Trouble In Dixie (12 page)

Katie threw down her napkin and got up,
"I'll be back," she said and headed toward the bathroom. Her
stomach didn't feel so good, and she thought she might have
overdone it with the greasy fries. When she got inside the
bathroom, she quickly ran for a stall and lost her lunch.

She hovered over the toilet for a minute
trying to get her stomach to settle, then she went and rinsed her
mouth and splashed her face. Katie had never had a weak stomach
before, she hoped she hadn't caught the flu or something. She felt
her forehead and it was clammy, but cool. She wiped under eyes, and
washed her hands, then walked back to the table, and sat down.

"You okay, sis? You look pale," Karlie told
her.

"I'm fine...just a little indigestion...I
probably shouldn't have eaten so many fries," she said with a
forced smile.

"Karlie tells me you two are going to start
a cutter operation...I think that's a fantastic idea. I told her
about some property I saw for sale over on the road by Cassie and
Luke's place the other day. There's an old line shack on it that
could probably be remodeled pretty easily for living quarters, and
a big barn with a bunkhouse. The barn and bunkhouse looked
newer."

Excitement poured through Katie and she sat
up and raised a brow to ask, "Is it listed with a Realtor? Or is it
by owner? Any idea what they want for it?"

"All I know is it's about a hundred acres or
so, and it's already cross-fenced, and what I told you already.
I'll get the phone number on the sign when I got out that way
again," he said with a grin. "Have to pay you back for that
tattoo."

"Pay me back?" she asked and fear
overshadowed her excitement for a minute. She really didn't want
Gabe mad at her.

"Yeah, it's hot...thanks for talking her
into it," he said and gave Karlie a heated stare, and she blushed.
Her wild ass sister blushing was a novelty, and Katie grinned
thinking about how much her sister had settled down.

Katie took a sip of her tea, then suggested,
"Why don't you call us when you go out there and we'll meet you and
walk around?" She had to get out of their house and soon. Karlie
and Gabe were newlyweds, and as much as they protested, she knew
she was cramping their style.

"Okay, I'll do that...I need to get back to
the station, I saw your truck parked over here and had to come get
a kiss from my beautiful bride," he said then leaned over and
kissed Karlie again, then put his forehead to hers and said softly,
"Love you, babe."

"Love you too," Karlie said staring dreamily
into his eyes. He grabbed his ugly putty colored Stetson, which
Katie thought looked ridiculous on the handsome hunky Sheriff, and
slapped it down on his head, the stood up and tipped it at them,
and drawled in his deep voice, "Have a good afternoon, ladies."

Karlie sighed and her eyes followed him all
the way to the door, then she looked back at Katie and fanned
herself. "That man sets me on fire."

Katie snorted, then said sarcastically,
"Nah, really?" and Karlie laughed.

When they got back to the cabin, Katie went
directly to her room and started sanitizing to remove the traces of
her pity party. She was using the broom to fish under the bed for
dust bunnies, when the home phone rang, and she got up and ran into
the living room, hoping it was Gabe calling with good news.

Karlie gave her a thumbs up from where she
sat on the sofa with the phone to her ear. "Okay, we're on our
way...meet you there," she said then kissed into the phone and hung
it up. "Let's go sis, Gabe's headed out to the property, and wants
us to meet him."

Katie went to her room and changed into
jeans, and put her old boots on, then walked back out and said with
excitement, "Ready when you are," then she asked seriously, "You
sure you want to do this, Karlie?"

"Definitely, Kate...I want this too. We're a
good team in whatever we do, and this won't be any different," she
said with sincerity.

Katie grinned and hooked her arm through
Karlie's, then they walked out the door, and got into her truck.
"Let's go see our new operation then. The Double K?"

"Of course...the Double U would be cute, but
it won't work anymore since I'm Kelley now," she said with a
laugh.

Thirty minutes later, Katie wasn't as
optimistic about the location of their new operation, as she stared
at the overgrown fields and broken down fences. The barn looked
okay, it had ten stalls, but it needed some work, as did the
bunkhouse. With a little elbow grease, and a few repairs, the
bunkhouse would do as living quarters, until she could build a
small house. The shack that Gabe had mentioned wasn't fit for
anything except a bulldozer. It was leaning to the left, and looked
like a stiff breeze would take it down.

"I can get Luke's tractor over here and bush
hog all this scrub, and get the pastures cleaned up. We'll probably
get some good hay out of it too," Gabe told them
enthusiastically.

"Can you get the name of that contractor
that they used to rebuild their barn too?" Katie asked and shook
her head. "He's gonna have his hands full out here."

"I think he's working on the house for Jess
and Wade right now, and they're pretty hot and heavy for him to
finish it, so we'll have to find someone else. I'll ask him for a
recommendation."

"We're putting the horse before the cart
here, I think," Karlie said and huffed out a breath, then added,
"We need to contact the owner and see what he wants for it, and if
Katie can afford it. From the looks of things though, I think the
purchase price is not going to the be a problem, getting it up to
par will be."

Gabe pulled his phone out of his pocket and
looked at it, then told them, "Of course there's no cell service
out here, so we'll have to go back to town, or go to Luke and
Cassie's to make the call."

Katie really did not want to go back out to
the Double B...it would just remind her of Tommy and the night he'd
shattered her heart. "How about we go back to town and I buy us
dinner at the Blue Bird?"

Karlie whooped, then said with a laugh,
"Looks like Gabe isn't going to have to cook tonight."

He cut his eyes at Karlie and smirked. "I
was going to eat your mac and cheese and hot dogs tonight, so I
didn't plan on cooking anyway," he said teasingly, then looked at
Katie and added, "I'm trying to teach her how to cook, but I'm
doing it at the risk of my stomach."

"There's a lot of things I do quite well,"
Karlie said and cast him a sexy glance, then added with a snort,
"But cooking ain't one of 'em."

He chuckled then belly laughed, "That damn
sound is one thing you do well, and it kills me every time." Katie
knew that Gabe got tickled every time her sister snorted...because
it really was a snort...a pig-sty, nasal dysfunction snort.

Karlie sniffed and crossed her arms under
her breasts then stuck out her lip. At that point, Katie laughed
too, because her sister looked ridiculous. Gabe shoved his ugly tan
Stetson back on his head and growled, then walked over and picked
her up and swung her around, before he kissed her silly.

Katie's heart tweaked painfully, and she
turned away from them to study the barn. The place was looking
better and better to her, even if she had to she'd sleep in the
barn
, until she could get a small cabin built. She couldn't
take seeing the love that flowed between her sister and her husband
in such close quarters, because it just constantly reminded her of
how empty her own life was now.

After a minute, she turned back around and
forced a smile then told Gabe, "Okay, I saved you from the dreaded
mac and cheese, and I
know
it's dreadful, because I've been
forced to eat it myself once or twice, so let's go back to the Bird
and call on this place."

Gabe chuckled then pulled her over into
their little snuggle fest and squeezed her shoulders, then kissed
her hair. "You got it kiddo, let's go," he said then took a double
take at her hair and added, "I'm glad you went back red, by the
way...blond on you was just too...weird."

"Gee, thanks...that's me, weird," she told
him with a grin and his face flushed. "I'm just kidding, Gabe...I
know it looked awful, it was an impulsive thing. My wonderful
sister has pulled me back into the twin set now, so we're
good."

"Damned straight, and don't you try to
escape again," Karlie said with a chuckle, then teased with a
glance at Gabe out of the corner of her eye, "How the hell can we
switch places, if we don't look alike anymore?"

Gabe, who had an arm over each of their
shoulders, as they walked toward the truck, stopped cold and
dropped his arms to his sides. His face was a mask of horror, and
he swallowed a couple of times, then he said softly, "Don't you
ever,
ever
kid about that again."

Karlie turned to him and slid her arms
around his waist then kissed his cheek. "What, wouldn't you know
your own wife, sugar?"

He swallowed again, and Katie decided to
mess with him a little too, so she sauntered over to him and put
her arms around his waist too and kissed his other cheek, "Yeah,
sugar, wouldn't you know your own wife?"

"Ya'll stop this shit, now!" he said
incredulously, and stepped back, then grabbed Katie and jerked her
into his arms and put his mouth on hers, while she pushed on his
chest to get away.

Karlie growled and slugged him in the
shoulder, then pulled them apart and glared at him. Katie wiped her
arm across her mouth, and stood there stunned.

Gabe grinned and a dimple popped in his
cheek, as he looked at Katie first, then Karlie, and said, "Nice,
but definitely not my wife," before he gently pulled Karlie into
his arms and kissed her senseless. He ended the kiss and pulled
back then said, "Don't like tricks, huh, sugar?"

"No, I don't..." Karlie pouted then dropped
her chin to her chest.

Gabe tipped her chin up, and kissed her
gently, and said, "Then don't play them on me."

"We won't," they both said in unison, and
Katie wiped her mouth again with the back of her arm.

Well, there was one thing she knew for sure
now, there was absolutely nothing there for her with Gabe, not that
she'd wondered. That kiss had been like kissing her brother, if she
had one, and it disgusted her.

Katie laughed and told him, "Point well
made." Her sister shot her a hot look, then tightened her arm
around her husband's waist, as they started toward the truck
again.

After they had dinner at the Blue Bird, they
made the call to the owner of the land and found out it was being
offered at a ridiculously good price. It was in an estate, and the
owner was an heir who lived on the east coast, and he just wanted
to get rid of it. He knew it was in bad shape, so he was willing to
negotiate even more.

Although Katie felt a little bad about
negotiating with the seller, she did, and they price they settled
on meant Katie could buy it outright, and still have enough left to
get the buildings refurbished. The owner was going to have his
attorney draw up the sale contract and overnight it to Katie.

When they discussed buying stock, Karlie
told her she'd been saving the money she got for taking care of
Sarge, the bulldog she was being paid five thousand a month by an
estate to care for, she was going to use that and her rodeo
winnings to help buy stock for the operation. Katie was going to
use her earnings from the Charity Rodeo to buy a good stud. It
looked like the Double K was going to become a reality and Katie
was so excited she couldn't stand it...she had a purpose now, and
was going to be able to be with her sister again.

"After you get the contract and send it
back, I'll borrow the bush hog and tractor from Luke, so we can get
those fields mowed down. Ya'll need to look at the property and
tell me what else you want cleared," Gabe told them and forked the
last of the pecan pie he and Karlie had shared into his mouth.

"Hey, that was mine," Karlie said and pushed
her shoulder into him.

"Too bad, too sad, sugar...you snooze you
lose," he snorted, which caused her to snort, and him to laugh.

With happiness bubbling in her tone, Katie
suggested, "We could ride JoJo and Laramie over there from the
Double B tomorrow and check out the property, if you want,
sis."

They were sitting in a booth close to the
kitchen, and the cook evidently put some fried chicken down in the
fryer, because the smell wafted to Katie's nose, and her stomach
lurched. She put a hand over her mouth and vaulted out of the
booth, then ran for the bathroom.

Jesus, she thought, she needed to get over
this flu or bug, or whatever the hell it was. All this throwing up
was getting old. Katie pushed open the stall door and just made it
to the toilet before she lost her dinner. Karlie ran in behind her
and held her hair back, while she dry heaved.

"You okay, Kate? This is the second time
today..." her sister said with concern in her voice.

Katie sucked in a breath and let it out
slowly, waiting until her stomach stopped somersaulting, then she
said, "I think I have a bug or something...maybe an ulcer. I'm fine
otherwise though. Just need to rest some, probably, it'll be gone
in a few days."