“I planned on it but then…”
“But then you figured out how much fun James can be. Right? Is he about ready to retire? Oh, my God, is he about to propose to you? Or has he already done so?”
Barbara pushed back a strand of hair. “I’m not ready to hand you the keys today but the place will be yours someday. I was younger than you are when your father and I took charge of it.”
Wine, her heart whispered.
Cars, common sense said.
But what if it’s neither or maybe both? she argued.
“Thank you for the offer but that’s five years down the road…”
Barbara sighed. “That place got its hooks into you, didn’t it?”
“Oh, Mother, you are getting worked up over nothing.”
“It’s my comeuppance. Your grandmother said that I took her son and someday I’d regret it. I loved him, Austin, with my whole heart but I could not live in that godforsaken place.”
“I doubt there was much in the way of business down there that you all could have made a living at.”
“We could have worked in Duncan or in Wichita Falls, either one, and been closer but…” She let the sentence dangle.
When there’s a but there’s a regret. Do whatever you do without a but and you’ll be happy.
Austin looked over her shoulder again but the backseat was still empty.
“Let’s eat and shop,” Austin said with as much excitement as she could muster.
They were walking into the mall when Austin’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She picked it out to see a text message from Rye.
Call me when you wake up. I’m lonely.
Barbara went straight for the suit rack in her favorite dress shop and Austin said she was going to look at shoes. She sat down in the back corner of the shoe department and sent him a text.
Shopping with Mother. Will call when I get home. Miss you!
She was trying on a pair of high heels when the phone buzzed again.
Miss you too! I want to hear your voice. Call me when you can.
They shopped until the stores closed in the mall, then made a trip through Walmart for their weekly staples like bagels, non-fat cream cheese, skim milk, and yogurt. When Austin got home the little red light was flashing on the answering machine so she poked the right button and held her breath.
“Darlin’, the day dragged by like a lazy old house slug. If every day is like this until Thursday I won’t live through them. Call me when you get home. I can’t wait to talk to you.”
She played the message through four times. His voice in her ear made her breath a little heavier and she wished she could dart across the street and talk to him. Ask him what he thought about her selling cars or even simply find out what had gone on in his day.
Before she took the first bite of the fried rice she called him. On the fifth ring his answering machine came on again. She called his cell and got his voice mail.
“Hi, this is Austin. We must be playing phone tag again. I’ll be home all evening. Shopped with Mother. I just now checked the messages. I’m so sorry I missed your call.”
The phone rang four times before she went to bed but none of them was Rye. She’d barely turned out the lights when the phone rang again.
“Hello?” she said.
“Austin, this is pure hell,” he said bluntly.
“I know. I hate it too, but it’s the only way I can keep things going on two ends of the state,” she groaned.
“I want to kiss you good night. I want to hold you, not this damned old cold phone,” he said.
“Me too,” she sighed. How was she going to leave next time knowing that Rye wanted to kiss her good night every night?
“Tell me about your shopping day,” he said.
“You don’t want to hear about dress racks and trying on clothing.”
“I want to hear your voice. You can read the whole Bible or talk about accounting. I don’t care what you say. I just want your voice in my ear as I fall asleep.”
“Where are you?”
“On the sofa. Why? Where are you?”
“In bed with the lights turned out. I’m shutting my eyes and thinking about us being on the quilt beside the river. I can hear the tree frogs and the crickets,” she said softly.
“You are killing me,” he moaned.
“And you are running your hand up my thigh all the way to where my cutoffs end and oops, there it is right on the elastic of my bikini underwear,” she said.
“And the other one is sneaking up on those bra hooks. God, Austin, I want you so bad,” he said hoarsely.
“Now your lips are on mine and I can taste strawberry shortcake and Coors beer. It’s a wonderful combination. Your tongue is teasing my mouth open and I run my hands over your rock hard muscles. I touch the tat but it’s not sticky like barbed wire. I can’t even feel where it begins and where it ends.”
“Your hands are like silk on my skin. I’m going to take off your shirt and taste you from nose to toes,” he said.
She giggled. “If I’m going to sleep at all tonight, darlin’, we’re going to have to stop this phone sex before you talk about that or I’ll be walkin’ the floor all night.”
“You could tell them all to go to hell, be here in five hours, and we could have the real thing. Wait a minute… your breasts taste faintly like that coconut bath oil you use.”
“God Almighty, Rye! I’m so hot the sheets are steaming.”
“Me too. Good night, darlin’. I know you’ll be at work tomorrow. I won’t call but I’ll text through the day and save that coconut thought for tomorrow night.”
Surprisingly, after going over the conversation again, she did fall asleep, almost as if in the afterglow of the real thing. She slept soundly and dreamed of Rye. The next morning she awoke with a start at seven thirty and realized that she hadn’t set the alarm. She was about to be late to work for the first time in her life. Jumping out of bed with a shriek she ran to the bathroom to take a quick shower and slap on makeup. Breakfast would have to wait. She had thirty minutes and fifteen of that was the drive to work. She wanted to talk to Rye but there was no time.
She reached her office with one minute to spare and found a thick folder on her desk with a sticky note on the top from her secretary saying that she needed to look at it carefully before the morning’s business meeting. She picked up a pencil and yellow legal pad to take notes and started reading. Her stomach growled and her cell phone rang at the same time. She pulled the phone from her purse hoping that it was Rye but it was her mother.
“Where are you?” Barbara asked.
“In my office playing catch-up so I won’t be in the dark at the meeting that starts in a few minutes.”
“Well, don’t let me keep you. James and I are going down to Eufaula this evening and watching the sun set from his boat.”
“Have fun,” Austin said.
“I know you’ll be busy this week but don’t forget about our dinner next week,” Barbara said.
“How could I forget? You and my two aunts keep me well reminded.”
“Don’t get snippy. Terral does that to a person.”
Austin leaned back in her leather desk chair and sighed. “Got to get back to work. Good-bye, Mother.”
Austin had just finished looking over the notes for the morning meeting when her assistant appeared at the door with the week’s itinerary.
“Thank you, Laura,” she said.
“So you’ve got everything settled down in southern Oklahoma?”
“Nothing is settled and I’ll be working four-day weeks, so keep that in mind. We’ll have to get five days done in four most of the summer.”
Laura was a short brunette who loved too much blue eye shadow and mini-skirts that were too tight and short to pass an office dress code but she was the best help Austin had ever had. “It’s a good thing you are here because Derk has been sucking up to the boss man. I think he wants that promotion that you are supposed to get. Something
is different about you. You don’t look the same.”
Austin set her briefcase on her desk and gave herself a quick glance-over to make sure she hadn’t done anything stupid in her haste.
“It’s not your suit or your makeup,” Laura said. “It’s something about your face. You are smiling.”
Austin smiled even bigger. “Are you saying that I don’t smile?”
“Yes, you smile, but it never reaches your eyes. I’m saying that you look happy. Remember how I’ve told you that you need to get a life. Did you?”
“No, I didn’t, but I did go to a rattlesnake festival and I rode those little tea cups things with the sexiest cowboy in Jefferson County.”
“Well hot damn! That’s a step in the right direction.”
“Gotta run. Hold the fort down,” she said and was almost to the meeting when her phone buzzed.
She looked at the message from Rye.
Are you at work?
As she walked she answered: On my way to a meeting.
He wrote back. Kick ass.
She laughed aloud and hit the speed dial for his cell phone.
He picked up on the first ring.
“I needed to hear your voice,” she said.
“Shut your eyes.”
“I can’t, Rye. I’m rushing from my office to the conference room. I’ll fall on my ass rather than kicking ass,” she laughed.
“Then shut one eye and imagine that I’m kissing you good morning,” he said.
She stopped dead and shut both eyes. If anyone passed her in the corridor they could think she was catching her breath before walking into the conference. The kiss that she imagined didn’t make her have to change underwear but it didn’t miss it far.
“Thank you, Rye,” she whispered and opened her eyes to find two secretaries rushing past her.
“Keep that in your mind all day,” he said.
“I really do miss you.”
“Me too,” he said.
Austin slid into her chair seconds before Derk strolled in with his million-dollar smile and overabundance of confidence.
“You’re back!” His smile faded but his confidence didn’t waver. “It’s been hectic but I’ve kept the wrinkles ironed out.”
“Good for you,” Austin said.
He held up a palm. “No thanks necessary. Just doing what any good man would do.”
She didn’t miss the emphasis on the words good man. The gauntlet had been slapped down in front of her and her competitive side picked up the challenge. She’d show him that a good woman could iron out wrinkles faster and better than a man could any day of the week. The room filled quickly after that and Monday began with a rush that didn’t look like it would slow down a bit until the weekend.
Her boss was giving them a rundown of the quarterly report in minute detail when she felt the phone vibrate in her pocket. She carefully pulled it out and read the message from Rye.
What are you wearing right now?
She bit the inside of her lip to keep from giggling and wrote back with one thumb. A business suit and spike heels.
Immediately he replied: Cute black panties with the suit?
She covered the giggle with a cough and took a drink of water. No one even noticed.
Hell, no. I had to throw them in the trash after that morning kiss.
She made one note before she got his reply: Pretend I’m under the desk doing wicked things.
She clamped her knees together so quickly that the stress sent a runner down her black hose, but he wasn’t going to win the game.
Are you naked? she typed in while she pretended to listen.
Immediately he responded. No!
What are you wearing then? she asked.
A barbed wire tat. Want to play with it?
Honey, I’d rather play with something else.
Okay, you vixen. I’m crazy with wanting you. Come home!
Will you meet me at the door wearing only a tat?
Yes, ma’am.
When she looked up Derk was watching her with a wicked grin as if he’d hacked into her phone and read everything she’d written. She picked up her pen and tried to pay attention but it wasn’t easy.
Barbara called at noon and her voice was happy. “Busy, are you?”
“Very.” Austin talked and made notes for Laura at the same time.
“Just think how worn out you’ll be making that drive twice every single week. You’ll be making mistakes at work and someone else will wind up with the promotion.”
“Mother, stop trying to manipulate me. I’m thirty. I know what I’m doing.” Austin rolled her eyes. And after that text session this morning, I’d fight a hurricane to get to Terral this weekend.
Laura covered her mouth to keep the high-pitched giggle from escaping.
“Well, I hope so. You are about to stagnate right where you are with no chance of going up the next ladder step because of a stupid watermelon crop.”
“I’ve got a meeting in five minutes. If that’s all you want to talk about then we’ll discuss it later.”
“Oh, yes we will,” Barbara said.
Austin put the phone back on the base and said, “Mothers!”
“Amen,” Laura said. “Mine is out combing the countryside for a husband for me. I keep telling her I’m only twenty-five but she says I’m getting long in the tooth.”
“Mine is scared to death I’ll find a husband. She wants me to grow up to be like my aunts. A career woman to the bone marrow.”
Laura picked up the notes and went back to her desk. “Ain’t they wonderful?”
The day went by in a blur. Austin picked up takeout Chinese on the way home and remembered that she and Rye were supposed to have dinner at an oriental place in Duncan on the night they went to the rattlesnake festival. Was that just three days before? Lord, it seemed like a year.
She set her briefcase and purse on the sofa, carried the sack with her supper to the bar, and propped a hip on a stool, intending to call Rye the minute she finished eating. She’d barely swallowed her first bite of rice when the phone rang. She picked it up on the second ring and said, “Hello.”
“I just got in the house from a long day of plowing. How’d your first day back in the big business world go? I want to hear all about it. Don’t leave out anything,” Rye’s said.
His voice was both soothing and exciting. She shut her eyes and wished she was standing in his kitchen with a beer in her hand, watching his expressions as he talked.
“It was hectic as hell. I found out a man at work is kissing ass to get my promotion. Had dinner with my mother yesterday and now she wants to give me the dealership within five years.”
“Details.” Rye carried the phone to the living room and melted into his recliner, wishing that Austin was sharing it with him, so close that he could hear her heart beat and smell her hair all freshly washed with that coconut shampoo.
“First you tell me about things in Terral. Are my watermelons coming up out of the ground? Are Felix and the hired hands doing all right over there? What about Gemma? I haven’t heard from her since Saturday.”
He talked first about the watermelons, the cat, and the hired hands. “Darlin’, that is not what I want to talk about,” he said.
“I know what you want to talk about but I’m telling you after that text session I’m not sure my body can handle it.”
“Ah, come on, Austin, tell me again what you want to play with that’s lower than my tat.” He laughed.
“Rye O’Donnell, I…” she stopped herself before she said “I love you but I really can’t take any more phone sex.”
“You what, Austin?”
“I’m going to take a long cold shower and hope that cools me down.”
“If you are as hot as I am that won’t do the trick. Three more days and then it’s going to be more than phone sex or text sex.”
“You’d better eat oysters all three days,” she said and told him good night.
Hanging up was every b
it as hard as turning north on Highway 81 out of Terral on Saturday afternoon. She held the phone to her heart and shut her eyes tightly.
One word played through her mind with country fiddles and Floyd Cramer’s tinkling piano music in the background.
It was wine.
Chapter 13
On Tuesday, Rye sent her a text message when she was having lunch with Laura. It said: Which trash can?
She giggled and wrote back: Boxers or tidy whities?
Commando!
She groaned and Laura raised an eyebrow.
“That sexy cowboy has sex on the brain,” she whispered as if Rye was in the next room.
“Then what the hell are you doing in Tulsa?” Laura asked.
On Wednesday she didn’t hear from him until mid-afternoon when he called.
“I was lonesome and needed to hear your voice. I ate at the Peach Orchard and pretended you were sitting beside me,” he said when she answered the phone. “Can we talk for a little while or are you too busy?”
“I’ll take a fifteen minute break,” she answered and pushed her papers to the side of the desk. She slipped her shoes off and propped her feet on the desk. “I can’t wait until tomorrow evening. Will you be there when I arrive?”
“I’ll try to be. I’ve got to be out of town but you shouldn’t beat me home by much. I left a key to my house under a flowerpot right beside the front door. Go on in and have a cold beer. I’ve already got a bottle of Granny’s wine in the fridge,” he said.
“I’ll be there. If you get home before I do—” She paused. She’d said home, not Terral.
“What?”
“You can meet me at the door in nothing but that tat,” she teased.
“Honey, are you sure you want to go there right now?”
She giggled. “No, sir! I do not! I can’t waste any more panties.”
“On that note, I’m going to hang up and call you tonight.” He almost said “love you” before he hung up but those words wouldn’t quite come out of his mouth.
On Thursday Austin left work at exactly five o’clock and hit heavy traffic going out of Tulsa, then the rain hit on the east side of Oklahoma City. It let up briefly near Chickasha but then came down in buckets from there to Ryan where she had about two minutes reprieve before it hit again. She could hardly see the Welcome to Terral sign. The lights at the Mini-Mart let her know it was time to turn left and the speed bumps in front of the school told her emphatically that she was going too fast.
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