"I'll buy whatever you made Ma'am," he said in a charming drawl.
"Hi Tray."
"Hi, so, which one did you make?"
"I made this homely cherry pie over here."
"There's nothing homely about that pie or you, actually, you look beautiful."
"Thank you," she replied, finding it hard to be mad at him.
"Are you having a good time?" he asked, handing her five dollars for the pie.
"Yes, this is wonderful, like something out of "The Waltons." I didn't realize there were this many people in Colton."
"They gather for the important stuff."
"Like church?"
"No, food," he retorted.
She laughed.
"Ah, you finally smiled, there was a dark look on your face before."
"Really. Well, I have to get back to business and help Marge cover the rest of these goodies because we're heading for supper."
"I'll help you, I'm headed over there myself, Burt always saves me a chair."
Kate mostly spoke to Marge and the women that sat around them at dinner while Tray immersed himself in conversation with Burt and his pals. He didn't seem to notice that Kate was fully ignoring him and that annoyed her even more.
The food was unbelievable; there was sausage, barbecue, steaks, chicken, pork, corn on the cob, chowders, salads of every type imaginable, corn breads and all of it fresh and succulent. They ate large amounts, as most did, with the men returning to the lines to refill their heaping plates again and again.
The sun was setting, dusk was upon them and suddenly everything was lit up with hundreds of white lights strung everywhere; around trees, tents, bushes, from pole to pole. It looked magical, boosting spirits that were already bright. Molly grew bored of sitting as the grown ups continued to eat, drink and talk. She skipped away with all the other children, ready to play again. Kate heard music playing in the distance.
"Come on, Kate, let's play some games. I have five dollars, I want to try and win something," Molly loudly called out to her as she stopped darting about.
"Hold on, Molly, I want to ask Kate something," Tray interrupted.
"If you want to talk to me, you'll have to follow us to the games," Kate said over her shoulder as she got up, leaving him behind.
Tray walked beside them until Molly stopped at a booth that had large stuffed animals hanging from it. One had to knock down a pyramid of bottles to win.
Molly took her three turns for two dollars and couldn't do it. She pleaded with Tray to try for her.
He gladly agreed and took a shot. Without much effort, he knocked down all the bottles and the man at the stand took down the dog Molly was screeching for and handed it to her. Her face beamed as she gave Tray a quick hug and ran off to find Sue.
"That was sweet," Kate smiled at him.
"How about a dance," he requested, taking her hand.
"No thanks."
"No? I thought you loved to dance."
"I do."
"What, I don't understand," he replied, looking perplexed.
"That makes two of us," she remarked and started walking again, enjoying the fresh night air, the glimmering lights and smiling faces.
"Kate," he held her arm for a moment, "what's going on?"
"I'm not sure, I don't like being upset with you, but that's how I feel."
"Talk to me, tell me why."
"You give me mixed messages Tray, you came up to me later in the evening after ignoring me for hours, and then expected me to be with you. You didn't ask me to come with you in the first place, you never even mentioned it. Maybe you don't want to be seen with me or I don't know what."
"You couldn't be more wrong and I'm sorry if that's how it looked, but in truth, I didn't want you to see me."
"What are you talking about?"
"It's ridiculous in a way, I wasn't sure how you'd react. I was judging for most of the afternoon; I'm the judge for the fastest turtle contest, the frog jumping contest, the smartest pig contest and worst of all, the pretty kitty competition."
Kate tried not to laugh, "What is the pretty kitty competition?"
"The little girls design and make their own costumes for their cats and dress them up in them," his voice faded as the sentence went on.
"Oh," she replied, unable to keep a straight face.
"See, it's ridiculous, but I've been doing it for years and the kids count on me. I went to school for ten years to look at cat outfits."
"Hey, cats in hats worked out very well for Dr. Seuss," Kate stated. They both burst out laughing at her comment.
"Do you honestly think I would be so shallow as to think less of you because you make kids happy by helping out with those contests?"
"No, I don't know what I was thinking."
"You weren't thinking," she teased him.
He took her hand and kissed it, "will you dance with me now?"
"Yes, you're not going to judge my dancing though, are you?"
"You're not going to let me forget about this, huh?"
"Sorry, I couldn't help myself."
He led her to the large wooden dance floor. An elderly man was spinning country classics and encouraging everyone to take hold of the one they love as he promised some couples the magic of Patsy Cline. Big white bulbs were strung overhead, dimly illuminating the area in romantic flair.
The music began, joined by a sultry voice sliding in and out of the melody. Tray slid his hand about her waist as they swayed back and forth. Everything seemed to spin around them in a blur, the breeze played with their hair, their eyes bright as they stared deep into each other's souls. Kate's face burned warm, her heart was beating hard, and her head felt light as she noticed every striking detail about him. His handsome face drew closer to hers and he kissed her, his lips remaining upon hers as they never missed a step, the moment too precious to let go of. The song ended, but they only moved apart because it was accompanied by a raucous crack of thunder and great gust of wind.
The murmur of people noticing the arrival of a storm traveled through the crowd. Automatically, they began packing up their things, gathering their families and preparing to leave. The wind continued and grew in intensity as a few heavy plops of water fell from the sky, then more bursts of thunder and a downpour ensued.
"I've got to find Molly," Kate yelled to Tray above the din, people now running.
"The pie judging was going on, she's probably with Marge," he said as he guided her in the direction of Marge's booth.
They ran through the rain together and arrived just in time to see Marge holding Molly's hand, their things already packed and scurrying for the truck.
"Go with them, I'll see you later," Tray instructed.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm parked out back by the stables, I want to make sure everyone gets their animals out safely."
"I'll help you," Kate offered as she told Marge she'd catch a ride with Tray.
He held her hand as they hurried in the opposite direction of the crowd. There were some bolts of lightning that caused the younger kids to cry. They ran faster until they came to stables at the other end of the green. There were only a few horses left and a very fat pig. Tray helped their owners load them onto their trucks, one of the mares scared by the booming thunder.
"Let's go, that's it," Tray informed Kate as he led her to his truck that was thankfully close by.
They hopped in, drove out the rear exit and avoided any line up of vehicles as they were back on the main road in an instant.
"Do you mind if I check on Huck and Missi before I drop you off, sometimes they stay out in the rain. My place is on the way back to Red Oak."
"Sure."
The air had cooled off a good twenty degrees. Kate was soaking wet, her thin cotton dress sticking coldly to her body. By the time they got to Tray's house, she was shivering.
"Geez, Kate," Tray remarked as he stopped the truck and glanced over at her, "why didn't you tell me you were chilled, I could've
turned on the heat."
"I'm fine," she remarked, her teeth chattering.
As they walked towards the house, a very wet Huck and Missi came trotting down to greet them, tails wagging.
"Why didn't you guys stay on the porch?" he scolded them.
He lifted the top off a wooden bench that sat on the porch and pulled out two big beach towels. He toweled off one dog while Kate did the other. The dogs seemed to thoroughly enjoy the massage. It was worth it for them to get wet to receive this kind of attention.
"All right, you guys can go down to the basement where it's warm and finish drying," he told the dogs as they walked through the door he held open for them. They seemed to understand everything their master said as they obediently lumbered down the basement stairs.
"I'm getting into dry clothes, I'll find something for you as well," Tray remarked as he shook the water from his dark waves and took the stairs two at a time, calling over his shoulder to Kate that there were towels in the downstairs powder room.
Freezing, Kate grabbed a thick towel from off a wire wrack in the powder room. Wrapping it tightly about herself, she remained in the kitchen because she was still dripping water. She spied his coffee pot standing out on the granite counter, a can of coffee beside it and decided to get a pot going. Seconds later, Tray came down the stairs in a long sleeved tee shirt and jeans. His damp hair waved this way and that as he had obviously run a towel over it vigorously. He handed her a light sweater and some jeans.
"These should fit you, I actually had a size 28 waist at one time, if you can believe that. They've also shrunk over the years."
"Great, thanks," she gratefully took the dry clothes and ducked into the bathroom.
She patted the moisture from her hair and pink cheeks, she still had some mascara and lip color left on from the evening. She tucked the sweater into her jeans, which kept them up. They felt so warm against her chilled skin.
When she walked out of the powder room, he had already started a fire. The smell of burning wood permeated the air and killed the dampness. The wood popped loudly, throwing sparks.
"Wow, the fire looks great, how did you get it going so quickly?"
"Expertise."
"Ah. Well, it's perfect," she replied, sitting down on the throw rug in front of it.
He liked the way she was so honest about what she was thinking or feeling. He watched the fire's reflection in her black eyes, the red of her hair, her skin glowing from the coolness of the rain.
"Here," he handed her a warm cup.
"I hope you don't mind that I made it, I know it's kind of late for caffeine."
"It's decaf, you'll be able to sleep."
Tray leaned his back against a plush ottoman, his long legs outstretched in front of him, while Kate maintained her place only a few feet from him by the hearth. She could have fallen asleep right there, the only thing keeping her awake was the attraction she felt for the man beside her.
"I'm not a cold person," he stated suddenly, from out of nowhere.
"I know."
"I do want to get closer to you, Kate, it's harder for me than it used to be..."
"Why is that?" she softly asked.
"I had my heart broken, my sense of security was shaken pretty thoroughly."
She waited for him to go on, though it made her nervous. She'd had her heart broken plenty of times, but not in a romantic way; she'd never cared for anyone enough or had anyone care about her like that. The blazing wood cracked and sizzled as Tray paused.
"I was in love about four years back, turned out she was a completely different person than I thought she was. How I could have been so stupid, I'll never know. There were some signs I guess, but they were pretty damn quiet. I knew she could be self-centered, which I attributed to immaturity and the way she was doted upon as an only child. But it turned out to be much more than simply being selfish, she was extremely manipulative and narcissistic. She was also very charming, attractive and bright which fed right into her calculated behaviors. Anyway, by the time I came to realize what was going on, who this person truly was and how I was caught in the web of her manipulations, it was too late. She did everything and anything she could to make it impossible for me to get out of the relationship."
"How did you get out or are you going to surprise me and tell me that you're still involved with this person," Kate questioned, fearful of what his answer might be.
"No, I'd be in a mental institution if I were still involved with her. She left because she kept failing, people were seeing through her and when I finally did, it was too much for her to take. She tried a few more tricks, but was unsuccessful, so she figured it was time to make a fresh start somewhere else. Last I heard, she was somewhere in San Diego.
Since that time, I've been out on a few dates, but nothing substantial, nothing I could or wanted to commit to, until now..."
Kate wasn't sure what to say or think about this whole thing. How could someone as intelligent as Tray become entangled with such a devious, sick person and of his own free will. And if this woman hadn't left town, would he still be with her?
"You're disappointed in me, I can see it in your face," he observed.
"No, I'm not."
"Don't lie, Kate, your eyes never lie."
"It's a lot to take in. I don't know, it's just that, unless you had kids together with this woman, it doesn't seem like it should've been impossible to get away."
"You couldn't get away from your mother," he pointed out.
"True, but I was working on it. As soon as nursing school was finished, I would've been out of there."
"I was working on freeing myself too, believe me. But she kept threatening suicide every time the relationship looked as though it was going to end. I knew she was capable of doing it, just to make me miserable or to get back at me or out of pure rage. She'd made some passive attempts, what 'they' refer to as nonserious, but one never knows how far someone like her would go to get what she wanted, what she thought she needed."
"She sounds quite similar to my mother with those borderline-personality escapades."
"Definitely, just more sophisticated. This is difficult for me to talk about," he took a few moments before continuing, "I got to the point where it was affecting my mental health, so I accepted the fact that I'd have to live with the enormous burden that she might hurt herself if I left and ended our relationship. That's when she took off, when she saw that it was really over."
She could see how terribly hard it was for him to tell her about it, he was embarrassed. She slid her body back to where he sat, getting up on her knees, only a few inches from his face.
"This woman could have ruined your life, just as my mother could have ruined mine and that's a terrifying thought. But it didn't happen, it didn't happen Tray," she said compassionately, looking into his eyes.
That was it, it was done. He loved her and it hit him like a ton of bricks.
He took her face in his callused hands that were somehow still soft and kissed her. He kissed her until they were both lying down in front of the warmth, everything spinning and melting around them. Kate didn't go home that evening. It wasn't anything they had planned, but she didn't go home.
Tray slowly opened his eyes the next morning, the sunlight streaming through the large windows had awakened him. He lay there for a moment, making sure it wasn't all a dream. She even looked beautiful as she slept, he twirled a piece of her silky hair around his finger. Then he quietly slid out from underneath her and went downstairs to surprise her with breakfast. He knew she'd be up shortly, even on days off, farm folks never slept past seven.
Kate smelled coffee and other delicious things that caused her to arise, along with the loud chirping of birds and an electric blue sky that signaled the beginning of September. She put on one of his robes that was draped on a hook in the bathroom and walked downstairs.
"This is fantastic," she exclaimed at the array of eggs, pancakes, bacon and toast, topped off by a vase of fresh flowers
in the middle of the table.
"We like to treat our guests special," he smiled at her, the dogs by his side, as she kissed his cheek.
"We? Oh, of course, I can't forget about you guys," she laughed as she saw the dogs gazing up at her with eyes wide, waiting for her to notice them and give them a pat. "Did they help you cook?"
"Not Huck so much, but Missi's good with pancakes," he joked.
They ate the scrumptious breakfast, chatted about the fair the night before, farming business and animals. After a few luxurious hours of reading the paper and lingering, Kate decided it was probably better that she get going, she needed time to get used to this new aspect of their relationship.
He dropped her back at her bungalow, giving her a long kiss goodbye.
"I can't lose myself in you," he whispered to her.
"I can't lose myself in you either," she replied. "But we don't have to, caring deeply for someone while being able to maintain independence is what they call a healthy relationship."
"Ah, is that what it is," he made fun of himself.
"I believe so, not that I'm an expert..."
She slid out of the truck and watched him pull away.
He'd been brutally honest with her last night, sharing more than she chose to, but she had more to hide because what she had to say was ludicrous; waking up and looking like another person. No one in their right mind would ever believe that. And the attempt she'd made on her own life was a secret she figured on taking to her grave. Not having been in a serious relationship before, she figured that keeping things to herself wouldn't endanger it or hurt either of them.
"Kate, I'm going with you to pick up feed," Marge called out to her from the milking barn.
"Okay," Kate called back, "I'll pick you up."
She climbed into the dusty old truck and headed up the hill to retrieve Marge.
"You'll have to go down to the stables and help out there after you're done with the cows tomorrow morning, they're gonna be short handed," Marge remarked after they'd driven a few miles in the brisk morning air.
"How come?" Kate asked.
"Elizabeth Carter's funeral is tomorrow, most of us knew her quite well and want to pay our respects."
"Oh, of course. I'm sorry for the loss. I don't recall the name, did I ever meet her?"
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