Cowboy Sing Me Home (11 page)

She shook her head at her naiveté.  “I
believed every word that preacher said.  How we were all equal in the eyes of
the Lord, how we’d all been washed clean in the blood of the lamb.  I thought
they were the nicest people I’d ever met. Then I found out they were looking
down their noses at us the entire time.  They’d made it their church’s mission
to rehabilitate us, and me in particular.  We needed to be saved from our
‘vagabond lifestyle.’  Like my parents didn’t take care of me and always have
my welfare foremost in their mind.  So that church took it upon themselves to
take me under their collective wing, and see what they could do to make me over. 
They had it all planned out.  One of the women had agreed to let me live with
her, but the entire gaggle of them was in on it.  They even had a new wardrobe
for me.  Even my clothes weren’t good enough.”

She didn’t tell him how much she had
wanted those new clothes.  How pretty they all looked, skirts and blouses and
matching shoes and headbands spread out on the bed like a treasure.  How she’d
felt like she was in a movie, standing at that woman’s house and looking at all
the things they’d bought her.  She didn’t say how many countless hours she’d
wasted, dreaming that it had actually come true.  That she could live in that
house, like a normal girl, and have that normal life.  Because to tell him
would be to vocalize how she had betrayed her parents with those fantasies.  
Better to concentrate on the wrongs that had been done
to
her.

“A few of them had volunteered to tutor
me, so I wouldn’t be so embarrassed when school started.  I wondered who would
be the embarrassed ones.  I overheard one of them talking about needing to
improve my ‘social skills.’”  She shook her head.  “Social skills.  Like any of
those self-righteous, meddling busybodies had any social skills.”

            Luke nodded slowly.  “I can see, I
suppose, how that would hurt a person’s feelings.”

            “It didn’t hurt my feelings,” she
insisted.  “My feelings were just fine.  What it did was show me the true face
behind the church. They say to love your brother.  What they mean is, love the
ones who are like you, and do your damndest to change the rest.”  She looked
around the stage again and shrugged.  “And that was my last experience with the
church.” 

            Luke propped a hip on the table and put
his foot on the seat of a chair.  “Unfortunately a lot of damage has been done
by good intentions.  I’m sure those women didn’t mean any harm. They just
didn’t see past their own concept of what was good and what wasn’t.”

            “Whatever.”  She studied the stage. 
“Tommy has an effects box.  Did he have an effects box last night at
rehearsal?”

            “That’s his new toy.  I don’t think he
hooked it up until we got through practicing.  Are you trying to change the
subject?”

            “Nope.”  She picked her way through the
equipment and unplugged the small effects box.  “I have changed the subject.  I
don’t think this new toy gets along with my amp.”   She rearranged plugs and
flipped switches.

            Luke stood and helped her turn the
equipment on.  “No, I’m sure those women didn’t mean any ill will.  Just like
you don’t mean to punish the entire town and ruin my Rain Fest for what some
women you don’t even know did over a decade ago.”

            She looked over her shoulder at him. 
“Now, aren’t you dramatic?  I’ve
ruined
your Rain Fest.”

            “Like I said, I’m sure you didn’t mean
to.  You were just looking at everything through that chip on your shoulder. 
I’m not blaming you for this catastrophe with the choir.  Some people might. 
But I’m not.”

            “Not more than five minutes ago you said
it was my fault.”

            “I was joking.  You can’t help it if
you’re all prickly and grouchy and can’t get along with people.  I’m sure you
would be happy to help if you weren’t so antisocial.”

            After a moment, she sighed.  “Oh please.
You don’t really think you can manipulate me this way, do you?  I am aware that
I’m being stubborn.  I know those women aren’t the same ones in your church. 
I’m also aware that I’m holding a grudge against women I’ll probably never see
again.  And you know what?  I don’t care.”

            He raised his brows and nodded, still not
saying anything.

            “I can be stubborn if I want to.  It’s my
right.”

            He chewed his lip, then nodded again. 
“You have a point.”

            “Don’t play this game with me, Tanner, I’m
warning you.  I’m not going to be guilted into this.”

            He held his hands out and shrugged his
shoulders.

            “The answer is no.  No way.  No how.  It’s
not going to happen.”

            He nodded, stood, and slid the chair back
under the table.  “Okay.  I’ll tell Brother Mark.  I’m sure we can think of
something.”  He tipped his hat at her and smiled before he turned and walked
out.

            Dusty watched him leave, silently
congratulating herself on holding out.  She didn’t owe this town anything
besides a great performance here at Tumbleweeds, after all.  It wasn’t her duty
to restore peace and goodwill to the citizens of Aloma County.  All she had to
do was put on a great show.

            She uttered a thoroughly unladylike curse,
one that would undoubtedly have had Brother Mark rethinking the wisdom of
allowing her within reach of his church.  “Tanner,” she barked as Luke got to
the door.

            He turned.

            She cursed again.

            “What was that?”

            She groaned.  “Rehearse tomorrow morning
at 9:30 sharp.  Four songs, max.  And you’d better have the songs picked out by
the time I get there.”

            Through the dim light in the barroom, she
saw his teeth flash white.  Damn him anyway.  He knew how this was going to
turn out.

            He was wise enough not to say so.  He
merely tipped his hat again and left before she could change her mind.

            Luke neatened a stack of papers on his
desk and stepped back to look around the office with a critical eye.  He decided
the calendar with the bikini-clad women wasn’t the image he wanted to project. 

            “Why’d you let Adam get away with putting
this trash up all over the place?” he groused to Toby as he jerked it from the
wall and dropped the tack into his hand.  Adam was their newest deputy and
young and eager enough to make Luke feel like an old man.

            Toby mumbled something and stared at the
computer screen in front of him.  He looked up and cocked his head at Luke. 
“Don’t act like you haven’t been ogling Miss June all month.”

            “It’s very unprofessional, that’s all. 
Are you planning on hanging around much longer?”  He studied the wall that now
boasted a lighter-colored square where the calendar had been.

            “I’m checking my stocks and then I’m
leaving.”

            “Why?  They’re not going anywhere.  Get
out of here.”  Luke walked to the back where the holding cells were.  “You want
to put this up in your suite here?”  He turned the calendar sideways and slid
it through the bars to Kenny.  “Don’t be making a weapon out of this thumbtack,
you hear?”

            Kenny took the calendar and bobbed his
head, but Luke figured the guy was going to pay about as much attention to that
calendar as he had everything else since they’d locked him up.  Poor guy wasn’t
dealing too well with incarceration.  Maybe some pretty girls would take his
mind off his troubles for a while.

            He went back into the main office and
rummaged through the file drawer for something to cover up the bare spot on the
wall.  “That kid sweats more than anyone I’ve ever seen.  I’m going to have to
wash his jumpsuit again tonight, it’s just about soaked through at the pits.”

            “You’d sweat too if you thought you were
going to prison.”  Toby tapped some more keys, then slapped the edge of the
desk and grinned.  “Yahoo’s up another three points.  I told you it would come
back.”

            “Whatever.”  Luke lifted out another
calendar, three years old and featuring a different breed of puppies for every
month.  It was curled up on one side and ripped through September and October. 
But still, Dusty might think it was cute and sensitive.

            “You might show the slightest interest,”
Toby said.  “This is your money, too.”

            “I told you when you started this
investment club, I’ll pitch in my money and I’ll bring the beer to the
meetings, but sitting in front of a computer watching numbers go up and
down…not my idea of a good time.”  He flattened the calendar against the edge
of his desk and rubbed it up and down to smooth out the edges.

            He heard a car door slam out front and
jumped.  “She’s here.  Get out.”

            Toby had the nerve to laugh.  “Let me
check IND first.”

            “No.  Go on, out the back door.”

            Toby just sat and tapped keys.  “I promise
I won’t say anything to embarrass you.”

            “I promise I will kill you if you even
think about it.”  He opened the door for Dusty, who walked in carrying a guitar
case and wearing a frown.

            “All right, I’m here.”

            “Glad to see you’ve got a good attitude
about it.”  He grinned at her. 

She blinked slowly and stared back.  “I
can
not
be here just as easily.”

“No, please, have a seat.”  He slid the
puppy calendar into the trashcan and dusted his hands together.  He resigned
himself to the ribbing he knew he would get after Toby spent some time
listening to Dusty shoot him down.  Not that Luke minded her mouthiness; her
go-to-hell attitude was one of the things he found endearing about her.  He
took a deep breath and smiled as she sat in the chair he held for her.  As was
her smell.

She frowned up at him.  “If you’re going
to do things like smell my hair, I’m leaving.  I came here to practice for the
stupid Jubilee, not play the 10
^th
grade coquette.”

Luke gulped.  “Sorry.  Won’t happen
again.”

Behind him, Toby cleared his throat but
didn’t say anything.

“Toby was just leaving.  Weren’t you?”

“You bet, as soon as I get this quote pulled
up.”

“Which will only take a second.  And
during which time he will not utter a word.  We won’t even know he’s here. 
Right?”  He put a hand on Toby’s shoulder and squeezed as hard as he could.

“Gotcha.”  Toby ducked out of the squeeze
and coughed away a laugh.

Luke pulled up a chair across from Dusty
and handed her a hymnal.  “Sorry, we’re going to have to share.”  Brother Mark
had given him two hymnals, but Luke figured things would be cozier if they
shared one.  “Do you have any favorite hymns you’d like to play?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Right. Dumb question.  Okay, this is the
first one I thought we’d work on.  It’s pretty simple, and –“

She was already picking out chords. 

“Okay, good.  We’ll just – “ He tangled up
in his own feet and ended up plopping down across from her.  “Good.”

“Damn!”  Toby’s chair hit the floor.  “IND
went down five points.   Five points!” 

“Man, would you shut –”

“I saw that this morning,” Dusty said, not
looking up from the hymnal.  “It was down to forty-three at noon yesterday, but
some of the tech stocks cooled off a little toward the end of the day because
of all the stuff going on in Seattle.”

“Still. Not as bad as some of the
others…”  Toby looked back at the computer and scribbled on a piece of paper.

“Bad enough, especially with that new game
coming out.  Supposed to be the biggest thing in years.”  Dusty kept her eyes
on the hymnal as she spoke.

“Yeah, I’ve heard about it.  A buddy of
mine saw a demonstration at a trade show a few months ago, and he said it was
beyond belief.  He played running back with Tony Romo
and
RG3.  He said
it was just like being right smack in the middle of Cowboy Stadium.  Can you
imagine?  I think Cade’s going to have to get one of those for Christmas.”    

“Good luck.  They’re already talking about
market shortages and waiting lists, even before the earthquake. That’s why
their stock didn’t take as big a hit –”

Luke looked from Toby to Dusty, so caught
up in their conversation he might as well not be there.  “What is going on
here?”

They stopped talking and looked at him.

“What are you two talking about?”

“The new gaming system from IND,” Toby
said patiently.  “See, it’s kind of like the old Atari, only –”

“I know what a gaming system is.”  Luke
clenched his jaw and widened his eyes in Toby’s direction, who remained
oblivious to the hint.  He turned to Dusty.  “You mean you’re into all this
investment stuff, too? All anyone talks about here anymore is Dow Jones and
Nasdaq and price earnings ratio.  Yawn.”