Flirting with Texas (Deep in the Heart of Texas) (11 page)

“Would you get dressed for God’s sake!” she hissed under her breath.

Beau shot her a heavy-lidded look that made heat flood her entire body. “Yes ma’am.” The hard length of him brushed against her as he ambled to the back of the camper.

Jenna took a deep, calming breath before she turned
to the open door. The townsfolk had moved closer as if watching Dallas Cowboys football on the big screen television at Bootlegger’s Bar.

Mayor Harley Sutter was the first one to separate from the group. He hitched his pants up over his big beer belly, and his handlebar mustache twitched with a broad smile.

“Welcome home, Jenna Jay.”

The mayor’s greeting caused the crowd to snap out of it, and they all started talking at once.

“We shore missed yew.”

“It ain’t been the same without yew.”

“New York might be nice, but this here is your home.”

“Hell yeah, it is!”

Lord only knew how long they would’ve continued their chorus of greetings if Jenna hadn’t placed two fingers in her mouth and shrilly whistled. Everyone shut up and exchanged proud smiles, as if she’d just accomplished a great feat.

Jenna’s gaze pinned the mayor. “Uncle Harley, do you mind telling me what’s going on?”

His huge mustache twitched, but before he could say anything, a cowboy stepped out from around the side of the camper and pushed back his cowboy hat. His dark skin was mottled with bruises, but that didn’t stop him from smiling brightly.

“Hey, Jenna Jay,” Kenny Gene said. “I shore hope you ain’t mad at me for comin’ to get you.” He touched the bump beneath his eye. “Although I think you should’ve gone out for boxin’ instead of volleyball. That right hook of yours shore rattled my brains.”

Jenna frowned. “You kidnapped me, Kenny Gene?”

“Now, ‘kidnap’ is a mighty harsh word,” Mayor Sutter
said. “We just brought you home so you could mend the fences between you and your mama.”

Most people would be completely mind-boggled by the fact that a town would actually plot a kidnapping. But Jenna had grown up in Bramble and knew how crazy the townsfolk could be. No, she wasn’t mind-boggled. Just angry that they had come up with such a loony idea. Wondering if her family had been behind it, she quickly scanned the crowd. But she didn’t see her mama. Or her daddy. Or her brother or sisters.

“They ain’t here, honey,” Rachel Dean said. “Your folks and your siblings all went to the NASCAR races for Memorial Day. That’s why we figured it would be a perfect time to go get you so we could surprise them when they get back next Tuesday.”

Jenna’s eyes widened.
Next Tuesday?
That was a week away. She started to protest when Rachel Dean held up a large hand and flapped it.

“Come on out, Bear.”

A man moved out from the other side of the camper. A man as big as, if not bigger than, Bruno’s goon.

“You remember Bear, don’t you, Jenna?” Harley said. “He’s the bounty hunter who helped us find your sister’s baby’s daddy. Although it turned out the daddy was right in our own backyard and we didn’t need Bear after all.” Harley thumped the man on the back. “You did a real good job, son. But what I can’t figure out is why you brought Beauregard Cates along with Jenna Jay.”

Jenna wasn’t surprised that the townsfolk knew Beau. It made sense given that he owned the henhouse that was only a hop, skip, and a jump away from Bramble, and his brothers were both married to Bramble women.

“We couldn’t just leave him passed out in the middle of the street, Harley,” Kenny Gene said. “Besides, I’ve missed fishin’ with Beau.”

Twyla stepped up and ducked her head, trying to see between Jenna’s legs. “What I’d like to know is what Beau was doin’ with Jenna Jay in the first place. I thought her boyfriend was some scrawny dude from Minni-soda. There’s nothing scrawny on Beau. Especially his—”

“Why, thank you, Twyla.”

Jenna glanced back to see Beau standing right behind her. Thankfully, for the sake of the sex-starved female population of Bramble, he had on his jeans. The women still looked awestruck. Something that really bothered Jenna. But no more than Beau’s cavalier attitude. He didn’t seem surprised at all to be back in Bramble.

He flashed a smile that had the women in the crowd sighing. With a slight shove, he moved Jenna out of the way and jumped down from the camper. “No man likes to be thought of as scrawny.” He slapped Kenny Gene on the back. “And I like to go fishin’ with you, too.” He glanced at Bear. “I guess you’re the one who knocked me out cold.”

“I wouldn’t have knocked you out,” Bear said, “if you hadn’t of hit the little missy.”

“You hit Jenna Jay?” Uncle Harley’s eyes narrowed. “Now, we shore like you, son. But if you’ve hurt our little Jenna Jay, there’ll be hell to pay.”

For a second, Jenna considered letting them make Beau pay. It wasn’t like he didn’t deserve it. Not so much for hitting her as for spending the last couple days driving her crazy. When he wasn’t annoying her, he was tempting her to do things she had no business doing.

A hand job? What had she been thinking?

She hopped down from the camper. “It was an accident. And an easy one to make, considering it was dark and we were being attacked by two yahoos in John Wayne masks.”

Kenny beamed. “That was my idea.”

“But I still don’t get what Beau was doin’ at Jenna Jay’s apartment,” Twyla said.

Darla stepped up, her knitting needles clicking like a telegraph machine as she worked on what looked to be a pair of adult-sized booties. “Probably the same thing he was plannin’ on doin’ when we interrupted him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man more rarin’ to go in my life. It reminded me of the time my daddy let me watch his stud horse—”

“Well, this turned out better than we thought,” Rachel Dean said. “Now there’s no reason for Jenna Jay and her mama to be fightin’. Jenna Jay has done got herself a Texas cowboy.”

Beau laughed. But Jenna knew this was no laughing matter. When the town started assuming things, it could turn ugly quick.

“Beau is not my boyfriend,” she said. “He was only at my apartment because he’d been thrown off a bull and hurt his shoulder.”

There was a moment of stunned silence before everyone burst out in laughter.

“Bulls in New York City.” Mayor Sutter chortled and pointed a finger at Jenna. “You’ll have to come up with a better one than that, Jenna Jay. ’Course, you never was a good liar. Remember that time that you and Dallas got caught shoe polishin’ Sheriff Winslow’s squad—”

“I’m not lying,” Jenna said, but no one seemed to be listening to her. Before she knew it, they all started reminiscing about her childhood days. And Beau wasn’t the least bit of help. He just stood there with his shoulder propped against the camper and a stupid smile on his face. Realizing that there was no use in trying to explain, she gave up and pushed her way through the crowd.

“Where are you goin’, Jenna Jay?” Twyla fell in step next to her, as did the rest of the town. The only one who didn’t follow her was Beau. And that suited her just fine.

“I’m going to my parents’ house to get some clothes and a car,” she stated as she hopped up on the sidewalk that ran in front of Sutter’s Pharmacy. Moses Tate was sitting on the bench napping. He didn’t budge as she and the entire town swept past him.

“And then what?” Darla hurried along next to her, knitting needles still clicking. “You goin’ over to Josephine’s Diner for dinner? Tuesdays are meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans. Or are you headed over to Bootlegger’s for a cold—”

“No,” Jenna interrupted, “I’m not going to Josephine’s. Or Bootlegger’s Bar. I’m going to Lubbock where I plan to catch the first flight home to New York City.”

Her words seemed to throw a wrench into whatever craziness the townsfolk had come up with. Their steps faltered, and suddenly Jenna was walking alone. She glanced back to find them all standing on the corner in front of the First Bank of Bramble with stunned looks on their faces.

“But, Jenna Jay,” Kenny Gene said, “Bramble is your home.”

It was a struggle to keep walking. Jenna didn’t like
hurting people’s feelings. Especially people she had grown up with and loved. But she knew from experience that if she gave the townsfolk an inch, they would take a good twenty miles. They needed to realize that they couldn’t run her life. She had a job to get back to. Not to mention a boyfriend.

In the last few days, when she hadn’t been fighting against her weird physical attraction for Beau, she’d been thinking about Davy. And she had come to the conclusion that Davy had been hiding his true emotions behind the entire “we don’t suit” argument. He was no doubt devastated at finding her with another man. Who wouldn’t be?

And maybe Beau was right. Maybe she hadn’t done a good enough job of making Davy feel needed. She had been so busy trying to save the world that she’d neglected the man she loved. But now she had a new goal, and she was going to achieve it. She would save her relationship with Davy come hell or high water.

Or crazy townsfolk.

Rounding the huge cottonwood tree, she stepped onto the acre lot of her childhood home. It looked exactly like it had a year earlier. A cinder-block garage sat off to one side while the other was filled with a beat-up pickup, a couple dented Cadillacs, and an open-bed trailer. The house was single-story with a wide front porch that held a swing that conjured up memories of hanging out with her family on hot summer nights, eating Popsicles or scoops of homemade ice cream.

In front of the porch was her daddy’s flower garden. It still amazed her that a man as big and tough as Burl Scroggs could grow dahlias the size of hubcaps. She stopped to smell a pretty white and pink one before she
climbed the porch steps. Since no one in Bramble locked their doors, she walked right into the house.

The curtains had been closed and the air conditioner turned off so the house was hot and muggy. It smelled like her mama’s fried chicken and her daddy’s shaving cream. On her way back to the bedroom she’d shared with her sister Tessa, Jenna couldn’t help stopping to look at the pictures that lined the walls.

The photos were separated by gender. Dallas’s pictures were on the left side of the hallway, while the girls’ were on the right. There were numerous pictures of Hope and Tessa in homecoming gowns and cheerleading uniforms, and a couple pictures of Hope’s twin sister, Faith, on her wedding day and receiving her teaching diploma. In her volleyball uniform with sweat-drenched hair, Jenna stood out like an ostrich at a duck farm. All three of her sisters were dark and petite like their mama. The complete opposite of Jenna, who hadn’t been a cheerleader, or a homecoming queen, or a student who graduated with honors.

Jenna had hated college and only attended because it meant so much to her parents. Tests freaked her out and teachers intimidated her, no doubt a direct result of being diagnosed with a learning disability in elementary school. She overcame the disability. She did not overcome her fear of being made fun of by the other kids. And maybe that was why she always fought for the underdog. And why she’d never felt like she belonged in a family of overachievers.

Even Dallas was an exceptional student. Football was his main love, but academics came in a close second. She studied the picture of him in his Bramble High football uniform. Of all her siblings, she and Dallas were the
closest. Her brother was the only one who hadn’t gotten on her case about Davy. So why had she stopped texting him and started cutting their phone conversations short so that he finally stopped calling altogether?

Unwilling to give in to the melancholy feelings the family pictures evoked, she turned and walked to her bedroom. The room looked the same. The walls were still the color of mint green she and Tessa had painted them in high school, and the double bed was still covered in the pink polka-dotted bedspread she had bought with tips she had made from working at Josephine’s Diner.

After two days without more than a sponge bath, she headed straight to the bathroom. The hot shower felt wonderful. While she scrubbed and conditioned her hair, she started to feel guilty about the way she had treated the townsfolk. True, it was a crazy plan, but they had only done it because they missed her. Thinking of their warm greetings, she had to admit that she missed them, too.

What would it hurt if she stayed a couple nights in Bramble? She had taken shifts for numerous people at work, and she was sure she could get them to cover for her for a few days. As for Davy, maybe time apart was a good thing. Her mama had always said that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Maybe by the time she got back to New York, she wouldn’t have to do more than step into Davy’s arms.

After blowing out her hair, Jenna went in search of clothing. She would’ve liked shorts and a tank top. Instead, she found a pair of wranglers, a sleeveless blouse, and her old roper boots.

Since she couldn’t fit in her mama’s bras and wasn’t about to wear granny panties, she went without underwear.
Once she was dressed, she stepped in front of the full-length mirror on the closet door. A country girl looked back at her. A country girl she’d almost forgotten existed. It was like she was looking at one of the photographs in the hallway. A person she’d once been, but was no more.

For some reason, it made her as sad as looking at the photographs. She had just started to turn away from her reflection when something caught her attention out the window. She walked over just in time to see Kenny Gene slamming down the hood of her daddy’s old pickup. In his hand was a black rubber radiator hose.

“Oh no you don’t!” Jenna yelled as she grabbed the cowboy hat off the corner of the mirror and headed for the door. But by the time she got outside, all that was left of Kenny Gene was a billow of dust. It didn’t take an academic genius to figure out what Kenny had been up to. Still, she checked every engine to make sure. They were all missing one hose or another.

Tugging her hat down, Jenna started for town. Unfortunately, by the time she got there, Bramble had turned into a ghost town. All the businesses were closed up tight, and the only person in sight was Moses Tate, who still sawed logs on the bench in front of Sutter’s Pharmacy.