.” He dipped into the middle of the pie and held the spoon out to her.

“Mmmm,” she mumbled around the taste of cinnamon and apples. “Nadine does have a way with an apple pie. Let’s save the other five questions for another night and stretch out on these pillows when we get done. I love this place, Toby, but you already know that. I could lie on my back and watch the stars for hours.”

Toby shoved the basket off to one side and arranged the pillows behind him. “There’s going to be another night, then?”

“Darlin’, you did too much work here for this to be a one-night-stand place. Next time I’ll bring the dinner and the beer.”

He had a couple of more bites of the pie and then stretched out on the quilt, his head on the pillows. “You sure it won’t get to be old hat and boring? The first time is exciting but after a while…” He let the sentence hang.

“If it gets boring, we’ll know what we have is a flash in the pan. If it continues to be as exciting as tonight, then we’ll know it’s genuine.” She set the pie inside the basket on top of the leftover fried chicken before following his lead. Back on the quilt, hands laced over her full stomach, head on the pillows, eyes looking straight ahead at the stars.

He reached across the six inches separating them and took her hand in his. Fingers laced together, they watched the sky, each in their own comfort zone of thoughts and memories until a bright, shiny star danced across the sky, leaving a long tail of brilliance behind it.

“A falling star!” she said. “That was the brightest, prettiest one I’ve ever seen. We get to make a wish.”

“One wish that we have to agree on or one each?” He let go of her hand and rolled up on an elbow.

“There was one star so we have to agree.” She gazed up into his eyes.

“Then my wish is that this is not a flash in the pan and that it is genuine.” He bent enough that his lips met hers in a sweet gentle kiss.

Even that set her hormones into a loud whine begging for more, crying out to her to strip out of all her clothing and be damned to any mosquitoes that braved the citronella to get at her bare-assed skin.

“I think.” She rolled to the side so that she was facing him. Now their faces were so close that if she squinted his eyes were out of focus. “That we can agree on that wish.”

“Good. Now let me hold you and let’s enjoy being together.”

No sex? Sleep?

“I loved that night in the back of the truck when you slept in my arms. I’ve dreamed about you being there all week, and when I wake up and find I’m holding a pillow, I want to kick something.” He pulled her close to his side.

With his arm around her and her head resting on his chest, suddenly wild sex didn’t seem as important as listening to him talk about his dreams of her. If nothing more came of their relationship, tonight was a fairy tale that she’d tell her granddaughters about someday.

L
izzy’s nose twitched and she brushed at it without opening her eyes. She didn’t want to wake up. Just a few more minutes to enjoy Toby’s arms around her, to be curled up inside the curve of his strong body, and to feel the warmth of his breath on her neck as he slept.

She must have been dreaming about something that smelled horrible because her nose felt as if it were frozen into a snarl. She inhaled, expecting to get nothing but a lungful of fresh night air, but the scent left no doubt that there was a skunk in the area. Both eyes flew open and there he was, not three feet from her face, butt toward her as he dug around in the picnic basket.

“Don’t move a muscle,” Toby whispered.

Her nod was slight but the skunk’s head popped up out of the basket and whipped around to glare at her. She stared back, afraid to blink for fear even that movement would scare him and he’d flip that tail up and spray her right in the face. Finally, he went back to enjoying what was left of the apple pie.

Lizzy had never been able to sneeze like a lady. She could give a four-hundred-pound trucker a run for his money when it came to sneezing, and no matter how hard she tried, she’d never been able to hold one inside. With the skunk aiming something worse than a machine gun at her, she did her best for as long as she could.

Then suddenly, she was moving, strong arms around her as Toby rolled her to his other side, picked her up, and ran toward the well. He dropped down behind it and covered as much of her as he could with his body.

And then the smell hit their noses. The skunk had let go and the stink was everywhere. In the grass. On the quilt. All around them in the air. Lizzy grabbed her nose and tried breathing through her nose, but that made her gag.

Toby pulled a white handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. “Put it over your nose and hold my hand. We’ll leave everything and come back to clean it up later.”

Toby buried his nose in the crook of his shirt and led her toward home. “Holy shit, Lizzy, that’s the sun coming up. How long did we sleep? You’ve got to get that smell off you and get to work in a couple of hours. I’d planned on making breakfast for you, but it won’t happen now.”

“My morning-after getting-lucky breakfast?” she asked.

“No, your morning-after-our-first-date breakfast,” he answered. “It was going to be very different than those others. I make a mean crunchy French toast served up with blueberries soaked in wine overnight.”

“Can we have it on our morning after our second date?”

“If we don’t sleep late and get awakened by a skunk.”

When they were halfway back to the house she stopped. “We should go back and throw out all that uneaten food. It will draw all kinds of wild animals.”

“I’ll take care of all that after I do chores this morning. You’ve got to get the stink out of your hair and go to work, darlin’,” he told her.

“Bet you never said that to a woman before,” she said with a smile.

“You are one of a kind.” He chuckled.

Lizzy lathered up her whole body with soap three times and washed her hair twice. After two cups of coffee she could still taste the smell of the skunk in her mouth. She’d squirted saline mist up her nose every fifteen minutes, but it wasn’t doing much to clear out the eau de skunk from her nostrils.

It didn’t matter how she and Toby approached a relationship, something always happened. First it was the bar scene and she’d gotten so drunk that he had to carry her into the house. Then the tornado hit and they were trapped in the cellar until a rescue team arrived. Third was the wreck. And now they had a perfect date right up until the skunk woke them from a dead sleep. Would Mama Fate ever stop punishing them for those three weeks of hot sex?

“If I’m going to have the correction, then I should have the game, right?” she said as she rinsed the soap from her body and the shampoo from her hair one more time. It didn’t do a bit of good to sniff anything, not when her nose wouldn’t let go of the smell.

“Enough is enough!” She shook her fist at the ceiling.

She stepped out and wrapped a towel around her head. Picking a thick terry robe from the hook on the back of the door and shoving her arm into it, she padded to her bedroom where she dressed for work that Saturday morning. Jeans, untucked shirt, hair in a ponytail that would dry by noon, boots, and the stinky skunk smell still in her nose.

Stormy met her at the door that morning when she opened the shop. Lizzy flipped on the lights, adjusted the thermostat, and bent to pick up the cat, but she hissed and ran back to the laundry basket with her kittens. The cowbell rang before she even got to the counter to see what had Stormy’s tail in a twist that morning. Fate wasn’t done with Lizzy yet, not when she sent Dora June and Ruby into the store before she even had time to get the cash register opened.

“Good morning. You ladies are out early. What can I do for you?” Lizzy said cheerfully.

Ruby sniffed the air. “Must’ve been a skunk around here. I’m getting a faint smell of him.”

“In summertime they come with the territory,” Lizzy said with a straight face.

The cowbell rang again, and all three women turned to see who was coming through the door. Toby flashed his brightest smile and said, “Mornin’, ladies. How are y’all this mornin’? If you’ll open the back door, there’s a string of pickup trucks comin’ to town to bring the rest of the supplies from the ranch. Deke’s got another bunch of kids workin’ for him this weekend, and he offered to haul it all to your new storage place before they got busy tightening fence over at his ranch.”

Dora June raised her nose and inhaled. “Skunk smell got stronger.”

“Must be blowback from the four I saw on the road. It’s mating season so they’re all over the place. Flat out opened my sinuses up when I passed them, and poor old Blue, who was riding beside me, whined like a puppy. He hates skunks,” Toby said. “Give me the new remote to the door and I’ll get it opened up so you can wait on these ladies, Lizzy. And one more thing, I do realize that going with me to haul two donkeys home doesn’t sound like much of a Saturday-night date, but…”

“I’d love to,” she butted in before he could go on.

“Then I’ll pick you up at six. We can have supper in Olney.”

Dora June’s big bosom expanded, putting a strain on the buttons on her shirt. Her chins looked somewhat like a bullfrog down by the river right before he started croaking. Ruby made a noise with her tongue that sounded like an old hen gathering her chickens before a storm.

If either one or both dropped with a heart attack, would it be a sin to wait ten minutes to call 911?

“If you…” Dora June shook a chubby finger at Lizzy, “had been the woman we all thought you were, Mitch wouldn’t have needed to find someone else. It’s those demons on the Lucky Penny that’s causing you to misbehave, but we’re prayin’ hard that you overcome them.”

Ruby pursed her lips together so tightly it was a miracle that words could get past them, but she managed. “Yes, it is. Never thought I’d see the day that Katy would fly off to that city of pure sin for a weekend, either. Gambling and drinking and who knows what else?”

Lizzy shook her head sympathetically. “It is a cryin’ shame, ain’t it? She might even get laid while she’s there.”

Dora June gasped. “Don’t you get sassy with me. I don’t know why I keep tryin’ to set you on the right path.”

“It’s for Irene’s sake. She’s lost her mind so we have to step up.” Ruby sighed.

“Please step down,” Lizzy said.

“What did you say?” Ruby asked.

“I don’t need or want your advice. I’ve made that clear. I’m old enough to make my own decisions and live with the consequences. Y’all need something in my store, you are welcome to come in here and buy it. If you’re comin’ in to fuss at me, then stay out there on the sidewalk,” Lizzy said seriously.

“Well, I never!” Dora June huffed.

Ruby stuck her bony nose into the air. “You can’t help some people.”

“I’ll make a deal with you. When I want advice, I will ask for it,” Lizzy said. “But today I don’t need or want any, so can I help you with anything from the store?”

They marched out of the store without a backward glance. The cowbell announced their departure at the same time she heard the new garage door sliding up. She left Stormy protecting her kittens from the smell of skunk and went to check on what supplies she had left.

It took the guys fifteen minutes to unload the stock and be on their way to Deke’s place. Toby hit the button and the garage door slid into place, then he picked Lizzy up and kissed her long, hot, hard, and passionately.

Panting, giggling, and quivering with desire when he set her feet on the concrete floor, she wasn’t sure her knees would support her so she held on to him.

“Wow! Just wow!” she said.

“I know. Ain’t life wonderful, even when skunks are involved?” he said, and grinned.

Toby whistled as he drove up to the front of Audrey’s Place. Lizzy made him happy, plain and simple. There she was on the porch swing as usual. The night breeze picked up strands of her hair and blew it across her face. It was cute the way she tucked it behind her ear.

She waved, picked up her purse, and didn’t give him time to get out of the truck and open the door for her. “What song was playing on the radio? It looked like you knew every word.”

“Oh?” he asked.

“You were singing something. I could see your mouth moving with the words,” she said, then changed the subject. “At least we’re finally rid of the skunk smell. Did you go back out there and take care of the food?”

He leaned over the console separating them and kissed her on the cheek. “I sure did and brought the quilt back to the house. It went through three washings before I put it in the dryer. But I think all the skunk smell is gone. At least all we got was his passing-by aroma and not a full-fledged dose of what could have happened if he raised that tail.”

“Hangover. Tornado. Wreck. Skunk. What’s going to happen tonight?” she asked.

“Not one thing. It’s going to go smooth because we’ve eaten our toad frog and it’s time for us to get good luck on our side from now on.” He straightened the truck up and started down the lane.

“Toad frog?” she snarled.

“Ever seen a dog froth at the mouth when they eat a frog?”

She nodded. “That’s why I can’t imagine eating one.”

“My grandpa said that you get up every morning and eat a toad frog and nothing can faze you the rest of the day. I reckon what we’ve been through is our toad frog and now it’s happy sailing from here on in.” He turned right at the end of the lane and drove through town.

Lizzy hoped that Toby was right and that Madam Fate was through testing her. She felt as if the old witch had picked her up, set her on a spindly tree limb, and then stood back and hurled rocks at her from a catapult. She’d managed to hang on but enough was enough, especially after the skunk.

Riding on a road that she’d traveled so many times that she knew every single landmark from the church in Elbert where they turned on Highway 79 to the old rotting log at the corner edge of the bridge crossing over the Brazos, things went past in a blur that evening. She didn’t remember shifting positions to get the setting sun out of her eyes or the time when Toby adjusted the sun visor to keep it from pouring into the truck cab.

“You are awfully quiet.” Toby picked up her hand and held it on top of the console separating them.

“I like that we are comfortable enough with each other that we don’t have to fill the space with lots of words,” she said.

He squeezed her hand. “Me, too.”

Lizzy recognized the place when Toby made a left-hand turn, crossed over a cattle guard and under a big sign welcoming them to the Dickson Ranch. The red barn’s doors were open on both ends with several stalls on each side of the concrete center aisle. Lizzy had been in that barn before. She’d ridden one of those horses when she dated Terry Dickson a couple of years ago.

A very pregnant woman with red hair must’ve heard the vehicle approaching because she left a horse stall and waved. Toby rolled down the window and stuck a hand out, but Lizzy let herself out of the truck and started toward the woman.

“Hey, Lizzy Logan.” Melanie Dickson smiled. “What are you buying donkeys for?”

“Not me,” Lizzy said. “The buyer is Toby Dawson from the Lucky Penny.”

“And you are with him?” Melanie’s green eyes widened. “I thought you were about to marry a preacher.”

“That’s old history. I didn’t know about the baby. Congratulations.” Maybe baby talk would steer the conversation away from Toby.

“I heard that the ranch over there had sold to some really sexy cowboys.” Her eyes got even bigger and she didn’t blink. “They weren’t exaggerating,” Melanie whispered. “I wouldn’t blame you for throwing out a preacher and taking him on.”

“It didn’t happen like that,” Lizzy said.

“Hello,” Melanie said. “I’m Melanie Dickson. Terry isn’t here but I’ve got your donkeys in a couple of stalls, and I know what the deal was between y’all.”

Toby stuck out his hand. “I’m pleased to meet you, Mrs. Dickson. I’ve got the check ready right here in my pocket. Could I look at the animals before I give it over to you?”

“Why, sure. Right this way,” she answered.

Toby tucked Lizzy’s hand inside his own and followed Melanie into the barn. The donkeys were housed in the first two stalls. One was a little plain old gray fellow, and the other one reminded Lizzy of a Dalmatian dog with his multiple black spots. Toby petted both and neither offered to take a chunk out of his hand.

“They look like good stock,” he said.

“We probably wouldn’t sell them, but we’re thinning the herd this summer. The gray one is a real pet, but he can get noisy when he doesn’t get breakfast on time. The spotted one is bashful and likes his apple in the evening. He’s not real partial to the tart kind, though,” Melanie said.

Toby handed her the check and opened the first stall door. “Come on, feller.” The donkey lowered his head and followed Toby like a puppy.