Blame It On Texas (21 page)

“Sheridan,” Dustin said, entering the kitchen. “Jess Sheridan.”

“How did it happen?” Kate asked. “Did the poor man have a heart attack or something?”

Martha took a deep breath. “Carl is very much alive, thank you. We were having breakfast together—” She paused, blushed and then continued. “We were having breakfast together when I
read the article about your grandmother. After I threw up, I got in the car and came out here.”

“Martha.” Gert had never seen her daughter so upset. “Who’s dead at the drive-in?”

“I can’t tell you that.” She put her head down on the kitchen table and started to cry.

Gert leaned close to her. “You can’t or you won’t?”

Martha only cried harder. Kate turned to Dustin and offered him coffee, but he declined.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt a family discussion,” he said.

“We could use some advice.” Gert pointed to an empty chair. “Sit down. As soon as she stops crying we’re going to need a man’s opinion.” And maybe someone good with a shovel. And if Dustin was sleeping with her granddaughter and going to become a member of the family, he might as well know all the family secrets sooner rather than later.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

D
USTIN FIGURED HE
wasn’t going to get the chance to talk to Kate this morning. Her mother was still crying, her grandmother continued to demand answers and got none, while Kate handed her mother tissues and drank coffee as if her sanity depended on it.

Dustin decided to pour himself a cup and wished he hadn’t picked this time to see if Kate was awake and ready for serious conversation. He didn’t figure Martha for a murderer, couldn’t figure out why she’d know about a body in the drive-in and certainly didn’t want to contemplate the reason why the woman had been having breakfast so early on a Saturday morning with Carl Jackson.

Clearly there was a lot going on here that he didn’t understand, so Dustin gestured to Kate the next time she glanced his way.

“We’ll be right back,” he told Gert, and took Kate’s hand.

“Don’t go far,” the old lady replied. “She’ll
have to stop crying soon and then we’ll get some answers.”

“Right.” He hauled Kate outside and around the corner of the house, in the shade of the overhang. First he kissed her, and was glad to note that she kissed him back.

“Good morning,” she said, smiling up at him.

“I missed you.”

“I know.” Her smile faded. “I wanted to wake up with you and instead—do you think my mother is having a nervous breakdown?”

“Does she cry like that a lot?”

“Never. Not since Daddy died.” She lowered her voice, though Dustin was certain neither Gert nor Martha could hear. “But this talk about a dead body really seems strange. If she knew there was someone dead there, why would she want to buy one of the villas and move in?”

“Maybe she just discovered it.”

“My mother? Discovering dead bodies?” Kate shook her head. “Bargains, yes. Bodies, no.”

“Kate, honey, how did all this start?”

“Mom was upset because Gran told the reporter about some buried treasure rumored to be hidden at the drive-in. Supposedly Gran’s great-grandfather lived on a ranch there at the time and told her the story. She thought it would make her book more interesting.”

It had certainly made his morning more interesting,
though he would have preferred waking up naked and next to Kate. That would have been interesting enough. “All I heard was the part about not wanting anyone to find ‘the body.”’

“We should call the sheriff.”

“Not so fast,” Dustin warned. “If your mother isn’t, uh, in her right mind, you don’t want to make things worse.”

“Maybe we should call a lawyer, or a doctor.”

“Your mother can’t cry forever,” he said, hoping he was right. “Give her a chance to explain before you call for reinforcements.”

She sighed. “You’re right.” Kate stood on tiptoe and kissed him lightly. “Where’s Danny?”

“Still sleeping. Gert wore him out last night. I think they watched movies ’til midnight.”

“Figures. She likes the company.”

“Me, too.” They smiled at each other for a long moment.

“I was going to go see Emily today and take her some groceries. I’m not sure if I can do that now. But if I go, do you think Danny would like to ride along?”

“I think he’d like that a lot. He has a crush on you, you know.”

“I’ve noticed. He’s a nice kid, Dustin,” she told him.

“Yeah,” he said, before kissing her again. “I know.”

“I’d better get back,” she said, pulling away. “Do you think maybe Mom was involved in a hit-and-run accident last night?”

“I can’t see your mother doing anything illegal,” he assured her, but over the top of Kate’s head he saw the sheriff’s car pull up in the drive. “Kate?”

“What?”

“Maybe you’d better go tell your mother that the sheriff is coming.”

“Oh, my God,” she breathed, peering around him. “He’s going to arrest her.”

“I doubt it,” Dustin said, setting her away from him and turning her toward the kitchen door. “Go. I’ll see what he wants.”

He made sure she went inside before heading toward Jess Sheridan, who had just stepped out of his car. “Jess? Hey.”

“Hey, Dustin,” the man said, settling his hat on his head. “It’s going to be another hot one.”

“Yeah, it sure is.” He shook the man’s hand and waited for the reason he was here, knowing Sheridan would get around to it in his own time.

“I could have called,” Jess said, “but I was out this direction anyway.” He looked around. “Where’s the boy?”

“Still asleep.”

“Good. I wanted to tell you that Lisa is out of jail, as of yesterday. She supposedly completed a
drug treatment program and got time off for good behavior.”

Dustin felt like someone had punched him in the gut. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I thought you should know.”

“Thanks.”

“You’ve got custody, right?”

“Yeah, so far. We go to court again in September.”

Jess nodded and opened the car door. “Good. Take care of the boy and call me if there’s any problem.”

“Thanks.” He watched the sheriff put the car in reverse and turn around before heading back to the road. Jess Sheridan hadn’t brought good news, but at least he hadn’t arrested Dustin’s future mother-in-law.

“I
T WAS JUST A NIGHTMARE
.” Martha sniffed and tossed a large handful of tissues into the trash. “I guess I just had a bad dream.”

“You expect us to believe that?” Kate crossed her arms over her chest and thought once again about calling a doctor, preferably one who carried sedatives around with him. “After crying for half an hour about a body at the drive-in and how gold hunters might find it?”

“It was quite a nightmare, I must say,” her
mother declared. She reached into her purse and found her lipstick. “Excuse me. I’m going to go freshen up.”

Kate watched as her mother left the room and headed around the corner for the bathroom. “What do you think, Gran?”

“I think we’re lucky the sheriff didn’t come into the house,” her grandmother said. “There’s no telling what Martha might have told him.”

Kate reheated her coffee in the microwave and then sat down at the kitchen table. “What do you think she was talking about?”

“I’m not sure,” her grandmother said, but she avoided Kate’s gaze and instead went over to the window. “Looks like Dustin’s working on the roof. That man is always working.”

Kate wondered if he had his shirt off. If he was thinking of last night. Or planning how they would be together tonight. “Maybe I should take Mom home. She isn’t in any condition to drive.”

“I’m going to sell him the ranch, Kate.” Gert left the window and shuffled over to the table and sat down. “If you don’t want the Lazy K, that’s what I’m going to do.”

“Gran—”

“Don’t say anything now,” her grandmother told her. “You have another week here to think about what you want to do, but I can’t run this
place much longer. It needs a man and it looks like it’s got one, so I might as well make it official.”

Kate took a deep breath. She’d never thought the ranch would leave the family. “I don’t think Dustin can afford to buy a ranch, Gran. And where will you live? Certainly not in the Good Night Villas with Mom?”

“I’ll make Dustin a good deal. Lord knows neither you nor Jake needs money. Jake has his own place free and clear and you have your fancy career. Your mother is fixed just fine for money, with or without the Lazy K so it’s not like we’re gonna go broke.”

“No,” Kate said, feeling as if she was going to lose something she didn’t know she wanted so much. “I guess not.”

“It’s yours, though,” her grandmother said, “if you want to stay.”

“What is?” Martha said, entering the room. “Are you trying to bribe Kate with this ranch again, Mother?”

“I’m not discussing my business with a crazy woman, Martha,” Gert declared. “Are you feeling better?”

“I am,” she said. Kate saw that her mother had combed her hair and put on lipstick. Her eyes were still red and puffy, but at least she wasn’t crying anymore.

“So, who’s in the drive-in?”

“Don’t start, Mother.”

Kate frowned at her grandmother, then took her mother’s arm. “Let me drive you home. I’d planned on visiting with Emily for a while this morning.”

“I’m perfectly capable of taking myself home. Besides, I’m playing bridge with the girls this afternoon.” She avoided looking at either one of them and fussed with her blouse, making sure it was tucked neatly into her skirt.

“Do you want to come out here for dinner tonight?”

“No, thank you, dear,” Martha said. She dropped her lipstick into her purse and snapped it shut. “I think I’ll go to bed early tonight. I could use the rest.”

“Hmph,” Gert said, looking worried. “I should say so.”

Kate walked her mother to her car, but Martha didn’t say a word until she got behind the wheel. “I’m sorry I frightened you.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Of course,” she said, but to Kate she looked ten years older than she had yesterday. “I just need some time to rest. That article in the paper just…upset me, that’s all.”

“Gran’s book has upset you from the beginning,” Kate said, leaning down so she could look through the open car window. Her mother’s fingers
gripped the steering wheel, but she didn’t say anything. Instead she fussed with her keys and started the car, so Kate had no choice but to back away and let her mother leave the ranch.

It was one of those mornings she should have stayed in bed—with Dustin. Dead bodies, gold hunters, sheriffs, hysterical mothers and career decisions would have been ignored, at least until after she’d rolled on top of his naked body and had her way with him.

S
HE WOULD NOT MAKE
that mistake again, Martha decided. At first she’d thought that newspaper article was the last straw, that there was nothing to do but to come clean and confess everything.

And then she’d seen her mother’s face. How could she tell her ninety-year-old mother the truth? Gert couldn’t live forever. Let her find out in heaven, when some nice angels would gather around her and explain everything. That would certainly be much easier than hearing it this way.

And the mess that would follow couldn’t be helped. There were a few people around town who would remember and understand, but there were lots more who would judge without knowing what it was really like to have a best friend.

A best friend was someone you would do anything for.

“Y
OUR LIFE IS SO
much more exciting than mine,” Emily declared, tucking her baby to her breast.

“I guess that depends on how you define ‘exciting.”’ Kate suffered another unfamiliar twinge of envy as she watched Emily feed her baby. “I thought I was coming home for a peaceful vacation with my family.”

“And instead?” Emily’s face took on that expression of blissful contentment as the baby began to nurse. “An affair with your grandmother’s foreman, a mysterious dead body and a grandmother trying to get famous.”

“Exactly. I should be writing all of this down for the show. My boss would love the ‘mysterious dead body’ part.”

“I personally prefer the romance,” her friend said. “I’m glad you brought Danny with you. John could use some male company.”

“I’ll take him back to the ranch with me for the afternoon, okay?”

“You have to ask?” Emily laughed. “My mother’s taking the girls with her to Marysville, so that will work out great. I hate to ask this, but when do you have to go back to New York?”

“Next Saturday. I could make my boss happy and leave the day after tomorrow, but I won’t.”

“You can’t leave now,” Emily said, “not until you decide what to do about your mother, never mind the ranch and Dustin. And you promised to
go out to lunch with Elizabeth and Lorna, too, remember?”

She remembered. And looked forward to it, too, though she didn’t really think she’d fit in.

“If I stayed,” Kate said, thinking out loud, “I’d live with my grandmother out on the ranch. With Dustin so close, I’m not sure if that’s a good idea or not. If he started dating someone else, it would be messy. And if I started dating someone else, it would be even messier.”

“You’re not ready to admit that he’s the one man for you, huh?” Emily shook her head. “I can’t believe it.”

“He slept with someone else and made a baby while he was going out with me,” Kate reminded her. “He might not make the best husband.”

“That’s history. He’s a responsible father now. People change. And people grow up. Look, you could buy your mother’s house and live here in town.”

“By myself in a house with four bedrooms? The place is huge.”

“It’s the nicest house in town. Forget the past. Marry Dustin and fill it up with kids.”

“He hasn’t asked.” She watched Emily lift the tiny baby to her shoulder to burp her. “And what would I do here in Beauville?”

“Run the ranch. You’ve always loved that place.
I assume you have some money saved so you could afford to get it going again?”

“Yes,” she said, thinking of her hefty savings account. She’d never been a big spender, having learned frugal ways from Gert, and writing for daytime television was a lucrative career. “When I was eighteen that was all I wanted, Dustin Jones and the Lazy K. Makes me wish I hadn’t grown up,” she admitted, watching Emily comfort her fussing baby. “Can I hold her?”