Home at Chestnut Creek

by Laura Drake

  Blake rolled up on his feet and offered her his hand. “What you saw wasn’t what was happening.”

  She ignored the hand and got up on her own, leaving the coffee behind.

  Irene slung the door wide open and marched inside with her hands on her hips. A pair of Lizzy’s designer jeans hung on her skinny hips and the red-sequined top that Allie wore to the church Christmas party a few weeks before had slipped off one shoulder, letting a white bra strap shine right along with her veined skin. Her thin gray hair hung in wet strands and the makeup she’d applied streaked down her face settling in the wrinkles. The jeans were soaked as well as the sequined top and her poor frail body had a faint blue cast from the cold wind and rain.

  “What in the hell are you doing with another woman in this house, Walter? Three of them to be exact and those two in the kitchen are barroom Rosies if I’ve ever seen one. This one might look decent but she’s in your bedroom behind closed doors and where is the furniture?” Irene stopped for a breath and slapped Blake on the arm. “You’ve got some explainin’ to do. I swear to God, I don’t know why I even bother with you. It’s a wonder your mother hasn’t taken a fryin’ pan to those bitches.”

  Toby cocked his head to one side just like Allie had seen Blake do when he found something amusing. Well, her grandmother was not funny, and the disease that was eating holes in her memory wasn’t a bit comical.

  “Breakfast is served. Laney and Lisa are already digging in. There’s plenty for all y’all,” Toby said.

  “Is this one of your lazy-ass brothers? Where is your mother?” Irene demanded.

  “Granny, this is not Walter. It’s Blake Dawson and his brother, Toby Dawson. I’m Allie, your granddaughter, and those women in the kitchen are not here to see Walter,” Allie said.

  “I’m ready to go home now. I’m cold and I’m hungry.” She looped her arm through Allie’s and marched past Toby, with Blake right behind them. They’d barely made it to the living room when Katy knocked softly on the door, pushed it open, and sighed.

  “I figured I’d find you over here. Good God, Mama! If you don’t get pneumonia from getting out in that getup, it’ll be a miracle. I’m surprised you didn’t fall and break a hip on the ice.” She grabbed Allie’s yellow slicker from the coatrack and slung it around Irene’s shoulders.

  “Allie was in the bedroom with that man,” Irene tattled. “And I’m not old. I can damn well climb over a fence any old day of the week and the ice broke when I stepped on it so stop your bitchin’.”

  “It’s the room I’m working on,” Allie explained.

  “Introductions?” Toby asked.

  “Sorry.” Blake grinned sheepishly. “This is Allie, the woman who’s redoing the house and who put the roof on for us. This is Katy, her mother, and this is Irene, her grandmother. Ladies, this is Toby, my brother and business partner in the Lucky Penny.”

  So she wasn’t his friend Allie, or his neighbor Allie. Heaven forbid that she might be his girlfriend Allie. Hell, no! She was the woman who was redoing his house. Lizzy had been right all along. She didn’t have enough sense to know not to wade right into hell.

  Toby kissed Irene’s hand, shook hands with Katy and with Allie, and said, “I’m right pleased to make your acquaintance, ladies.”

  Irene’s eyes started at Toby’s toes and traveled slowly up his long legs to his zipper, hesitated a brief second, and went on up to the top of his head. “Are you kin to Blake?”

  “Yes, ma’am. He’s my brother, and I’ll be moving into the house with him in a couple of months,” Toby answered.

  “Who are them cheap barroom Rosies in the kitchen?” she asked.

  “Just a couple of women who followed me and Deke home last night,” Toby said.

  “Like a couple of dogs in heat, I suppose,” Irene said.

  Toby chuckled. “Don’t let them hear you say that.”

  “I’ll say whatever the hell I want. Truth is truth, don’t matter if you pour chocolate syrup or cover it up with fresh cow shit, it’s still the truth.”

  “Lord, help us all,” Katy moaned. “Allie, you’ll have to stay home with her today. You know how she gets after she runs off and comes over here. I can’t manage her at the store, and Lizzy sure can’t keep an eye on her on a Saturday at the feed store. That’s her busiest day.”

  “I thought she was with you at the store. Lizzy said you’d taken her,” Allie said.

  Katy shook her head. “I did but she stole my car keys, slipped out the back door, went home and obviously changed her clothes, and here she is. I had to get Nadine to loan me her van to come get her. The car is parked at home. You can come get me at five.”

  “I’ll be there,” Allie nodded. “Go on back to the store. I’ll take her home and get her warmed up.”

  “We need to talk,” Blake whispered.

  “Nothing to talk about.” Allie took off her work boots and slipped her feet back down into the rubber boots.

  “Later.”

  “Probably not,” she said.

  He pulled a heavy jacket from the rack and held it out to her. “I tell you, it’s not what it looked like. Take my coat. You can’t go out there without something to keep you warm. That rain is cold.”

  She shook her head. “I come from sturdy stock. I’m not sugar or salt, so I don’t melt in cold rain. See you in church tomorrow.”

  “And you and your brother are welcome to come home with us for lunch,” Katy said as she escorted Irene out onto the porch. “I won’t take no for an answer.”

  “We’d love to have Sunday dinner with y’all,” Toby said.

  “Tell Deke, too,” Katy threw over her shoulder.

  “You sure you want to do that?” Allie asked Blake.

  “Wouldn’t miss it for the world, would we, Toby?” Blake said. He turned to his brother. “Now can you please get rid of yours and Deke’s women so we can take a drive around the ranch? It might be sleeting, but you can still see what I’ve gotten done around here.” Blake talked to Toby but most of it was for Allie’s ears.

  “Lookin’ forward to it, ma’am.” Toby nodded toward Allie.

  Blake laid a hand on her shoulder. “I did not…” he started.

  She shrugged it off.

  “I don’t care.” She closed the door behind her.

  Chapter Twenty

  Is that the woman that’s got your heart in a twist?” Toby asked.

  “What makes you think that?” Blake asked.

  “You’ve got that look in your eyes.”

  Blake shrugged.

  A lot of good it would do him if he did fall in love with Allie. She’d declared that she didn’t care. Just when he was contemplating hanging up his wild ways and entering into a serious relationship with a decent woman, she said that she didn’t care. Blake Dawson, the player, had been played.

  “What’s on your mind, big brother?” Toby asked. “What happened in that bedroom?”

  Blake shook his head. “I’m not totally sure, but I believe the tables got turned on me and it’s one strange feeling. I don’t want to talk about it right now. We don’t have time for women.”

  “Except for Laneys and Lisas, right?”

  “Not even for that if we’re going to get this place in shape in four years like we said we’d do,” Blake said.

  Toby headed for the kitchen. “Man, I’m not goin’ celibate for four years, not for this ranch, not for you, and not even for God. And you ain’t, either, because when you go a month without a woman you get cranky as hell.”

  “Who’s goin’ a month without a woman?” Lisa asked. “We’ve been poutin’ because y’all weren’t here to share this breakfast with us and now it’s time for us to go. We’ve both got appointments at eleven in Wichita Falls and the roads are probably getting icy. But don’t pout, darlin’s, we’ll be in touch. You can’t get rid of us. We know where you live.”

  Laney wrapped her arms around Blake’s neck and laid her head on his chest. “Next time, darlin’, I’ll
prove that lust can get rid of that love bug faster than hittin’ delete on the computer. You boys stay ready and maybe we’ll see you at the bar in a couple of weeks.”

  Lisa tiptoed and kissed Toby on the cheek. “It was fun. It was real. It was real fun, but next time, talk your brother into joining us.”

  “I’m not into the kinky stuff.” Toby chuckled.

  “Then we’ll get Laney to join the party and call it an orgy, not a threesome,” Lisa said huskily. “Mmmm, thinkin’ about that makes me go all soft and mushy inside.”

  “We could invite Deke if we’re having an orgy,” Laney said.

  “Dammit!” Blake doubled up his fist and hit his palm with it as soon as the women were gone. “I don’t want those two comin’ around here. I’m trying to build a relationship with the community, not start a whorehouse.”

  Toby laid a hand on Blake’s shoulder. “Amen to that and I won’t let it happen again. I had too many beers and wasn’t thinkin’ straight. Let’s go eat breakfast if those two women left anything for us. And then we’ll take a look at what you’ve done. I’d planned on helping you clear off some mesquite or repair fence but it’s rainin’. I guess we could tear down the ceilings in the hall and living room,” Toby said.

  “And put up the new,” Blake said. “Even if my carpenter doesn’t come back, that would be a start. You any good at bedding and taping?”

  “I got the bedding part down real good but like I said, I’m not into the kinky shit. Why wouldn’t Allie come back?”

  “I’m not sayin’ another word except to say that you have not lost your touch with these biscuits, brother,” Blake said.

  Lizzy met her mother, grandmother, and sister at the door. She clucked her tongue like an old hen or an old woman when she saw her grandmother wearing jeans and a sparkly top, with a yellow rain slicker flopping open with every step. “I’m not even going to ask. I’m going to work and we’ll talk about it this evening.”

  Katy glanced nervously toward Allie. “Store should have opened thirty minutes ago. If I don’t get down there, the gossip will be flyin’ over town like Santa Claus at Christmas.”

  “I’ve got it. Both of you get going. I’ll get her dry and fed, then I’ll watch her like a hawk. It’s not my day to clean, but I’ll take care of the house cleaning for you, Mama,” Allie shooed them both out the door.

  Lord only knew, she needed something to keep her mind occupied that day or she’d go crazy. She’d never known such acute jealousy as she did when she saw that two-bit, brazen blond hussy who looked like she was about to kiss Blake. She hadn’t even been that angry when Riley came home and told her that he was in love with another woman.

  “My tits are frozen,” Granny said. “Help me get out of these hooker clothes and into a warm shower. Why’d you tell me to wear this shit anyway? You know I’m old.”

  Allie pulled the ruined sequin top up over her grandmother’s head and marched her to the shower. When she was tugging the jeans down from her granny’s hips, she realized the old girl had on two different shoes. One was a brown sneaker that belonged to Katy. It was laced properly and tied in a perfect little bow. The other was a lovely black-velvet flat that Lizzy kept for special occasions. Lizzy would gripe for days, but there was nothing to do but toss them in the trash now because they were ruined.

  “Granny, where did you find this shoe?” Allie asked.

  “Me? You’re the one who put me in that ridiculous outfit and then let me go out in the weather so don’t ask dumb questions. I’ve got more sense than to pick out shit like that,” Irene fussed. “I can take off my own underpants and bra. You put a towel on the vanity and when my bones are warm, I’ll come out and get dressed.”

  Allie sighed. “How about a nice warm sweat suit, too?”

  “Okay but don’t you give me none of that stuff that looks like hooker clothes. I keep telling you, I’m not Audrey.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Allie said with a nod.

  She laid the clothing out and then sat down in the rocking chair beside the window in her grandmother’s room. She could hear her grandmother singing something about the love of her life. Allie wondered if it was something she made up or if the song had been popular back in her younger life.

  Leaning her head back staring at the ceiling she replayed that introduction. She was the carpenter, nothing more or less. Blake didn’t throw an arm around her shoulder or even wink when he said that. The moment had brought the truth to the surface. She was nothing more than another notch on his bedpost.

  The headache started with a jabbing pain in her right temple and traveled across her forehead around to the back of her skull. She shut her eyes and put her hand over them to keep out the light. She didn’t even try to open them when she heard the shower stop or when her grandmother grumbled about the ugly pink sweat suit that was laid out for her.

  She did open them when her granny kicked the rung of the rocker. “What the hell’s wrong with you? Surely you haven’t let that boy next door get in your pants and give you a guilty headache. If you have, I hope to hell you used protection because your mama will crap little green apples if you get pregnant.”

  “Granny, come sit down at the vanity and let me blow-dry your hair and curl it for you. It looks pitiful,” Allie said.

  Irene clapped her hands. “And my fingernails and toenails, too. Let’s have a beauty shop day. I could trim your hair and put it up in sponge rollers.”

  Allie wouldn’t let her grandmother near her hair with a pair of fingernail clippers much less scissors, and she doubted if there were any sponge rollers left in the house. It had been years since she’d seen even a stray one.

  “Let’s do you all up pretty first and then we’ll talk about my hair and nails. It might be time for dinner by then, and I was thinkin’ about chocolate chip pancakes.” Allie evaded the idea with expert precision.

  Irene clapped louder. “I like it when you stay home with me, Allie. You know I can’t remember too good these days. Sometimes whole days get away from me.”

  Allie gave her a hug. “You smell like baby powder.”

  “It’s a nice clean scent that goes well with any perfume,” Irene said seriously. “I bet I’ve told you that a hundred times.”

  Allie led her to the vanity and set her on the cute little brass stool with a pink velvet pillow. “Yes, you have, but it takes a lot of tellin’ for me to remember. Now, while I do your hair, you can tell me stories about when you were a little girl.”

  Irene prattled on, telling tales of her childhood that Allie had heard dozens if not hundreds of times. Letting her own mind wander while she curled her grandmother’s thin gray hair and did her nails in the bright pink nail polish that she liked, she kept going over and over the details of that morning. Did she miss a sly wink? She slowed the events down and could honestly say that he had not even looked her way when he introduced her as the woman who’d been working on his house.

  “And then you grew up and married that sumbitch.” Granny’s final words brought her back into the present.

  “Yes, I did,” Allie said, and her phone rang.

  Granny stuck out her lower lip in a pout. “This is supposed to be our day. Don’t you dare invite that boy from next door over here. He’ll get in our way and ruin everything.”

  Allie checked the ID hoping it was Blake, but no such luck. “It’s Fiona, Granny, not Blake.”

  “Give me that phone.” The older woman jerked it out of her hand. “Fiona, Allie did my hair and my nails and I’m all pretty for you to come home this weekend. Are you on the way? I miss you so much. When was the last time you came home? It’s been five years hasn’t it?”

  A pause and Irene set her mouth in a firm line. “Bullshit! You were not home at Thanksgiving. I might be old, but I ain’t stupid. I know…who in the hell is this? I don’t want any magazines so stop calling here.”

  And like that, in the blink of an eye, Irene was off in another time warp. “Take this phone and tell those people
that I’m sick to death of them buggin’ the shit out of me about magazines. And they are not getting my credit card number, either.”

  “Fiona?” Allie said. “Are you still there?”

  “Mama called and told me about Granny running off again this morning. I bet she was a sight in that getup. And she said that Blake looks at you like he could eat you up, her words, not mine. And that she invited him to dinner tomorrow after church so she could see y’all together. She’s worried about all this, Allie,” Fiona said.

  Allie had forgotten about dinner the next day. She couldn’t face Blake that soon. She would plead a headache, which might not be a lie the way it was pounding right then, and stay home from church. As soon as the family left, she would run away to Deke’s and stay there all day.

  Fiona raised her voice. “Are you still there? You didn’t hang up on me, did you?”

  That’s when Allie heard the cling of a cash register in the background and lots of people talking at once. Fiona worked in a prestigious law firm in Houston, so why were there noises like a fast food place in the background?

  “Where are you?” Allie asked.

  “At work,” Fiona said quickly. “Well, not actually at work. I’m at a coffee shop right next door getting a midmorning cup of coffee.”

  Allie tried to blink away the headache, but it didn’t work. “I thought I heard cash register noises.”

  “Got to go. Just wanted to let you know that Mama is watching you close. See you at the wedding this spring,” Fiona said.

  Allie hit the END button and shoved her phone back into her pocket. She heard a soft snore, more like a kitten’s purr, and turned to find Irene curled up on her bed in a ball, sound asleep. Figuring it was a fine time to straighten her grandmother’s room and keep an eye on her at the same time, Allie, hurried off to the utility room for her basket of cleaners.

  “Poor old darlin’,” she mumbled, “it has to be hard on her doing all that time travel. I can not imagine living in so many worlds every day.”