by Stuart, Amie
“I’m Bobby.” He smiled at me, revealing braces and a set of dimples.
I wiped my damp hand on my jeans and stuck it out. “Rene.”
Still smiling, he shook my hand and then stood there silently blinking while his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down like he wanted to say something. When he didn’t, I finally gave up and turned to watch his friend play. Occasionally, I looked over my shoulder or wandered out far enough to check on Toni.
“Can I buy you Coke, or uh, are you waiting on someone?” he finally asked “We could go...sit too, if you wanted?” As he spoke his eyes grew larger and larger behind his wire-framed glasses.
That’s when it hit me: he was flirting with me.
All the sudden, my tongue swelled in my mouth, and my mind went as blank as a clean Dry-Erase board. Why was he flirting with me? And why now? I didn’t have time for this.
I blinked and felt my eyes grow as wide as Bobby’s. Just then Toni breezed by, saving me from having to answer him. I shoved my glass at him and blurted out, “Gotta run.”
I shoved my way through the crowd and into the beer garden, praying Daddy wasn’t lying in wait for her. God forbid he should catch me propositioning his hussy. I looked both right and left, spotting her to my right, heading for a different spot than where she usually went. Maybe she was avoiding Daddy. Good.
“Rene.”
Shit! I whirled around in a panic at the sound of Daddy’s voice. “Hi.”
“You know I don’t want you out here by yourself. We’re leaving in fifteen minutes.”
My heart sunk as I nodded. From behind him, I spotted Bobby standing just outside the game room, staring at me with a puzzled frown on his face. “Yes, sir.”
“Meet me at the front door.” He moved past me, and I watched him head in the wrong direction. Yes! Perfect! I flashed Bobby a grin and gave him a small salute. He blew me a kiss, causing me to lose precious seconds as I processed that. I waved before darting off in the direction Toni had gone. I found her stretched out on the bench, her feet propped up on the back. She raised her head and looked at me as I came to screeching halt not three feet from where she lay.
“Daddy’s looking for you.”
“I know.” Her voice was husky, and she sounded tired.
“And I have a proposition for you.” I slowly edged closer, my heart clanging against my ribs.
“What sort of proposition?”
“I don’t have a whole lot of time.” I looked over both my shoulders as if I expected Daddy to appear any minute. And I pretty much figured he would. He was so damned determined. “My Dad really likes you. But I don’t.” I opened my purse and yanked out the bag of bills and change, dropping it on her belly as my lip-gloss clattered on the bricks. “There’s two hundred and thirty-seven dollars in there. Everything I have in the world,” I said as I bent over and felt around on the ground for my lip gloss. “I’ll give it to you if you either leave town or have sex with my dad.”
“Rene Linette Caldwell, what the fuck are you doing?”
“Shit,” I muttered, my eyes on Toni.
IF I HADN’T been lying down, I probably would have fallen off the bench at Rene’s words. Her bluntness wasn’t what left me reeling, but the bribe sure had. “Little one, I don’t want your money.”
I picked up the bag of money and sat up, holding it out to her. She reached for it, but before she could take it from my fingers, Tim had claimed it and stepped between us.
With his free hand he hauled Rene to her feet. “I asked you a question. What the fuck were you doing?”
“Tim!” I reached for his arm, unwilling to let him hurt her. “She didn’t mean any harm!”
“Back off,” he snapped, turning his ferocious scowl in my direction.
“I don’t need your help,” Rene added, her scowl and tone almost as rough as her father’s.
I winced, as much at her insistence she didn’t need help as at his harsh tone, and latched onto his elbow. “Merde, Tim, relax. She’s just a little one, a baby.”
“Don’t—” he shook his head, “—you don’t get to do that, Toni. You don’t get to get between me and my daughter.” To Rene, he said, “I asked you a goddamned question, young lady.”
“When it involves me, yes, I do,” I said, giving him another hard nudge despite my burning face. “And I think the answer is pretty obvious. She’s trying to bribe me. She wants me to leave,” I added in a much softer voice. I gave him a pointed look. Despite his hurtful words, I wasn’t going to let him lay a hand on Rene. He might not see that she was trying to protect him, but I did.
“Goddamnit, Rene I should beat your ass.”
“You’re not touching her, Tim. I won’t allow it.”
Tim finally let her go. “Relax. I said should not would.”
“I said I don’t need you to fucking defend me,” Rene spoke up from his other side.
My mouth open in shock, I stepped where she could see me, the little one with her eyes narrowed to thin blue slits. The little one with no manners who swore like her papa. “Don’ swear at me,” I yelled. “You don’t swear at adults. I’m not mad—”
“I told you to stay out of this, Toni.”
Mouth still hanging open, I frowned, crossing my arms over my chest. “I’m the one she tried to bribe. So don’t talk to me like I’m not standing here.” Then I turned back to face the little one, my head feeling a bit like a tennis ball, and held up a hand to stop them both from speaking until I’d had my say. “After tomorrow, I won’t be seeing your father anymore. He’s taking me to look for parts for my car, and tha’s it.” My fingers itched to touch her even as her defensive stance relaxed a little. I turned back to Tim and offered him an apologetic shrug. “I can’t see you no more after tomorrow. If you don’t want to take me, that’s fine. I understand.” No more silly hand kissing. Nothing.
Sighing, I cleared my throat against the lump that appeared from nowhere and tried to choke me and waited to see what’d happen next.
“You can say you don’t wanna see me until you’re blue in the face and the cows come home and the moon turns to cheese and all that shit.” As he’d spoken, his voice had dropped to a low rumble that seeped into my bones and threatened my resolve. “But you’d be lying, and we both know it.”
I slowly shook my head and shuffled backward, away from the both of them and all they represented. “You only want me because you can’t have me.”
“Um, hello. Gagging here.”
Chuckling sadly, I watched as Tim reached in his pocket and handed his keys over to her. He never released me as he leaned over and grabbed her wrist when she tried to take them from him. I prayed he wouldn’t hurt her. Not that I thought he was a cruel man, but I knew from personal experience anger could make a person do horrible things. “Get your ass in the truck, and consider yourself grounded for the rest of the summer. Or at least until the Gulf of Mexico freezes over. I’m not through with you, young lady,” he warned.
She’d tugged her wrist free and was surprisingly silent as she disappeared around the bend. She didn’t strike me as the type to take her father’s punishment lying down, and I saw difficult days in Tim’s future.
“What was that about me only wanting you because I couldn’t have you?” he asked.
“Tim–”
“What happened to Flirty Boy?” he murmured. With a chuckle, he leaned over a bit, forcing me to look in his eyes.
“Alright, Flirty Boy, I still think the only reason you want me is because you can’t have me. And the only reason I agreed to let you take me looking for parts is because I hate always asking Kellie for rides.”
“Toni, my Creole Queen, you had better learn right now it’s going to take a lot more than my daughter to run me off. Matter of fact, I made a decision about us.”
“I made a decision about us, too.” I struggled to release myself from his arms, from his distracting scent and the feel of his warm hard body pressed against mine. It reminded me too much of the blues
bar on Wednesday night. I opened my mouth, but before I could speak, he covered my lips with his, one hand gently cupping my jaw. As he sucked and nibbled, my heart and my soul waged a war.
To allow myself to be drawn in would be wrong and unfair to him, to Rene, and also to me. But more importantly, I honestly did not know if I could give him the intimacy I knew he would eventually want—in and out of bed. His patience would wear thin. I was shocked he hadn’t given up already.
The feel of his tongue against my lips snapped me back to the present and made me more aware of how dire the situation was. I had to do something. His tongue slipped past my lips as I inhaled to speak, catching me off guard. The feel of his open mouth on mine, plundering my mouth, teasing, coaxing, distracted me from my course of action. I pushed against his chest with all my might and broke free, despite the fact I wanted nothing more than to relax in his arms, wrap my arms around his neck and spend an eternity kissing him beneath the light of the half-moon above us. “We can’t do this,” I gasped. “This can’t happen.”
“The hell it can’t.”
“At best, I’ll be here just a few months. Six if you’re really lucky, and at worst, I’ll take off as soon as my car is fixed.” No matter how bad I wanted him or what he could offer me, what he obviously wanted to offer me, my destiny lay in Louisiana with Nichole. After Kellie’s revelations the other night, I was more determined than ever to make myself as findable as possible by the time my baby girl turned eighteen. I hoped my brutal honesty would help him think twice about the choice he would make.
“Then at best, I have six months to try and convince you to stay,” he said solemnly. “And at worst, I have until your car is fixed, don’t I?”
Before I could stop him, he cupped my face in his hands and kissed me again. I gave in, cursing myself for letting my guard down, knowing I would regret it in the morning.
Hell, I already did.
TIM’S EVENING HAD been as amazing as it had been frustrating. He was furious and hurt. Furious at Rene, who he planned on killing at the first opportunity and hurt at Toni. But he’d meant every word. He’d put it all on the line for her, just this one last time, and pray it was enough. He’d do his damndest to help her get her car fixed, a part of him convinced if he did, she’d actually stay. He’d woo her like he hadn’t ever wooed a woman. But at the same time he knew he’d have to tread carefully. This was no ordinary woman, and it would take extraordinary measures to win her. He’d have to play it cool and reel her in slow.
“I need to go,” he murmured, planting light kisses on her soft, full lips, reveling in the feel of her against the length of him. She was still convinced his want was purely sexual.
He’d prove her wrong.
He almost laughed. They’d only been on two dates but where Toni was concerned, he was so screwed.
She nodded, her lids heavy, and her eyes sleepy looking. He released her and stepped back, needing to put some distance between them. Otherwise he might have thrown her over his shoulder, taken her home, and tucked her into bed so he could cuddle with her, make love to her, talk dirty to her. “I need to go deal with Rene,” he finally said.
“And I need to go back to work. Please go easy on her, Tim. She’s a little territorial about her daddy, is all.” She shrugged and gave him a soft smile, but he wouldn’t let her see how his name on her lips or her pleas for him to go easy on Rene affected him. “She loves you, and I think she’s scared.”
He nodded. “We’ll see.”
He walked her back inside and kissed her at the entrance to the bar, not caring who saw, commented, or knew. He’d staked his claim, and all of Bluebonnet could go to hell if they didn’t like it. “I’ll pick you up about one?”
“I’ve got a ride. Now go deal with Rene.” She gave him a little shove. She straightened her shoulders, shooting a glance behind her at where Aunt Susie stood watching them. He opened the half-door for her and swung it shut before looking up at his aunt.
“Night, Suz,” he offered with a nod and a tiny bow in her direction. Judging from the pursed set of her mouth, he’d have a visitor at some point tomorrow, and their conversation wouldn’t be pretty. “Good night, my queen.”
With one last wink at Toni, he turned on his heels and headed for the door, girding himself for battle with Rene. This was going to be ugly.
“G’night, Flirty Boy,” she called out after him.
When he got to his truck, he found Rene talking to Len Marshall’s middle son. He was just a little older than Rene and had peach fuzz and wire-rim glasses. “Rene Linette, I thought I told you to wait in the truck.” She jumped nearly a mile high, and Bobby Marshall wasn’t far behind her.
Tim smothered a laugh. He knew damn good and well they hadn’t been doing anything. Hell, there’d been at least two feet between them, but they acted as if they’d been caught necking in the back of the Baptist church.
“It’s my fault, sir,” Bobby offered up. “I saw Rene was upset,” he stammered. “And, uh, I offered to walk her outside.”
“I see.” He nodded, playing it cool and trying to remember what it’d been like to be fourteen. At fourteen a young man’s ego was fragile and directly in proportion to the number of hairs on his chin. He smiled. “I appreciate that.”
“Besides,” he continued, “it’s not safe for...uh...young ladies.” Bobby nodded toward Rene who stared at him wide eyed. The message was clear: Please don’t embarrass me. “To walk alone in dark parking lots. Daddy’d skin my hide if I didn’t do the right thing. Sir.”
Tim nodded and smiled again, taking another look at his daughter, who stood before him, her hands clasped behind her back, her face free of makeup but for a touch of lip gloss. She’d be tall and willowy like her momma, and he swallowed the sudden lump that invaded his throat as he realized his daughter was pretty.
“Thank you, Bobby. I appreciate your concern, but it’s time for us to head home. I’ve had a hell of a long day.”
“Yes, sir.” He smiled and nodded. “Bye, Rene. Will you be here tomorrow night?” He looked from her to Tim and back again as he scuffed his boots through the gravel.
“I’m not sure. I think I got something to do.” She shrugged, the expression on her face neutral as only Rene could make it.
Tim felt another odd twinge in the region of his heart at the forlorn expression on Bobby Marshall’s face as he prepared to stammer out his acceptance of his new lady-love’s edict. Damn Toni for distracting him; he couldn’t take pity on poor Bobby. “We’ll be here.”
The smile that crossed the boy’s face could have lit up all of Bluebonnet and warmed Tim’s heart just as much as it scared him. The idea of Rene and boys was almost more than he could handle. Rene stared at him wide-eyed in shock. He’d have to think of some way to punish her besides keeping her home tomorrow night. He saw chores in her future—and lots of them.
IT WAS THE best of times, it was the worst of times.
In the weeks following my attempted bribery of The Witch, I spent a lot of time on horseback, helping Poppy with the stock and mucking out stalls, and very little time helping Dad with the yearlings. Which wasn’t really a punishment. I loved the horses; I just tolerated the cows. Daddy also made me clean house and keep up the laundry.
Mucking stalls was definitely the preferable of the two.
About a month before school started back, Poppy put me on the payroll, giving me money to add to my stash, which Daddy had silently returned to me. We spent every weekend at the dancehall, and Dad let Bobby’s mom drive us to the movies on Tuesday afternoons. My twelfth summer would definitely be one for the record books. I’d started my period, had my first boyfriend and even got my first tongue kiss one hot July night in the dancehall’s beer garden. I now understood why Daddy had always forbidden me to go out there without him.
Daddy continued to date The Witch, and spent the summer getting grumpier and grumpier. They only went out once or twice a week, and Dad was always home early. Plus he banned me from
talking to her unless I was polite, and I couldn’t. Sometimes I just wanted to scream at her to get it over with and sleep with him, before he did something stupid like put a ring on her damn finger.
THE NEW BARN was finished, Uncle Ty’s divorce was finalized, and Aunt Jessa got pregnanter and pregnanter. And over the Fourth of July weekend, her dad and brother delivered her horses. Eighteen of the most gorgeous sweeties I’d ever seen in my life. I spent a lot of time at the fence drooling. I also spent a lot of time with Aunt Dee, trying to figure out how to put on makeup.
I never could seem to get it right.
Daddy forgot all about taking me to Boudros, of course, and he never took me shopping for stuff for my bedroom. Again, of course. By the time my birthday rolled around in August, Aunt Dee started college at UTSA, and Bobby and I broke up. He was going to high school in a couple weeks and decided a junior high girlfriend wasn’t the thing. So I suppose, you could add my first broken heart to the junk heap that was my life.
Not that I was like super devastated like those girls on TV, but I missed seeing him, plus he went out of his way to ignore me at the dance hall. So, between him and Toni, I stayed home and spent a lot of time with Sonny Boy. Daddy giving me Sonny Boy as a birthday present definitely made up for Bobby dumping me—but not for Toni.
Junior high started in the middle of one of the worst heat waves South Central Texas had ever seen. I stashed my makeup under the bathroom sink—except for the lipgloss, and when it finally began to cool down in October, Uncle Ty turned thirty. Who would have thought that something as normal as a birthday would have such profound effect on my life.
THE SUMMER PASSED in a haze of heat and shopping and cooking and kissing. By Independence Day my car was fixed, but Kellie and I continued to run around together. She’d show me all the best places to bargain hunt, and I fed her. Despite her best efforts, I still refused to polish my toenails.
