Crazy Little Thing Called Love (16 page)

Blue blinked at the strange comment. Bobby
flirting with Arlene? Was that a joke? Her father didn’t know how
to joke.

“Keep your pants on. I’m here ain’t I?” Bobby
growled right back and then smiled, “Hi there Bluebell.”

“Hi Bobby.” She gave him a welcoming hug.

Hugs from Bobby had always been a highlight
of her childhood. Unlike her father he was a warm and welcoming
presence. He knew how to laugh and love and smile. She couldn’t
remember if her father had ever hugged her as tightly as Bobby had
over the years.

“How’re you holding up girl?”

“Just fine.”

Bobby might be more open than her father but
he was still a ranch-hardened old man and he wasn’t really asking.
She kept it all locked down where it was supposed to be. She was
far from fine but hell could freeze over before she admitted it to
one of these men.

“Good to hear. You were always a strong one.”
He winked playfully.

“Where’ve you been?” Lyle frowned.

“I told you yesterday that Amy was in the
hospital. She had her little girl, Ally Beth.” Bobby beamed with
pride. “I’m a granddaddy again.”

She’d heard over the past few weeks that
Billy’s wife was due with their third baby soon. Her mouth had
nearly fallen open since he was just a few years older than her.
Sure families started early in Fate, that didn’t mean she
understood the urge to pop out babies as quick as God could make
them, not that she wouldn’t like to have some one day herself. Just
one day in the distant future, where she also had a man to help her
raise them up right.

The knot in her throat strangled her
congratulations. She was so far from finding a good man she
couldn’t even see his silhouette on the horizon anymore. Maybe if
she’d stayed in Denver one of the nice successful business types
would have panned out but in Fate… she’d end up an old maid just as
everyone had always suspected.

“Must be nice. You’ve got a whole litter now
and I ain’t even got one.”

“Grandkids? You’ve never mentioned you wanted
grandkids.” Blue turned at the sound of her father’s voice and her
head tilted curiously.

“Didn’t think I should have to.” He
grumbled.

Her mouth opened and then closed again.
Grandkids. He wanted grandkids? Was that why he was so grouchy when
he asked about her life? Is that what he’d always meant by her
needing roots? He wanted her to settle down and pop out a batch of
grandkids for him? He’d probably been hoping for a male heir so he
could leave the ranch to somebody that might love it like he did.
She nearly choked on that thought and the guilt curled up her spine
again.

“I’ll let you guys work.” She mumbled and
raced for the door, needing some fresh air.

No her father would never live to see a
grandchild. Even if she’d had sex in the past few months, which she
hadn’t, he’d be gone before she delivered. That was something she
couldn’t think about though so instead she pushed it to the back of
her mind and found ways to distract herself from the elephant in
the room. Her father was dying and she was still just a lost little
girl.

She went into town and had her hair
highlighted at the Curl Up & Dye salon. As it turned out her
old high school friend Jenny Sue owned it and they caught up over
bleaching strips. Jenny Sue was divorced with two kids but her
scumbag ex as she liked to call him took the little boys every
other weekend so she was free the next night. Blue made plans to
get a beer with her and a couple of the other women just to have
something to do outside the house.

When she returned her father was asleep again
so she curled up on the couch and watched reality television. It
had always made her feel better about her own life. She could turn
it on and watch those suckers make ridiculously stupid choices and
know she had it better than them. It usually helped her mood.
Tonight though it just reminded her of how bad her own life was
failing so she turned it off and went to bed early, resigned that
tomorrow was a different day.

Technically Sully’s was the only bar in Fate
but if you crossed the county line just a few miles outside of town
there was a dance hall that backed up to the river. They played the
music too loud and poured the drinks too stiff. Typically, the
night ended with at least one punch being thrown when an Aggie and
a Longhorn had the misfortune of meeting up. It was not the type of
place that Blue ever thought she’d set foot inside.

She hadn’t been worried when Jenny Sue gave
her the directions. No, the worry had come when her old friend
informed her if she had anything cowgirl sexy, she better pull it
out of the back of the closet because silk and stilettos would get
her killed in a place like the Roadhouse. Since she had the
misfortune of having only her weekend wardrobe, what she’d bought
in Amarillo while her father was in the hospital and her high
school clothes she’d had to resort to some creativity.

As she stood outside the crowded
establishment in a gravel parking lot she wondered if she hadn’t
gone quite far enough. The jacked up trucks and motorcycles that
lined the edges of the lot tipped her off that the Audi was out of
place and so was she. The men and women staring at her as she
crawled from the car had set her teeth on edge. There were more
tattoos and missing teeth in this bunch than she’d seen in the
prison documentaries on Discovery channel.

Fate prided itself on being a quiet,
respectable southern town so odds were most of the people inside
weren’t locals. They’d be the country mainstays, the ones that
lived further out of town on the edges of civilization probably.
The others were just passing through as several of the tags read
from out of state. That gave her a dash of confidence. At least
she’d be facing strangers and not the good folks of First Baptist
because she needed a drink or five.

She’d spent the day at her father’s side
getting reprimanded for everything from chewing gum to simply
breathing. She couldn’t take it anymore. She needed to get out of
the house, away from the ranch and the man that wished she’d leave
him alone. She’d never been happier she’d agreed to get a beer with
an old friend.

She needed to feel like she had some
semblance of a life other than sitting and waiting for her father
to tell her what he wanted from her before he died. She’d offered
to spend her days working the ranch but he’d laughed long and hard
about that one. He’d never taught her more than the basics and
despite her arguments that she was plenty smart enough to pick it
up he’d given her a stern no and went so far as to force Bobby to
do the same when she tried to ignore him and clean out the barn
anyway.

Montgomery Oaks was a big place with a
thousand working parts. She was certain there was something she
could do other than make her bed and help Arlene wash dishes
occasionally but nobody would let her. She was a girl. Her place
was in the house. Except her father was now in the house and he
didn’t seem to want her there either.

She’d spent a lot of time over the past few
weeks thinking about what she could do, of what would need to be
done when her father passed away. Somebody was going to inherit the
hundreds of acres and have to take on the responsibility of tending
to it and the cattle and the other animals and employees and
paychecks and everything else that went along with a business. She
had no idea how to do any one of those things and she didn’t even
know if her father planned to give her the ranch. All the questions
without answers just left her spinning her wheels with nothing to
do.

So tonight she was doing something for
herself. She’d pulled out an old white sundress from her closet. It
still fit miraculously enough though it was a bit tighter in the
breast department than she remembered it. Still, it hit mid-thigh
which was high enough to be sassy and go nicely with her old cowboy
boots without being slutty.

Her boots she’d found at the back of the
closet. They’d been her most prized possession in high school. She
couldn’t remember why she didn’t take them with her to college.
They had a slight heel to them and were bright cherry red leather
with tiny little hearts cut into each side at the top.

She paired the dress with her mother’s old
custom-made belt that her father had given her on her fifteenth
birthday. It was dark leather, stiff from never being used, but
gorgeous nonetheless. It had “Montgomery” burned into the back and
the buckle was etched with the Montgomery Oaks brand. She’d rarely
worn it since it was her mothers and because it had always been a
notch too tight. With her sudden weight loss, it fit perfectly
around her waist.

The quick look in the mirror before she left
the house said all she wanted it to say. She might not have roots.
She might have left Fate behind a decade ago but she’d been born a
Texan and she damn sure knew how to dress like one when the
occasion called.

When she walked into the Roadhouse she was
happy Jenny Sue had informed her to dress up. Her friend had been
right. If she’d shown up in a place like this in stilettos she’d
have probably been mugged. Her outfit was more cute than sexy but
at least she had boots and a belt buckle. That appeared to be the
major trend in the dance hall along with ten gallon hats for the
men.

She spotted Jenny Sue waving from a table
near the bar and headed over as quickly as she could amid the
crowd. The rest of the women at the table had taken up their
friends call to arms and they stood to give her hugs as she reached
them. Blue wasn’t sure she’d been hugged as much in ten years away
as she had been in the past three weeks.

Jenny Sue made the introductions, “Girls, I’m
sure you all remember Bluebell.”

Jenny Sue had never been a particularly close
friend of hers in high school. They’d simply hung out in the same
circles off and on. That didn’t keep her from acting as if not a
day had passed since they were swapping bubble gum and reading each
others diaries though, just like a true Texan.

And just like a true Texan, Jenny Sue had
gone all out for the dance hall. In high school she’d had dark
brown hair and big brown eyes. Being a hairdresser now though, she
had dark and light streaks of mahogany and honey brown and tonight
it was teased into big curls around her face. Many of the other
women sported similar looks and Blue wondered if Jenny Sue didn’t
fix all of their hair.

“This is Tara Newton, she was a year ahead of
us but we all had athletics together remember? She was on the
cheerleading squad.”

“Yeah. You were always the flyer right?”

“Yes. I can’t believe you remember that.” The
petite blonde that had most definitely been a brunette in high
school cooed. “And it’s Tara Newton Hayes now. I married Hank.”

“Oh well congratulations.”

Blue tried not to let her surprise show. This
tiny little woman that couldn’t be more than 5’3 had married Hank
Hayes? Hank “the tank” Hayes? He’d been the biggest linebacker on
the Fate Falcons football team. He could probably squash her if he
didn’t look where he stepped.

“Thank you.” Tara grinned, “Are you
married?”

“No.”

“Oh well that’s okay. We’re all going to
pretend to be single tonight anyway.” A brunette gave a wide smile
and everyone giggled.

“Peggy Sutton Daniels Lambert, though you
probably remember her without so many last names.” Jenny Sue
giggled and Blue really did smile that time. “She’s trying to give
Elizabeth Taylor a run for her money with the number of times she
was married.”

“Sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs.
Turns out, that’s all I’ve ever kissed.” Peggy shrugged as if the
other women weren’t making fun of her. “It’s nice to see you
Bluebell.”

“Please, call me Blue. All of you,
really.”

“Oh so cute.” Tara grinned. “Now, let’s get
you a drink.”

“Sounds good to me.” Blue took the extra
chair between Tara and Jenny Sue as they waved for a waitress.

As they caught up on their lives and sipped
their beers Blue scanned the heavy crowd. Nearly every table was
filled and the dance floor overflowed with people. Cowboy hats
moved at a steady two-step in a broad circular motion. The
occasional baseball cap stuck out on occasion. Only a handful of
men had braved the bar sans headgear and immediately her eyes were
drawn to a head that peeked out higher than the others, covered in
neatly trimmed dark brown stubble.

Yes, Zach West would always stand out, even
in a crowd. His big body moved gracefully across the dance floor.
There were too many people between them for her to get a long
eyeful but short drinks were enough to put together the basics. He
could dance, really dance, which kind of annoyed her almost as much
as his attitude and jokes had the other day. If he could dance like
that why had they simply swayed at the wedding like left-footed
fools?

Still, her eyes didn’t seem to mind he’d
insulted her just a week ago. No, all her eyes cared about was
watching those long legs encased in dark denim and that broad chest
in another pearl-snap shirt. This one was pure white and despite
the white undershirt beneath it she could just make out the curls
of that tattoo she’d noticed on the highway. The white should have
given him a softer edge but it just reinforced all the dark hard
lines instead and her mouth watered despite herself.

The song ended and the woman he was dancing
with threw herself against him for a tight hug. She watched him
give her one squeeze and two pats on the back before he released
the woman and turned her back towards a nearby table. As much as
her pride enjoyed the fact he hadn’t seemed phased by the woman
rubbing herself against him she prayed he didn’t see her. Tonight
was supposed to be relaxing and there was nothing relaxed about her
body when that man was within fifty yards.