Crazy Little Thing Called Love

by Jess Bryant

  But it wouldn’t keep working if she didn’t get back to her job. She was freelance which meant she was easily replaceable. She was a hard worker that always got the top projects but they’d only hold the spot for her for so long before they were forced to give it to somebody else.

  And she didn’t know how long she was going to be away. The doctors weren’t giving her any hard facts. They said there was no way of knowing. Her father was in the final stages of the disease. He was dying but that could take days, weeks or months.

  She was still trying to wrap her head around what all that meant. She couldn’t begin to look at what it meant once he was dead and what that would mean to her life. No mother, no father, just a ranch that she’d never loved and had no idea how to run.

  She needed to talk to her father. She knew it. He had to know it despite his stubbornness. So for now she had to focus on getting him home and getting him comfortable. If she could take care of that, maybe she could get him to finally open up and tell her what she was supposed to do.

  Another week passed before her father was well enough to be moved home. Blue had taken care of all the arrangements. He had a live-in nurse. He had a hospital bed in his bedroom and the old oak set was taken into storage. He was home but if she’d thought that would make him any easier to deal with she’d been painfully wrong.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” He woke from another bout of sleep that had kept him out all night and half the day and scowled at her.

  She looked up from the magazine she was reading. He looked just as he had every other time when he woke. Unhappy, stubborn and annoyed, and all of it was directed straight at her. She sighed and put the magazine aside.

  “I’m looking after you Daddy. What else would I be doing?”

  “Your job for one. You still got one of those right?”

  She took a deep breath and let it out. Just once she’d like for him to wake up and smile. Just once she’d like him to wake up and be happy to see her. Why did he always have to push her away and why did it still hurt so damn much?

  “Yeah, I took a leave of absence.”

  “Well that’s stupid.” He grumbled, “I don’t need you here tending to me. I got the nurses and the doctors and if I need anything Arlene or Bobby can get it for me.”

  Yeah, he had everybody he needed, everybody but his daughter. He didn’t want her here. He couldn’t make that any more clear but she wasn’t going to let him die without his only family member by his side.

  “You should just go on back to Atlanta or wherever it is you’re living these days.”

  She bit her lip. Did he really think she still lived in Atlanta? That had been five years ago. She lived in Denver. They’d talked about her apartment and the view of the mountains. They’d talked about John Elway for God’s sake.

  “Denver Daddy. I live in Denver.”

  “Same difference.”

  “Sure.” She sighed, “Can I get you anything? Water? The mail? Do you want to watch television?”

  “I haven’t watched daytime television once in my life and I ain’t going to start now girl.” He snarled, “Bobby’s supposed to be coming by with some spreadsheets. Has he been here?”

  “I think I saw him talking to Arlene.”

  “Well go get him already.”

  He couldn’t send her back to Denver but that wouldn’t stop him from trying to send her away. He did it as often as he opened his eyes these last few days. She’d stopped trying to breach the subject of the ranch or why he’d kept his illness a secret from her. The last time he’d nearly pulled his IV out trying to get away from her and cursed for a solid hour from the pain afterwards. Their only conversations were him kicking her out of his room.

  “Okay.” She reluctantly stood and went to the door but it opened just as she reached it and Bobby marched inside.

  “It’s about damn time Bob. You get done flirting with Arlene and decide it’s time to work?”

  Blue blinked at the strange comment. Bobby flirting with Arlene? Was that a joke? Her father didn’t know how to joke.

  “Keep your pants on. I’m here ain’t I?” Bobby growled right back and then smiled, “Hi there Bluebell.”

  “Hi Bobby.” She gave him a welcoming hug.

  Hugs from Bobby had always been a highlight of her childhood. Unlike her father he was a warm and welcoming presence. He knew how to laugh and love and smile. She couldn’t remember if her father had ever hugged her as tightly as Bobby had over the years.

  “How’re you holding up girl?”

  “Just fine.”

  Bobby might be more open than her father but he was still a ranch-hardened old man and he wasn’t really asking. She kept it all locked down where it was supposed to be. She was far from fine but hell could freeze over before she admitted it to one of these men.

  “Good to hear. You were always a strong one.” He winked playfully.

  “Where’ve you been?” Lyle frowned.

  “I told you yesterday that Amy was in the hospital. She had her little girl, Ally Beth.” Bobby beamed with pride. “I’m a granddaddy again.”

  She’d heard over the past few weeks that Billy’s wife was due with their third baby soon. Her mouth had nearly fallen open since he was just a few years older than her. Sure families started early in Fate, that didn’t mean she understood the urge to pop out babies as quick as God could make them, not that she wouldn’t like to have some one day herself. Just one day in the distant future, where she also had a man to help her raise them up right.

  The knot in her throat strangled her congratulations. She was so far from finding a good man she couldn’t even see his silhouette on the horizon anymore. Maybe if she’d stayed in Denver one of the nice successful business types would have panned out but in Fate… she’d end up an old maid just as everyone had always suspected.

  “Must be nice. You’ve got a whole litter now and I ain’t even got one.”

  “Grandkids? You’ve never mentioned you wanted grandkids.” Blue turned at the sound of her father’s voice and her head tilted curiously.

  “Didn’t think I should have to.” He grumbled.

  Her mouth opened and then closed again. Grandkids. He wanted grandkids? Was that why he was so grouchy when he asked about her life? Is that what he’d always meant by her needing roots? He wanted her to settle down and pop out a batch of grandkids for him? He’d probably been hoping for a male heir so he could leave the ranch to somebody that might love it like he did. She nearly choked on that thought and the guilt curled up her spine again.

  “I’ll let you guys work.” She mumbled and raced for the door, needing some fresh air.

  No her father would never live to see a grandchild. Even if she’d had sex in the past few months, which she hadn’t, he’d be gone before she delivered. That was something she couldn’t think about though so instead she pushed it to the back of her mind and found ways to distract herself from the elephant in the room. Her father was dying and she was still just a lost little girl.

  She went into town and had her hair highlighted at the Curl Up & Dye salon. As it turned out her old high school friend Jenny Sue owned it and they caught up over bleaching strips. Jenny Sue was divorced with two kids but her scumbag ex as she liked to call him took the little boys every other weekend so she was free the next night. Blue made plans to get a beer with her and a couple of the other women just to have something to do outside the house.

  When she returned her father was asleep again so she curled up on the couch and watched reality television. It had always made her feel better about her own life. She could turn it on and watch those suckers make ridiculously stupid choices and know she had it better than them. It usually helped her mood. Tonight though it just reminded her of how bad her own life was failing so she turned it off and went to bed early, resigned that tomorrow was a different day.

  Chapter Nine

  Technically Sully’s was the only bar in Fate but if you crossed the county line jus
t a few miles outside of town there was a dance hall that backed up to the river. They played the music too loud and poured the drinks too stiff. Typically, the night ended with at least one punch being thrown when an Aggie and a Longhorn had the misfortune of meeting up. It was not the type of place that Blue ever thought she’d set foot inside.

  She hadn’t been worried when Jenny Sue gave her the directions. No, the worry had come when her old friend informed her if she had anything cowgirl sexy, she better pull it out of the back of the closet because silk and stilettos would get her killed in a place like the Roadhouse. Since she had the misfortune of having only her weekend wardrobe, what she’d bought in Amarillo while her father was in the hospital and her high school clothes she’d had to resort to some creativity.

  As she stood outside the crowded establishment in a gravel parking lot she wondered if she hadn’t gone quite far enough. The jacked up trucks and motorcycles that lined the edges of the lot tipped her off that the Audi was out of place and so was she. The men and women staring at her as she crawled from the car had set her teeth on edge. There were more tattoos and missing teeth in this bunch than she’d seen in the prison documentaries on Discovery channel.

  Fate prided itself on being a quiet, respectable southern town so odds were most of the people inside weren’t locals. They’d be the country mainstays, the ones that lived further out of town on the edges of civilization probably. The others were just passing through as several of the tags read from out of state. That gave her a dash of confidence. At least she’d be facing strangers and not the good folks of First Baptist because she needed a drink or five.

  She’d spent the day at her father’s side getting reprimanded for everything from chewing gum to simply breathing. She couldn’t take it anymore. She needed to get out of the house, away from the ranch and the man that wished she’d leave him alone. She’d never been happier she’d agreed to get a beer with an old friend.

  She needed to feel like she had some semblance of a life other than sitting and waiting for her father to tell her what he wanted from her before he died. She’d offered to spend her days working the ranch but he’d laughed long and hard about that one. He’d never taught her more than the basics and despite her arguments that she was plenty smart enough to pick it up he’d given her a stern no and went so far as to force Bobby to do the same when she tried to ignore him and clean out the barn anyway.

  Montgomery Oaks was a big place with a thousand working parts. She was certain there was something she could do other than make her bed and help Arlene wash dishes occasionally but nobody would let her. She was a girl. Her place was in the house. Except her father was now in the house and he didn’t seem to want her there either.

  She’d spent a lot of time over the past few weeks thinking about what she could do, of what would need to be done when her father passed away. Somebody was going to inherit the hundreds of acres and have to take on the responsibility of tending to it and the cattle and the other animals and employees and paychecks and everything else that went along with a business. She had no idea how to do any one of those things and she didn’t even know if her father planned to give her the ranch. All the questions without answers just left her spinning her wheels with nothing to do.

  So tonight she was doing something for herself. She’d pulled out an old white sundress from her closet. It still fit miraculously enough though it was a bit tighter in the breast department than she remembered it. Still, it hit mid-thigh which was high enough to be sassy and go nicely with her old cowboy boots without being slutty.

  Her boots she’d found at the back of the closet. They’d been her most prized possession in high school. She couldn’t remember why she didn’t take them with her to college. They had a slight heel to them and were bright cherry red leather with tiny little hearts cut into each side at the top.

  She paired the dress with her mother’s old custom-made belt that her father had given her on her fifteenth birthday. It was dark leather, stiff from never being used, but gorgeous nonetheless. It had “Montgomery” burned into the back and the buckle was etched with the Montgomery Oaks brand. She’d rarely worn it since it was her mothers and because it had always been a notch too tight. With her sudden weight loss, it fit perfectly around her waist.

  The quick look in the mirror before she left the house said all she wanted it to say. She might not have roots. She might have left Fate behind a decade ago but she’d been born a Texan and she damn sure knew how to dress like one when the occasion called.

  When she walked into the Roadhouse she was happy Jenny Sue had informed her to dress up. Her friend had been right. If she’d shown up in a place like this in stilettos she’d have probably been mugged. Her outfit was more cute than sexy but at least she had boots and a belt buckle. That appeared to be the major trend in the dance hall along with ten gallon hats for the men.

  She spotted Jenny Sue waving from a table near the bar and headed over as quickly as she could amid the crowd. The rest of the women at the table had taken up their friends call to arms and they stood to give her hugs as she reached them. Blue wasn’t sure she’d been hugged as much in ten years away as she had been in the past three weeks.

  Jenny Sue made the introductions, “Girls, I’m sure you all remember Bluebell.”

  Jenny Sue had never been a particularly close friend of hers in high school. They’d simply hung out in the same circles off and on. That didn’t keep her from acting as if not a day had passed since they were swapping bubble gum and reading each others diaries though, just like a true Texan.

  And just like a true Texan, Jenny Sue had gone all out for the dance hall. In high school she’d had dark brown hair and big brown eyes. Being a hairdresser now though, she had dark and light streaks of mahogany and honey brown and tonight it was teased into big curls around her face. Many of the other women sported similar looks and Blue wondered if Jenny Sue didn’t fix all of their hair.

  “This is Tara Newton, she was a year ahead of us but we all had athletics together remember? She was on the cheerleading squad.”

  “Yeah. You were always the flyer right?”

  “Yes. I can’t believe you remember that.” The petite blonde that had most definitely been a brunette in high school cooed. “And it’s Tara Newton Hayes now. I married Hank.”

  “Oh well congratulations.”

  Blue tried not to let her surprise show. This tiny little woman that couldn’t be more than 5’3 had married Hank Hayes? Hank “the tank” Hayes? He’d been the biggest linebacker on the Fate Falcons football team. He could probably squash her if he didn’t look where he stepped.

  “Thank you.” Tara grinned, “Are you married?”

  “No.”

  “Oh well that’s okay. We’re all going to pretend to be single tonight anyway.” A brunette gave a wide smile and everyone giggled.

  “Peggy Sutton Daniels Lambert, though you probably remember her without so many last names.” Jenny Sue giggled and Blue really did smile that time. “She’s trying to give Elizabeth Taylor a run for her money with the number of times she was married.”

  “Sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs. Turns out, that’s all I’ve ever kissed.” Peggy shrugged as if the other women weren’t making fun of her. “It’s nice to see you Bluebell.”

  “Please, call me Blue. All of you, really.”

  “Oh so cute.” Tara grinned. “Now, let’s get you a drink.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Blue took the extra chair between Tara and Jenny Sue as they waved for a waitress.

  As they caught up on their lives and sipped their beers Blue scanned the heavy crowd. Nearly every table was filled and the dance floor overflowed with people. Cowboy hats moved at a steady two-step in a broad circular motion. The occasional baseball cap stuck out on occasion. Only a handful of men had braved the bar sans headgear and immediately her eyes were drawn to a head that peeked out higher than the others, covered in neatly trimmed dark brown stubble.

 
Yes, Zach West would always stand out, even in a crowd. His big body moved gracefully across the dance floor. There were too many people between them for her to get a long eyeful but short drinks were enough to put together the basics. He could dance, really dance, which kind of annoyed her almost as much as his attitude and jokes had the other day. If he could dance like that why had they simply swayed at the wedding like left-footed fools?

  Still, her eyes didn’t seem to mind he’d insulted her just a week ago. No, all her eyes cared about was watching those long legs encased in dark denim and that broad chest in another pearl-snap shirt. This one was pure white and despite the white undershirt beneath it she could just make out the curls of that tattoo she’d noticed on the highway. The white should have given him a softer edge but it just reinforced all the dark hard lines instead and her mouth watered despite herself.

  The song ended and the woman he was dancing with threw herself against him for a tight hug. She watched him give her one squeeze and two pats on the back before he released the woman and turned her back towards a nearby table. As much as her pride enjoyed the fact he hadn’t seemed phased by the woman rubbing herself against him she prayed he didn’t see her. Tonight was supposed to be relaxing and there was nothing relaxed about her body when that man was within fifty yards.

  “Why, Bluebell Montgomery Carter, I never thought I’d see the day.” A loud male voice caught the attention of everyone around them and she cringed.

  Zach froze. His head turned and his gaze found her in an instant. He stared at her for a long second, so long that she forgot somebody had yelled her name and squealed in surprise as two big strong arms picked her up from her chair and spun her in a circle.

  “Austin?” She desperately hoped her dress was still around her thighs and not up around her waist, “Austin Wayne Evans you put me down this instant.”