Those Texas Nights

by Delores Fossen

  “Well, I gotta agree with the chief on this. I think we’re real close to catching Billy Lee. I mean, what with the phone call and all. And the note he left on my truck.”

  Phone call? Note? Until this moment, she’d thought Billy Lee might be in the grave. Or at least in Fiji spending the money he’d stolen. Apparently, he wasn’t in either of those places. He was right here in Wrangler’s Creek or at least he had been. And Clay hadn’t let her know that.

  The question was why?

  And the answer was something Sophie was going to get right now.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  RIGHT NOW HAD had to wait.

  Not only had Sophie not managed to see Clay, she hadn’t even managed to speak to him since he’d been tied up with “business stuff” according to Reena. Sophie had pumped the deputy for information, but Reena either didn’t know or she was keeping something secret for the first time in her life. Either way, it could mean Clay was with Arlo, and they were speaking with Billy Lee. So now Sophie had two things to clear up with Clay.

  The Billy Lee situation and April’s dinner invitation.

  And she was only minutes away from getting that done. Having sex, too, though like the right now, that would have to wait.

  She parked her car on the ranch trail just up from Clay’s and started walking to his house. Just as she heard another vehicle. She ducked behind a hackberry and nearly put her eye out when one of the low-hanging branches poked her in the face. She got poked again when she dodged a fire ant bed.

  This secret meeting stuff wasn’t for sissies.

  Her hiding attempts weren’t even necessary because one of Ordell Busby’s boys went flying past her in the truck, and though he never looked in her direction, something splatted on the other side of the road.

  Chicken feed.

  He’d tossed what appeared to be a gallon of it.

  So, she was right about one or more of the boys salting Clay’s property with the feed to keep the chickens around. It was yet something else she needed to tell Clay.

  Sophie followed the ditch in case she had to duck behind the nearby trees again to hide. But she made it to Clay’s without further incident, only to see a possible incident the moment she arrived. She had to do some tree-ducking after all because when she spotted Clay, he wasn’t alone.

  His nephews were with him, and they were by the corral fence looking at the horses.

  She couldn’t hear what Clay was saying to the boys, but they giggled, and he goosed one of them in the belly. She glanced around to see if Brantley or April was there, but there was no sign of them. Of course, that didn’t mean they weren’t inside so she sent a text to Clay to ask if she should come back later.

  He read the text, and then did some glancing around, as well, no doubt looking for her. Sophie gave him a little wave from her hideout behind the tree. Clay gathered up both boys, one under each arm and made his way to her.

  “I didn’t know the twins were going to be here,” she said.

  “Neither did I. Spike dropped them off about a half hour ago. It was his evening to be with them, but he said something came up. A hot date, probably. Anyway, April’s tired from the visit with Spike’s grandparents so Brantley’s coming by after work to pick them up.”

  That sent her gaze back to the road. No sign of Brantley, not yet anyway, but it wouldn’t be too stealthy of her if he saw her hiding behind the tree again.

  “Come on in,” Clay offered. “I’ll give the boys a snack so we can talk.”

  “Snack!” one of them squealed.

  She thought it might be Hunter, the more outgoing of the two. Hayden was the one looking at her, though. He’d lifted his head from the football-like hold his uncle had him in, and he was eyeing her with suspicion.

  Sophie was about to point out to Clay that the twins might tell April about this visit, but what the heck—his sister would probably find out anyway. ESP seemed to be rampant when it came to Clay and her.

  “What if we don’t finish talking before Brantley gets here?” Sophie asked.

  “Then Brantley will find out that you’re here. Something tells me we won’t be finished by the time he arrives. And, no, that wasn’t about s-e-x. It has to do with me hearing that you saw Arlo today. I believe the word Reena used to describe your expression was shell-shocked.”

  “Reena...” Her grumbling sounded like profanity. “Does that woman ever get any work done?”

  “Not much.”

  The moment Clay was inside, he put the boys down. “Snacks!” one of them yelled. Or rather “nacks.” Clearly, he hadn’t forgotten what Clay had said in the yard because he headed straight for the table.

  The other one just stood there and stared at her before he lifted his hands in the air.

  “Hayden wants you to pick him up,” Clay explained.

  She’d gotten the gesture, but Sophie couldn’t figure out why. Still, she scooped him up in her arms, and the little boy immediately put his head on her shoulder.

  All right.

  She certainly hadn’t expected to feel the warmth. Both in her heart and on her hand when she touched his forehead. “Uh, Clay, I think he’s got a fever.”

  “Shit,” Clay snapped. He had just served up some milk and a cookie to Hunter, but he came back to her.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” Hunter repeated.

  “Frote hurts,” Hayden said in a whisper.

  It took her a moment to realize he meant his throat. Poor kid. But with the way her and Clay’s luck had been running, they’d all come down with something highly contagious that would make them bedridden.

  Clay tried to take him from her, but Hayden shook his head and held on. Apparently, she was the mommy figure right now.

  “I don’t have any kid’s Tylenol or a thermometer.” Clay took out his phone. “But I’ll text Brantley to bring them. Why don’t you sit on the sofa with him?”

  Sophie did, and Hayden snuggled into her arms as if he belonged there. It didn’t exactly stir her biological clock, but it did nudge it a little.

  She heard Clay turn on the faucet in the kitchen, and several moments later, he came back with a wet cloth that he gently pressed to Hayden’s head.

  “Nunk,” Hayden muttered, and he crawled from her lap to Clay’s.

  “Is there anything I can do?” she asked.

  Clay brushed a kiss on the top of Hayden’s head. “No. I’m sure he’ll be fine. When April was a kid, it seemed like she’d get a fever at least once a week. She hated meds, too, just like this one. Sometimes, it would take me three or four tries to get enough meds in her to do her any good.”

  “You had to take care of her?”

  He shrugged. “It came with the territory of being eleven years older than she is. Sometimes, it feels like I’m still taking care of her.”

  She heard the emotion in that, both good and bad, and was about to ask if he wanted her to go, but Clay spoke before she could say anything.

  “Arlo or April?” he asked. He glanced into the kitchen where Hunter was sneaking another cookie from the bag that Clay had left on the table. “Which do you want to talk about first?” Multitasking, Clay got up, moved the cookie bag to the top of the fridge, wagged a scolding finger at Hunter and then came back into the living room.

  “Arlo,” Sophie said. It wasn’t really a tough decision. “Are you actually close to finding Billy Lee? And if so, why didn’t you tell me?”

  A heavy breath left Clay’s mouth. “It’s a federal investigation, and the agent and I thought it was best to keep it close to the vest. And for the record, we’re not close to finding him. But he did leave a phone for Arlo, and Billy Lee told him to use it to call him.”

  Sophie moved to the edge of the seat. “I want that phone. I want to talk to him.”

 
Another heavy breath. “Sophie, Billy Lee didn’t leave you a phone, and if you’d called him, it probably would have spooked him.”

  “No, it wouldn’t.”

  But that was her emotions talking. Because yes, it probably would have. Billy Lee obviously didn’t want to talk to her or he would have gotten in touch with either Garrett or her by now. And he hadn’t. Instead, he’d turned to his childhood friend who had no concept whatsoever of laundry detergent.

  The next heavy breath in the room came from her.

  Clay sank down on the sofa next to her. However, he didn’t look at her. He pointed to his eyes with his index and middle fingers and then turned those forked fingers on Hunter to let the boy know he was watching him. Apparently convinced that the cookie supply had dried up for the night, Hunter came jetting back into the living room, not for a feverish lap cuddle. He went after a basket of LEGO and dumped them on the floor.

  Clay turned to her. “All of this with Billy Lee and Arlo might be nothing anyway. And Billy Lee might be doing this just to throw us off his trail. Think about it—Arlo’s not Mensa material. Billy Lee maybe knew that his old friend would tattle to me and that I’d tell the FBI. If we take the bait, we tie up manpower looking for him here in Wrangler’s Creek, and he’s really off somewhere else.”

  “Fiji,” Sophie grumbled.

  Since that had been her theory all along, that Billy Lee had fled the country, then it wasn’t much of a stretch for her to accept what Clay was saying. Not much of a stretch, either, to see why he hadn’t told her. The secrecy was the badge part of Clay McKinnon.

  The same part of him that was likely connected to what was in those pink envelopes.

  Sophie didn’t bring up the envelopes now because she had to move onto important topic number two.

  “What’s going on with your sister?” She whispered that just in case the kiddos were listening, but Hunter was bashing apart some LEGO he’d just stacked, and Hayden was asleep.

  “April says she wants to bury the hatchet with you because she thinks you’re pregnant with my baby. She said she saw you earlier, and it looked as if you were showing.”

  Good grief. Maybe she should start wearing Spanx or cut back on the sugar cookies that Alice was churning out as part of her preholiday baking.

  “Since you’re not pregnant,” Clay went on, whispering, too, “when she finds out the truth...”

  “She might want to dig up the hatchet and throw it at me,” Sophie finished for him.

  Clay didn’t deny it. “I suspect Brantley put her up to it anyway. Half the town turned against him after what he did to you. The other half is riled because he married April and in their minds is rubbing it in your face because April and he started a family so soon.”

  That did sound like something Brantley would want his new bride to do. Not only for his sake but so that April would fit in better. She was still a newcomer to Wrangler’s Creek, and getting people to accept her wouldn’t be easy if she kept pitching hissy fits about the town founder’s great-granddaughter.

  “I’ve already told April we can’t come to this dinner she’d planned, that we both have to work,” Clay went on. “She bought that. Or at least pretended to buy it. I also told her that you’re not pregnant. I’m not sure she believed it, but she will eventually when you don’t start to show.”

  Yes, she definitely needed the Spanx.

  ‘So, are we good?” Clay asked. “Are you still mad at me for not telling you about Billy Lee?”

  After a few more seconds of sulking, she waved it off. “We’re good.”

  “Then, you just need to decide one more thing. Brantley just pulled up in front of the house. If you don’t want him to see you here or if you don’t want to talk to him, you can wait in my bedroom.”

  Sophie immediately chose the bedroom and hurried in there.

  Not only because she didn’t want to face Brantley tonight but also because the bedroom was where she eventually hoped Clay would join her. It was probably wrong of her to think of sex with everything going on, but there always seemed to be something going on in their lives. If she waited for a break, Clay and she might be retirement age before they needed another condom.

  Sophie eased the door shut and locked it just in case Hunter decided to come running in there. Or rat her out. His verbal skills weren’t at an adult conversational level yet, but it didn’t take too many words for him or his brother to tell their stepdad that someone was in Nunk’s bed. She put her ear to the door, listened, and it didn’t take long for her to hear Brantley’s voice.

  “You’re not feeling good, Hayden?” Brantley asked. “I brought a thermometer, the kind you put on your forehead, and I’m going to take your temp. Is that okay?”

  She didn’t catch the little boy’s response, if there was one, but Clay filled Brantley in on the fever, mentioning that Hayden was okay until the last twenty minutes or so.

  “Well, it’s not much of a temp,” Brantley said a short time later. “But I’ll have Sophie look at him when I get home.”

  “Sophie?” Clay said.

  “Uh, I meant April.” Mumble, mumble, something else she couldn’t decipher so she moved from the wall and to the door so she could open it a bit. She couldn’t see Brantley and Clay, but she could see Hunter. He had fallen asleep next to a pile of LEGO.

  “Guess I’ve had Sophie on my mind a lot, and that’s why I slipped and said her name,” Brantley went on. That was plenty clear enough for her to hear. “Since the boys have both crashed, can we talk for a minute?”

  “If you’re going to ask me if Sophie’s pregnant, she’s not,” Clay volunteered.

  “No, I didn’t figure she was. After I thought about it, I realized she’s too careful to get caught up in an unplanned pregnancy. And as for the belly, well, she always gains weight this time of year.”

  She scowled and was so going to get those Spanx. And go on a diet.

  “What I wanted to talk to you about was April,” Brantley said. “I love her—I really do, but this whole marriage and parenting thing is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I never have any time to myself. It’s work, home and work some more to help April out since she’s tired a lot these days.”

  For a second, Sophie got a smidge of satisfaction over Brantley’s less than blissful marriage. After all, he deserved some kind of misery for dumping her the way he had. But the smidge was quickly fading. Because he’d done her a favor by calling off the wedding. Still, he hadn’t known he was doing her a favor at the time so she held on to the smidge a while longer.

  “April’s changed since we got married. She was so vibrant and, well, perky before. Full of life. I miss the woman I fell head over heels in love with.”

  Well, there went that smidge. April likely wasn’t perky because she was full of a different kind of life. She was pregnant. And Brantley was the one who’d gotten her that way.

  “Are you telling me this for a reason?” Clay asked him. And he didn’t sound any happier with Brantley than Sophie was right now.

  “Yes.” But that’s all Brantley said for what seemed like an eternity. “I’m not sure I can make this marriage work.”

  Sophie got a new smidge, but it had nothing to do with wishing Brantley some misery. It was more about wanting to throttle him, and it billowed into much more than a smidge.

  She came storming out of the bedroom, her narrowed gaze going straight to her ex. “You willy-nilly piece of poop!”

  Sadly, she didn’t intentionally keep her insult G-rated for the boys’ sake. Her mind and mouth just turned to silly profanity when she was shocked or angry. Clay’s was a lot better than hers.

  “You dickhead piece of shit,” he snarled. He put his hands over Hayden’s ears even though the boy was still asleep. Thankfully, so was Hunter.

  Brantley got to his feet. “So
phie. I didn’t know you were here,” he said before his gaze swung back to Clay. “I didn’t say I was leaving April or anything like that.” He cursed, scrubbed his hand over his face. “I’m just saying this is harder than I thought it would be.”

  “Tough titty,” Sophie snapped in a whisper. “Lots of things are harder than we think they’ll be.” Like secret sex with Clay. Getting along with her mom. Life in general. “Suck it up and be the husband and stepfather that April and her sons deserve.”

  Only then did Sophie realize the tough-titty lecture should have come from Clay. After all, this was his family not hers. And he would have worded the lecture better, too.

  “Was there any part of what Sophie just said that you didn’t understand?” Clay asked Brantley. So, obviously her wording had been to Clay’s satisfaction.

  Brantley shook his head so fast that his neck popped, and he scooped up Hunter from the floor. “I should be going. April will be wondering where I am.”

  Scowling, Clay stood, and he carried Hayden out to Brantley’s car. Sophie didn’t follow them and didn’t try to listen to what they were saying. Though Clay was certainly saying something. Maybe something that would drill a couple of tons of sense into Brantley’s head.

  Clay didn’t linger. He only talked as long as it took them to get the boys into their car seats, and then he made his way back into the house as Brantley drove away.

  “Did you threaten him within an inch of his life?” Sophie asked, closing the door behind him.

  Clay shook his head, gave a weary sigh. “I can’t make him stay committed to April. And I shouldn’t have to. If Brantley’s not in this one hundred percent, then he should leave and let April get on with her life.”

  Oh, mercy. That would send April into a tailspin, maybe shatter her, and Clay would have to be there to pick up the pieces. It was like the medicine thing when she was a kid all over again. Clay was taking care of her, and he would continue to do that even if it meant multiple tries.

  Clay gave another weary sigh, pulled her to him and brushed a kiss on the top of her head much as he’d done to Hayden. “I’ll walk you to your car. I’m guessing after everything that just went on, you’re not in the mood for...anything.”