Girls' Night Out (Bad Boys)

by Susan Arden

  Apparently marketing and communications were a larger version of what Cory had already done with the online business she’d developed and maintained through Amazon. She had her own website, online store front, and had grown large enough to stock a couple of clothing boutiques in Texas with seasonal accessories. A natural fashion bloodhound, Cory scrounged out the lowest prices and kept a finger on the pulse of what trended.

  Dr. Peterson had taken an immediate liking to Cory’s organizational abilities and enlisted her for more than that initial project. For the last two months she’d worked part-time in UCLA’s Anderson’s School of Business and had been given the task of organizing a large national grant to study consumerism of college seniors, awarded to the university by marketing strategist Ryder Bennett and spearheaded by her advisor.

  Rory laughed. “Just making certain you’re not going all soft being so far away.”

  “Chance of that happening: zero.” She punched Rory in the arm, giggling when he rubbed the spot and mouthed ‘ouch.’

  “We’re happy to have you back home. Especially your mama. It’s been hard on her having you gone.” Her father grimaced.

  Suddenly, the lightness of homecoming gave way to something heavy. Dark. Her smile felt forced as she watched the shuttering of the male faces in front of her. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She swallowed. Instinct or her female intuition was pricked. She turned to Stephen. Of all her brothers, he was the one who never fibbed to her. Ever. “Why isn’t mama here?”

  He exhaled. In that way a man did under the weight of something barely bearable. Something beyond bad. Stephen’s blue eyes darkened and held her gaze. “Cory, let’s go home. And talk.”

  “No. Stephen.” She reached out to him and they all took a step closer. A wall of hard men surrounded her. Her voice came out with a tremor. “You tell me. Right this second.”

  Daddy patted her back. “Nothing is so troubling to cause a meltdown in the middle of the Clarkesville airport. Stephen’s right, come on. We’ll talk in private. You two go get your sister’s luggage. Meet us back at the car.”

  Rapidly, Cory recalled her last conversation with Mama. With her sister-in-law, Carolina, and Gillian. Then she stopped, almost stumbling. There was one person whose voice echoed in her mind. Miss Louisa, the woman who’d been in her life forever. She’d said something vague about a doctor visit in Austin. Had she meant a doctor visit for Mama? She’d not had a call from her in a week or longer. She fought to remember the exact words Mama had said during their last conversation. She’d seemed tired, but Cory had chalked it up to excitement, shopping, and the work of the coming holidays.

  Thanksgiving was a huge event at the ranch. They had bonfires and a dinner where everyone from her immediate family came, plus visitors. Before and after the official meal. Ever since childhood, this meal had always been ginormous. The kitchen was a beehive of women and babies and children. Men coming in trying to steal something to eat or a kiss. Talk, singing, joking—hundreds of vivid images jam-packed Cory’s memory bank.

  The feel of her father’s fingers directing her toward the exit reminded her to keep steady. Suddenly, her breath was cut off by a brick of fear choking her throat. “Daddy, please,” she pleaded. “This is far enough. I’m not going to turn into a shrieking banshee.”

  “Corinth, don’t you think I know that?” His voice thinned. “I’m the one who needs a place to sit down.”

  She jerked her head upward and stared at him. “What?”

  He kept his hand on her arm as they crossed the street. Her father’s dually pickup was parked at the curb. He fiddled with the key fob and double clicked the button. The locks popped and he opened the passenger door. “Don’t let your imagination get the better of you.”

  “I wouldn’t have to if you’d just tell me.”

  He smiled. “Still impatient as the day you were born.”

  “Guilty,” she said, raising her hand. He shut the door and walked by the hood of his car. Her father was tall, as were all her brothers. Broad-shouldered with a spine straightened by hard work and a ton of pride. He’d always been her rock. That would never change.

  The driver’s side door opened and a rush of chilly November air filled the front seat. She shivered from the drop in temperature and the look on her father’s face. “Corinth, your mama is exhausted.”

  “Exhausted? Since when?” Her mother wasn’t the type to be spent.

  “Since the doctor put her on some medicine. Now, you need to hear me out. Promise me that.”

  Cory gripped the console. “Daddy, you’re not making this easy. Please stop going round and round. Just tell me.”

  He exhaled a sharp breath. “The doctors found a lump. Here.” Her father pointed to the side of his neck. “In your mama’s lymph nodes.”

  “What type of lump?”

  “A tumor. More than one. Pre-carcinogenic.”

  “Cancer!” The word reverberated in the interior of the car, clattering within her mind.

  “Not cancer!” he said tersely. “That’s why the doctor acted fast.” The expression on Daddy’s face stopped her from rapid-fire questions. He looked older and worn thin.

  Softly, she asked, “Why didn’t you tell me before now?”

  Daddy pushed up his hat. A dark brown Stetson she’d bought him for his birthday. “We only found out two weeks ago. The doctors put your mother on a dose of strong medicine to shrink the tumors. They are fully confident this method will work. Her test results have come back real good.”

  “Are you talking about chemo?” Her voice hiked way up.

  The only other person Cory knew to have gone through chemo was Nina Hunter. An older girl in high school, from Brandon’s class. She’d lost all of her long red hair because of chemo and by the end, she’d weighed not but ninety pounds. Nina had passed away before May, never graduating from high school. The memory of Nina’s pain laced expression filled Cory as she recalled the last time she’d seen her being pushed down the church aisle in a wheelchair.

  Cory shut her eyes and pressed her hand to her mouth to keep from crumbling in front of her father.

  “Yes. And the outlook is good. Do you hear? Very good.” Daddy shook her by the shoulder. “The doctor says your Mama is going to make a full recovery. Takes time. She’ll be on this medicine for four more doses.”

  She gazed back at her father, taking in the furrows in his forehead that had gotten a lot deeper since he’d visited her in October. “Then what?”

  “The doctor will check the tumors and see if they’ve shrunk and the problem cells have stopped growing.”

  Multiplying. Isn’t that what cancer—pre-carcinogenic—cells did? “So by Christmas?”

  “Yes. By Christmas.”

  “Mama should be taking it easy. Who is helping her?”

  “Who do you think?”

  “Miss Louisa for sure. And the regulars.” Carolina, plus, the crew of Gillian, Lauren, and her aunts. A team of close-knit women who’d helped pack her up and move from Annona to L.A. Her closest family and friends. “I don’t suspect she’d allow anyone else near her if she wasn’t feeling good.”

  Cory shook head when Daddy got out of the car as Stephen and Rory approached with her luggage. She closed her eyes, thinking about school and how her life back in L.A. didn’t match the here and now. Not in how her advisor relied upon her and treated her as an individual. But suddenly her chest constricted, and she wondered if she could go back to school with this news. She swallowed, thinking of all of her plans and those Dr. Peterson was making. Gosh, her advisor needed someone to help, but her mother came first.

  ~~~

  Coming into the entry hall, Cory removed her sunglasses and tucked then inside her purse. She called out evenly, forcing more than enough air into her lungs to keep her voice from cracking, “Mama? Where are you?”

  At the side of the open fireplace, movement from a winged chair placed closest to the crackling fir
e caught her eye. Brightly colored red yarn and knitting needles were thrust onto a small table.

  “Oh Cory, come here! My baby girl is home. Let me look at your!” Her mother leaned forward and opened up her arms. She looked thinner and there were unfamiliar circles under her eyes. Cory’s chest tightened, but she smiled bravely.

  Her eyes welled and she blinked away the sting of tears. “Finally. Here I am.”

  Her mother stood and laughed. “Let me get the camera.”

  “First a hug,” Cory murmured. She glided forward, into the pale yellow living room done with blue furniture and accents, toward her mother. The room featured an expansive open beamed ceiling, brightly lit by the back wall of wide windows and French doors leading to the rear of the house and a full patio surrounding their pool. She walked over the antique silk area rug where she’d played as a toddler, the ocean colors muted by the years of foot traffic.

  Mama enfolded her into a warm, lilac-scented embrace. Cory squeezed her mother, tight, and held on for what seemed like minutes. The vibration of her mother’s soft laugh skipped through her and she found herself coming undone, tears falling down her cheeks.

  “Land sakes. Your daddy spilled the beans. Didn’t he?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Cory whispered and wiped the skin under her eyes.

  “There’s nothing to worry about. Cory, don’t you fret. I’m as solid as the floor underneath our feet.”

  For all her adult life, Mama had lived in this house. Built and owned by her grandparents, it was given to her parents as a wedding gift. Mama was not originally from Annona—a Dallas girl by birth. She’d ventured into Annona during a vacation to visit friends, met Daddy, and never left. Never returned to college at A&M. Eloped and settled here at Evermore, pregnant with Matthew within a year.

  Cory was born twelve years later. At the age of twenty-one her parents had finally agreed to her going off to college. A late bloomer by virtue of having her wings regularly clipped by her folks. They had promised if she lived to see the age of majority, she’d get their blessing to go off to school. Well, she had and they had. Only now, she had returned and things weren’t working out as planned.

  “Corinth McLemore,” a soft voice sounded.

  “Louisa, can you believe it?” Mama said, smiling.

  Miss Louisa came over and, of course, Cory tumbled into the only other set of arms she’d known as welcoming as her mother’s.

  “Ma’am,” Cory whispered, willing herself to stop the waterworks. These were two of the strongest women in Texas, and to be the bawl baby after having fought for her freedom would not do. She inhaled and set a smile on her face before releasing her hold on Miss Louisa. “Smells awfully good, whatever you’re making.”

  “You can’t tell me you don’t recognize the scent of apple pies baking?”

  “I’m only joking. Sure I do. It’s been a while since your last batch of baked good got eaten up from that care package you sent.”

  The front door shut with a short slam and the thud of feet trampling down the entryway. Darn, she needed to get her act together. Her family would be arriving. Coming in throngs. But Jesus, that would only tire Mama out. “Maybe we should just call everyone and put off a visit tonight. The plane ride was really long and I’m feeling out of sorts.”

  Mama chuckled. “I’d like to see you try. We’ve had people calling since sun up, verifying the time of your plane’s arrival. You’re going to have to buck up because you’re something of a celebrity.”

  Miss Louisa nodded as well. “Oh yes. Going all the way to California. And then to have your folks come out. Gives everyone something to talk about, girl. You know they’ll want to know if you were hanging about the famous people and such.”

  Damn. She just had to pick L.A. It would be her fault Mama got plumb tuckered out. “Well, they’re just going to have to get their own life. Now aren’t they?” She’d said the words sharper than she’d intended. “I just mean, they can’t expect us entertain them. We’re not cable television. After all.”

  “No. We’d not want you to go out of your way. Not an inch.” Matt stood with his arms crossed over his chest. A scowl plastered on his face. He was the only person whose mood tended to run to black. Darker with his wife, Carolina, expecting the arrival of their twins any second.

  “Don’t go looking for trouble. You know what I mean.” She crossed the room and hugged him, whispering. “I don’t want Mama tired out.”

  “This is just what she needs. We’re all here to help. Trust us, we won’t let our mother do anything to compromise her health.” He released her and stepped back. Matt stared down into her face. “Whatever they’ve got going on in L.A. obviously seems to agree with you. I imagine you’ve been all over Rodeo Drive by now.”

  She laughed at his expression. Matt had always been one of the most protective forces nearby, after their parents. Probably why he found little humor in his wife’s desire to work during her pregnancy. They were expecting their first born, plural as a boy and a girl, and Matt reacted by almost demanding his wife be ensconced in a bubble. As a large animal vet, Carolina set up and ran the cattle and horse vaccinations on the ranch as well as provided routine animal care, and even managed the calving and colt deliveries. Until she became pregnant. Then Matt escorted her everywhere and required that she not be allowed near an animal larger than Chance, Gillian and Stephen’s Chihuahua. She’d managed to train Rory to take over, but she still snuck into the barn. And that was possible only earlier in Carolina’s pregnancy. By now, only weeks away, Cory’s big brother resembled an angry wolf ready to howl.

  “You know I’d be a downright liar if I said no.”

  He arched a brow and glanced over to Miss Louisa and Mama, then back down at her. “And school? You do go to class.”

  “Of course I do. School isn’t a vacation. I work my tail off.”

  “Hey, I’m only checking. Mama, Miss Louisa. I hope you hear this.”

  She huffed. “My classes have kept me super busy, and I intend on graduating ahead of schedule and head of my class.”

  Matt narrowed his eyes. “You really are growing up.”

  “I hope you see that side of me. I’m not a kid anymore.”

  Mama patted her shoulder. “Don’t get so hot under the collar. Everyone knows you’re a hard worker.”

  “In what interests you,” Matt added. “Glad to hear school is one of those things.”

  Miss Louisa turned and began to walk toward the kitchen. “Wait, I’ll come and help. Mama, what are you up to?” Cory asked.

  “I think I’ll go lie down for a short rest before dinner. Come up and get me in thirty minutes.” A light rap sounded at the front door. No one knocked around here except strangers, most often delivery people who confused the main house with the ranch office.

  “Sure thing,” Cory said and made to move toward the entry when her brother’s hand held her by the shoulder.

  “I’ll go get that,” Matt said. A few seconds later, her brother’s voice rose dangerously. “Woman, I swear to God you’re going to push me to the brink. Give me that! I said I’d be over to pick you up.”

  Cory heard her sister-in-law’s voice. “Babe, you are way too protective for anyone’s good. Driving a car isn’t going to wear me out when it’s less than a mile away.”

  “Carolina, if I have to carry you, I will. Don’t make me out to be a domineering idiot. The doctor said to quit hauling and carrying and doing.”

  “Hush, Matt. Or I’ll tell the doctor exactly what my days and nights are filled with.”

  The clatter of a plate being rapidly dropped on the front table followed by a muffled thud sounded from the front of the house. Peering down the short hall, Cory saw Matt had picked up Carolina.

  “Jeez,” she let out a loud sigh. “Caveman alert. Shall I call the authorities?”

  “Definite possibilities, Cory.” The sound of laughter and a soft, “Let me go or I’ll say yes.”

/>   Matt’s voice, low and gravelly issued a firm warning. “Your job, young lady, is to find a seat. And stay there. If you don’t, I swear I’ll haul you upstairs in front of whoever and remind you just how close I am to going stark raving mad.”

  “Agreed. Just put me down.” Another soft muffled laugh. Then a high-pitched, “Ouch!” Carolina came into the living room, rubbing a hand over her bottom. Dressed in an apricot-colored sweater and matching corduroy shirt and tall boots, she smiled at Cory.

  “Oh. My. God!” Cory screeched. “You look amazing.”

  “I can’t perm my hair for another year so I decided to let it grow out. Do you like?”

  “You’ve hair to die for.” Straight and thick and long. It reached down to Carolina’s waist. “A year?”

  “No chemicals for the babies. And I plan on nursing for as long as I can. At least six months. Maybe a year. And you? Miss California dreaming! How is the sun and the fun?”

  “It’s another world. Really. I bet you understand.”

  “Oh yeah. Miami and Annona are polar. In a good, macho man sort of way.” She snickered into the face of Matt, carrying a large clay pot.

  “Did you make some of your black beans? I love them.” Cory hugged her sister-in-law, then released her and patted her belly. She couldn’t believe it was almost time for Carolina to deliver.

  “Thank you. I did.” Carolina shot an arched brow across the room at Matt.

  “Don’t,” he thundered, then pointed a finger in Cory’s direction, “encourage her. I’ve got my hands full as it is.” He disappeared inside the kitchen, but not before he scowled over to his wife with a knowing look full of promise.

  “He’s losing it,” Carolina whispered. “It’s been hard on all the guys with Mama’s illness.”

  “They’re like strong walls. You know outside. Not inside.” Cory nodded.

  “Exactly. It’s tearing them all up. They know how to be strong. Hard. Tough. They don’t do soft very well.”