Cupid to the Rescue: A Tail-Wagging Valentine's Day Anthology

by Lisa Mondello

  But she did.

  She had several male friends in town, from the sheriff, to some cowboys she’d known since school days. Not one of them had ever kissed her. And she couldn’t remember ever wanting them to.

  Not that Tuck had really kissed her just now. He hadn’t wrapped his strong arms around her and pulled her in tight against his body to give her that kind of kiss.

  She wouldn't have protested.

  Thinking of the dance as she headed back inside, she wondered if she dared chance it.

  By the time Jenny called Tuck that evening, she’d made up her mind. She'd take a chance. She wanted to go in the worst way and if he was game, so was she!

  She blurted it out after he said hello.

  “Great, I’m glad,” he said.

  She loved hearing his low voice on the phone–and in person.

  “With the caveat if I need to leave, we leave.”

  “I said so, right?”

  “Yes, you did. And Val comes.”

  “Of course he does. It’s his birthday.”

  She laughed softly. “Right, like he’s always wanted to go to a crowded dance on his birthday.”

  “We’ll stay on the edge of the dance floor so he’s not in the way. People dancing aren’t looking for a four-legged critter in their way.”

  “Did you have dances like this in Texas?”

  “Of course, ever hear of the Texas Two-Step?”

  “Yes, everyone does it.”

  “And where did it originate?”

  “Texas,” she said, then laughed. “So, did you have a special girl you took?”

  There was silence on the other end. Jenny’s good mood burst like a bubble. “Tuck?”

  Had she said something wrong?

  “Tucker?”

  “Sorry. Yeah, there was a special girl. Once. A long time ago.” His voice sounded quieter than normal.

  “Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.” She searched desperately for a different topic.

  “Listen, I hear one of the men calling. Maybe we can talk another night.”

  Before she knew what happened, he’d hung up. Jenny held the phone a moment then slowly replaced the receiver.

  Bad memories. A long time ago.

  Maybe about the time he left Texas and never went back?

  What happened?

  Jenny wondered if she dared call him back. Not tonight. But if he didn’t call in the next day or two, she’d call him again.

  She prepared for bed and took her book. But it couldn’t hold her attention. She kept thinking about Tucker and wondered again and again what had happened. Her heart ached for the change she heard in his voice. She thought she heard regret, or something in his tone at the end.

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  Tucker tossed his phone on the bed and headed out to the common area. The men were watching some cop show on TV. Maybe it'd get his mind off the past.

  Jenny's question floored him. Old memories crowded his thoughts. He'd thought he'd dealt with that part of his life years ago. But just her question threw him into a tailspin.

  He was falling for the pretty nurse. Not in the same way he'd fallen for Trish. At least he didn't want it to be the same. That way led to a bitter ending.

  He should have blown it off. Made some innocuous reply and moved on. Not made a big deal of it.

  He sat on one of the recliners and looked at the TV, but he didn't see a thing. His thoughts were focused on the past and present melding.

  They could go to the dance. He could spend more time with her. Take it slow this time. Not imagine feelings that weren't there.

  Not that he'd imagined them before. Trish had told him she loved him. As he loved her.

  He'd handled the call wrong. Probably raised a bunch of questions he'd have to answer if he wanted to move forward with Jenny.

  Did he? Did he want something more from her than just friendship?

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  The next morning after getting Sadie prepared for the day, Jenny checked in with the doctor. The medications had been working as directed. The dosage seemed to be appropriate and Sadie was having no adverse reactions.

  “So, I won’t be needed here much longer?” Jenny asked. She enjoyed spending time with Sadie, but the last couple of days her nursing skills hadn’t really been needed.

  “Let’s give it another day. If everything’s the same tomorrow, I’ll release special nursing care and you’ll be free for another assignment.”

  Jenny conveyed the news to Sadie.

  “Well, I expect you have more seriously ill folks who need your services. I’m right as rain now that the doctor has the right ratio of drugs. Still need to have this leg heal, but time will take care of that. But I’ll miss you, girl.”

  “I’ll miss you, too, Sadie,” Jenny said with a smile.

  The two of them were in the living room, both knitting.

  “I expect I won’t make it to the Valentine’s Day Dance,” Sadie said sadly.

  Jenny looked up at that. “You normally go?”

  “Of course. It’s one of the biggest events in town. Don’t you go?”

  “I did when I lived here before. But I only returned last summer. This will be the first one since I’ve been home.”

  “You going with that handsome cowboy?”

  Jenny looked at her knitting, frowning slightly. “I don’t know.”

  “He asked you, right?” Sadie asked.

  Jenny nodded, looking at the older woman.

  “When I think about the dances in the past, they were always fun, lots of friends there, like you said, it’s a big event. But now when I think about it, I know it’ll be crowded, people will bump into me, the noise will be overwhelming. I don’t know. So far, I haven’t been able to have a meal inside at a restaurant. How would I cope with an entire evening of stressors?”

  “You’ll have your dog and Tucker. If things get threatening, I bet that young man will whisk you away safely.”

  “But what fun for him to have to be on the watch for a woman who could have a meltdown at any moment.”

  “What if you don’t?” Sadie asked, echoing Tuck.

  “What if you go, and are totally focused on having a good time, flirting with that cowboy, and seeing your friends so that you don’t have a meltdown? There’s nothing in Wild Cat Creek that’s anywhere close to Afghanistan. What if you don’t?”

  “Then I’d have a great time.”

  “Right. Focus on that. Think of me, stuck at home.” Sadie gave her a sad look, making Jenny burst out laughing.

  “So maybe we pick you up and bring you along. You couldn’t dance, but you could enjoy the music, the refreshments and watch others dance,” Jenny suggested.

  “Be hard to resist dancing,” Sadie said with a twinkle in her eye. “All right, I’ll do it. But you better make sure that cowboy doesn’t mind taking us both.”

  “I’ll tell him he’s the lucky cowboy who gets to escort two women to the dance. That is if he still wants to take me,” Jenny said slowly. “In fact, I might have put my foot in it.”

  She explained to Sadie.

  “Then call him. Invite him around here for dinner tonight. You’ll be gone by tomorrow and I want to know more about him myself,” Sadie said.

  It was easy for Jenny to acquiesce since she wanted to see Tucker. She wanted to find out more about what happened in the past and spend some time with him. She’d need to make sure he hadn’t changed her mind about the dance.

  It has been years since she attended the community dance at the Grange Hall. She and her friends had always gone from high school on–if they were home in February. Her last one had been when she was eighteen. College and the Army had taken her away from home in February after that.

  She expected most of her friends would be there. She could picture Sadie sitting on the sidelines, making comments about everyone as she watched the dancing. Jenny already knew Sadie had a lot of friends from the phone calls that came each day. Tw
o or three ladies had stopped by for short visits. The laughter from their conversations could be heard all over the house.

  Jenny needed to keep pushing for normalcy. She had Val if things got dicey. She had Tucker who would, as Sadie pointed out, most likely whisk her away at the first sign of trouble.

  And what if she didn’t freak out as both Sadie and Tuck said? It would be nice to slip back into the social aspects of Wild Cat Creek. She had friends she’d held at arms’ length since returning home. She’d like to spend more time with them. Maybe find some activities she could join in if she could get back to normal.

  And if something did happen, she had her dog to help her through it.

  She dialed the number Tuck had given her.

  The phone rang and rang, then went to voice mail.

  “Hi,” she said brightly, wondering why he hadn’t picked up. “Sadie and I would like to invite you to dinner tonight. Short notice, I know, but I’m returning home tomorrow and she wanted you to come to dinner before I leave. Let me know if you can make it. I, um, hope you can.”

  Jenny hung up wishing he’d answered. Now she’d be on pins and needles all afternoon waiting to hear from him.

  Valentine’s Rescue: Chapter 9

  Tucker returned her call around one and accepted the invitation. Sadie alerted Dolores that there would be an extra for dinner, then took her afternoon nap while Jenny took Val for a walk.

  Jenny kept Val on a leash on the sidewalk. She’d enjoyed her stay with Sadie but would be happy to get home where Val could roam to his heart’s content.

  It was cold and breezy, so they didn’t stay out for long. The weather forecast called for dry weather for the next week. Glad for no snow on the horizon, Jenny knew her friend Darcy would be happy, too. If that baby came on Valentine’s Day as predicted, she’d want a clear shot to the hospital.

  Jenny set the table under Sadie’s directions. The good china and silverware was used along with linen napkins. Jenny wondered what the rough and tumble cowboy would think of such an elegantly set table.

  When he arrived, her heart fluttered as she went to the door. Opening it, she smiled. He looked wonderful. He’d obviously cleaned up for the evening. He wore new jeans, polished boots, and a dress shirt and bolo tie beneath his jacket. He held his cowboy hat in one hand, a bouquet of flowers in the other.

  “For Sadie?” she asked brightly.

  “No, these are for you.”

  “Thank you, they’re lovely.” She took the bouquet of colorful flowers. Her heart rate sped up even more. She and Sadie had discussed romantic presents. This definitely counted as romantic in her book.

  “Come in. Sadie’s in the living room. I’ll put these in water.”

  When Jenny put the vase of flowers in the center of the dining table she continued back to the living room where Tuck and Sadie were in conversation.

  “I told Tuck he’d be escorting two of us to the dance,” Sadie said with a happy smile. “He’s glad to do it, too.”

  He nodded, looking at Jenny with a slight smile.

  “I guess that gives me my answer,” she said.

  He frowned, not understanding.

  “I was afraid you might have changed your mind.”

  “I plan to get better on this walker. I might be able to do some slow dancing,” Sadie said.

  “Don’t plan on it,” Jenny warned. “The last thing you need is to fall and re-injure your leg.”

  “My partner can hold me up,” Sadie said waving her hand as if brushing away the mere idea of falling. “Tucker says all the cowboys from the Bar 7 are going. It’s going to be a great dance.”

  “Unless we have another blizzard and no one can get to the Grange Hall,” Jenny murmured.

  “Hey, that’s only happened once in the last thirty years. It won’t happen this year,” Sadie protested.

  Dolores came to the doorway to let them know dinner was on the table. She sat next to Sadie while Jenny and Tucker sat together on the other side. The cook had outdone herself with the lasagna, crisp garden salad, garlic bread and red wine.

  “This is mighty fine,” Tuck told Dolores. “Better by far than anything our cook can produce.”

  The woman smiled in delight. “Thank you. Eat up, there’s plenty.”

  “Tell us all about where in Texas you hail from and why you left,” Sadie said once the first pangs of hunger had been satisfied.

  “The ranch is in the hill country of west Texas. My great-grandfather branched off from a farm in Louisiana to raise cattle back in the early part of the twentieth century. Land was cheaper then, so the place is a good size.”

  “What kind of cattle?” Sadie asked.

  “Polled Herefords with small herd of longhorns. Those are mostly for show,” he answered easily.

  “MacKay doesn’t run longhorns, but he does the Herefords, right?” Sadie asked.

  Tuck nodded. “Winters are a bit harder here, but he does all right.”

  “Thanks to his hands,” Sadie said with a grin.

  “You ever think about heading back to Texas? Start a family maybe?” she asked with a quick glance at Jenny.

  “I reckon Wyoming’s home now. I have no plans to return to Texas.”

  “Glad to hear that. What do your folks think about that?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Jenny felt the tension rise slightly.

  “I’m glad you’re staying here, too,” she blurted out.

  She wanted to change the subject before Tuck felt like he was getting the third degree. Sadie hadn’t been so focused on her inquisition on his previous visits.

  “And I appreciate your help clearing the tree from beside the driveway.”

  “No problem. No more trees falling?” he asked.

  “No. And most of the snow’s gone, just some in shady areas left.”

  “Until the next storm.”

  She nodded.

  “I have lemon meringue pie for dessert,” Dolores said, rising and clearing her plate and Sadie’s.

  Jenny jumped up to help and carried her plate and Tuck’s into the kitchen.

  As soon as they finished eating, Dolores shoed them from the dining room, saying she’d clean up.

  Sadie headed for the living room, then paused.

  “You know, I think I’m going to the back for a minute. You two go on, I’ll be there directly.”

  “Can I help with something?” Jenny asked.

  “No, no, I’ll be fine. Go on.”

  Tucker led the way to the living room and waited for Jenny to sit down before sitting beside her on the wide sofa.

  “I’m glad you could come on such short notice,” Jenny said. “Sadie wanted to see you again before I leave.”

  “Glad for the invitation. Dinner was really good. So, we’re going to have a chaperon.”

  Jenny smiled. Val leaned against her leg watching Tuck and she rested her hand on his head. “You’ll have a car full with the three of us and Val.”

  “Oh, about that. We may have to take your jeep. I only have the truck. And while you and me and Val might cozy up, I think that’d be impossible with Sadie and her cast.”

  “Okay, works for me. Shall I meet you here?”

  “No, I’ll come to your place and pick you two up and then we can stop here on the way to the Hall.”

  She nodded.

  They fell silent for a moment, then Jenny said, “I’m sorry if I said something wrong the other night. I, uh, was just making conversation.”

  “Nothing wrong.”

  “Okay, then.”

  He took a breath and looked at her. “Truth is, I haven’t done a lot of dating over the last few years.”

  “Me, either, I guess. In the Army we’d pretty much go out in a group–especially in Afghanistan.”

  He hesitated a minute, glancing at her and then away.

  “You asked if I had a special girl. I did. Once. Very special. Or at least I thought so.”

  Jenny wasn’t sure she wanted to
hear this. She’d been teasing when she asked the other evening. Now he looked so solemn.

  He stared at one of the lamps across the room as if it were easier to talk when he wasn’t looking directly at her.

  “We'd just gotten engaged. We were going to a Fourth of July dance in my hometown and announce it there. A community affair like this one where almost everyone goes. Only when I went to pick her up, she’d run off with one of my cousins.”

  Jenny stared at him. “Run off? As in run off? Not just going to a dance with you, but actually left town together or something?”

  He met her eyes briefly. “Seems they’d been seeing each other on the side, had a tiff and when I proposed, she said yes to get back at him.”

  “What about you?” Jenny asked, suddenly feeling sad for the man in front of her. How awful to find out someone wasn’t who you thought they were. She wondered about the woman, too. How could she lead two men on?

  “They left a note.”

  Jenny blinked. “A note. Like that made it okay?”

  Tuck gave a half smile. “Guess in their opinion it did. Anyway, it’s partially my fault. I never saw it, though my mother suspected. She told me she’d wanted to say something but wasn’t completely sure, so kept quiet.”

  “So that’s when and why you left Texas?” she guessed.

  He nodded. “I haven’t been back since. I get Trish wanted Aaron, but to lead me on and have the whole town know it, pride…I guess. I just don’t want to go back.”

  “And your parents, how do they feel about that?”

  “I have no idea. I haven’t been in contact with anyone since the night I left.”

  “What about your folks? They aren’t to blame.”

  “No? My mom suspected and said nothing.”

  Jenny thought about it for a moment. “That had to be hard for her. She must have felt so badly for you. What did she say?”

  He shrugged. “Not much, just she wondered if something more was going on between them than I knew. What I can't get over is she never said a word to me.”