Trouble In Dixie (14 page)

"Karlie...Katie's, um...out," she told him
haltingly, then hurried on to ask, "I was wondering if you and
Dixie wanted to come out to the lake for the weekend? We're just
hanging out here relaxing."

He huffed out a breath and asked, "Is Katie
there?" unsure if he wanted her to be or not. Although he needed to
talk to her, clear the air, he was afraid she wouldn't want to see
him.

"Yeah, she's here for the weekend too,"
Karlie said hesitantly.

"You know she probably doesn't want to see
me, right?" he asked with dread in his tone.

"She might think she doesn't want to see
you, but she needs to see you...trust me," Katie said firmly. "You
two have some things to work out, and you can't do that three
hundred miles apart."

Tommy sat there staring at the huge stack of
hay bales he still had to move yet today, and contemplated what he
should do...what he wanted to do was drop everything and run, not
walk to Bowie, but he had Dixie to think about too. He didn't want
her to witness a scene, or know that he and Katie were anything
other than friends. "I don't know, Karlie...."

"C'mon Tommy, loosen up those drawers of
yours and breathe for a change. You probably need a little break
and Dixie does too. I have Sarge out here, and he misses Snuggles,"
she said with a chuckle, then added, "And I miss Dixie."

"Okay," he agreed before he could change his
mind. "I have to go get cleaned up and get us packed, but I'll be
there in a few hours. I hope I don't regret this, Karlie," he said
darkly then disconnected the phone.

Dixie was bouncing on the truck seat, as
much as she could in her seatbelt. When he'd gone to the house to
ask her if she wanted to go, she'd squealed so loud he thought he
might have lost a little of his hearing. She'd started school again
this week, so he knew she was as stressed out as he was, and really
could use some fun. He hadn't been called to the principal's office
this week, so she deserved a treat too. "Thank you for being a good
girl at school this week, sugar," he told her and glanced over at
her with a smile.

"You're welcome, daddy...I'm trying really
hard," she said seriously.

"Well, you're doing good so far, darlin'.
Keep up the good work," he told her.

"Katie told me I could come back to the
Double B and ride again, if I was good..." she said with a huge
grin.

His breath hitched at the mention of Katie's
name, and his heart squeezed thinking that Katie had been trying to
help him with Dixie. "That's good, honey...you had fun when you
went there?"

"Oh, my god, yes...we had a blast! They have
a pony there named Clem that is the bestest pony in the world! He
loves me!" she said excitedly, her blue eyes shining in the dim
interior of the truck.

"Better than your pony?" he asked with a
snort.

"Nah, Buster is the best, but Clem is just
as good, and I'm gonna learn to rope on him, when I ride better.
Katie said so."

"Did she now? What else did Katie say?" he
asked with her name rolling over his tongue. He savored it and
sucked in a breath as memories of their night in this truck flashed
back through his mind and he hardened.

"She said that I'm a good dog trainer,"
Dixie told him proudly.

"Oh, yeah? How does she know that?" Tommy
asked his precocious little girl.

"She's teaching me how to train Snuggles to
sit and stay, then she's gonna show me how to make him fetch
too."

Wow, Katie really had been spending time
with Dixie, a lot more than he had, that was for sure. Tommy was
going to change that...Dixie needed him...needed more of his
attention. Maybe that would help her do better in school too.

"Maybe she'll teach me how to swim this
weekend too," Dixie said eagerly.

Fear clutched his throat, and then guilt
poured through him, because he hadn't taken the time to teach her
to swim. "I'll try to teach you to swim this weekend, sugar. You be
careful around the water, promise me..."

"I promise, daddy...don't worry, I'll be
fine," she said with a smile.

The cool automated voice of the GPS mounted
on the dash announced that they their destination was ahead on the
left, so Tommy slowed down and started looking at address numbers.
His headlights danced over a silver box with the right number, and
he pulled into the driveway and killed the engine. He couldn't see
a whole lot in the dark, but what he saw was a perfect little lake
cottage with a bright red front door.

The porch light was on and he saw a few
sturdy whitewashed wooden rockers there, with various pieces of
clothing draped over them. "Let's go, punkin, fun's a waiting!" he
told Dixie brightly, then slid out of the truck and grabbed their
duffle bags from the bed, before they walked to the door. He saw
two yellow canoes leaning against the side of the house, and
thought that would be something fun to do. He hadn't been canoeing
in years. They walked up the three steps to the front door and he
knocked.

Nobody answered the door and he heard faint
voices in the distance, and figured they must be out back by the
lake. When he walked around the corner of the house, he saw a large
fire surrounded by stones off to the right by the next door
property, down by the lake. He grabbed Dixie's hand and helped her
go down the steep hill, and then they walked over to the fire.

He saw Gabe and Karlie first sitting on a
log holding wire coat hangers stabbed through hot dogs, twirling
them expertly over the fire. Then his eyes moved to the log next to
them, and his heart twisted in his chest and bile surged up into
his throat. Katie sat there with a towel wrapped around her
shoulders, along with some slick looking guy's arm. The guy had a
wire with two hot dogs on it, roasting in the fire.

Karlie jumped up and clapped, "Glad ya'll
finally made it, you hungry, Dix?" she said and leaned down to give
Dixie a hug. Tommy was still in shock, just staring at Katie and
that guy sitting over there with his arm around her. It took her
several minutes of smiling and talking with him, before she finally
dragged her eyes away from him and noticed he and Dixie were there.
She stood up, the towel fell from her shoulders, and Tommy stopped
breathing. The red bikini, if you could call it that, barely
covered her anywhere, and it highlighted the tattoo she'd gotten on
her hip. It flickered evilly in the firelight, and he was
mesmerized by it.

She took a few careful steps toward him,
until she was in front of him with her arms wrapped around her
waist. "What are you doing here?" she demanded angrily.

"I was invited," he told her flatly, then
looked over her shoulder at the guy she'd been sitting with, whose
eyes were fixed on Katie's ass. He growled and jerked her to the
other side of the fire. "Karlie invited Dixie and I to come out for
the weekend," he grated.

"Why the hell would she do that--" she
stopped mid sentence and cocked an eyebrow, as her lips pinched.
"I'm gonna kill her," she hissed, then pushed him aside and stomped
up to the back deck, where her sister and Dixie had gone with their
luggage.

Tommy decided to find out who the prick
she'd been so cozy with was, so he pulled off his t-shirt and
walked over to sit on the log beside where he was sitting. He
leaned over and stuck out his hand, and introduced himself, "Tommy
Tucker."

"Chase Rhodes," he took Tommy's hand and
shook it firmly, then told him with a grin he was sure could melt
panties at a hundred paces, it didn't work on Tommy. "I'm the next
door neighbor."

"Nice," Tommy said insincerely.

"What do you do, Tommy?" Chase Rhodes asked
him with a raised eyebrow.

"Rancher," he said shortly, "How about
you?"

Tommy had him pegged as a panty-waist
banker, he was too slick to be a working man. Those muscles of his
didn't come from hard work, they came from pumping iron in a gym
somewhere, and his tan looked like it was the spray-on variety. His
hand, when he'd shaken Tommy's, was soft as a woman's.

"I'm in oil...I'm vice-president of my dad's
drilling company," he said evenly.

"You still work on the derricks?" Tommy
asked him barely able to contain his snort.

"Nah, I'm in the office now, but I did when
I was younger. Dad doesn't believe in handing out shit," he said
with a chuckle and turned the two weenies in the fire again.

"Katie and I were going back out on the boat
for a ride, you and your daughter want to go with us?" he asked
congenially.

Jealousy punched Tommy in the gut, so when
he responded it was breathless, "I don't think so, but thank you."
His hands clenched and unclenched and he sucked in a pained
breath.

Chase shrugged then smiled. "It's a
beautiful night..."

"Yeah it is...is there a beer around here
somewhere?" Tommy asked because he definitely needed one, or a
six-pack.

"Think they're in the fridge in the house,"
he said and sat up then grabbed the two buns from the napkin beside
the log and slid the hot dogs off inside. "I'll get you one, I need
to bring Katie her hot dog anyway," he told him and stood. "I'll be
right back."

With that the tall, muscle-bound geek headed
off toward the house. Tommy ground his teeth, then got up and
grabbed one of the hangers he'd seen by Karlie's chair earlier and
rammed a wiener on the end of it and stuck it in the fire. Gabe
walked up behind him and clapped a hand on his shoulder then said
in a low voice, "He's just the neighbor, she just met him
earlier...there's nothing going on."

Tommy nodded and twirled the hot dog in the
fire then said, "She's a single woman, and it's a free world, if
that's what she wants, what can I do about it?"

"I don't think it's what she wants,
Tommy...but she's a little pissed at you, I think. She didn't say
why, but she's been in the room at our cabin crying for a week and
a half. I'm just glad she finally came out of it," Gabe told him
and guilt pierced Tommy's chest and he rubbed his sternum.

She'd been crying? Over him? Jesus, hurting
her was the last thing he wanted to do, but it looked like he was
doing a damned good job of it by being a selfish bastard and
dragging her into his fucked up life.

Katie and Karlie came back down the steps of
the deck, and he saw in the spotlight that illuminated them,
neither was happy. Chase Rhodes was right behind Katie and followed
her down the steps and along the path to the neighboring dock,
where Tommy saw a huge speed boat docked. It was painted fire
engine red with yellow, white and black tribal waves, and had 'She
Devil" emblazoned in between the waves.

How appropriate, Tommy thought, and how
fucking heart-breaking. He fought the urge to go over there and beg
her not to get into that boat with the guy, but he didn't. His hand
squeezed the coat hanger tighter, and he hit a hot spot and yelped,
then dropped it into the flames. He felt like his heart had just
went up in flames too, as he heard Chase crank up his bad ass boat,
then saw him look over his shoulder to back away from the dock.
Katie sat down beside him in the co-pilot seat and smiled over at
him.

Katie felt like her heart was bleeding when
she'd looked over and saw Tommy Tucker standing there with Dixie.
Her sister had invited them here, and Katie had a bad feeling she
knew why. Karlie was playing matchmaker and messing around with her
life. When she went inside the lake house, she had intended to
confront her, but Dixie had been with her, so she hadn't.

Another reason she'd gone inside is because
she wasn't going to let Tommy see her cry--or throw up the
marshmallows that Chase had roasted for her earlier. It seemed like
her stomach was on a constant roller coaster ride these days, and
she had to be careful what she ate, or she'd lose it. Even smells
caused her stomach to pitch. Next week, after the closing, she was
going to make an appointment with the doctor in town and make sure
she didn't have an ulcer, or something worse.

After she seated herself in the boat, beside
Chase, Katie smiled and watched his muscles flex as he guided the
boat from the dock out onto the lake. Once they were under way, she
handed him his hot dog, and said, "Thanks for roasting these."

He gave her his blindingly white, mega-watt
smile and took it from her, "Thanks for coming out with me. There's
a cove out here that I want to show you, it's beautiful at
night."

"This is very relaxing, and I need that,"
she said with a chuckle.

Chase looked over at her curiously with his
blue eyes shining in the moonlight, "You been stressed out, or
something?"

"Or something...having a crisis, since my
sister got married. I just don't know what to do with myself," she
admitted and dropped her chin.

"You said you two were team ropers in the
rodeo? Can't you find another partner?" he suggested.

"I tried out another partner, and it just
didn't work. Karlie and I have this connection, we were unbeatable.
But that's not what has me upset, it's a lot more than that. I
always took care of her, got her out of trouble, and now I only
have to take care of myself. It's...disconcerting."