BILLY AND THE KID

by Kristine Rolofson

  "I told you so," Heather said, coming up beside her to make a fresh pot of coffee.

  "Told me what?" She watched as Will bent over the raffle table and flirted with the two middle-aged women with the cash box and tickets.

  "About Billy Wilson. He's the sexiest man over thirty in this whole boring town."

  "He thinks he is."

  "You're looking at him like he is," Heather informed her. "By the time the chili's gone, everyone in town is going to assume you're sleeping with him."

  Daisy hurried to turn her back on the crowd. "Are you kidding?"

  "Nope."

  "I'm not—" She remembered to lower her voice, not that anyone could hear them with the amount of noise in the place. "I'm not sleeping with him."

  "You will be," the young woman assured her.

  "And you have to promise to tell me all about it."

  "I will not," Daisy said as Heather picked up a coffee carafe and went into the crowd to pour refills. "Because nothing is going to happen."

  Heather sighed. "You probably wouldn't tell me anyway, huh?"

  "That's right." But it wasn't going to happen, she promised herself. So why did she feel so disappointed?

  * * *

  "Behave yourself."

  "What makes you think I'm not?" Will tucked his wallet back into his jeans and grinned at his best friend's wife. He liked Jane a lot, envied the kind of marriage his friends had made.

  "You're up to no good," she said, taking his arm. "You look like one of my boys when he's frying to get away with something."

  "Are we going somewhere?"

  "You're helping me over to that chair over there, then you're going to lower me into it. I'd ask Joe, but he's disappeared, probably patrolling the parking lot or something."

  "You okay?"

  "I'm fine, just tired."

  "I can take you home."

  "And miss watching you glare at poor Leroy Doyle whenever Daisy talks to him? No way."

  "He can't have her."

  "He can if she wants him to."

  Will eased Jane into the chair. "How are you going to get up?"

  "I'm not." She sighed. "I wish this little girl would hurry up and be born."

  "It's a girl?" Spring would have a playmate. The thought tickled him, until he remembered he would be leaving town soon. Sarah couldn't stay away forever, and he couldn't spend the rest of his life waiting for her to show up.

  "I hope."

  "You want coffee or a Coke or anything?"

  "You can't just have sex with her and then ride off into the sunset. It doesn't always work that way." It had so far, but Will decided not to say so. "Seems like everyone around here is real interested in my sex life. I should have remembered that about this damn town."

  "People around here think you're very interesting," Jane explained. "You're a rodeo star, you inherited that old ranch and now you've got a little baby and a missing wife."

  Will watched Daisy lean across the counter to admire Spring, who was being carried around by the enthusiastic teenager he'd hired. "She sure likes babies."

  Jane looked across the room. "Yes, and she likes you. So behave yourself."

  "We're mature adults, Janie," he said.

  "One of you is." Jane gave him a gentle push. "I give up. Go annoy Daisy some more and see if that gets you anywhere. And if you see Joe, send him over, okay?"

  "Yeah." He hesitated. "Are you sure you're okay? You look a little pale."

  She groaned. "I'm supposed to be glowing."

  "You're not?"

  "Not tonight," Jane promised, patting her swollen belly.

  "Not tonight," was exactly what Daisy told him ten minutes later when he asked her if he and Spring could come over after the chili supper was finished. "I may have a date."

  He crooked a finger toward Doyle, who was busy buying a handful of brownies. "With him?"

  "Maybe. But that's none of your business." She made a big show out of ignoring him while she refilled a napkin dispenser.

  "Everything's everybody's business in this town. So far tonight seven different people have asked me about my 'wife' and my baby and when I'm going to sell the ranch and if I am, what am I going to ask for it and if I'm moving in with you—"

  "What?"

  He laughed at the shocked expression on her face. "No, I'm only kidding about that last part, but it's only a matter of time."

  She gazed at him as if she was deep in thought. "What are you doing Friday afternoon?"

  "You're asking me out?"

  Daisy shrugged and gave him a little smile. "Just answer the question."

  "I can be free. What time?"

  "Come here at noon. Not a minute before." She reached for a cloth and began wiping down the counter. "And bring the baby."

  "Okay, but—" He saw Joe heading toward him through the crowd, so he waved and pointed in Jane's direction. The sheriff nodded and changed direction.

  "What's all that about?"

  "Jane wants to go home," he explained. "How long is this thing going to last?"

  She looked at her watch. "It's just about over. They're going to announce the winners of the raffle and then crown a Chili King." She gestured toward Barlow, who had come out of the kitchen to talk to the various customers milling around the raffle table. "I think he's campaigning for the title."

  "We have a winner for the new tires and lube job!" Darlene held up a ticket, which pretty much silenced the crowd "Ned Sanderson, come up here and get your gift certificate!"

  "Mr. Wilson?" Will turned to see Spring and her baby-sitter behind him. "She's not happy any more."

  "Thanks for helping out." Will took the baby in his arms at the exact moment she screamed her anger at whatever it was she was angry with. He felt at least a hundred pairs of eyes on him, but pretended everything was okay as he put the baby to his shoulder and patted her back. "It's okay, honey," he said, keeping his voice low. "These people can't bother us, no sir."

  Darlene put her hand back into the raffle box for the quilt and pulled out another card. "And the lucky owner of the quilt donated by the Ladies' Aid Society is Daisy McGregor!"

  Will hid his grin as Daisy stepped forward and looked very confused. "But I didn't buy a ticket," she admitted. "I was so busy that I forgot and—"

  "Your name's right here, honey," the president of the Booster Club said, handing her the winning ticket and the quilt.

  "Well, thank you very much," she managed to say, touching the blue and white fabric with reverent fingertips, as if she was afraid the whole thing might explode. Will would have laughed, but he was too busy trying to keep Spring from screaming again. He bounced her up and down a little, hoping the jiggling motion would distract her long enough for him to find the diaper bag and get out of town before Daisy changed her mind about Friday.

  * * *

  "Three hundred and fifty dollars?" Daisy dropped the crepe-paper streamer she'd been trying to fasten to the corner of the window. "You're kidding!"

  Jane lowered herself into a booth. "Nope. Marie Johnson told me that Darlene told her that he'd bought seventy packets of tickets. It took four people to fill them all out and he made sure they wrote your name. I guess Will really wanted you to win.

  "It was the most successful raffle the town's had in years." She looked around the café at the decorations for the baby shower. "Where did you get all this stuff?"

  "People have been dropping things off for two days," she explained, fastening another piece of pink crepe paper to the top corner of the front window. "Do you think it's too much?"

  "Well, yes, but that's the way it's supposed to look, isn't it?"

  "I suppose so," Daisy said, stepping down from the chair she'd been standing on. She looked at her watch. "They should start arriving any minute now. Where are your boys?"

  "At school, then they're going home with a friend of mine to play. I couldn't miss this event."

  "He's going to be furious."

  Jane laughed. "Oh, I know. T
hat's why it's going to be so much fun."

  Daisy wondered how one man could be so annoying and so intriguing at the same time. "I can't keep that quilt."

  "Sure you can. You won it, fair and square."

  "He wouldn't even let me talk to him about it," Daisy complained. "He took that baby and flung the diaper bag over his shoulder and left without a word, except to tell me he'd see me Friday."

  "How did you get him to come here?"

  "I invited him."

  Jane's eyes widened. "He thinks it's a date?"

  "Of course not." She unwound another strand of crepe paper from the roll. "I told him to bring the baby. He thinks I'm fixing him lunch."

  * * *

  He thought Daisy had finally come to her senses. He thought he was finally going to get her clothes off her. When he walked into the front door of the café, Spring tucked firmly against his shoulder, he barely noticed anything out of the ordinary. Will was too busy thinking about Daisy to notice that the inside of the restaurant looked different.

  Oh, he thought there were a lot more women in the place than usual. Older, gray-haired women especially, he realized as he strode across the room to greet Daisy at the lunch counter, which was crowded with customers. "Hey, honey," he said, giving her his best here-I-am smile.

  "Well, hi," she said, looking nervous. "You two are right on time."

  "You ready to go?"

  "Go where?"

  He frowned. "Wherever you want. You asked me, remember?"

  She glanced past him and waved to someone, but Will didn't bother to turn around to see who. "Yes, so I think you'd better—"

  "I kept her awake all morning so she'd sleep this afternoon," he said, turning slightly to show her the sleepy baby.

  "Hi, honey," Daisy cooed, looking a lot happier to see the baby than to see the man. Then she looked up at him. "You're not going to like this," she said, but Will thought she was trying not to laugh.

  "Not going to like what?"

  "Before you turn around, put a smile on your face and look happy to be here," Daisy said.

  Damn. This wasn't going the way he'd planned. The vision of Daisy leading him into her apartment vanished. "Why?"

  "For Spring," she said, and gave him a little shove so he'd turn.

  "Surprise!" a chorus of voices said. Will saw a sea of old ladies coming toward him, their gazes fixed on his baby. Jane Pierce, looking larger than ever, stood nearby and winked at him.

  "What the hell?"

  "Shh," Daisy warned, giving him an elbow in the side. "Be nice. They've gone to a lot of trouble."

  "For what?"

  "This is a baby shower," Maude Anderson explained, lifting Spring out of Will's arms. "Let's get this little darling unwrapped so we can see her."

  Will watched his wide-eyed baby being taken over by a dozen grandmothers. "What's going on, Daisy?"

  She waved toward the pink streamers hanging from the window. "The Ladies' Aid Society welcomes every baby in town with its own quilt. They wanted to do this for Spring."

  "Why?"

  "Because she's part of the town now," Daisy explained. "Until her mother comes back."

  "And if she doesn't come back?" Which was something he'd never let himself think about. Until now.

  "I guess that's up to you," she said, giving him a little push toward the center tables where the ladies were gathered. "Go on. I'll serve lunch as soon as they get seated."

  "So this isn't a date." He noticed that some of the men were listening to their conversation, so he lowered his voice.

  "No."

  "Just tell me you're not going out with Doyle."

  "Leroy was more interested in food than in me last night," Daisy said, looking ridiculously disappointed. "So he didn't ask."

  "Good," Will said, ignoring Maude calling for him. "Then you're free tonight."

  "I can't—"

  "You owe me," he began, but she interrupted. "For the quilt? No way. Take it back." For a second he didn't understand what she was talking about. "Not the quilt. What would I need with something like that? No, I'm talking about this afternoon." He smiled down into those gorgeous blue eyes of hers. "You led me to believe that we were going to be alone."

  She blushed. He loved it when she did that.

  "The ladies are waiting," she reminded him. No way was he going to leave her, not without a promise for tonight. "You set me up."

  "You deserved it after the way you acted around Leroy."

  He wanted to kiss her. Actually he wanted to haul her into the back room and make love to her against the wall. "Later," he said, his voice low. "We'll go out to dinner."

  She shook her head. "It's pizza night."

  "Billy, come on over here!" Maude hollered over the noise of chattering women.

  "I'll be right there," he said, giving her a polite smile. "Get someone else to make pizza," he insisted.

  "No," Daisy said, moving away from him to grab the coffee carafe.

  "Just tell me one thing," he said, waiting for her to look at him.

  "What?"

  "Did you sleep under the quilt last night?" She nodded. "Good," he said, stepping closer so he could whisper into her ear. "I pictured you naked and warm and lonely under that quilt. Was I right?"

  "You got two out of three, cowboy," she said, and started refilling coffee cups.

  Which meant she was either cold or wearing pajamas, but she damn well couldn't have been with another man, Will decided as he headed toward the Ladies' Aid Society members. His mother would have loved this. Will's gaze went to Spring, whose body was cradled against June Briggs's massive bosom. His mother would have loved this baby, no matter where she came from, because she was Sarah's. He hoped his little sister would come home soon, because if he didn't get out of this town soon he was sure to go stark raving mad.

  * * *

  Of course Spring needed her. If Daisy didn't know better, she'd think the little charmer was in cahoots with her uncle. "Give her to me," she heard herself say as she reached for the screaming baby. "I'll change her."

  "Here," Will said, handing her the diaper bag by its strap. "I remembered it again. Pretty good, huh?"

  "Downright miraculous," she said, turning toward the back room and her apartment. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

  "Can I come, too?"

  "Go around," she said, knowing that everyone in town already knew they were friends and probably assumed they were a lot more than that. They would have been, too, if she hadn't come to her senses the other afternoon. "I'll unlock the kitchen door."

  She told Heather she was taking a break, hurried through the back room and unlocked the door to her apartment Will was already waiting at the rear door. "That was quick," she said, opening the door for him. He followed her into the living room and she set the baby on the couch and proceeded to change her. "So you survived your first baby shower?"

  "Yeah. It wasn't so bad. Spring liked the attention."

  "I noticed that both of you looked like you were having a good time."

  He grinned. "I haven't been around that many women at one time since the last Miss Texas Rodeo pageant."

  "I suppose you enjoyed yourself then, too," she said, feeling a very unaccustomed stab of envy. "Did your date win?"

  "Sure," he said. "I was one of the judges." She had to laugh. "I should have known."

  "Not because of me," he said. "It was a unanimous vote from a six-judge panel. That gal could sing the 'Star Spangled Banner' better than anyone I ever heard in my life."

  Daisy decided not to ask any more questions. She refastened Spring's one-piece sleeper and handed her to her uncle. "There," she said, looking at her watch. "It's almost three-thirty. Now I have to go back to work."

  "You work too much. Take the night off and I'll buy you dinner in North Bend."

  "I can't," she said, though she would have loved to eat somewhere other than the café for a change. "I'm testing pizza tonight."

  "On who?"

  "On wh
oever shows up. And I told Jane I'd bring her some for dinner. She wasn't feeling very well when she left a while ago."

  "I'll see that she—"

  The knocking on the door surprised them both. Daisy opened the door to Joe Pierce, who stepped inside out of the cold. Snowflakes dotted his Stetson. "Hey, Daisy, is Will still here?"

  "Yeah," Will answered, stepping into the kitchen with the baby snug in his arms. "What's going on?"

  "I've got some news," he said, wiping his boots on the mat inside the door. "We found an older-model truck in a ditch about twenty miles from here, along the interstate. It could be the one you heard leave your road."

  "No one saw it before now?"

  "Not until some of those big drifts melted," Joe said.

  "Was she—"

  "No. It was empty, no sign that anyone inside had been injured."

  Daisy watched Will let out the breath he'd been holding. "What do we do next?"

  "Well track down the license plate and see who it leads us to. I think it's the break we've needed, Will."

  "Seriously?"

  "Yeah. As soon as anything turns up I'll let you know."

  Daisy walked him to the door. "I'm making pizza for your supper tonight and Will's going to deliver it."

  Joe gave her a worried look "Did Jane overdo it this afternoon?"

  "A little, but she went home to rest."

  "I wish that baby would hurry up and get here," he said. "I'll call you later, Will, when I find out who owns that truck."

  Daisy shut the door behind him and turned to Will. "That's good news."

  "Is it?"

  "Joe said it was."

  "Joe didn't say that the driver could have been hurt, could have wandered off into the storm, could have been picked up by some son of a bitch who—"

  "Stop it. You don't even know if that was her truck."

  He went to the small window above the sink and looked out into the rapidly darkening sky. "It was my fault I left first," he said, his voice so quiet Daisy wondered if he knew he spoke aloud. "I had to get out of there before something bad happened. My mother understood, but it broke her heart. And Sarah—"