by Caryl McAdoo
“We won nine to nothing.” Giving his sweetness a wink, he chuckled. “Your dad’s team didn’t get a runner past second.”
“Yeah, and you were the rascal who hit two homeruns and a double to drive in all y’all’s runs, if I remember right.”
She punched Gij again on the same place.
“Ow.”
“You deserved it! I was at that game! Little James was so mad. Did you remember seeing me there?”
“Yes, sort of. Anyway, enough about that. How about I buy us some lunch?” He faced Samantha Danielle’s father. “Anywhere you’d like. What’s your pleasure, sir?”
“Corrie Cate’s been at the stove all morning, and I guarantee you there’s not a restaurant in the county can touch her cooking. Besides, she’d never forgive me if I didn’t bring you straight home. She’s excited about meeting you both.”
Samantha Danielle slipped her hand into his and squeezed. “Daddy’s new lady friend.” She faced her father. “Right?”
“Yes and no.” He backed toward his truck. “Come on, I’ll fill you in on the way home.”
Gij half listened as Dan drove them north. He’d never been to Northeast Texas before and the topography duly impressed him, nothing like the area just east of Dallas. Red River County took care of its garbage, kept it out of sight.
Only a few scattered houses and businesses, tall pines and cedars mixed in among a lot of hard woods, and so clean—even the air. The folks seemed to take pride in their homes. He didn’t see one trashy place.
“So anyway, after Corrie Cate’s husband died, she hunted me down; we’ve been seeing each other about six weeks now.”
What? Gij couldn’t be sure he’d heard right, but it wasn’t any of his business. Why would the lady look Dan up right after her husband died? Okay, maybe he should pay better attention.
Two turns off the paved road, with Samantha Danielle jumping out to open a gate, and a winding, tree covered lane later, Gij spotted his lady’s childhood home. “You grew up here?”
“Sure did. We moved in when I was eight, right after my mother left us. I barely remember the house in Balch Springs.”
A pleasant-looking lady with sandy grey hair stood on the raised porch, looking like the mother Gij never had. The two-story farm house surely posed for a Norman Rockwell painting, and the grandmother-type straight from central casting.
Did You plan all this, Lord?
Sure seemed her daddy acted happier than Sammi Dan ever remembered him being. And without a doubt, the lady could cook. She must be good for him. For twenty minutes or so after the last bite of cheesecake, her daddy quizzed Gij.
The man must have found out every single detail about his new and old professions. And she loved every minute of that, but her guy appeared reluctant to dive too deep into either one. Still, he answered Daddy’s questions, just didn’t embellish.
“It’s been great meeting you, sir.”
“That sounds too much like a we’ve-got-to-be-going now, but you only just got here. How about I show you around a bit before I take you back to town?”
“I’d like that, sir.” Gij stood. “Wish we could stay all day, but I need to get to the ballpark.”
Sammi Dan’s breath caught in her throat. It suddenly dawned on her exactly what was going on. Her daddy wanted to get Gij alone. A hand rested on her forearm and brought her out of the revelation.
“How about you come sit and keep me company while I do these dishes, Sweetheart?”
Sammi Dan looked to her daddy’s new lady friend then heard herself say. “No way, you cooked. You sit, and I’ll do the dishes.”
The men strolled out the door together. Oh well, maybe he’ll break one of his stupid rules and tell a little white lie if Daddy asked him straight out.
CHAPTER
TEN
“Daddy sure seems happy.”
“He’s been like a little kid the day before summer break ever since you called. Almost giddy.”
Sammi Dan put the last glass in the dishwasher, closed the door, then faced the lady. “Well, I think it has more to do with you than me. You’re so good for him.”
“What a sweet thing for you to say, darlin’. Don’t guess I’ve ever known anyone like your daddy. He’s something else.”
“He mentioned that you’d looked him up after your husband died. How’d you know him?”
“Oh, sugar, we all went to high school together. Well, actually junior high, except they’re calling it middle school now. Your mother and I were best friends once up a time.”
“Really?” Sammi Dan slipped back into her seat at the table. “Have you talked with her lately?”
“No, I sure haven’t. Have you?”
“Last time I spoke with her, I called on her birthday.”
“Not since February, huh? I’d show up on her doorstep if my Hannah went that long without talking to me.” She laughed. “And she knows it, too.”
Samantha smiled and gave her a little nod. “We’re not close.”
Cate’s face reddened. “I’m sorry, dear.”
Sammi Dan shrugged. “I’m sure Daddy’s told you she left when I was eight, and I didn’t see her at all for two years. It’s okay that we’ve never been close.”
“I hear you, but I’m still sorry.”
“Well, anyway, so you and daddy have known each other that long. Were y’all classmates or…” Sammi Dan gave the lady a come-on-spill-your-guts springboard.
“He hasn’t ever told you our story?”
“I don’t think so. What was your maiden name?”
“Chandler.”
“Cate Chandler.” Sammi Dan racked her memory but drew a blank. “So you and Daddy were…”
“High school sweethearts. All kind of sad really. I always had a crush on your dad, but he had a thing for Charlie, and she was crazy over Freddy.” She shook her head. “That Fred was handsome alright. The quarterback, student council president, class favorite, most likely to succeed.”
“Wow, I never knew.”
“Yes, ma’am, he had it all, but didn’t love anyone but himself, and money.” She seemed to go back to those days, looking off out the window. “Yes, ma’am, Freddy loved only those two things. And in that order.”
“Was this all through high school? I heard Mom and Daddy married right after they graduated.”
Cate looked back and smiled. “Yes, I know. The worst day of my life.”
“Really?”
“Freddy had dumped your mom that spring. Charlene moved right in and stole your dad away from me.” Cate filled her lungs, let it out slow, then gave Sammi Dan a weak smile. “Nothing I could do.”
“Awe, now I’m sorry.”
“He was crazy over her. I went off to secretarial school in Dallas and met my Mike. He was a great guy, and we had twenty-seven good years. Poor man suffered so long before he passed. I knew your daddy hadn’t remarried.”
“How?”
“I’ve got family all over Red River County.” She laughed. “Wasn’t hard to keep up with him. Anyway, so I looked him up. The torch I carried for him never went out, I guess. Didn’t take much for him to talk me into…”
“Into what?”
“Well.” She leaned over and checked out the window. “Moving in, but don’t tell your dad, okay. My house finally sold last week, and well…there’s no long drive this way.”
Thought she had folks all over the county. But at least he couldn’t say anything to Sammi Dan. “Of course not, I won’t say a word. So you and daddy dated in school. Too boss. For how long?”
Cate got the tea pitcher from the fridge, looked both ways out the kitchen sink window, filled two glasses, then sat back down. “We started dating the summer before our junior year, right after Freddy gave Charlene his senior ring—he was a year ahead of us—and most of our senior year. We broke up right before prom, and he took Charlie.”
“So mom knew Fred before?” Why hadn’t anyone ever told her that?
“Oh my,
yes. They were the coolest couple in school. The four of us double dated a lot. Then Freddy broke up with her to chase his fortune and met a rich Dallas socialite at SMU. He went there on a football scholarship.”
“He played for SMU? You’re kidding me.”
“No, dear, it’s all true. Charlie decided she wanted my Dan, and us being friends sure didn’t stop her one bit. She broke my heart twice over. But she hated being alone, and I figured trying to make Freddy jealous.”
That explained so much. Sammi Dan leaned in closer. “So Dad married Mom, and Fred married the rich girl.”
“Well, they had to.”
Oh, cream gravy and high-rise biscuits, so that’s why no one ever told her. “Really?”
“I’m afraid so. Anyway, Freddy’s gal came from money, and after a few years, once he got his hands on some of it, he decided what he really wanted was Charlie. So he divorced, and your mother…you know.”
“And he didn’t want me.”
Sammi Dan sipped her iced tea. Daddy should have told her all this. Or Aunt Rachael for sure. She put on her best thanks for the family dirt smile and nodded. “So now you and Dad are back together.”
Cate leaned in. “Act surprised when he tells you, but I moved in last week. I’m staying in your old room until November.”
“What happens then?”
“Let him tell you.”
Hard to believe Gij wanted to change the subject, but all Dan wanted to talk about was baseball.
Then finally right after the grand tour of his barn—the man proved a little messier than he preferred—the question he’d expected darted out of the man’s mouth like a hard slider.
“So tell me, G. H. What are your intentions with my daughter?”
“Honorable, sir, but please, you can call me Gij.”
“Okay, well, now, that’s good to hear, but exactly what are your intentions? I want verbs, not adjectives.”
“What I mean, sir, is that I hope to marry Samantha Danielle.”
The old man nodded and eyed him hard—as though Gij had just shoved all in, and the guy was trying to sniff out a bluff. “Didn’t the two of you just meet? What has it been? A week?”
“Actually longer, but only a little. I’m not planning on jumping into anything, and I don’t expect her to either. Plus, there’s the matter of her not being saved.”
“Oh, wait just a minute now.” He waved him off. “Don’t hold that against her. That’s my fault. I let her mother take her to the local parish, then after Charlie ran off, I wasn’t too happy with God or anyone else.”
“I can understand that, but –”
“Hadn’t been for Sammi…well…no telling how stupid I might have got.” He shrugged like he was throwing off those bad old days. “Anyways, Cate…she…uh…saw on Twitter last night that you put it in your contract that my Sammi…that she’s the only one could do on-air interviews with you. That true?”
“Yes, sir, it is.”
“So are you sleeping with her?”
He looked the man square in the eye just like he did his opponents at the Hold’Em table. “No, sir. I am not, and wouldn’t. Not outside the bounds of marriage.”
“Then why’d you put such a thing in your contract?”
“I have my reasons. She’s asked the same thing, and I’ve promised to tell her when we get back from our road trip to California—if she hadn’t shot me by then.” He held his hand out, palm almost up.
“My girl’s a good shot. No killer, might maim you though.” He laughed.
“Hey, you and Cate are welcome to come back with us if you can, stay at my place. I’ve got plenty of room. I’ll get you some great tickets to the game.”
“Oh, we couldn’t on the spur of the moment like this.”
“Well then, we could get them for the next time I pitch.”
“Sounds fun. Cate would probably enjoy a little getaway.”
“And we could come pick y’all up in the Cessna. Won’t even have to fight that nasty traffic.”
“That’s a mighty temptin’ offer, Son. I’ll talk it over with Cate. Now tell me this. Why are you thinking my Sammi would shoot you?”
“Oh, I rather frustrate her at times, but I think I’m growing on her.”
Sammi Dan waved to her daddy. It thrilled her that he finally had a woman by his side who loved him. Evidently, she always had, too. No way the lady could ever know how much Sammi appreciated the talk and the truths she shared.
She liked her a lot.
With the headphones over her ears, she leaned back. Gij revved the engine, taxied down the paved runway, and went to doing his pilot thing. The silver bird lifted as smooth as buttermilk pie.
Poof, she flew up in the clouds and loved it. “Well, did he ask?”
“Of course. He’s your father.”
Sammi Dan’s heart froze. She knew she never should have left the two of them alone. Should have insisted on going with Gij. Those dishes could’ve waited. But then she wouldn’t have had her talk with Cate.
Though the last thing she wanted to do, her brain went to imagining her daddy’s reaction. “What’d you tell him?”
“What do you think? The truth.”
Pickles. Exactly what she did not want. It wouldn’t have killed Gij to tell one little white one.
“That we were not sleeping together.”
“What about me living at your place?”
“Didn’t come up.”
She breathed again. Him being his goody-two-shoes-self saved her that time. But still, too close for comfort. “Excellent, that’s certainly a relief. So what do you think?”
“He’s your dad. What’s there to think?” He chuckled. “It isn’t like you’ve got a spare lying around. He’s your father, and I liked him fine. I also enjoyed seeing where you grew up. Red River County is a beautiful, quiet, and peaceful place. What’d you think of his new lady friend?”
She studied Clarksville’s courthouse and town square as he circled overhead. “Well, actually I found out she isn’t so new after all.”
“Really? How so?”
Spotted her daddy’s truck, pulling into the grocery store that had been a Piggly Wiggly the whole time she’d lived there, but someone went and bought it and named it Rehkopf’s. She glanced back to Gij.
“Cate told me they were an item for two years in high school, before Fred.”
“Isn’t that the guy your mom divorced your dad over?”
“Right, but I didn’t know until today that Fred and my mother were like the cool couple in high school, then he went off to SMU her senior year. He dumped mom right before prom, and she promptly stole my dad away from Cate—her supposed best friend—then got herself pregnant with me.”
“Wow, and you just found all this out today?”
“That’s right.” She doubled her fist and eased it against his pitching shoulder. It’d be nice to hurt somebody, but not him. And certainly not that arm. She’d be crazy to jeopardize her meal ticket.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. That I finally found out. So apparently everyone and their dog knew it, and all of them thought I should be kept in the dark.” She took two deep breaths then let them out slow.
It didn’t help all that much though; she still wanted to sting someone’s cheek. “I mean, I can see why Mom wouldn’t say anything, but Aunt Rachel, Mother’s sister, sure should have...at least after I was grown.”
“You’d think so.”
She turned as sideway as possible and studied Gij. Cate’s conversation eliminated any worry about someone better—her soul mate—coming along. Who could possibly even compare to Gij anyway, much less be better?
And he’d chosen her to court. Of all the women he could have, he chose her. Didn’t make a lick of sense. What had she ever done to deserve him? He even put pitching on the line over her, and he’d only seen her two times in person then.
Although he did say he’d seen her on TV doing the weather, but so what? She wasn’
t even a meteorologist, just a stupid weather girl who got the job with her looks, and…what…?
“Gij, why do I have to wait until we get back from California to know what all’s going on here?” She ran her finger down his arm then stroked the backside of that gifted hand.
“You already agreed.”
“But why can’t you tell me now? Explain the why to me. Is all the suspense really necessary? It’s killing me, I tell you. And…well…I think I’m falling in love. I really need to know. Please? Please, please tell me what’s going on.”
“But you gave your word, promised to wait.”
“Waaa! How long does this courting thing have to last?”
The lady’s begging broke his heart, but Gij stayed the course, had to. No matter how much he wanted to put the Cessna on autopilot and smother her with I’m-sorry kisses, he couldn’t—no wouldn’t—lay a hand on her until it was right.
One wife for life; one, and he’d be done, so he had to play it by the book.
And oh, God, I need patience. She just keeps getting more and more desirable, and worming her way deeper and deeper into my heart. Strengthen me, Father.
“Tell you what. You brought your book, right?”
“Yes, but why?”
“You read your novel, and when I get us on the ground, one poor-baby hug will be in order.”
“You promise?”
“Yes, ma’am, I said it, didn’t I? Want a pinky swear or what?”
“No, that won’t be necessary.” She reached behind her and dug in her oversized purse until she felt her paperback then pulled it out. She pointed the hot pink thing at him. “Dad and Cate are getting married in November. Well, she said to let him tell me, but I’m sure that’s what it is. You know, he probably just wants to wait until he’s courted her proper.”
“Cool.” He resisted asking if she wanted to make it a double wedding, but he didn’t even want to wait that long, didn’t know if he could wait that long.
Have mercy on me, Lord. Draw her to Yourself, show her how much she needs You.
“And something else.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Cate made me promise not to tell Dad I knew and to act surprised if he told me, but she moved into my old room last week.” She poked his leg with edge of her book. “You didn’t do the same with him, did you? Tell him and make him promise not to tell me?”
