Place Your Betts (The Marilyns) (15 page)

“What happened to Uncle Lee?” Tom scooped up another spoonful.

“He married Mama and became a father to me.” Betts smiled at the memory of the chubby man who’d always smelled like peppermint and looked like Colonel Sanders. “Died ten years ago next month.” Losing Uncle Lee had been another dent to her heart. He’d been the only man who’d ever loved her for herself. Maybe someday she’d add Tom to that list? At one time, she’d thought Gabe had wanted to head it up.

“Nice dinner. Thanks.” Gabe nodded.

She eyed him skeptically. Where was the hostility? Gabe wasn’t exactly Mr. Congeniality, but he wasn’t the devil incarnate either. He hovered in polite purgatory. It was downright weird.

They ate in silence.

“Let’s talk cows.” Gabe pushed his empty bowl to the side.

Betts narrowed her eyes. “Again? Don’t tell me. They made a break for it and are roaming down I-20.”

“Huh?” Tom looked up from his French bread.

Betts rolled her eyes. “I’m sure your dad is dying to tell you, so I’ll do it first. I cut the fence”—she glared at Gabe—“to get to my land, and the cows got out. The big longhorn bull charged me, but your father pushed me out of the way.”

Tom looked like he didn’t quite believe her. “Buttercup?”

“I noticed that you haven’t been feeding your cows.” Gabe knitted his fingers together on the table and sent Tom a dirty look.

“They eat grass, hello, even I know that.” Cows. Cows. The only thing the man ever wanted to talk about was cows. But the subject seemed to calm him, which was weird on a whole new level.

“What happens when the grass is all gone? In case you hadn’t noticed, winter’s coming on, and grass is no longer growing.”

Betts looked around like the answer would pop out of thin air. “Um…” She shrugged. “I got nothing.”

“Hay. We feed them hay, water from the stock pond, and salt licks in several places.”

“Damn, those cows are high maintenance.” Betts blew the bangs out of her eyes. “I could hire someone. Any recommendations?” Great idea. She would have patted herself on the back if she were alone.

“I could do it.” Tom sat up and looked at his dad. “Really, I’d be good at it. You’re always telling me that I’m the most responsible person you know.”

“Not with your job at the feed store and your homework.” Gabe folded his arms.

“So he quits and works for me.” Betts smiled at Tom. “How about a thousand a week?” She grabbed Tom’s hand. “My company offers benefits. I can give you full medical, dental, vision, paid vacation, and a very generous retirement plan.”

“Christ, for benefits, I’d do it,” Gabe muttered under his breath.

Tom didn’t look impressed by her employment package.

“Plus a new truck—”

“No.” Gabe stared at Betts. “That’s way too much.”

“Dad.” Tom drew out the word.

This was the first thing she’d done for her son. “Call it the Betts Monroe scholarship fund—”

“
No
.” Gabe exhaled slowly through his nose. “Benefits and a hundred a week plus expenses is fair.”

Betts stared at Gabe, waiting for the punch line.

“Wow. I didn’t expect you to agree.” She frowned. In her mind, she’d been coming up with the reasons why he should say yes. It was kind of a letdown not to get to argue.

“I’m not finished. And we get home-cooked dinners seven nights a week.” Gabe grinned, showing off his dimples.

There it was, the real reason he cared about the cows. “We? Why should I feed you?”

“Take it or leave it, Red. I’m part of the deal.” Gabe grinned like he knew he had her.

It would give her time with Tom, and so what if Gabe was there? She could ignore him. It wasn’t the first time she’d made a deal with the devil. “Fine.”

Heavy knocking came from the door.

“Yoo-hoo. Avon Calling.” Mama was back.

Betts slapped the door-open button.

Mama stepped gingerly up the two steps, and Betts went wide-eyed. Her mother had lost her mind. She had on a pale pink vintage Channel suit and black flats. Nothing sparkled, no cleavage was showing, and the only thing skintight was Mama’s skin. “Holy Jesus, what happened to you?”

Mama shot Betts a glare and whispered, “I hope you’re happy. I look like an old lady.”

“You
are
an old lady.” Betts bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling at Mama’s version of respectable. She looked fantastic and terrible…Mama minus the shiny seemed wrong.

Mama limped over to Tom. “Boring shoes hurt my feet. I’m going to be crippled by all this arch support.”

“I’ll buy you a wheelchair you can bedazzle.” Betts would have approved if she weren’t slightly horrified.

“All this hostility. I blame greenhouse gases. Global warming makes you pissy,” Mama said. “When I get home, I’m gonna trade in my Caddie for a Prius in the hopes that you lighten up.” She tossed Betts an air kiss.

Count on Mama to lighten the mood.

“Tom, this is my mother, Mama Cherie Boudreaux. Mama, this is Tom.” Betts watched her carefully, waiting for her to do something over-the-top.

Tom smiled. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Boudreaux—”

“Call me Mama Cherie. Ms. Boudreaux was my mother-in-law, may her shriveled-up holier-than-thou soul rest in peace.” Mama propped a fist on her hip and regarded Betts. “Honey, I taught you better manners than that. You’re supposed to respect your elders and introduce them first.” Mama winked at Tom. “Kids, they never learn.”

Betts exhaled loudly. “I did. You have the mental age of a fourteen-year-old, so Tom has two years on you.”

“Lucky for me, I gave birth to a tight-ass.” She hip bumped Tom and sat next to him. Mama put an arm around Tom’s shoulders. “Tom, don’t mind Betts. She’s too serious for her own good.”

Mama’s only acknowledgment of Gabe was the death stare she leveled on him.

“I am so blessed.” Betts couldn’t have made that sound convincing if she’d tried.

“Are you two always like this?” Tom grinned.

“Yep, pretty much…well, minus these boring flats and this itchy suit. Betts said that I needed to wear something respectable.” Mama shook her head. “She doesn’t get me. She was always difficult. When she turned sixteen—”

“Do we have to do this now?” Betts sighed long and hard. Mama needed a leash and a keeper.

“Stop interrupting the grownups.” Mama continued the Gabe death stare. “Other sixteen-year-olds wanted cars for their birthday, but Betts wanted a DNA test. She was convinced there was a right-wing Republican couple out wandering the world looking for her missing child. Sorry, kiddo.”

“You can’t win them all.” Betts slid in next to Gabe and watched Tom. He didn’t seem to mind that Mama was smothering him. Betts smiled and relaxed back against the seat. For the first time in sixteen years, all of her family was together. It was a beginning. Her eyes cut to Gabe…maybe.

Saturday morning, Kaitlin Smith drove her mother’s Buick Bonneville down Highway 80 toward the Swanson ranch. Tom hadn’t been at the football game last night, and she aimed to find out why. Before the game, she’d taken an extra hour on her hair and makeup just for him, and he hadn’t showed.

Tom thought that she was smart—she couldn’t help herself.

Kaitlin slowed at the gate to the ranch. Thank God it was open because she hadn’t called ahead—a mortal sin in her mother’s book, which is why Kaitlin hadn’t called ahead. Small rebellion was better than no rebellion. With her pinky, she flicked on her blinker and turned onto the gravel road. Maybe she could convince Tom to ask her out? She was free tonight and every other night since Lance was history. She was moving on to bigger and better things.

A large black-and-gold RV that looked a lot like Betts Monroe’s tour bus was parked near the house. Did Tom live in the RV? It was certainly nicer than the cabin.

Kaitlin pulled close to the cabin’s front door and stepped onto crunchy, dried grass. Tom had lived here all his life, so the chances were that he lived in the house. After smoothing out the wrinkles on her denim miniskirt, she knocked on the door. Nothing. She knocked again and again and again. No answer. Kaitlin peeked through the long, skinny windows on either side of the door. The house was dark.

“Kaitlin?”

She jumped and spun around. Betts Monroe stood just outside the gold RV.

“Yes, ma’am.” Kaitlin put a hand over her heart. It was beating like a freight train. “You scared me.”

“Sorry.” Betts walked toward her. “Are you looking for Tom?”

Kaitlin blinked to make sure she was really talking to Betts Monroe.

“Yes, ma’am. I was hoping he’d lend me his calculus notes.” That was as good a reason as any. She shaded her eyes from the morning sun. “Is he around?”

“He’s in the field.” Betts thumbed over her left shoulder. “With the cows.”

Her eyes ran up and down Kaitlin, taking in the short denim skirt.

Kaitlin tugged at it, trying to wiggle an inch more coverage, but it was useless. She’d worn it to impress Tom and no one else. Squaring her shoulders, she lifted her chin and shot Betts a confident smile. It was none of her business what Kaitlin wore.

One corner of Betts’s mouth turned up.

Why did Kaitlin feel that she’d just passed a test?

“Nice boots.” Betts pointed to turquoise-and-black hand-tooled leather boots on Kaitlin’s feet.

“Thanks. I got them at the Bargain Box. It’s in Longview. Neiman Marcus sends them all their returned stuff. They sell it for charity.” Kaitlin kicked a rock out of her way as she walked to Betts. “They’re pretty comfortable too. I saved two months’ worth of babysitting money to pay for them.”

And she’d charmed her daddy out of the last twenty bucks.

“Stylish and thrifty—my kinda girl.”

Betts nodded to Kaitlin. “Hop in.”

After pulling out a set of keys from the front pocket of her Miss Me jeans, Betts opened the door of an old Mustang convertible parked in front of the gold RV. “We’ll see if we can find Tom.”

Kaitlin sat in the passenger’s seat. “I knew you were still around, but I didn’t know you were living out here.”

“I needed some privacy.” Betts started the engine. “Mind keeping that to yourself?”

“Sure.” Kaitlin nodded. “Don’t worry. I know all about the church money and the free concert. My daddy’s a deacon at First Baptist. They put him in charge of cyber defense.” And her father took his job very seriously…. He took everything seriously.

“Huh?” Betts thought for a moment. “Who’s he cyber defending?”

“You.” Kaitlin tried not to laugh. “Cyber defense is a fancy way to say he stalks Facebook looking for any mention of you being in the area. He brought this big whiteboard home from work. He’s always writing names of ‘suspects’ on it.”

“Wow.” Betts looked like she didn’t believe it.

“I know. The town is on high alert. My daddy told me that First Baptist is offering a hundred-dollar reward to anyone who uncovers a plot to turn you in.” Kaitlin knew for a fact that they’d already paid out two hundred dollars.

“Again…wow. I didn’t know it would go this far.” Betts chewed on her upper lip.

Kaitlin waved off her concern. “It gives everyone something to do. My daddy says that next to Friday night football, this is the most fun he’s had in years.”

“Okay—if you don’t think it’s getting out of hand.”

“Nope.” Kaitlin turned in her seat. “How’d you meet the Swansons?” It was a little hard to believe that she was sitting in a car with Betts Monroe. Obviously, Tom knew Betts really well. How come he’d never said anything? She smiled. That was just like him to not draw attention to himself. Humble and sweet.

“I’m an old family friend.” Betts followed a row of tire tracks. “How well do you know Tom?”

Kaitlin shook her head. “Not that well.”

“There they are.” Betts pointed to two shirtless figures stacking bales of hay onto the back of a pickup. “Nice eye candy.”

It was barely above a whisper.

“Yes, ma’am.” Kaitlin couldn’t stop staring at Tom. Ripped arm muscles flexed as he hefted hay onto the truck. The peaks and valleys of his washboard abs glistened with sweat. Was it polite to drool in front of another woman?

Betts pulled up to the truck and put a hand on Kaitlin’s arm. “What’s your interest in Tom?”

Kaitlin studied the floor mats. “I like him.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “A lot.”

Betts sat back.

“You hurt him and I’ll end you.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. In fact, she kinda looked a little crazy. “Got it?”

Kaitlin’s mouth fell open, but she managed to nod.

“Good girl.” Betts released her arm.

What was that about? Just how good of friends were Betts and Tom? The last thing Kaitlin needed was another adult thinking she could run her life. Still, it was Betts Monroe. Getting to know her better wasn’t a bad idea.

***

Betts was one hundred percent sure she’d just made her son’s day by delivering his crush on a silver platter.

“Kaitlin dropped by to see you. Why don’t you drive her back to the house? I bet she’d love something cold to drink.” Betts handed her keys to Tom.

His eyes lit up. “Yes, ma’am.”

He walked to the passenger’s side, where Kaitlin stood with the car door open. After he mumbled something, Kaitlin got in, and Tom closed the door for her.

Betts smiled and shaded her eyes with her hand. Manners were important, and Tom never forgot his. Considering he was a teenager, that was no small victory. Her proud smile wobbled around the edges as twin daggers of guilt and anger stabbed her right above the heart. Personally, she had no trophies to claim in making him the man he was. Acid burned a path up her throat, and the muscles at the back of her neck knotted with tension. She kicked a rock around for several seconds and then stabbed her stiletto boot heel into the ground a couple of times. Denying the obvious wouldn’t work anymore. She blew the bangs out of her eyes and accepted it.

Gabe had done a fine job with Tom, and although it wasn’t the life she’d wanted for her son, he was happy and healthy and well adjusted. Gabe had made sure that Tom felt loved, had a stable home, understood the necessity of hard work, and never wanted for anything. In a life of granting favors instead of racking them up, Betts was now beholden to Gabe. Regardless of what he’d done to her, he had done right by her son. Gratitude just about choked the life out of her. She was finding it hard not to like him. Damn it. Betts stabbed the dried grass with her heel a few more times.