by A. J. Pine
She made it home by four-thirty and went straight to the shower. When she came out with a towel around her head and one around her body, two kittens were sitting on the floor staring at her.
Duke meowed.
Cora laid back her ears.
“Young lady, you don’t get to give me those kind of looks either,” Lila said. “It was worth losing a little sleep over. Besides I liked sleeping with him. Not as much as I like the sex but having someone to snuggle with is nice.”
Duke meowed again.
“See, there, Duke agrees with me. He likes having you to sleep with.” She bent forward and dried her hair.
At five o’clock she heard pots and pans rattling in the kitchen. She dried her hair and dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, laced her shoes, and fed the kittens. Duke put his paw on Cora’s head and tried to push her back but she wasn’t having any part of that.
Lila left them tumbling around on the floor and went straight to the kitchen where she wrapped Molly in a fierce hug. “I’m so glad to see you.”
Molly stepped back and narrowed her eyes. “I leave and everything goes down the toilet.”
“Mama left this place clean as a pin. What’s your problem?”
“Nothing to do with my kitchen. I told you to stay away from Brody Dawson.”
“Ah.” Lila grinned. “I missed you, too, Molly.”
“Who said I missed you or anything about this place. I just hated the sand more than I do…” She fussed. “I’m lyin’. I didn’t like the sand or the beach or anything about that place and I found out real quick that I love Happy, Texas, and do not want to leave it. And Georgia agrees with me.”
“So where are you going when you go on another vacation?” Lila opened a drawer and took out a clean apron.
“Maybe to the mountains or maybe I’ve been broke from suckin’ eggs and I’ll stay where I’m happy from now on and that’s right here where I know everyone and they all like my cookin’,” she said. “I hear that Hope is coming around to being civil to you but that Valerie isn’t. That right?”
Lila tied an apron around her waist and tucked an order pad into her pocket. “That’s about it.”
“Valerie means well. I can remember when Hope was a lot like her. She sure didn’t like Mitch Dawson there at first and Mitch’s mama wasn’t very happy with the marriage either. It’s the way of mothers—always interfering, but they do it out of love.” Molly flopped a bowl full of biscuit dough on the counter and started rolling it out.
Lila laughed. “How do you know all that when you’ve only been home a few hours?”
“I keep my ears open. Speakin’ of that, I heard your motorcycle comin’ past my place about the time I was havin’ my first cup of coffee and gettin’ ready for work this mornin’. I expect you were out at Hope Springs all night,” Molly said. “He’s goin’ to break your heart, girl. You know the old sayin’ that goes ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, it’s my own blamed fault’?”
Lila glanced at the clock. “Time to open the doors and I don’t think that’s the way that sayin’ goes.”
“Close enough,” Molly said. “It’s goin’ to be your own fault.”
“Note taken,” Lila said.
“Smarty pants,” Molly huffed. “Turn on the lights and let’s get this week started.”
“So is Georgia comin’ home too?” Lila poured herself a cup of coffee and carried it with her.
“Soon as she can get here. She had all her belongin’s moved down there. Thank goodness her house hasn’t sold and she hadn’t signed on the dotted line to buy one down there. Do you know what it costs to buy a place in that state?”
“Not much more than here unless you want beachfront,” Lila said.
“Do you own a house?” Molly asked.
She’d thought about buying a little cottage on the beach and had decided she might give it more serious thought if she stuck around for five years.
“Oh, no, I rent a garage apartment and it’s furnished. I could put all my belongings in the back of my truck. I can’t afford the taxes on a place in that area—not on a teacher’s salary.”
“Well, thank God for that. When are you comin’ home to Happy, then?” Molly asked. “If me and Georgia buy this café, we’ll hire you as a waitress. You probably make as much in tips as you do teachin’ and Lord knows, you don’t have nearly the hassle. Teachin’ a teenager anything is like nailin’ Jell-O to the smokehouse door.”
“You got that right, Molly, but what on earth gave you the impression I would ever come back here permanently?”
Molly grinned and pointed. “That right there.”
Lila whipped around to see the first customer of the day getting out of his truck in the parking lot. In the dim morning light he was nothing but a silhouette settling an old Stetson on his head but that swagger left no doubt that it was Brody, and the feeling deep inside Lila left no doubt that Molly was right.
Chapter Eighteen
Good mornin’!” Lila said cheerfully when Paul and Fred entered the café that Tuesday morning. “Y’all boys ready for a cup of coffee?”
“Oh, yeah, and we’ll have two of Molly’s big country breakfasts with all the trimmin’s,” Paul said. “I’m buyin’ this world traveler breakfast this mornin’. Our wives are at the church with the Ladies’ Circle so there ain’t no food at home.”
Fred chuckled. “It’s an excuse for Mary Belle to tell them all about the cruise and I’m glad I ain’t there.”
Lila filled two mugs with coffee and took it to the guys. “So two big breakfasts? Anything else?”
“That should do it,” Fred said. “I got tired of all that fancy food on the ship after the first week. It was pretty good there at first but all them choices kind of bewildered me. I’m ready for some of Molly’s cookin’. You ever been on a cruise, Lila?”
She shook her head. “Not yet but it’s on my bucket list.”
“It’s all right. Mary Belle liked it better than I did and she’d go again. I told her if we made it to our seventy-fifth I’d consider another one but only if it lasted one week and not two,” Fred said.
“You and Brody could go on one,” Paul whispered. “All cooped up like that would tell you if you were really meant for each other.”
The blush was instant with two red spots filling her cheeks and burning like wildfire. “I’d better get that order in. Holler if you need any more coffee before it gets ready.”
“What’s happened since I’ve been gone?” Fred asked. “Brody and Lila? Really?”
“Hey, I can hear you,” Lila said.
Paul, with his salt-and-pepper hair, leaned forward until he was practically touching Fred’s snowy white mop and lowered his voice. Lila couldn’t hear a word they said but whoever made the comment about old women being the biggest gossips in the world was dead wrong. Old guys could outdo them any day of the week.
Her phone rang and she pulled it out of her hip pocket. “Hello, Mama. Breakfast rush over?”
“Just about but there’s still a few stragglers. I tried to call last night but it went to voice mail. Georgia is coming in early and I told her she could use the apartment. Got a problem with that?” Daisy asked.
“They’re buyin’ the place, so I guess I shouldn’t have,” Lila answered.
“That’s not what I asked.”
“No, Mama, not a problem at all,” Lila said.
“What’s wrong with you this morning? I hear something in your voice.”
“Nothing—just dreading the move and hoping that the school board in Conway, Arkansas, offers me a contract. They gave me every hope but things could go wrong.”
Hope—the word brought visions of Hope Springs and Brody to her mind. She dreaded telling him good-bye, even if it wasn’t final. Just thinking about it brought tears to her eyes.
“And if they do, it’s not too late to go somewhere else. I heard on the radio yesterday that Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas still have jobs open everywhere. There was a number to call but
I didn’t write it down,” Daisy told her. “I’d just as soon you lived far away from Happy so this thing you and Brody have started again would die in its sleep, but I’m glad you aren’t going back to Florida this fall. That Clancy sure snowed me.”
“So you think we couldn’t survive a long-distance relationship?” Lila asked.
“Most people can’t. I’ve got customers. Talk to you later. Hug my grandkittens for me.”
She was gone before Lila could say another word.
“Order up!” Molly called out as she slid two platters of food onto the serving window ledge.
“I didn’t even put the order on the roller,” Lila said.
“I heard them,” Molly said. “And they’ve gone to talkin’ about that cruise and cows now. Talk of you and Brody didn’t last long.”
“You’ve got ears like a bat,” Lila laughed.
Molly shook a wooden spoon toward her. “And Georgia’s are even better, so you’ll have to be even more careful when she gets home. You might need to meet Brody out at his bunkhouse.”
“Molly!” Lila blushed.
“Just callin’ it like I see it.” She shrugged.
When things had quieted down in the café, Lila poured herself another cup of coffee and took it to the back booth. She sat down on one side and stretched out her long legs to prop her feet on the other side. Her phone had pinged half a dozen times that morning but there was no way she could check messages in their busy hours.
The first one was from Brody and put a brand-new blush on her face. The second one was from Clancy saying that he would be glad to let her out of her contract. Third, fourth, and fifth were from Brody asking her to call him as soon as possible.
She hit the speed dial for Brody and he answered on the first ring. “Hello, gorgeous. I sure hated to leave before daylight. I wanted to watch you wake up.”
“Me too. What are you doing right now?” she asked.
“Jace and I are finishing a corral for this pesky bull and tryin’ to get a fence built that he can’t get through and then we’ve got cows to tag and two pastures that need to be plowed. Ranch work is like wipin’ your butt on a wagon wheel—there’s no end to it. At least that’s what Grandpa always used to say. But if I get done by dark, would you like to ride down to Tulia for an ice cream? I could be there at nine.”
“I’ll be ready.”
Brody whistled all the way from Hope Springs to the café that evening. He knocked on the back door and she opened it immediately. One step and she was in his arms, his lips were on hers, and their hearts were both racing. Then she stooped to pet the cats that were right at her feet.
“Are you okay, Lila? Is something wrong?”
“Georgia is stayin’ in the apartment until her stuff arrives on Monday. I hope she likes cats.”
“If she don’t, they can stay in the bunkhouse until you get ready to go to Florida,” he said. “And, darlin’, you look beautiful tonight in that red dress.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“Don’t worry, darlin’. We can spend time away from here when Georgia moves in.” He kissed her pretty red lips again and they left the apartment together.
He opened the passenger door on his truck for her. “I reckon I should’ve brought along my pistol to keep some handsome cowboy from stealin’ you away from me.”
“Then I should have brought my pepper spray to keep the women from trying to take you away from me. Reckon we should call in our pizza so we don’t have to fight off the crowd?” she teased.
He started the engine and backed the truck out enough to turn around and start south to Tulia. “I know I’ve said it before but I’m really going to miss you when you have to leave. I can’t imagine how Kasey gets through the days, knowing that she’ll never see Adam again.”
“Think she’ll ever get a second chance at love?” Lila asked.
“I hope so but it’ll have to be a really special man. It’ll have to be something like what we have got.”
“What we have is special, but is there going to be an us after I’m gone? Do you really want a long-distance relationship?” Lila asked.
He laid a hand on her shoulder. “More than anything in this world.”
“But is it an us like we were in high school or is it something more? Have we simply gone back to wild sex and the way we were or is this something lasting and real?”
“What do you want it to be?” he asked.
“I’m askin’ you.” She turned so that her eyes met his.
Men, especially Dawsons, didn’t normally do all that analyzing their feelings crap. They took things as they were and moved accordingly.
“I’ve loved every minute of this summer with you, Lila, and it’s not like we are still in high school. Admit it. We’ve been to church together, to my family reunion, and out on dates. That much has changed but…”
“There it is,” she said.
“What?” he asked.
“In a real relationship there are no buts,” she told him softly, and looked away. “Let’s not ruin the evening with an argument. I’m lookin’ forward to an evening with you, one that doesn’t have a single but in it.”
What’s wrong with you? the voice in his head screamed loudly. She’s an amazing woman and you’re in love with her, so why don’t you man up and tell her so.
Because I want it to be more than words. I want it to come from so deep in my heart that she doesn’t doubt it for a minute because I never want to hurt her again like I did last time. I love her too much for that.
“It’s not so far from here to Conway. We can do weekend trips a couple of times a month,” she said.
“And you’ll have two weeks at Christmas and spring break.” What he wanted to say was that he wasn’t sure he could live without her for two weeks at a time. And the way Clancy looked down on Lila, like he was the king and she was one of his servants, aggravated the hell out of him.
“Do you want a big wedding if you get married?” he asked, and then wondered if he’d said the words out loud and where they’d come from.
Her head snapped around and her brown eyes were huge. “Where did that come from?”
He grinned. “A picture of you in a big white dress flashed through my mind.”
“All those times you could have—and probably should have—proposed and you choose now? Why?” she asked.
“Who says I proposed? And when should I have asked you to marry me?” he asked.
“Well, there was the time when we lost our virginity.”
“We were both too damn young to think about marriage,” he said.
“Yes, but you should have at least told me that we were headed that way in the future.”
“You didn’t propose to me, either,” he said. “What about all the other times?”
She laid a hand on his thigh. “The morning Mama and I left.”
“We still weren’t even old enough to get married without parental consent. Can you imagine your mama and mine signing those papers? Besides, you wouldn’t roll down the window. And…”
She held up a finger to hush him up. “But you should have offered.”
He wrapped his hand around her fingers and kissed them, the heat from his lips warming her from the depths of her heart. He kept her hand in his, holding it on the console separating them. “And if I had proposed tonight?”
“I would say no.” Lila hoped that she would be able to tell him no. Her mind knew that they needed more time—her body, not so much.
“Why?” His voice came out in a raspy whisper that made her wonder if he might be testing the waters instead of teasing.
“Because you’d only be sayin’ it to keep me from leavin’ and because if you were askin’ for all the right reasons, I still would not. We need to see if we can survive a long-distance relationship before we talk about a commitment like that. So let’s have a good time while we can.”
“Lila, are we okay?”
“I think so,” she said.
&n
bsp; “Think or know?” He kissed the tip of her nose first and then moved on down to her lips. There was no thinking or knowing when his lips were on hers. If he’d have proposed even in a teasing manner right then, she would have said yes and followed him to the courthouse as soon as it opened the next morning.
“The jury is still out,” she panted when the kiss ended and grabbed for the door handle.
Chapter Nineteen
Lila awoke on Wednesday morning to find Duke and Cora sharing the same pillow with her. Duke’s little paws rested in her hair on the left side while Cora purred into her ear on the right side. She carefully moved them over to the other side of the bed and headed for the bathroom for a morning shower.
The cats were sitting side by side when she started across the living room floor. She’d only been in Happy for a month. How could so much have happened? When she first arrived, all she could think about was selling the café and getting out of the town. Now she dreaded telling Molly, Fred and Paul, Kasey and her kids—but most of all Brody—good-bye. Knowing that Georgia was coming home and she really wasn’t needed at the café was like a big awkward elephant sitting on her chest. Her heart hurt and she had trouble breathing.
“I’ve been lookin’ at this all wrong,” she said out loud.
All she had to do was load her cats, pack her clothes, and get in the truck and drive away. That way she didn’t really have to tell anyone good-bye. Maybe that’s why she moved so often.
She was struggling with the idea of simply going after work one evening when she opened the door into the café kitchen.
“Well, good mornin’. What’s the matter with you? You look like you’re about to cry.” Molly narrowed her eyes at her.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Lila answered.
“Don’t give me that crap. You look like you lost your best friend. Did you and Brody have a fight?”
Lila put on a clean apron and shook her head. “No, ma’am. Things are good between us.”
“Is it because Georgia is coming home? I told you that we really want you to stay on here. You can choose your hours and live in the apartment, free of charge as long as you like.”
