“Cotton?”
“Yes, honey, fifty years ago we raised cotton down in these parts more than anything else, and Verline was the only daughter of a cotton farmer. Orville’s daddy was a big shot on the railroad and they lived down in Ringgold. His momma had come from back east.”
“Hampton, Virginia,” Molly said. “And God Almighty, but that woman liked to put on airs. She even wore white gloves to church on Sunday. Said her ancestors come across the waters on the Mayflower. Lord, we didn’t care if they walked across them waters but she took great pride in being a Mayflower woman.”
“And this would be my great-grandmother?”
“Guess it would since it was your granddad’s momma,” Molly said. “Verline and Orville had only been married a few months when Verline’s daddy dropped dead with a stroke out in the cotton fields. So she and Orville went to live on the property so she could help her mother. Orville had a real good job by then and he built that house for Verline. Grandma lived where the hog lot and garden is still at, down at the end of the property, in a house that was about the same size. She and Verline ran that place until she died. By then they’d already give up the cotton and started watermelons.”
“And she adored your daddy. Not as much as Verline but she did love that boy. She died right after you were born,” Greta said.
“Granny never talked about her.”
“Verline always set her course for straight ahead and didn’t dwell much on the past,” Molly said. “Now enough about that. Tell us what Rye was doing at your house last night.”
“A woman don’t kiss and tell.”
“If that didn’t sound just like Verline. We tried to get her to tell us about s-e-x when she got pregnant so we’d have an idea what it was like. You know, back in them days folks didn’t talk about such things. Not even women when they was all by themselves in a kitchen with the windows and doors closed. But she wouldn’t tell us a thing.”
Austin kept eating. If her grandmother had been as attracted to Grandpa Orville as Austin was Rye, then it was no wonder she got pregnant. Hell’s bells, in those days they didn’t tell girls a thing about birth control. Austin wasn’t even sure they had such a thing back then. She stopped eating and thought hard… she hadn’t used any protection last night. Dammit! She’d have to be more careful next time.
Next time!
That put some extra kick in her adrenaline.
“If you won’t tell us what went on last night, at least tell us what went on up in Tulsa.”
“Okay, it was a hectic week. I worked late every night so I’d be ready to leave yesterday. There’s a man there named Derk who wants my promotion and he’s lobbying behind my back for it.”
“Give it to him and move down here. We’ll adopt you,” Greta told her.
“My mother is terrified that I’m going to do just that. But I went to college for a business degree in management and I’ve got a fantastic job with a promotion in line that’s out of this world for a thirty-year-old woman.”
“Can it make your little heart go wild at night? Can you wake up in its arms? Can you argue and fight with it and then make love to it?”
Austin shook her head.
“Then kick it out in the road and tell it to go to hell and live down here,” Molly said.
Austin finished off the last of her ice cream and licked the spoon clean. “I’m not making a decision of any kind right now.”
Greta poked Molly on the arm. “At least she’s not turning us down flat.”
“Where there’s hope there’s a will.” Molly grinned. “Now get on out of here. I understand you got a date and he’s pickin’ you up at six. Don’t be sittin’ here with us old women when you need to be gettin’ all pretty, and don’t forget to shave your legs.”
Austin cocked her head to one side.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not so old that I don’t remember that men folks like to run their hands up a nice slick thigh,” Molly said.
“How did you know I’ve got a date?”
“Rye told Kent that they were callin’ it quits at five o’clock because he’s got a date with you tonight. Kent told his mother who called my neighbor because she’s Kent’s momma’s cousin and told her. Then the neighbor came over and I was at the beauty shop gettin’ my hair cut and curled up so she told Greta who was waitin’ for me to get finished so we could ride down here together. Greta called Pearlita but Kent’s momma done already called her by that time and she already knew all about it. She’s jealous as hell because she really wanted her great-niece, Pearl, to fall for Rye. Now she’ll have to pick out one of the other O’Donnell men and Rye is the prettiest one.”
Austin pushed back her chair. “Good Lord! Doesn’t anyone have anything better to do than gossip?”
“Probably but this is a hell of a lot more fun. Use some baby oil on them legs when you get done shavin’ them. Makes them all shiny and Rye won’t be able to keep his hands off them. We’ll expect a full report next Friday unless you want to talk and then you can call us any old time,” Greta said.
“Were you two wild in your younger days?” Austin asked.
“We were later bloomers than Verline but when we did bloom, honey, we made up for lost time,” Molly answered.
“Tell me that story next week?”
“We’ll tell you a story every week you make it for ice cream. Maybe not that one but we guarantee a good one,” Greta said.
***
Austin dressed that evening in a pastel plaid sundress that she’d bought when she and her mother went shopping. Barbara had declared that she was wasting her money because she’d never wear the dress but Austin purchased it and the pink knit cotton cardigan sweater that was shown with it. She straightened her hair, slapped on a bit of blush, and touched up her eye shadow.
All that was easy but then it came time to decide what shoes to wear. She had white leather flat sandals that were very comfortable, pink high heels that made her freshly shaven legs with baby oil on them look very shapely, and her cowboy boots. Rye knocked on the door and she had a high heel on one foot, a boot on the other, and carried the sandals in her hands when she opened it.
“Wow! You look handsome enough to…” she stammered.
“And you are beautiful enough to…” He met her halfway across the floor and wrapped her up in his arms. She dropped the sandals on the floor and wrapped her arms around his neck. When she leaned back his eyes were closed and his lips were already zeroed in on hers. She shut her eyes and got ready for the jolt. She was not a bit disappointed.
Finally, she broke away but he kept an arm around her waist.
“Which one?” She pointed at her feet.
“Boots. Nothing sexier than a woman in cowboy boots and a pretty dress.”
She kicked off the high-heeled shoe and went back to the bedroom for her other boot. He followed right behind her, slipping a hand up her dress and cupping her fanny.
“Checkin’ to see if you are going commando tonight,” he teased.
“Are you?”
“I’m not tellin’. You’ll have to find out for yourself. Just remember that I might be the whole time we are having dinner.”
“Where are we going?” She gasped when his hand moved under the elastic of her bikini underpants and she felt a calloused hand on bare butt.
“Steak house over in Wichita Falls. Then a movie or maybe to a honky tonk to do some dancing.” He bent down and kissed her bare fanny.
The fiery heat of his lips on her left cheek made her suck air.
What if I’d rather just go straight to a sleepover in your big king-sized bed?
“Enough of that or we’ll never get out of this room,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am!” He teased her mouth open with another kiss.
She managed to get the other boot on between kisses and then he picked her up and carried her to the pickup, settled her into the seat, shut the door, and whistled all the way around the truck.
You
idiot! that voice inside his head said. You know down deep in your heart that she’s never going to leave Tulsa. Pull them reins in and put a halt to this.
He got into the truck and looked over at her sitting not three feet from him. He flipped the console back and patted the seat beside him. “Slide over here beside me.”
When she was plastered next to his side, he put a hand on her knee, then slid it up to mid thigh and let it rest there as he drove with the other one.
She threw her left hand up over the back of his seat and toyed with his hair.
“Next weekend starts the rodeo season with the Rodeo and Real Texas Festival in Mesquite, Texas. We’ll be down there all weekend from Friday morning until Sunday morning,” he said. Her hands felt like hot embers in his hair.
“Do you stay down there or drive back and forth?” She felt like someone had stuck a straight pin in her helium balloon. One minute it was flying higher than the clouds. Now it was tangled up in tree branches.
“We have reservations for the whole season at the Hampton Inn right there beside the Resistol Arena. That way we can keep an eye on the bulls. Raylen and Dewar do some team roping and bronc riding.”
“Do they bring horses from your folks’ ranch?”
“Momma doesn’t raise rodeo stock. Her horses are bred to race.”
“You ride?”
“I ride bulls. But not at the Resistol Arena. It would be a conflict of interest for me to provide the bulls and ride my own animals.”
“Why do Raylen and Dewar ride horses and you ride bulls?”
“I have no idea. Difference in brothers, I guess.”
“What about Gemma and Colleen? Do they rodeo?”
He slowed down and swung right onto Highway 82 toward Wichita Falls. “Gemma rides bulls in the lady’s division but it’s not a conflict for her to ride my bulls. Only for me to ride them. Colleen used to do some barrel racing but she broke her leg a few years ago and gave it up. That does not mean that she won’t be there to cheer on Raylen and Dewar and to check out the cowboys.”
“Your parents go to the rodeos too?” His hand had moved upwards a few inches. She couldn’t stop him, but if it didn’t stop, she was going to make him stop in Henrietta at a motel and forget about food.
“We’ve got a block of rooms on reserve from one year to the next. Momma loves it. Two nights a week from the end of May to the end of August.”
“I thought you said it starts next weekend.”
She was already missing him. She’d get into Terral on Thursday night and he’d leave Friday morning, returning Sunday morning after she’d already gone home to Tulsa.
“That’s the Texas Festival rodeo. It’s kind of like the hot pepper popper appetizer before they bring out the steaks at dinnertime. Gets the folks in the mood for the summer. The schedule for the summer is in the glove compartment. It tells when it’s just a rodeo and when it’s a rodeo with a concert afterwards.”
She removed a stapled set of papers. “Looks like they have a concert once a month. Oh, my! Cross Canadian Ragweed and Tracy Lawrence are among the performers.”
“Want to go? Gemma doesn’t come down until Friday night because she’s got appointments, and now that she’s putting in her own shop down by the Chicken Fried Café she’ll be real busy on Fridays. Colleen works Friday night and comes down on Saturday morning. You could catch a ride with either one of them. We’re home by early afternoon on Sundays.”
“Sounds like fun. Maybe I could work things around to go. When does Gemma begin to work on her shop?”
“She’s ordered the chairs and sinks and got a plumber coming to put everything in this week. She’s painting the inside herself and putting a tanning bed in the back room. Folks in Ringgold and the surrounding area have to go all the way up to Ryan or to Bowie for haircuts and tanning right now.”
“What is this Chicken Fried place?”
“It’s a little café about two miles south of Ringgold. Serves breakfast and lunch and shuts the doors about three in the afternoon. Owner is about to retire. You want to go into the café business?”
“No thank you!”
Rye cut his eyes around at her. “You said that pretty damn quick.”
“Yes, I did. Right now I’m up to my ears in snapping alligators. I’ve got a very good job at the oil company in Tulsa and Derk is trying to edge me out of the promotion that I’ve worked my butt off for. I’ve got a watermelon farm that I’m having a devil of a time deciding what to do with because I can’t hardly bear to sell off what’s been in my family for decades, and besides, I love farming. So the answer is no, I do not want a café to run.”
“This Derk the man who’s trying to brownnose his way into your promotion?”
“That’s the one.”
Rye chuckled. “Believe me; bosses know when a person is just kissing ass to get ahead. You’ll get the promotion because you’ve worked hard for it.”
“Thank you.”
“You are quite welcome but that’s just a fact, darlin’.” There was road construction and he had to use both hands to drive. She slipped her hand onto his thigh and squeezed. His body began to respond so he reached down and held her hand tightly.
He nodded toward a neon cowboy sign when they passed the Longhorn Inn on the left-hand side of the road right after the “The Baptist Church of Henrietta Welcomes You to Henrietta” sign. “There’s Pearlita’s motel. Looks like she’s got a full house tonight. Wonder what’s going on?”
“I’ve been over here lots of times when I was a kid. Pearl would come to Terral and stay a night or two and Granny would let me visit her. I wonder if they’re having a fishing tournament.” She saw a man sitting out in front of one of the rooms with a rod and reel.
“Probably so. Wonder what will become of the motel when she really retires or drops like Granny did?”
“Pearl will probably inherit it. She’s always been Pearlita’s favorite and she was named after her so she’ll most likely have to make some decisions too.”
“Pearl is Colleen’s friend. She’s been to the house a few times. I can see her being your childhood friend. She’s sassy like you?”
“I’m Verline Lanier’s granddaughter and she’s Pearlita’s great-niece. We didn’t have a chance at being all syrupy sweet.”
“What does Pearl do these days?” Rye tapped the brakes to slow the truck down to the right speed to go through town.
“She works over in Durant, Oklahoma, at a bank. She’s got a degree in business finance but I don’t know what it is that she does actually. I think she teaches a couple of classes at the college at night but that was news from five years ago. Could be that she doesn’t do that anymore.”
Rye loved the sound of Austin’s voice. Even when she wasn’t making those little sexy noises as he undressed and kissed her.
“That must mean you two don’t stay in close touch?”
“We wouldn’t have even known each other if my grandmother and her great-aunt hadn’t been friends. And if Granny hadn’t been trying to find someone to keep me company while I was here. Pearl was… how do I explain Pearl?” She pondered.
Rye gave her a few minutes to think about her old summer friend.
“Kent’s boys, only worse!”
“You’re shittin’ me!” he exclaimed. Pearl hadn’t seemed like that to him when she visited Colleen.
“No, that’s the best way I can explain Pearl.”
“Examples?” he asked.
“One comes to mind instantly. We must’ve been about eight and Pearl came to stay a couple of days. Granny was busy with the watermelons and it was so hot that we could almost fry eggs on the metal cellar door. Yes, we tried. Granny caught us after we’d wasted a dozen eggs. Actually we didn’t waste them; we fed the half raw things to an old stray cat that had come up. We thought if we tamed her she might lead us to where she had kittens.”
“How’d you know she had babies?”
“Her boobs were sagging. But that wasn’t the
story I was about to tell. I just wanted you to know how hot it was. It had been a dry summer so the river wasn’t very deep or wide. We begged Granny to let us go exploring on the riverbanks and she said that we could but not to get our clothes wet.”
He chuckled. “How you get around that?”
“We went skinny-dipping. Two little girls out there in the river splashing and having a big time. Granny threw a fit when she found out.”
“You tell her?”
“No, our hair was wet. She never thought we’d go all the way to the river. She figured we’d go about halfway and turn around and come back to the house. She fussed and fumed the whole time she washed the red mud from our hair. But that was Pearl. The two of us could get into the most amazing trouble.”
“Did you stay in touch when you went back home every summer?” He would have rather gotten a room at the Longhorn than eaten supper. Hell, he could have Austin for supper, midnight snack, and breakfast the next morning. But explaining to Pearlita what he was doing in her motel with Austin Lanier would make him stutter and blush at the same time.
Austin shook her head. “No, we were just summer friends.”
She remembered that last summer they’d spent a couple of days together. Fifteen years old. Pearl was dating. Austin wanted to date but Barbara said she was too young. There was a really hot Mexican boy working in the melons and they had both drooled over him. That had been a lifetime ago.
Rye had made reservations at the steak house and asked for a secluded table. The waiter seated them at a corner table with a burning candle in the middle. He laid menus in front of them and took their drink orders. When he returned with two beers in frosted mugs, Austin ordered a filet mignon, medium rare, baked potato, and house salad. Rye asked for a rib-eye with loaded baked potato and a house salad.
The waiter disappeared and Austin slipped a boot off under the table and ran her toes up the inside of Rye’s thigh.
“Be careful. There is a table cloth and I will crawl under the table and have my way with you,” he said.
Love Drunk Cowboy Page 24
