Wild Cowboy Ways (6 page)

T
he squeaky sounds of rusty hinges told Blake that he had to start making sure his doors were locked. If Irene had arrived five minutes earlier she would have walked in on him strip-stark naked standing in front of the fireplace. Thank goodness when she eased the door open he was wearing flannel pajama pants and a long-sleeved thermal knit shirt. Before the door closed he grabbed his phone from the end table and hit the numbers to call Allie.

While he waited, he picked up the remote control, put the television on mute, sighed, and threw back the throw he'd tossed over his legs. Shooter's ears popped up and he growled but he didn't move a muscle.

“Gettin' kind of slow there, old boy. I heard the hinges squeak before you did. And we thought that we were moving to a quiet place. Boy, were we wrong,” Blake said.

“Walter, darlin'.” Irene stopped and glared at Shooter. “When did you get a dog and what is it doing in the house? They have fur to keep them warm outside. They don't belong in the house.” Irene crossed her thin arms across her chest. That night she wore purple sweat pants and cowboy boots that didn't match on the wrong feet. Springs of gray hair poked out around her hot pink stocking hat. The stained work coat was three sizes too big and bright red lipstick had sunk into all the wrinkles around her mouth.

“Shhh! You'll hurt my dog's feelings, Miz Irene. Have a seat. I'm making a phone call,” he said.

“I didn't come over here for you to shush me, Walter. Do you think it's easy getting out of that house? Well, it's not and besides it's cold out there. I swear to God on the Bible, it's going to snow before the end of the week.”

Allie answered on the fifth ring. “Hello.”

“Hi there. This is Walter,” Blake said.

“I'm on my way as soon as I can get my boots and coat on,” she said.

He returned the phone to the end table, flipped the lever on the side of his worn brown leather recliner, got to his feet, and dragged a wooden rocker up close to the fire. “Here, darlin', you must be freezing. Sit right here and warm your hands while I make you a cup of hot chocolate. Can I take your coat?”

She must have loved Walter a lot, not only to trudge through the snow, but to wear a coat that weighed half as much as she did. It's a wonder that the thing didn't fracture her frail shoulders.

“Yes, you can and I like my hot chocolate with lots of extra cream, but you know that, and why aren't you wearing your glasses tonight? You know you can't see anything without them.”

“I got those newfangled contact lenses, remember?” he said.

Irene squinted up at him. “Those what?”

“Little tiny lenses that go right in my eyes,” he said. “I don't have to wear glasses all the time now.”

“That's crazy, Walter. I bet they were expensive if there is such a thing and your mama paid for them to make you feel guilty about wanting to move her in with your brothers, didn't she?” She eased down into the rocking chair and held her hands out to the blazing fire. “When did you get that fancy chair? Did she buy that for you, too? I'm not surprised since she let you bring that mangy mutt in the house. She'll do anything to guilt you into keeping her with you forever.”

Once she was settled, he went to the kitchen and put a cup of milk into the microwave for a minute. While that heated, he searched in the cabinets and found a box of instant chocolate mix. When the milk was ready, he removed it and added the mix plus a heaping tablespoon of coffee creamer, stirred it well, and carried it to the living room.

“Did you put in the extra cream?” Irene asked.

He set the chocolate on the coffee table. “Of course I did, ma'am. I know exactly how you like your hot chocolate. Be careful now. The mug is hot.”

“Don't you ma'am me. I'm not your mother or an old lady.” She picked it up and wrapped her hands around the mug. “Ahh, nice and warm for my hands as well as my freezing insides. Well, crap! I hear a car coming down the lane. Who would be coming around this late? Don't folks have any manners at all? You don't go visiting after dark. It's not proper.”

“Maybe someone lost their way and needs directions or maybe they're turning around in the driveway,” he said.

Irene nodded and sipped her chocolate while she rocked back and forth in front of the fire. A gentle knock on the door brought the rocking chair to a stop, and Irene's expression changed. Blake turned on the porch light, opened the door, and motioned Allie inside.

Irene's old eyes narrowed into little more than slits. “What the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be having a good time with your girlfriends because this is the last night before you get married tomorrow.”

“Granny, I am Allie, not Katy, and it's time for us to go home, now,” Allie said.

Irene's face went blank as she looked around the room. “Why did you bring me over here to this place? I told you to stay away from here. It don't bring nothing but heartache and yet here you are, flirting with this cowboy. It's a good thing I saw you sneaking out of the house and came to get you. I'll have to watch you closer or else you'll ruin your life like your mama almost did.”

“You want a cup of hot chocolate or coffee?” Blake asked.

Allie shook her head. “What's this about Mama ruining her life?”

Irene popped up out of the rocking chair and pointed her finger at Allie. “I don't want to talk about that, Alora Raine Logan. I told Katy that she'd have to get over it and she did so we're not discussing it no more. Let's go home and I swear to God, if I catch you over here one more time, you're going to be in big trouble.”

“Let me help you with your coat,” Allie said.

“I'm a grown woman. I don't need any help,” Irene protested.

Allie stood aside and let her grandmother get the heavy coat up on her shoulders, then watched as Irene slammed the screen door and stomped out to the van. “Thanks for calling. We thought she was asleep in her room. She crawled out a window. Guess I'll have to put locks on them so she can't get out.”

“She must've loved Walter a lot,” he said.

“I don't even know who Walter is. He might be a boyfriend she had in the fourth grade and she's got him mixed up with someone who lived over here at some time in her life. Who knows what triggers what these days.” Allie sighed.

Shooter whined, yipped, and then opened his eyes wide. He jumped up and raced across the floor like he'd been poked with a red-hot brand. Blake barely had time to sling open the screen door before the yellow blur sped past him and Allie. Then, as if in slow motion, Allie was tumbling forward, grasping at nothing more than air to break her fall.

Blake quickly wrapped his big arms around her and pulled her to his chest. Her heart pounded against his as he tightened his arms around her and her arms snaked up around his neck.

“I am so sorry,” she gasped, but she didn't push away from him.

“It's all right. I've got you,” he whispered. “Sorry about Shooter. I've never seen him act like that and I've had him since the day he was born.”

Her arms fell to her sides and her face turned scarlet. “I had visions of a broken arm and not being able to work.”

Blake didn't know that women blushed in today's world, especially those who were tough enough to put a roof on a house and run a construction business.

Without thinking of anything other than comforting her, Blake kissed her on the forehead. “So did I, and all I could think was that the roof wasn't nearly finished.”

She stiffened and took a step back. “I should be going. Thanks for not letting me fall.”

In seconds she was outside and Blake wondered what in the hell just happened. It was a simple kiss, nothing passionate or demanding, and yet there was no denying that fear in her eyes. Was it just him or was she afraid of all men? And why?

With a racing pulse and feeling more than a little like a teenage girl who'd just gotten her first kiss, Allie crawled into the driver's seat of the van. She touched her forehead and was surprised to find that it was cold as ice and not on fire.

Granny had crossed her arms over her chest, which wasn't a good sign.

Allie started the engine and turned to face her grandmother. “Granny, you could have hurt yourself crawling out the window like that. Promise me right now that you won't do that again.” She backed the van around to her left so she could straighten it up and drive down the lane. “You are going to fall and hurt yourself one of these days and then the doctor will make us put you in a nursing home.”

“I did not crawl out a window. I drove over here to get you. Don't you be making me out to be the one who did wrong. It was you and I'm tellin' your mother what you've done. I told you to stay away from this place and I'm getting tired of having to get out in the cold and come get you,” Irene said.

“Okay.” Allie reached the end of the lane and turned left. “Who is Walter?”

Irene stuck her lip out in a pout. “I don't know why you keep asking me that. I don't know anyone by that name, but your mama fell in love with a boy from over there and he was bad news. The apple never falls far from the tree and you are going to fall for that sexy cowboy who wants to get into your pants.”

“Was Walter the man Mama fell in love with?” Allie asked.

Irene stomped her foot against the floorboard. “Hell, no! And we're not talking about Walter. We're talking about you and that cowboy. You need to stay away from him. Nobody ever stays long on this place and you'll get your heart broken like lots of women have in this part of the state.”

Allie parked in front of the house, but before she could get her seat belt unfastened, Irene was out of the van and marching toward the porch with purpose. When Allie reached the foyer and shut the door, her grandmother was tattling, pointing at Allie and her old eyes were flashing anger.

Dementia was a demon disease and nothing could explain the way it worked other than what the doctor told them about the jigsaw puzzles. It must have been frightening to grab a piece from this part of her past and a piece from that one, and try to create a world that made sense when she was losing control of everything.

Allie could not imagine living in such a constant state of turmoil and hoped that someday only one puzzle remained and her grandmother would have a few days of lucid peace before everything was completely gone.

“Alora Raine won't do what I say and she's got a boyfriend and you know those men at the Lucky Penny are drifters who never stay in one place. I'm going to get a cookie and go to my room,” Irene said tersely.

Katy winked at Allie. “I'll see to it that she's punished real good. You get your cookie and go on to bed.”

Allie hung her coat on the hall tree and kicked off her boots. “Mama, who is Walter? She keeps going over there and flirting with Blake because she thinks he's Walter. And tonight she talked about you being in love with a boy from the Lucky Penny.”

Katy looped her arm through Allie's and led her to the kitchen. “I've got a pot of hot spiced tea made.”

Allie poured two cups of tea. “Granny said that you got mixed up with some no-good man from the Lucky Penny, too. Is that true, or just another one of her crazy stories?”

“She's remembering Ray Jones. He was about eighteen when his mama and daddy bought the ranch. I was seventeen that year and we rode the school bus together.” Katy busied herself cleaning an already spotless countertop.

“And did you love him?” Allie asked.

“It was a long time ago.” Katy disappeared into the utility room and returned with half a basket of kitchen towels and washcloths. She set it on the counter and started folding them. “And yes, I loved him very much, but Mama threw a hissy fit because he was wild. He was damn good lookin' with that hair combed back in a duck's tail and those pretty blue eyes and Lord, have mercy, but he could kiss good. But trouble followed him around like a little puppy and he liked taking risks.”

“What kinds of risks?”

Katy's mouth twisted up in a grin. “Like throwing stones at my window at midnight and talking me into sitting on the front porch and making out with him. Mama caught us one night and she almost sent me to a convent over it.”

“We're not Catholic,” Allie said.

“She would have kissed the pope's ring if it kept me away from that wild boy, and he was really pressuring me to do things I didn't want to do and that I'm not talking about now so I listened to her.”

“So you broke up with him?”

Katy sighed. “Yes, I did and then I fell in love with your father and figured out what real, mature love was.” Her hands shook as she folded the last towel in the basket.

Allie picked up a towel and folded it neatly. “Do I hear a
but
?”

Katy finished the last tea towel and sat down at the table. “There are always buts with every story, but that's all I'm saying tonight about Ray.”

“Then who is Walter?” Allie sipped her lukewarm tea.

Katy opened the cookie jar in the middle of the table and removed a chocolate one with a chocolate cream center. “He and his mother moved in after Ray's family moved out west. They were only there a year and it was when I was all tied up with my engagement to your dad and planning my wedding. I was eighteen, but I do remember that Walter was a tall man with dark hair. But Daddy was still alive so I can't imagine Mama being in love with him. Want a cookie?”

Allie shook her head. “I think she was in love with Walter, and Blake has brought that memory to surface.”

“Surely not! She'd been married to Daddy nineteen or twenty years that summer when I got married. I remember because she said that she could easily be a grandmother by the time she was forty, but we waited to have you and she was forty-one not long before you were born. I can't imagine her having an affair.”