Nearest Thing to Heaven (Maverick Junction) (5 page)

Maggie hesitated.

“Please. I need to know.”

“Really?”

“I do.”

“Me, too,” Annelise said. “Nobody talks about her.”

Maggie sighed. “Julia was beautiful, tallish, about five-eight, long dark hair that curled at the ends. In high school, everybody wanted to be like her. She played piano beautifully, captained the debate team, and had Ty, the football team’s starting quarterback, on her arm.”

Mentally, Sophie winced. Well, she’d wanted to know, hadn’t she? No wonder Ty hadn’t married again. How could anyone hope to compete with that? Good thing she didn’t intend to.

Before she could stop herself, though, she asked, “Did you make her wedding gown?”

“No, I didn’t have my shop then. I was still in the daydreaming and planning stage. She and her mom drove to Austin to find her dress. Julia and Ty, the first of our group to get hitched. And they were happy—until, well, you know.”

Sophie nodded.

“It wasn’t totally unexpected. Her dying. But nobody was prepared for it to happen quite so soon.” Maggie placed her hands on her cheeks and let out another big sigh. “Enough of the maudlin. Let’s get you back into this dress.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sad.” Sophie raised her hands above her head and eyed Maggie skeptically. “You’re sure you removed all the pins?”

“Hopefully. Blood’s hell to get out of silk. Although with the black, it might not show.”

“Ha, ha.”

She slipped the dress over Sophie’s head, studying her critically. After she’d walked slowly around her several times, she smiled and gave a fist pump. “And we are done! While you help her out of that, Annie, I’ll rescue the champagne from the fridge. I have a special bottle I’ve been saving for today.”

They finished their first glass and started on seconds, dancing to an oldies station Maggie found on XM and making complete fools of themselves.

“I don’t know about you two, but I’m famished. Time to eat,” Maggie said.

“Amen.”

“Count me in,” Annelise said.

“Grab your purses, ladies. Let’s head to Ollie’s and let him feed us.”

“What about the dresses?” Sophie asked.

“I’ll have those to the church on time, don’t you worry. That’s my job.”

“They’re not getting married in a church.” Sophie giggled, slightly fuzzy-headed from the champagne.

“No, we’re not.” Annelise smiled. “And my mom is still near to a coronary over that. The fact that Cash and I decided to marry outdoors and throw our reception in and around a barn is almost more than she can swallow. Dad’s doing much better with our plans.”

“It’s what you want. You and Cash,” Sophie said. “It’s your wedding.”

“Yes, it is. And that’s the bottom line.”

“Well, I for one think it’s going to be amazing. The wedding of the year.”

“I don’t know about that.” Annelise laughed. “Are you free tonight, Maggie?”

“I sure am.”

“Why don’t we head over to my place after we eat? Have a pajama party and eat and drink some more.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“You realize, of course, what I’m giving up to do this with my two friends.”

Sophie shook her head. “Not a clue. But my guess is you’ll tell us.”

A slow smile spread over Annelise’s face. “I’m giving up a night with Cash. A night of the most unbelievable, toe-curling sex.”

“Brag, brag, brag,” Maggie said drolly.

Sophie winked at her cousin. “It’ll make your wedding night that much hotter.”

“I know.” Annelise wiggled her brows.

“And you’re so doing this on purpose, aren’t you?” Sophie asked.

“You bet.” With a smug smile, she picked up her purse.

“I wonder if Cash has any idea what he’s getting himself into.” Maggie herded them out the door and locked up behind her. “I’m playing hooky for the rest of the day and enjoying it. If you can’t take some time off once in a while, life’s not worth living.”

Arm in arm, the three of them crossed the street. When they entered Cowboy Grill, the bell over the door jangled.

“Be with ya in a second,” a gravelly voice called from somewhere in the restaurant’s back room. “Grab a seat.”

A box thumped loudly to the floor, followed by a colorful curse.

“Damn stuff gets stacked so high, it’d take Paul Bunyan to reach it.”

“Cough up some of that money you’re hoarding, and buy yourself a step stool,” an older, unseen female said.

“Right now, you need to come take care of business,” Maggie scolded playfully. “You have three starving women waiting for you.”

“There’s music to any red-blooded man’s ears,” Ollie muttered as he headed toward them. A heavy stubble shadowing his face and a stained apron around his neck, he looked like a linebacker.

Dropping his hands flat on the counter in front of him, he asked, “What’s it gonna take to satisfy you?”

Y
ou want to do what?” Ty held the phone prisoner between his cheek and his shoulder, his hands full of Kool-Aid-filled sippy cups. “I don’t think—”

As he listened, his eyes traveled from the newest puppy puddle in the middle of the kitchen floor to Jonah, flat on his belly, hand-feeding Trouble. The pup was probably a mistake. In a weak moment, Babs had talked him into bringing the pooch home. The half-Lab, half who-knew-what had been the last of her dog’s litter. A loose woman, that Lab. Delilah had gotten knocked up by some bad boy traveling through. Ty tipped his head and studied the pup again. Nope. Impossible to say what the other half was.

Didn’t matter to his boys, though. And mistake or not, Trouble was part of the family now. For better or worse.

He handed Jesse and Josh their drinks, and they scooted back to the front of the house. Since Jonah was occupied, he set his on the counter.

The TV blared from the living room. One of the boys had switched it to some cartoon show that was probably rotting their brains. When they turned eighteen, one or all of them would likely sue him for letting them watch such drivel. Maybe go on a talk show and tell how it had warped them for life.

Jeez, and wasn’t he Mr. Sunny tonight?

“Jesse, turn that down. Right now!”

“Josh turned it up, not me!”

“No, I didn’t.” Josh started to cry.

“Oh, for— I don’t care who turned it up, Josh. Stop crying and turn it down. Now!” Before he could stop himself, he added, “Don’t make me come in there.”

He groaned. Oh, God. Could he get more pathetic?

“Man, maybe we don’t want you coming along tonight.” Cash’s chuckle rumbled over the phone line. “You sound like my mom.”

“So bite me,” Ty snapped.

“Wouldn’t you rather Annie’s little cousin Sophie do that?”

Ty cursed, then turned red-faced when Jonah said, “Daddy, you said a bad word.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Sorry, son. I won’t say it again…and don’t you, either.”

“I won’t, Daddy. And I won’t tell Grandma you did.”

It just got better and better. Now a pipeline ran straight to his mother to let her know every time he screwed up. He couldn’t catch a break.

He rubbed his forehead. Maybe he did need a night out. He looked over at his son, rolling across the kitchen floor with Trouble, the pup slurping wet kisses all over Jonah’s giggling face.

Problem was, he’d been gone last night, too. Guilt swamped him. When he’d lost Julia, he’d pretty much lost any claim to a personal life.

Still…

“What time?”

“There you go,” Cash said. “Knew you’d see reason.”

“The only reason I see is to try to hang on to the last shreds of my sanity. You have no idea what life is like inside this house.”

“Hey, I’ve been at my sister’s when things have been pretty hairy.”

“I can’t believe anything you’ve seen there comes even close to what goes on here. Where and when are you meeting? I’ll try to make it.”

Cash filled him in on the details, then hung up.

Ty rested a hip against the counter and closed his eyes for a couple seconds. Things probably did get wound up at Babs’s. She had two kids. But she also had Matt. When the going got tough, they had each other to fall back on. He had nobody.

Stop. That wasn’t fair. His mom, his dad, Julia’s parents, Haley—they were all there for him and the boys. All he ever had to do was say the word and one or more pitched in. But the day-to-day, the minutia, fell to him.

Sometimes in the middle of the night, he awoke in a full sweat. He’d lie awake listening for the boys, for anything that wasn’t right. He’d wonder, if only he listened hard enough, if he’d hear Julia’s soft breathing beside him.

But he didn’t. He never would again. And that was a fact.

“Look, Daddy, look. See what Trouble can do?”

And he was back, back to fatherhood. With a dishwasher to unload, a new puppy trick to applaud, and two armfuls of love in the form of three wiggly little boys.

While he’d take a break tonight his cell phone would stay on. Just in case.

Ty stood with Cash and Brawley in Dottie’s driveway. How many times had the three of them gone out on nights like tonight, bored out of their skulls and looking for some action? Here they were, older and hopefully wiser, yet some things never changed.

He breathed deeply. The night was beyond spectacular. Mid-fifties, a little breeze, and more stars overhead than any man could hope to count in his lifetime.

A window stood open in the upstairs apartment, and feminine chatter and giggles, along with an underlay of music, floated down to them.

Country-western.

“Good girl, Annie,” Cash murmured when he heard Luke Bryan. “The girl’s really come around. Not too many months ago, she’d have been listening to that long-haired, artsy-fartsy stuff.”

“Give me a hand here?” Juggling the pizza and a couple six-packs of Lone Star, Brawley stood by the old Caddy’s open door.

Ty reached in for the grocery bag, waited for Cash’s dog to jump out, then quietly closed the door. He sure hoped they weren’t making a mistake.

Annie’d called Cash to tell him the girls were at her place and intended to have themselves a pajama party. They already had wine and had ordered a pizza delivered.

The minute Cash hung up, he’d called the pizza place and told Arnie to stick a second pie in the oven. He’d pick them both up. That, Ty thought, was when he and Brawley had been pulled into it. They were the buffers.

And why, for the second night in a row, a sitter was putting his kids to bed.

It was a win-win. Unless the girls threw them out on their butts for crashing their party. And knowing the ladies inside, that could very well happen. Well, Maggie and Annie, at least, might toss them out. Ty seriously doubted Tinker Bell would welcome their invasion, either. He didn’t know her well enough to say whether or not she’d kick them out.

Nor would he ever. She’d come to Maverick Junction for Annie’s wedding. Once it was over, she’d be long gone, and he’d settle back into his routine.

But for tonight, he’d say the hell with it and go along with his pal’s harebrained scheme. And that alone sent a twinge of guilt slithering through him. Six of them. Three guys, three gals. Would they pair up?

Cripes, his chest tightened. He hadn’t been with anyone since Julia. Hadn’t found anyone who even remotely interested him. Yet when he was anywhere near Tink, some part of him, some deeply buried part, started making small noises. Tiny, yearning sounds.

And that wasn’t good. That was problematic. Since he realized it, though, he would be on guard.

“Got everything?”

“Yeah, Romeo. We’ve got you covered.” Ty hitched the bag higher on his hip. “Glad to see you’re doing your share.”

“What can I say?” Cash held a bouquet of daisies. “My bride-to-be’s in there. Want to keep her happy.”

“Then maybe you should’ve considered letting her have some girl time.” Brawley scowled.

“You’re upset ’cause Maggie’s in there, and she blew you off last night.”

“She didn’t blow me off,” Brawley groused. “Nothing to blow off. We’re friends. Period.”

“Right.” Cash bounded up the stairs, Staubach beside him. “We won’t stay long.”

“Famous last words,” Ty muttered, his conscience still eating at him.

Dottie was visiting her daughter for the holiday. Otherwise, she’d have shagged all their butts home. A wreath covered in autumn leaves and a goofy-looking turkey hung on her door. Her outside light spilled across the driveway.

Cash waited till all of them, dog included, crowded onto the small landing before he rapped on the door. Nothing. The music continued; the women’s voices never stopped.

He knocked again, a little louder this time, and called out, “Pizza delivery!”

It went quiet inside. Through the door’s window, Ty spotted Annie spread out on the old brown sofa. Maggie was sprawled in an oversized chair, her feet on the coffee table, while Tink sat cross-legged on the floor, painting her toenails.

One of those foofy girly lights hung over the coffee table, all white and crystals and candlelight. And damned if the women didn’t look really good in the soft glow.

A big grin on her face, Annie jumped up from the sofa. When she threw open the door, neither he nor Brawley moved. Cash handed her the flowers, then scooped her up for a big hug and a kiss that was definitely X-rated. Staubach circled them, barking, and jumped up for a kiss, too.

Now, with a clearer view, Ty turned to the other women and about swallowed his tongue. This was how they dressed for an all-woman pajama party? He thanked God then and there he had three little boys tucked into bed at home instead of three little girls.

He’d expected flannel pajamas or baggy sweats and T-shirts. Wrong! Not a scrap of flannel in sight. Tink wore skin-tight black leggings and a short, black lace crop top that showcased her belly button.

His temperature spiked, and desire, unexpected and unwelcome, rushed through him. His nagging unease quadrupled. It had been a long time since he’d felt anything close to this. Almost four years because, carrying triplets, sex had pretty much been off the table from the get-go of Julia’s pregnancy. Then—well, then things had gone to Hell in the proverbial handbasket, and their world had been dumped on its ass.

Nothing had ever been the same nor would it.

So why in the hell did his libido, long dormant, choose this moment to stand up and take notice? Frantic, he reminded himself that Tink was Annie’s cousin—which meant in a couple days she’d be part of Cash’s family. Which meant no fooling around. You didn’t mess with family—and he sure as hell wasn’t thinking long-term. A night, one night, of hot sex. That’s all he needed.

But not with Tink.

Definitely not with Tink.

A bead of perspiration formed on his forehead, despite the cool night temperature.

Then Annie swatted Cash. “Go away. As much as I enjoyed that, you need to scram. This is a girls-only party.”

“Come on, sweetheart. Throw a starving man a crumb. One dance. Then we eat and get out of your hair.”

“No way.”

Brawley gave Cash a nudge. “Step aside, wuss, and let the real men in.” He waved the pizzas he carried under Annie’s nose. “Look what Uncle Brawley’s got.”

Maggie pushed out of the chair. “Uncle Brawley, my behind. Leave the pizzas on the counter on your way out.”

“You’re a hard woman, Maggie Sullivan. No deal. The pizzas are gonna cost you a dance,” Brawley said.

She looked him up and down, then crossed her arms. “I guess I’m not as hungry as I thought. I am not dancing with you.”

“Give me a break, Mags. Don’t hold grudges.”

“I danced with you last night.”

“Not long enough.”

“Oh, please. If you want to dance that badly, go find yourself another Dallas cheerleader. I’m sure one of them will be more than happy to snuggle up with you.”

Cash snagged Annie around the waist and led her into a dance in the cramped living room. As close as he held her, they didn’t take up much space.

Ty listened to the give-and-take and knew he should offer to dance with Maggie. But that would leave Sophie with Brawley. The idea of them together, of her in his arms—especially in that outfit—didn’t sit well. Which, when it came right down to it, was an even better reason to dance with Maggie.

“Come here, Red. Dance with
me
.” He took her hand and swung her into a dance.

Brawley tipped his head to Sophie. “Guess that leaves you and me. Can’t say this is gonna be a hardship, sugar.” With that he pulled her close, and they moved to the music.

When the song ended and another started, Brawley called out, “Switch.”

Laughing, everybody shuffled partners, and Ty found himself with Annie. “See, Cash?” He waved a hand between them. “Lots of space here. Not moving in on your woman.”

“See you keep it that way.” Cash twirled Sophie.

Staubach sniffed the air, looked longingly at the pizza, then entered the mix, knocking against legs and end tables as he circled the dancers.

The song switched again and so did the couples. Ty swallowed and placed his hand at Sophie’s waist, touched bare skin above it. He bit back a curse. Soft. So damn soft. And warm.

His heart beat like an adolescent’s, touching his first girl. What in hellfire was going on?

Then she looked up at him and smiled. If he’d been raised Catholic, he would have had to head straight to the nearest confessional.

Instead, with a groan, he tucked her into him, held tight, and simply quit fighting it. For the space of the song, he would simply be a man, not a widower. A long-forgotten feeling. Her warm breath teased him, and the rest of the world ceased to exist.

This time when the song ended, Maggie said, “Enough. I’m hungry, and you promised us food.”

They sat at the table Annie had sanded and refinished. Ate pizza, drank beer, and told stories on each other while Staubach made the rounds, grinning as each of them tossed him chunks of pizza.

Ty watched Sophie, who sat quietly, taking it all in and smiling at some of the outlandish stunts they’d pulled. He swore a wistful expression settled over her face.

Hadn’t she had this kind of closeness growing up? Good friends who could sit around a table and chew the fat? Or had the pampered little rich girl been above that sort of thing?

A couple hours later, the guys and their dog left. Sophie stood at the window. As the taillights faded into the distance, she wondered if Annelise truly realized how lucky she was.

Cash Hardeman. Her cousin couldn’t have done any better. Despite their differences, they’d been made for each other.

And the camaraderie here. These wonderful people who had taken Annelise under their wings made her feel so at home.

Sophie heard Annelise lock the door, was aware of Maggie putting on some new music. Still, the room felt
quiet
. As if all the energy had jumped up and hopped in the old Caddy with the guys.

Staring into the Texas sky, seeking out familiar constellations, Sophie’s mind opened to unwanted thoughts and worries. Nathan. She’d have to have another heart-to-heart with him. She shivered.