The Trouble with Texas Cowboys

by Carolyn Brown

  “Aunt Gladys told me that the ‘salt’ part of it is because those folks salt-cure the pork, and the ‘holler’ has little to do with the land but the fact that it’s not really very big. You can holler on one end, and they can hear it on the other.”

  “How long has it been there?”

  “Have to ask Aunt Gladys about that, unless you want to sneak past the guards and ask Naomi Gallagher. I hear she’s got distant relatives down there even yet, so she might know.”

  “I think I’ll stay on this side of the fence and kiss you rather than talk to one side of the feuding family about pigs.”

  She couldn’t think of a single smart-ass remark, and the blush was still faint two minutes later when a dark-haired lady that looked vaguely familiar pushed her way into the store.

  “Hi, Sawyer. How’s the foreman business goin’? I heard it extended out to store-keepin’ and bartendin’,” she said.

  “Looks like it.” Sawyer made introductions. “Jill, meet my cousin-in-law Callie. She and my cousin Finn live over on Salt Draw. You might have seen them in church last Sunday.”

  Callie smiled. “We’re the ones with the line of kids on the pew with Verdie.”

  “Cute bunch of kids. How long have you been in Burnt Boot?” Jill asked.

  Callie started putting items into a cart. “Only since the first of December. I understand you aren’t really new to the area, just returning to it. When you have time, give me a call, and we’ll sneak away for a girls’ afternoon. Maybe a pedicure and coffee if we can’t squeeze anything else in.”

  “That sounds like fun. I’ve visited, but never lived here until now, and I got to admit, walking into a feud isn’t what I had in mind.”

  “I know. We had a taste of it over on Salt Draw, but it seems to have blown over us now that we are married. I heard there’s two ladies after Sawyer, though, and a couple of cowboys fightin’ for your hand.” Callie smiled.

  “It’s not me they’re after, it’s Fiddle Creek,” Jill said and then changed the subject. “So where did you meet Finn?”

  “He was a sniper and I was his spotter when we were in the military. It’s a long story that I’ll share sometime when we have more time.” Callie’s green eyes glimmered. “Maybe that’s why those feudin’ fillies left us alone. Once they found out I could shoot and wasn’t afraid to use a gun, things died down a little bit.”

  “Well, shit, Sawyer. I just need to wing one of them, and they’ll leave us alone,” Jill said.

  “Sounds like you’ve got the right idea.”

  Jill pointed to the truck pulling up outside the store. “Speak of the devil, and me without my shotgun. Some days it don’t pay to get out of bed.”

  Callie leaned over and whispered, “I’ve got a twenty-two pistol in the glove compartment of my truck. If it gets too heated, I’ll sneak out there and get it for you.”

  “I do believe we are going to be more than spa buddies,” Jill whispered back.

  Betsy breezed into the store, didn’t even look sideways at the two women, but went straight to Sawyer. “Hello, handsome,” she said.

  “Betsy.” He nodded. “What can I do for you today?”

  “Granny needs five pounds of sugar, but while we’re talkin’ about sugar, I can think of a few things you could do for me today.” She smiled up at him.

  Jill peeked around the end of the aisle where she and Callie had been conspiring. “Need some chickens? Aunt Gladys has a sale on whole fryers today and tomorrow.”

  “Good Lord, no! Grandma raises her own chickens. She’s pretty picky about the henhouse. It won’t be long until she has baby chicks everywhere, and then in the spring, she’ll get them ready for butcherin’ day. She’s real prone to chicken and dumplin’s, and believe me, she wouldn’t think of makin’ it with anything but her own range chickens. All I want is five pounds of sugar and a sexy cowboy to take home with me for the weekend. I’ll be gentle, Sawyer,” she flirted.

  Jill picked up a bag of sugar and handed it to Betsy. Maybe if she had something to hold, she wouldn’t find an excuse to put her hands on Sawyer. After the way his kiss affected her that morning, she damn sure didn’t want another woman—Brennan, Gallagher, or even a Redding—to be getting too close to Sawyer.

  Betsy told Jill to put the sugar on the River Bend account, and was reaching for the doorknob when Kinsey pushed her way inside. They reminded Jill of two stray bitch dogs circling and measuring each other up before the big fight.

  “Too late, Kinsey. I’ve already branded him. He’s mine,” Betsy said.

  “The war isn’t over until there’s a gold band on his finger,” Kinsey growled.

  Yep, a couple of mongrel bitches. Not even purebreds, Jill thought.

  “Speakin’ of war”—Betsy’s tone turned threatening—“we know you took Granny’s pigs, and you will pay for it.”

  “Prove it. We didn’t start this pig war, and we won’t take the blame for it,” Kinsey said with a flip of her long hair. “Sawyer, darlin’, my grandmother sent me to buy a dozen of Gladys’s premade shish kebabs for supper tonight. Tyrell is grilling for a few of us. Oh, and a bag of sugar. She’s run out, and we’re havin’ sweet tea with lunch today.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Sawyer said.

  “I’ll be glad to take fourteen if you’ll come to supper with me. Big old rough cowboy like you wouldn’t be satisfied with one little shish kebab, would he? I bet he likes seconds on everything.”

  Jill had never heard talk of shish kebabs sound so seductive. She rolled her eyes toward Callie and made a gun with her forefinger and thumb.

  Callie took a step forward and whispered, “Sawyer best put his boots in the closet and get out some runnin’ shoes. We can always hide him out on our ranch if it gets too tough. I thought Finn was the only one who drew women and trouble to him like a magnet, but it must be all the O’Donnell cowboys.”

  “You got that right, and it gets worse some times,” Jill said. “There are times when he infuriates me so much, I’d like to throw him out there for them to fight over like two old hound dogs with one ham bone between them. Then there are times when he’s so damn sweet, I’d pen them up like hound dogs and starve them to death before I let either one of them even get close to him.”

  Callie laughed. “Been where you are, and don’t want to go back. Pull out your phone, woman. You need to program in my number in case the fire gets too hot and you need a place to go or someone to talk to.”

  Jill nodded. “You read my mind.”

  * * *

  Gladys returned right after noon with a pickup load of meat to be unloaded and put away. “You mind the store, Jill. Get a cart, Sawyer. While I put one basketful away, you can fill another. We’ll get done faster that way. And then I’ll take care of the store. I want you two to go into town and go to the tag agency for me. Wallace pointed out that my pickup tag was a month overdue. I could go, but I’m plumb tuckered out, and I want to prop up my feet for a while.”

  “Aunt Polly?” Jill asked.

  “Verdie is still with her. They’re watching all four Lethal Weapon movies and said they wouldn’t be done until after eight. I’m supposed to bring them ice cream, popcorn, and two thick steaks at five o’clock. I guess I’m cooking. Oh, and yesterday morning a lot of folks paid their bills, so I need you go take a deposit to the bank. You can hand it to them at the drive-through, and they will give you an empty bank bag so I can start all over.”

  “It won’t take both of us to do that chore,” Jill said.

  “Probably not, but I need to catch up on book work, so you might as well go together and go on and get some supper before you come back. I’ll get you the papers for the truck and a check for the tag. I shouldn’t have put them in the glove compartment when they came. If they’d been layin’ out where I could see them, I wouldn’t have let it go so long. Sawyer, there’s a cute littl
e doughnut and ice cream shop on California Street, not far from the tag agency, that makes the best tortilla soup. Y’all should go there.”

  “We will, and don’t worry, we’ll be back in time for chores and to take care of the bar,” he said.

  Gladys handed the papers off to Jill, who took them and headed out the door. “If you are going with me, you’d best slap that cowboy hat on and grab your coat, Sawyer.”

  “This is such a treat,” Jill said as she tossed the keys to her truck to Sawyer and buckled her seat belt. “I am so excited that we get some time out of Burnt Boot.”

  “You could have called Callie and had a manicure,” Sawyer said.

  “I’d rather have tortilla soup and ice cream afterwards.” She smiled.

  They were halfway there when she slapped the dash and said, “Dammit!”

  “What did you forget? Your purse? Not to worry, I have money in my pocket, and I don’t think two bowls of soup and a couple of dips of ice cream is going to break me,” he said.

  “No,” she groaned.

  “Are you afraid it’s a date?” he asked.

  “You are getting warm.”

  “What, then? Just spit it out.”

  “Aunt Gladys and Aunt Polly are matchmaking, and we are the subjects. We are getting along, so they are hearing wedding bells and seeing grandchildren.”

  He chuckled. “You are kiddin’ me.”

  “Nope, I’m not kiddin’. There was no reason to send us both to do this errand, and absolutely none to tell us to go out to supper. They’re afraid I just might fall for a Brennan or a Gallagher. And with them getting up over eighty, and dammit, I forgot about Verdie.”

  “What about Verdie?”

  “She’s got all those adopted grandkids, and she brags about them all the time. Aunt Polly and Aunt Gladys will be feeling the pinch and wanting some of their own,” Jill said.

  “Well, I got to admit”—Sawyer’s smile brightened the whole cab of the truck—“an O’Donnell is better than either one of those, even if we are paupers by their standards. And, Jill, any children you produce won’t be their grandchildren.”

  “Don’t tell either of them that, or Aunt Gladys will fire you.” She crossed her arms over her chest and looked out the side window.

  “Well, darlin’, don’t let knowing what they are up to spoil our afternoon out of town. We shall eat soup and ice cream and enjoy our time without having to think about feuds or red roses or women with wandering hands,” he said.

  “Make it backfire? I like that,” she said. “Since I can’t cook this afternoon, I’ll buy a dozen doughnuts to take home for our midnight snack.”

  “Just a dozen? I can eat that many on the way home and still need a bedtime snack. O’Donnell men are all blessed with a sweet tooth. We’ll each buy a dozen. If they don’t stay fresh, we’ll microwave them and dip ’em in hot coffee.”

  Jill nodded in agreement. “I wonder if they freeze well.”

  Sawyer nodded and swung out onto I-35 heading south. “Bank first, and from what Gladys said, we can park there and walk to the tag agency and to the café. If you see a store in between, we’ll have plenty of time for you to browse.”

  “And if there’s a nail shop, I can go in and get my toenails done?” she teased.

  “Of course you can. I’ll get mine done too,” he shot right back.

  “Be careful, Mr. O’Donnell, I might make you do just that.”

  The bank didn’t have a waiting line, so they were through in less than ten minutes. It would have been quicker if they hadn’t had to count the money twice to make it agree with the deposit slip Gladys had made out. The lady in the tag agency didn’t have a single customer, so Jill was in and out in five minutes, tag in hand as she left.

  They were on their way to the pastry shop when Jill got a case of guilt fever. She checked her watch and dug in her purse for her phone. “I’m going to call Aunt Gladys. What if there’s been another fight in the store and she needs us?”

  Sawyer pushed a lock of dark hair back off his forehead. “If I was either one of those feuding guys, I damn sure wouldn’t mess with Gladys.”

  “How are things?” she asked when Gladys answered.

  “Haven’t had a customer since you left, so I’ve gotten caught up on paperwork. It’s like the eye of a tornado, but why are you calling me? You are supposed to be having some fun,” she said.

  “Why did you say that about a tornado? Are there clouds coming in? Do we need to come back right now?”

  “Polly called and said there is a meeting at River Bend. Something is coming. There’s a change in the air. But it won’t happen today, so go enjoy yourself. Be young and free and forget all about what’s going on here. Good-bye,” Gladys said.

  “Oh, yeah!” Jill pushed the “end” button. “They are definitely matchmaking.”

  He draped an arm around her shoulders. “What do you want to do about it?”

  “Nothing. Let them have their fun,” she said.

  “I vote that we take doughnuts home to them. I bet Polly would love some, and maybe if we get there in time, we could even take some to Verdie for staying with Polly,” Sawyer said.

  Jill stopped so quick that Sawyer took two steps before he realized she’d slipped out from under his arm. He dropped it to his side and looked back with a question in his expression.

  “Damnation!” She pointed.

  Kinsey Brennan was sitting in a booth in the little café, with a huge banana split in front of her.

  Sawyer grinned. “They’re everywhere. They’re everywhere. Name that song.”

  “It’s ‘he’s everywhere, he’s everywhere,’ and it’s a Ray Stevens song.”

  “You got it. You win one maple-iced doughnut with sprinkles. Now, sugarplum, honey bunch, cutie pie, you know we got to act like lovers should, because Santa Claus”—he wiggled his dark eyebrows—“is watchin’ you. And he’s everywhere, he’s everywhere.”

  She giggled. “I don’t think that’s what the lyrics say.”

  “It’s pretty damn close.” He laced his fingers with hers. “If Aunt Gladys wants to play at matchmaking, then we’ll act like lovers should. I damn sure don’t want to be on Santa’s shit list come next Christmas.”

  “And what better way to get news back to Burnt Boot than through a bitchy Brennan, right?” Jill squeezed his hand.

  Sawyer touched her cheek with his palm. “Are you blushing? The wielder of the shotgun? The beer-slingin’ bartender with a blush on her face?”

  “Oh, hush, or I won’t protect you when she tries to undress you in public. And you know what, this might be the answer to any more badgering for dates. We can pretend that we are dating.”

  Kinsey looked up, smiled, and waved when they were inside the shop. The grin quickly faded, though, when she saw that Sawyer was holding Jill’s hand.

  “Hey, Kinsey,” Jill called out. “What’s that you’ve got there? It looks pretty good.”

  “Brownie fudge banana split. They just started making them this week. I’m addicted already,” Kinsey said. “Sawyer, get a spoon from the clerk and come share it with me, or better yet, come sit with me, and I’ll feed it to you one bite at a time off my fingertips.”

  “They don’t give up, no matter what,” Sawyer said out of the corner of his mouth. “Jill and I have our hearts set on a bowl of soup before we have dessert. You go on and enjoy every bite of it all by yourself,” Sawyer said.

  Kinsey shrugged and went back to eating, but her eyes never left Sawyer. Jill picked up a plastic spoon from the counter while Sawyer ordered, marched over to the booth, and sat down across from Kinsey.

  “Since you are offering, I’ll have a couple of bites just to see if we want to share one when we finish our soup.” She dug into the ice cream without waiting for Kinsey to give her permission, put the bite into her m
outh, and rolled her eyes. “Wonderful. One more little bite, and then I’ll leave the rest for you.” She dipped into it again with the spoon that had been in her mouth, and Kinsey flinched. “Oh, yes. Thanks for the offer.”

  She slid out of the booth and joined Sawyer at a little round table for two. Kinsey picked up the ice cream and made a big show of throwing it into the trash can beside the door as she left.

  Bending low, she whispered in Jill’s ear, “Never cross a Brennan, Jill Cleary, or you will live to regret it.”

  “Darlin’, that road goes two ways. Leave me and Sawyer alone, or you’ll see just how mean a Cleary woman can be when she is crossed.”

  Kinsey raised up, shot her a dirty look, and flipped her off as she marched out the door.

  Sawyer chuckled. “You fight dirty.”

  “Yep, I do, but it was good ice cream, and now she’s gone and I don’t have to look at her while I eat. I noticed that you took the chair so your back would be to her.”

  “Yep, I did.” His grin widened.

  * * *

  They were on the way home when Gladys called to tell them that she was going to go ahead and feed the cattle that evening. “Polly is in a pout to see you two, so go on to the house, and I’ll be there soon as I dump a load of feed out for the cows.”

  “We are bringing doughnuts,” Jill said.

  “Don’t you let her eat them all. Hide a few for me.”

  “I don’t reckon she can eat two dozen.”

  “You don’t know Polly. She’s got a sweet tooth that is unreal. See you later,” Gladys said.

  “Aunt Gladys is taking care of feeding. We’re supposed to go see Polly, which we planned to do anyway, but now we can spend a little more time with her,” Jill explained.

  “No mention of Kinsey burning down the bunkhouse?”

  Jill shook her head. “Not yet, but it’s only been an hour.”

  “I’ll bet you that’s the first thing Polly mentions. Rumors travel fast, but anything that has to do with the Gallaghers or the Brennans can break the sound barrier, and I heard something that resembled a jet airplane a couple of minutes ago,” Sawyer said.