by Lori Wilde
“You have a hickey,” Emma said.
Leigh, Erin, and Emma were helping with last minute touches on some of the floats. The parade was rapidly approaching, and at the moment, Leigh was painting what she hoped looked like a panther on the side of the float Nathan’s business was entering.
Leaning back, she surveyed her handiwork. Yep. It looked like one big, black ferocious...inkblot.
“I have an idea. Let’s make Nathan’s float a giant Dalmatian. Then my black blobs will make sense,” Leigh suggested.
Emma tapped her on the shoulder. “You’re ignoring my comment. Young lady, you have a hickey on your neck. Where in the world would you get something like that?”
“Hickeys Are Us,” she said, leaning back and surveying the panthers Erin was painting. They looked like panthers. “I nominate Erin to do all the panther painting from now on. Who seconds my nomination?”
She glanced expectantly at Emma, who merely gave her a pointed look. This was the problem with being friends with the wives of your brothers. If you told them something, then you were also telling your brothers. And she, for one, did not want her brothers knowing she’d spent the last evening having unbelievable fun with Jared.
“Emma, if you don’t get back to work, I’m going to tell Nathan that you’re goofing off and that I need more volunteers from his company to help,” Leigh said.
Emma laughed. “Oh, right. Tell him that. And I’ll tell him that you have a big hickey on the side of your neck and a goofy smile on your face. He’s a bright man. He’ll quickly figure out what’s going on.”
Leigh snorted. “Pulleese. It took him forever to figure out he was in love with you.”
Erin walked over and poured more black paint in her tray. As she was about to walk away, she said, “Hey, Leigh, you have a big red mark on your neck.”
“It’s a birthmark,” Leigh muttered.
“It’s a hickey,” Emma corrected.
Erin tipped her head and studied it. “You know, I don’t think so. I think it’s beard burn.” She looked at Emma. “I think someone who has a beard was kissing Leigh’s neck recently.”
Emma leaned over and inspected the mark. “I think you’re right. And it seems to disappear beneath the collar of her shirt, which leads me to believe it’s on more than just her neck. Now who does Leigh know who would have a beard and would want to kiss her?”
Erin tipped her head. “That’s a good question, but I have no idea. The last I heard, she wasn’t seeing anyone.” She examined Leigh’s neck again. “But she sure is now. And he certainly is attracted to our Leigh.”
“Cute. Very cute.” Standing, Leigh brushed off her jeans. “Since I’m no use at painting the panthers, and I have no intention of telling either of you anything, I think I’ll go see if I can help Steve Myerson get his wagon ready to pull Rufus in.” She was all set to walk away when Emma said, “Looks like it won’t be long before there’s another wedding.”
That stopped her cold. She walked over to where her sisters-in-law were working and said firmly, “No. Don’t even think that. Don’t even think about thinking that. In fact, forget you ever knew how to think. There will be no wedding. Got it? I’m just having a little fun. Heck, I haven’t even graduated from college yet. I’m not getting married.”
Emma looked at Erin, who shrugged. “All I was going to say was that the church books up early. You need to plan these things a long time in advance.”
Grrr. “Read my lips—there isn’t going to be a wedding.”
Once again, she started to walk away when Erin said, “You know, I didn’t want to fall in love. I mean, I really, really didn’t. How about you, Emma?”
Emma nodded. “Me, neither. I didn’t have time to fall in love. I had my life all mapped out. And I was happy. Or at least, I thought I was happy. But then someone convinced me I was being an idiot.” She pretended to think. “Now who was that?”
Erin smiled. “I know, it’s baffling, isn’t it? Who was the person who made certain we all admitted when we’d fallen in love?”
Oh, for pity’s sake. “I’m not in love. He’s not in love. We’re not in love. It’s sex. Pure and simple. Now paint some panthers.”
Emma studied Leigh, then finally said, “Okay. If you say this is just about sex, then we’ll leave you alone. But remember, life doesn’t always work out the way you have planned. You have to be flexible if you don’t want happiness to pass you by.”
Erin nodded. “I couldn’t agree more.”
Leigh liked these ladies; she really did. But boy, they were wrong about her. She was having the time of her life, enjoying her freedom, savoring her independence. She wasn’t giving that up for anyone. Not even for Jared Kendrick.
Deciding the best way to avoid talking about love any more was to, well, avoid it, Leigh headed across the room. Billy had finished his cow car, so she figured she’d go check it out. It wasn’t every day you got to see a 1997 sedan decked out like a cow. Udders and all.
Truthfully, it had turned out kinda cute. Well, for a cow car. She was all set to walk away when a muted giggle caught her attention. Stopping, she strained to hear over the noise in the barn. Maybe she’d been mistaken.
She took another two steps and heard it again. Someone was giggling. And they were doing it inside the cow.
Oh, for the love of Pete. She needed this aggravation like she needed to go cross-eyed.
Although she didn’t want the entire barn to know what was happening, Leigh wanted those two love struck teenagers out of that car right now. She rapped on the side of the cow. “Get out here.”
A couple of “shushes” was all she got in return. Leigh rapped again. “Tommy and Kate, I know you’re in there. Get out now.”
She still got no reaction and was about to knock again when Jared wandered over. “You mad at the cow? Maybe I can help improve your mood.”
Although she was happy to see him, now was not the time to flirt with Jared. She wanted those kids out of that car right this instant.
“Tommy and Kate are in there.” She blew out a breath of disgust. The only saving grace to this mess was that most of the crowd had already left for the evening.
But still, she wasn’t in the mood to do this. She glanced at Jared. She was in the mood to do...well, him.
As much as she’d like to, she couldn’t think about that right now. She had to do something about Tommy and Kate.
“You can’t stay in that cow forever,” she pointed out.
With a lot of moaning and groaning, first Tommy, then Kate crawled out from under the tarps covering Billy Joe’s car. Predictably the kids looked a mess.
Tommy smoothed his hair away from his face. “Hi, Ms. Barrett. The float looks cool, doesn’t it?”
“The only thing that needs to cool around here is you and Kate,” Leigh said. “This is crazy. You two need to cut it out.” She looked at Kate. “Have you told your father you’re seeing Tommy?”
Kate shook her head. “I think he’d have a stroke.”
Yes, that was a possibility. “You still have to tell your parents.” She looked at Tommy. “You, too.”
Tommy groaned and scuffed one sneaker on the ground. “Why? Kate and I are in love. If we tell people, they’ll just get all huffy and tell us we’re too young to be in love. Then they’ll do everything they can to get us to stop seeing each other.”
He moved over and draped one arm around Kate’s shoulders. “We’re old enough to recognize true love when we find it. Not a lot of people can say that, but we can.”
Leigh was trying to formulate a response, when Jared jumped in.
“If you’re truly in love, you shouldn’t be hiding in a cow,” Jared told him. “Be proud of what you feel and tell the people in your life. Tommy, your folks love you. So do yours, Kate. I’m sure if you two agree to handle your relationship responsibly, your parents will let you date.” He gave Tommy a pointed look. “And responsibly doesn’t mean hiding in closets or homecoming floats.”
> Both Tommy and Kate nodded. “Okay, I’ll tell my parents,” Kate said. “Dad will have a fit, but he’ll probably calm down. Eventually.”
Leigh looked at Tommy. “What about you?”
“Yeah, I’ll tell them, mostly because then Kate and I can let everyone know we’re in love.”
In a way, the two of them were really sweet. Of course, Leigh didn’t believe for a second what they felt was true love. But they believed it, and she knew no one would be able to change their minds.
“Okay, now that we’ve settled this, I think both of you need to head home and tell your parents tonight. Frankly, I’m tired of hunting you down,” Leigh said.
Kate sighed. “Okay. I’ll tell Dad. Maybe he won’t get so upset if I tell him that one day, Tommy and I are going to get married.”
With that, the two teens headed for the door. “You think Gavin is going to be happy to hear his daughter’s planning on marrying Tommy Tate someday?” Jared asked dryly.
“No. Especially when he figures out that then she’ll be Kate Tate.”
Jared chuckled. “True. But you can’t stop love.”
Grrr. Leigh was tired of talking about love. Really tired of it. She glanced around Jared’s barn. Her sisters-in-law had obviously been watching the entire confrontation with Tommy and Kate. Oh great. Now they’d quote Jared’s comments about love to her.
“I think it’s time we sent everyone home,” she told him.
Jared nudged her. “Are you going to keep me after, teacher?”
She shouldn’t. Considering all the talk about love floating around this bam, she should head on home. But then Jared gave her a slow, sexy grin, and her common sense got vapor-locked by the desire fogging up her brain. Her gaze dropped to his oh-so delicious mouth.
Yep, there were lots of reasons she should go home alone tonight, but thankfully, not a single one came to mind.
So after Emma and Erin finally left, laughing and singing “Love is a Many Splendored Thing” off key, Leigh turned to Jared and said, “Just so you know, I’m not going to fall in love with you.”
Jared’s expression didn’t change a bit. “The thought never crossed my mind.”
Oh right, like she believed that. But no matter what he thought, she really wasn’t going to fall in love with him.
No matter what he, her family, and the population of Honey thought.
It just wasn’t going to happen.
**
“Your plan isn’t working.”
Jared had been brushing his favorite horse, Spirit, but now he turned and looked at Trent Barrett. The parade was going to start any second. Leigh’s brother should be helping with crowd control.
He glanced at the few folks on the sidewalk and the tons of people lined up in the parade. Okay, so the spectators weren’t exactly going to be a problem. But someone had to keep this parade in line so Mary and Ted Monroe walked next to each other and didn’t wander off to talk to friends, leaving everyone wondering what the letters on them meant.
And someone needed to tell the band teacher that she could play the “Hokey Pokey” all she wanted, but his horses weren’t going to shake it all about.
“What exactly are you talking about?” he asked Trent. “And why aren’t you helping Leigh line people up? I’m the end of the parade.” He patted Spirit’s rump. “Remember?”
“I’ll get up there in a second. First, I want to talk to you. Erin told me what you said to Tommy and Kate in the barn. You need to take your own advice. Carpe diem, Jared. Seize the day.”
He’d like to seize the day, but if he did, Leigh would more than likely seize his neck—and squeeze. “Things aren’t that simple.”
“If you love her, tell her so,” Trent said. “That’s pretty simple.”
“It’s not simple at all.” Jared brushed Spirit a couple more times. He’d like to tell her, but she kept making it crystal clear that she didn’t want to discuss love. Even when they were making mind-blowing love, she didn’t want the words.
Getting her to admit she loved him was going to take some doing.
Trent sighed. “You know, I went through the same sort of thing with Erin. I fell for her a long time before she fell for me. It was tough. But I hung in there. I let her know how I felt, and I stood my ground. You need to tell Leigh you love her and that you’re going to keep loving her whether she likes it or not.”
Jared chuckled. “That ought to show her.”
Reaching into his shirt pocket, Trent pulled out a pair of sunglasses. He slipped them on, then said to Jared, “No one ever said love was easy. But it is worth all the trouble. Man, is it ever.”
With that, he headed toward the front of the parade. Jared could hear him shouting at the panthers from Bud’s Boats and Baits to keep their paws off the panthers from Patty’s Powder and Primp.
But at the moment, his mind wasn’t on the parade. It was on what Trent had said. Should he stand his ground and confront Leigh about his feelings? Would it do any good or would it make Custer’s last stand look successful?
He turned and told the other two riders, Stan and Dwayne, to saddle up. He’d have to think about what to do with Leigh later. Right now, he had a parade to ride in.
Even if his horses still couldn’t do the “Hokey Pokey.”
**
“Before we begin tonight’s halftime show, I’d like to take a minute to recognize some of our volunteers,” Gavin said into the microphone.
Leigh rocked her weight from heel to heel as Gavin’s speech droned on. She didn’t know why she had to be here. She’d already done her part. She’d coordinated the parade yesterday, which if she did say so herself, had turned out great. No one got hurt. Everyone had fun.
What else could you ask from a successful parade?
Tonight was the homecoming game, followed by the student dance. Then tomorrow night, the alumni got their chance to pretend they still were young at their own dance.
But her part was done. And she wanted to go home and be with Jared.
She glanced at the man in question. He looked as anxious to leave as she was. Good. That meant they’d have another amazing night together.
She could hardly wait.
Unfortunately, Gavin had other ideas. He kept talking, and talking, and talking. Sigh. He first explained how important homecoming was to Honey High. Then he thanked everyone who’d helped make this weekend so exciting. Then he thanked the people of Honey for supporting the homecoming efforts.
And finally, he thanked the Honey Panthers themselves, who so far were ahead 21 to 3.
Wahoo. Go Panthers.
Finally the speech ended, and Leigh and Jared headed off the platform.
“It didn’t take me that long to finish high school,” Jared murmured in her ear.
She laughed and was all set to see if he wanted to cut out and head back to her place when Gavin jogged over.
“Glad I caught you two. I want to talk about Kate.”
Uh oh. Leigh shifted until they were off the field and standing on a fairly deserted walkway. “Look, Gavin, I know you may not approve of Kate seeing Tommy—”
He blinked. “Why wouldn’t I approve? The boy’s got half the colleges in the country offering him scholarships. I’m sure he’ll end up in the NFL.”
Wow. That was the last thing Leigh had expected. She glanced at Jared, who seemed equally surprised.
“Glad to hear you feel that way,” she said, bemused.
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I still want Kate to go to college and everything, but as long as she and Tommy don’t do anything—” He shrugged. “You know. Then it’s fine with me.”
“Oh.” Leigh smiled. “Good.”
Gavin nodded. “Yes, it is. Kate’s happy, so I’m happy. Love’s a great thing.”
Ah, crud, here they were with that love stuff again. All Leigh said in response was, “Hmmm.”
Jared patted the other man on the shoulder. “Congratulations on homecoming weekend. It seems to be going we
ll.”
“It is. It is. Of course, naturally, the student dance sold out, but the alumni dance did, too. We really pulled them in this year. People are coming from all around.”
“That’s great,” Leigh said, wishing he’d finish up so she and Jared could leave.
Gavin looked at her. “That’s not all that’s great. Leigh, I wanted to tell you that a fulltime teaching position is waiting for you next year. You’ve really proven yourself with the parade.”
Leigh hadn’t been expecting him to offer her a job, well, certainly not so soon. She let out a yelp, then with a self-conscious laugh said, “Thanks. I really appreciate it.”
“You earned it,” he said. “Well, I’ve got to go see what my family is up to. And watch the game.”
Gavin headed off, and Leigh commented, “Why do I get the feeling Kate will have a terrible time if she ever decides to break up with Tommy?”
“Yeah, it does seem like Gav’s got his heart set on having a pro football player as a son-in-law.” He nudged her. “Congratulations, teach. Looks like you got what you wanted.”
Leigh grinned. “I did, didn’t I? I got the job.” She shot him a flirty glance. “And I got you. Yep, I’m one happy lady.”
For a second she simply enjoyed her feeling of pure bliss, then she noticed the odd look Jared was giving her.
“What?” she asked. “You got what you wanted, too. You have your rodeo school.”
“Sort of. Right now I’m entertaining Steve’s brother and his family. They’re not really the kind of students I had in mind.”
“But you’re running your own business,” she pointed out. “And once you bring in enough money, you can afford to make your school the best around. Then you’ll get lots and lots of rodeo students.”
“True.” Even though he’d agreed with her, he kept giving her that odd look.
“Oh, and let’s not forget what else you have,” she said, hoping to turn around his mood. “You’ve got me.”
She leaned up, all set to give him a kiss, when he said, “No, I don’t. I don’t have you, Leigh.”
Ah, jeez. She knew this was going to happen if everyone insisted on talking about love all the time. “Jared, we agreed—”
