by Leanne Banks
“They are, but I think you might need to get your ankle checked by a doctor,” she said.
“Doctors usually can’t do anything. Medicine is just one more racket, I say.”
“But—”
“You gonna make me beg for those dumplings?” he asked.
She sighed. “No. Sit down and I’ll heat them up for you,” she said and walked toward the kitchen, then turned as something occurred to her. “If you’ll let me take you into town to see the doctor as soon as you finish eating.”
He scowled at her. “I’m telling you, it’s a waste of time and money.”
“It will make me feel better,” she told him. “I’m worried about you. You’re not yourself.”
His gaze softened. “Well, you’re being silly,” he said gruffly. “I’ll go,” he said, sinking onto the sofa. “But not until I eat those dumplings.”
Thirty minutes later, he’d finished the food and she hung the wreath on his front door.
“What’s that for?” he asked as he shuffled toward her car.
Abby adjusted the red bow. “To give you some Christmas spirit.”
He muttered and got into her car. Abby drove toward town with Mr. Henson fussing the entire way about her car.
“What can you carry with this thing, anyway? Bet my lawn-mower engine is bigger than this. What keeps it running?” he asked. “Sounds like squirrels.”
“The only thing I have to carry is me,” she said. “I don’t haul wood, and this car is surprisingly good in the snow.”
“Can’t believe that,” he said. “You’d get stuck in six inches.”
“It’s light, so it doesn’t sink, plus the gas mileage is terrific. What kind of gas mileage does your truck get?”
He made a mumbling sound that she couldn’t understand. “Excuse me? What did you say?”
“Fifteen miles to the gallon,” he said. “But I could haul most of the houses around here if I wanted.”
She bit her tongue, refusing to point out the obvious, that there was no need to haul houses. Turning off the main drive, she pulled next to the clinic door.
“This is a no-parking zone,” he told her.
“I know,” she said. “I just wanted to get you as close to the door as possible.”
“Hmmph,” he said and opened the car door.
“Just a minute,” she said, cutting the engine and rushing to the passenger side of the car.
“Gotta be a darned pretzel to ride in that car,” he grumbled, but leaned against her as she helped him inside the clinic. Two hours later, she helped Mr. Henson back to the car as he hobbled on crutches.
“Just a sprain,” he said. “I told you it wasn’t anything and I’m not taking that pain medication. It makes me loopy.”
“It’s not a narcotic,” she said as she carefully arranged the crutches in her backseat. “Do you have plastic bags?”
“Yeah, why?” he asked.
“For the ice. The doctor said you need to put ice on your ankle.”
Mr. Henson shrugged.
“Well, if you don’t want to get better and you want to keep feeling rotten, you don’t need to follow his instructions.”
She felt the old man whip his head toward her. “I didn’t say that,” he said.
“The doctor said between the bad bruise and sprain it’s a wonder you didn’t break it. So you need to take care of it. RICE is what he said.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “Rest, ice, compression and elevation.”
“You can sit back and watch some TV,” she suggested.
“Hate that reality stuff. Give me a book or a ball game instead.”
“That could be arranged,” she said. “I think my mother said something about fixing some beef stew. Maybe I could bring some over for you if you behave yourself.”
The old man licked his lips. “That sounds good.”
She smiled. “You’ll get better faster if you do what the doctor says.”
“Maybe,” Mr. Henson said and paused. “You know, you would make a good wife. You nag like a good wife would.”
Abby didn’t know whether to feel complimented or insulted.
“Cade Pritchett will be chasing you sooner than you think,” he said.
“Not in this lifetime,” she said.
Mr. Henson lifted a wiry gray eyebrow. “You disrespecting your elder?”
“No,” Abby said reluctantly. “I just can’t fight reality.”
“Girlie,” he said, “I’m eighty-five and I lost Geraldine, my reason for living, eight years ago. I fight reality every day.”
She couldn’t argue with that.
After that, Abby focused on her schoolwork and her work at ROOTS, a community group founded for at-risk teens. Abby led her girls’ teen group on Tuesday nights where they talked about everything from bullies and sex to cosmetics and higher education.
The truth was most of the girls in Abby’s group were pretty cool. They were older than their years and saw Abby as the person they wanted to become. She was humbled by their admiration.
“So, we’ve told you about our guys. When are you gonna tell us about yours?” Keisha, a wise-to-the-world fifteen-year-old, asked.
“I don’t really have a guy,” Abby said.
Silence settled over the group and Abby felt an unexpected spurt of discomfort. “Well, I could have a guy. It’s just that the guy I want doesn’t see me.”
Shannon, a sixteen-year-old with purple hair, frowned. “Is he blind?”
Abby chuckled. “Not in the physical sense. He used to date my sister, so he sees me as the little sister.”
“Oooh,” Katrina, who wore faux black leather from head to toe, said. “Drama. I love it. Does your sis know you like the guy?”
Abby shook her head.
“Does she like this guy?” Keisha asked.
“Oh, no. She’s engaged to someone else.”
“Well, then, you should definitely move in on him,” Katrina said.
Abby laughed uncomfortably. “He sees me as the little sister.”
“You should change that,” Shannon said. “Maybe you could dye your hair pink.”
“I’m not sure that’s me,” Abby said.
“Well, you have to do something different,” Shannon said, her gaze falling over Abby in a combination of pity and disapproval. “You’re, like, everything but sexy.”
“She’s not ugly,” Keisha said.
“I didn’t say that,” Shannon said. “She’s just not sexy.”
“I don’t know,” Katrina said. “She’s got that fresh, natural, girl-next-door look.”
“But not sexy,” Shannon repeated.
Silence followed.
“We could help you,” Shannon said.
Alarm slammed through her. “Help?” she echoed in a voice that sounded high-pitched to her own ears.
“Yeah,” Keisha said, clearly warming to the idea. “We can sex you up. Your guy won’t be able to ignore you then.”
“I’m not sure…” Abby said.
“Hey, it’s like you always tells us,” Shannon said. “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.”
Abby blinked at the sound of her words played back to her. True, but how much of a change was she willing to make?
“If you won’t do pink or blond hair, then we can do big hair,” Shannon said, pursing her profoundly pink lips.
“And cat eyes,” Keisha added.
“And a short, black leather skirt,” Katrina added.
Abby winced inwardly. Black leather skirt?
Shannon nodded. “Kim Kardashian hair. He won’t know what hit him.”
Abby managed to redirect the conversation, but she knew her girls were determined to perform a drastic makeover. She ran into her fellow ROOTS volunteer, Austin Anderson, after the meeting. Austin was twenty-four years old and the two of them were good friends, thanks to their time spent working together.
“How’s it going?” Austin ask
ed and stepped beside her as she walked toward her car in the small parking lot.
“Okay,” she said and knew her voice didn’t hold the commitment it should have.
Austin laughed. “Let’s try this again,” he said. “How’s it going?”
“I think I may have just gotten myself into a situation,” she said as she drew close to her car.
“What kind of situation?” he asked, putting his hand against her car door before she could open it.
Abby sighed and turned to lean against the car. She reluctantly met his gaze. “I did a bad thing,” she said.
“You sold drugs or killed a baby,” he said.
She couldn’t withhold a chuckle. “Neither. I did, however, get drawn into a discussion about my personal life with my ROOTS girls group. Now they want to perform a sexy makeover.”
He laughed. “Hooker time.”
She shot him a sideways glance. “Kinda. But they make an important point. They repeated my words of wisdom back to me. If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
“Well, if I go through with this makeover, I may need a cohort.”
Austin stared at her for a long moment. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.”
“It probably isn’t, but I need to shake things up.”
Austin gave a heavy sigh. “What do you have in mind?”
“I dress up in makeover mode. You and I hit the town in places where people will talk. My unrequited love wakes up and sees that I am the answer to his heart’s desire.”
Austin winced. “Abby, I’m really not sure this is a great idea.”
“I’m sure it isn’t,” she said. “But I have to do something to shake up Cade’s impression of me.”
“Cade?” Austin echoed. “Cade Pritchett.” He gave a low whistle and shook his head. “Isn’t he the one who proposed to your—”
“Yes,” she said in a flat tone.
Austin took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m in. Let me know when you want to do this.”
“Apparently Saturday night,” she said in a wry tone. “It’s the most visible night.”
Austin nodded and raked his hand through his hair. “All right. Text me with the time.” Austin brushed his finger over her nose sympathetically. “You’re a great girl. If he doesn’t realize it, he’s an idiot.”
“So far, he’s an idiot,” she whispered, her heart hurting.
The following Saturday, the ROOTS teens performed their magic on Abby. As she stared into the mirror, she wasn’t sure if it was magic or something more gruesome.
“Are you sure…” she began as she looked at her dark eye makeup.
“It’s perfect,” Keisha said.
“You are so hot,” Katrina said. “You’re going to knock every guy off his feet.”
Abby was not at all sure. She squinted her eyes at her teased hair, trying to see a remnant of her usual self.
“Ready to go?” Austin asked from the back of the room.
Abby took a deep breath and turned to look at him.
“Oh. Wow,” he said.
Abby felt a sudden spurt of panic. “What does ‘Oh. Wow’ mean?”
Austin strolled toward her. “You look hot. You’ll turn heads. Look out, Thunder Canyon.”
Abby rose and walked toward him. “You’re lying like a dog, aren’t you?”
“Not at all,” he said. “You’re going to turn heads like nobody’s business tonight. Are you ready?”
She met his gaze and quieted her crazy heartbeat. “Not really,” she said. “But that first jump in cold water is the hardest. It may as well be now.”
Abby and Austin visited the hottest bars and made sure she was seen by the maximum number of people. Their last stop was an old bar on Main Street. Surprisingly enough, Cade was at this bar watching a ball game. He didn’t even notice her as she sashayed inside with Austin.
Austin, however, noticed Cade. He ordered Abby another soda water, her fifth of the evening. She countered with a martini.
Austin raised his eyes. “Lemon drop?” he asked. “I’d say you’ve earned it.”
Abby propped on a bar stool and tried to look flirty as she sipped her lemon-drop martini.
It was a little bitter, so she switched off to ice water. She jiggled her leg from the bar stool and wondered if Cade would ever tear his gaze from the screen.
Suddenly, Austin gave a loud laugh that startled her and vibrated throughout the bar. He leaned toward her and nuzzled her.
Abby blinked in shock. Holy buckets.
“Play along,” he said in a low voice.
Oh, yeah, she thought and nuzzled him back and giggled. That was what she was supposed to do. Right?
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cade looking at Austin and her. He didn’t look happy. She forced a light laugh.
“He’s looking, isn’t he?” Austin said as he lifted his fingers to her cheek.
“Yes,” she said in a low voice.
“It’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” he asked.
Abby felt torn. “I guess.”
Austin shook his head. “Better make up your mind. He’s right behind you,” he muttered. “Cade,” he said. “Old man, how ya doing? I see a friend on the other side of the room. I’ll be back in a minute—darlin’,” he added to Abby.
Abby turned to look at Cade. His face looked like a thundercloud. “Hi,” she said. “How’s the game?”
He shrugged. “It’s California against Clemson.”
She smiled. “Not close enough to care.”
“I guess. What the hell have you done to your hair?”
Abby frowned. “Dressed it up. Dressed me up,” she said.
“You don’t need to dress up,” he said. “You’re asking for trouble dressed like that.”
Abby frowned at him, feeling a double spurt of frustration and anger. “Some people might say I looked pretty.”
“Some people would say anything to get you into bed,” Cade said.
Offended, Abby narrowed her eyes at him. “You just need to butt out of my date. I’m having a good time. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Austin appeared from behind Cade and lifted his eyebrows. “Ready to go, sweetheart?”
Abby frowned in Cade’s direction. “Sounds good to me,” she said and rose from her bar stool. It took every bit of her concentration not to look at Cade. “G’night,” she said, without meeting his gaze, and hooked her arm with Austin’s as she strutted out of the bar.
As she and Austin stepped into the cold night, she sucked in a clean breath of air. “I’m not sure that worked.”
Austin chuckled. “Well, I think you showed him what he’s missing.”
His sense of humor lifted her spirits. “Thanks for being a good soldier.”
“It wasn’t so bad. It’s not like I have anyone waiting for me,” he said.
She studied his eyes, trying to read him. “I would almost think there was someone you want waiting for you.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Austin said, opening the passenger door to his SUV.
“Hmm,” she said, wondering if Austin could have a crush on someone. And for whom would he be pining?
Austin drove her home and she stepped outside the car. “Thank you for indulging my craziness,” she said.
Austin shrugged. “We’re all crazy in our own special way.”
Abby laughed. “Thanks. You make me feel a little better. I think you may have been right from the beginning. This wasn’t a great idea.”
“You never know,” he said. “He might surprise you.”
“I won’t count on it,” she said. “But thanks, anyway.”
She watched as he pulled out of her driveway then reluctantly turned toward her home, wondering if she could make it to her bedroom before any of her family saw her because they would give her a hard time for dressing so out of character. The house wasn’t well lit. Abby suddenly recalled her m
other mentioning something about a Brunswick-stew dinner being held at the local Knights of Columbus. Her father loved Brunswick stew and, if the dinners were cheap, she suspected the rest of her family was chowing down, too. Her mother must have been thrilled to skip meal preparation tonight.
She stomped through the frozen snow to the front door of her home and opened the door. She waited in silence, listening for signs of her family. Nothing. Thank goodness. She breathed a sigh of relief then suddenly heard a tap at the door.
Wincing, Abby eyed the peephole and got the shock of her life. She blinked to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. It was Cade.
Taking a deep gulp of breath, she swung open the door. “Forget something?” she asked.
He narrowed his eyes at her. “You okay?”
“Of course I’m okay,” she said, unable to conceal her impatience and a bit of witchiness.
His gaze fell over her. “I was worried about you,” he muttered.
“Why?” she asked, leaning against the doorjamb.
“The way you were dressed. I didn’t want your date to take advantage of you,” he said.
“He was a perfect gentleman,” Abby said.
“Yeah, well—” He sighed, his gaze falling over her. “You gonna invite me in?”
Surprised, Abby stepped backward. “Sure. Come on in.”
The foyer was dimly lit by a lamp.
Cade stepped toward her and lifted his hand to her hair. “You don’t need all this makeup and gunk clouding your natural beauty. What were you thinking?”
Abby swallowed over a lump of emotion. “Natural beauty?” she echoed.
“Yeah,” he said and stroked her hair. “Why would you mess with this?”
She opened her mouth and stared at him. “Umm.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t—”
His mouth descended onto hers.
Abby gasped, trying to swallow her shock.
“You’re hot without all the makeup,” he told her, and she felt her world turn upside down.
Somehow, the two of them stumbled to the couch in the den. She fell backward and he followed her down. His weight was the sexiest thing she’d ever felt in her life. She closed her arms and legs around him.
