by Jodi Thomas
Chapter 41
TUESDAY
MARCH 16
BLUE MOON DINER
TYLER BARELY MADE IT TO BREAKFAST WITH HANK THE next morning. By the time he and the girls had finished talking while eating cookies and milk last night, Autumn and Ronelle had bonded and Tyler had gained five pounds. The girls made up the hide-a-bed in Autumn’s sitting room for Ronelle, and Autumn filled her in on the schedule while Tyler put away the milk. They all agreed she should stay with Autumn for a few days before making any big steps.
He’d left the girls in the kitchen, thinking he didn’t even want to think about what Martha Q would have to say about his new situation. Maybe he should change the sign out front. WRIGHT FUNERAL HOME AND HALFWAY HOUSE FOR RUNAWAYS.
When he sat down at the Blue Moon a little after dawn, Hank looked like he was already on his second cup of coffee. They ordered and Saralynn settled into her drawings.
“You hear about the mess at the sheriff’s office last night?” Hank didn’t wait for Tyler to answer. “Seems one of Alex’s new deputies overreacted to a call from Dallas Logan. He had the whole panhandle out looking for a girl who’d been kidnapped . . .”
“I heard,” Tyler said, before he had to listen to the entire story again.
Hank raised an eyebrow and waited.
“Ronelle knocked on my door last night. I don’t know if Dallas kicked her out or if she ran, but she says she’s not going back. She’s staying with my housekeeper.”
“I can’t blame her for leaving. It would take a real gentle soul to put up with Dallas for that long. What is she going to do?”
“I told her I’d help her find a place to live, but she’s welcome to stay till she gets her footing.” Tyler shook his head. “I don’t know if I can stand it. Having Willamina around all those years was like living with a ghost. She rarely even spoke to me. On the first of every month, I walked into the kitchen and handed her a check and her only comment was always, ‘About time.’ Now I’ve got Autumn, who never stops talking, and Ronelle. They’re both young enough to be my daughters; maybe I should adopt them. I’m not used to women around.”
“Welcome to my world. Now you have one day of my life. When my father died I was trapped on the ranch with a mother, two sisters, and two old aunts.”
Tyler got over his pity party. “How are all the ladies in your life?”
“Well, Aunt Pat’s been gone for days. She went over to the Truman place and Aunt Fat hasn’t stopped talking about the scandal of it all. I expect Jeremiah to crawl out of his deathbed and bring her back home any minute. She’s a real dear, but after forty years in the classroom she can’t seem to stop teaching. Sometimes I think she and Aunt Fat take turns at the podium. She’s eighty-four and apparently, according to Aunt Fat, has decided to live in sin with the neighbor.”
“How is old Jeremiah?”
“Doing better, I think. He’ll probably outlive us both.”
“Sir Knight?” Saralynn patted Tyler’s hand with sticky fingers. “Can I come live with you too? I don’t have a daddy and you don’t have a kid.”
“Wouldn’t you miss your mother and grandmother?”
“I could bring them too.”
Both men laughed, but it was Hank who answered. “You know, Saralynn, I need you at the ranch. You’re the only one who keeps up with what day it is. And who would feed your rabbits?”
She sighed. “You’re right. Sorry, Sir Knight. I got to stay home.”
“It’s all right, Princess.” Tyler smiled down at her. “I’ll just have to settle for being your knight and you being my princess. Maybe one day the right man to be your daddy will come along.”
“How will I know him?”
Tyler thought for a minute and whispered, “You’ll see a twinkle in his eyes that says he thinks you’re something. If he’s the right man, he’ll love your mother and he’ll protect you just like your uncle Hank and your uncle Gabe and I do now. He’ll ride in and save you if you ever get trapped in the castle.”
She smiled and went back to her coloring.
Hank’s voice was calm. “Alex told me Leland, Autumn’s boyfriend, is long gone. You don’t have to worry about him.”
Tyler picked up his coffee cup. “I think I’ll keep my doors locked after hours just in case, for a while.”
They talked on about Hank’s family and about the people of town. To Tyler they were all family, except maybe Martha Q. After getting to know her, he was surprised at least one of her seven husbands hadn’t killed the woman. He couldn’t tell if she was trying to get Kate and him together or rip them apart.
A nagging possibility tugged at his thoughts. Maybe he and Kate were never a couple except in his mind. If so, Martha Q’s meddling wouldn’t have much effect at all.
After breakfast, he walked over to the post office as he did every morning. Ronelle was there in the back. Rumor was Dallas Logan hadn’t stepped foot in the post office since her husband died. Tyler guessed Ronelle was betting on her mother not showing up today.
When Jerry Donavan handed Tyler his mail, he whispered, “That’s a good thing you did, Mr. Wright, a real good thing.”
“How’s she doing?” Tyler nodded toward the back.
“A little jumpy when the door opens, but good. She asked me if she could stay in the back all day today, and I thought it was probably smart. I’ve known Dallas for thirty years and I swear if she was bottled wine, she’d be pure vinegar by now.”
Tyler picked up his mail and nodded. He didn’t know Dallas Logan all that well and hoped that fact would remain the same. He walked out to his car, as always planning his day.
Beth and Stella McNabb were in the main office when he got back to work. A family who lived in Harmony years ago had called and wanted a graveside service for their father on Thursday. Stella thought that maybe since the family was small and had no church affiliation, she would put together a meal for them in the conference room after the short service.
Tyler started to say that funeral homes don’t cater, but Autumn walked in, handed Tyler his coffee, and offered to help cook.
“I just heard on the radio that a storm’s coming in Thursday,” she said.
Stella agreed. “Bob’s been tracking it since yesterday. What with bad weather and a funeral, it would be nice to have a quiet lunch before they head back.”
While the women talked, Tyler slipped into his office.
As Tyler sat down at his huge desk he decided he had time to check his e-mail while he opened his regular mail.
He flipped his computer on and noticed Kate had sent two messages.
The one from last night said, What’s going on, Ty? Martha Q says you’ve got trouble.
The other came an hour ago and said, I’m on my way home. Will call as soon as I know my flight.
Tyler laughed. Apparently all he had needed to get his Kate to come see him was have two young women move in with him. The world was getting more confusing by the day. All his life he’d told himself he liked order. He grinned, realizing he was wrong. It turned out, he loved chaos.
Chapter 42
POST OFFICE
AT NOON, RONELLE UNWRAPPED THE SANDWICH AUTUMN had made her for lunch. She wanted, more than anything, to walk over to Marty’s place, but she didn’t dare. She hadn’t had a chance to tell her mother why she’d been late getting home. But in this town there was little chance Dallas hadn’t figured it out.
Knowing Dallas, she was circling the post office waiting for Ronelle to come out. With luck, she hadn’t heard where her daughter had gone after she’d packed her things last night, but someone was bound to tell someone, who in turn would call her mother.
Ronelle picked up the phone on the back desk. She never used it except for official business, but maybe Mr. Donavan wouldn’t mind this once. She dialed.
“Hello.”
“Marty,” she whispered.
His voice changed from hard to caring in an instant. “Ronny, are you all right?”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at work. I spent the night with a girl named Autumn at the funeral home. She works there and has a small apartment beside the kitchen. She said I could stay for as long as I needed to.”
Marty was silent for a moment. “You’ve got a lot of growing to do, Ronny. It’s not going to be easy, but the woman who is going to come out the other side of this mess will really be something.”
“You think so?”
“I know so, honey.”
She smiled. All she’d been thinking about was the chaos she was in. He gave her hope that there was an end to this dark tunnel.
“Want me to pick you up after work? We could get a hamburger and talk about it. Maybe drive over to Bailee, where no one would know us.”
“I think I’d like that very much. Pick me up out back of the post office. I didn’t take much last night. I may need to do a little shopping.”
“You got it,” he said. “And Ronny, I’m sorry to be the cause of all this, but you did the right thing.”
“You weren’t the cause. I should have moved out a long time ago.” She knew what he meant by growing. Fear tangled with excitement in her blood.
“After we eat, I’ll find a back road and start teaching you to drive. If you’re going to be on your own, I have a feeling you’ll want to go a lot farther than you can walk.”
“Really? You’d teach me?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to venture farther than the back room of the post office right now, but being with Marty and learning something new would be fun.
“Sure, honey. There isn’t much I wouldn’t do for you. See you at five.” He hung up.
Ronny pulled a driver’s ed manual she’d found at a garage sale and spent the rest of her lunch hour reading.
Mr. Donavan poked his head in the back room about three. “Ronelle, I heard you moved out last night.”
She nodded.
“You need any money or anything, just let me know.”
“Thanks.” She looked up. “Mr. Donavan, do you think you could call me Ronny? I’ve hated Ronelle for most of my life.”
He grinned. “Sure, Ronny.”
When he left, she pulled her small pocketbook from the bag she carried her crosswords in. She had four hundred twenty dollars in cash. Tomorrow she planned to buy a few new clothes; after that, she had no idea what to do. The reality of thinking everything out for herself took a great deal more figuring than just going along.
Chapter 43
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON
MARCH 17
TRUMAN FARM
NOAH FOUND REAGAN CURLED IN A BLANKET IN ONE OF the lawn chairs in the Truman front yard.
“Mind if I join you?” he asked, not really sure where he stood with her anymore. Since Sunday he’d been busy with therapy, and she’d had lots to do running the farm. She still talked over everything with the old man, but Noah had the feeling Reagan was taking the reins of the operation.
“Of course not.” She didn’t look at him when he sat down. Her eyes were on the sky. “There’s a storm coming in. Uncle Jeremiah says it’s going to be a bad one.”
“Your uncle a weatherman now?”
She shrugged. “I guess he could be. He’s been watching long enough.”
“Rea.” Noah waited until she looked at him. “I don’t want to talk about the weather. I want to talk about me and you.”
“Okay,” she said, giving him her full attention.
Great, he thought, now he didn’t know where to start. He did what he always did. He ran straight out. “I hadn’t meant to kiss you the other day when we were at the ranch. It just happened and I can’t say I’m sorry because I’m not. I’ve been thinking about kissing you for what seems like half my life.”
“All right,” she said with a worried look in her eyes, like she was trying to put a puzzle together.
He tried again. “But when you kissed me in the hallway I was half drunk and didn’t react like I should have.”
“What are you trying to say? Just say it, Noah.”
“I’m saying, if you’re doing comparison shopping I’d like to have another chance.”
“Why?”
He shot up. “That right there is what drives me crazy about you, Rea. You’re always asking questions, digging at some truth. Hell if I know why.”
She stood and walked to the edge of the yard, where shadows were already gathering. “Well, Preacher, do you want to kiss me again or don’t you?”
“I do, but only if you’ll cooperate. No surprise kiss.”
She took another step beneath the branches. “All right.”
The wind whipped up. He barely heard her. The tree above them began to sway, blocking anyone’s view from the house.
Noah moved up in front of her. He would have liked to put his arms around her, but with the cast, he couldn’t hold her. If she wanted to step away, she’d have no trouble.
He leaned down and slid his hand along the side of her neck and into her curly hair. He’d kissed her before a few times when he was more kid than man, but this time he wanted to kiss her completely.
She looked up at him as if expecting a trick, and he saw more of the girl in her than the woman, but when his lips touched hers the woman in her seemed to come alive. She leaned into him and crossed her arms behind his neck like she had no intention of letting him go.
Their kiss mirrored the approaching storm. Wild and reckless. Unlike any kiss he’d ever had or thought about.
The surprise, the feel of her against him, the depth of feeling running through him almost buckled his knees. He circled one arm around her waist and held on tight as he lifted her off the ground. This wasn’t just his best friend in his arms, this was about to be his lover for the rest of his life if he got lucky.
When he finally broke the kiss, he breathed her in deep, loving the way she felt against him. All the rodeo queens and bar babes disappeared in his mind. She was what he wanted . . . she’d always been what he wanted.
“The storm’s starting,” she whispered.
“Yeah,” he answered, thinking only of kissing her again.
“Noah, put me down.” She struggled in his hold. “We’d better run for the house.”
She was gone before it dawned on him that it was raining. He took off after her.
They hit the door at the same time, laughing and shaking off water like wet dogs. He wanted to kiss her again, but they were no longer alone.
The moment, the magic, was gone.
Chapter 44
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, MARTY DROVE RONNY ALL THE way to Amarillo. They went shopping at the mall and bought Ronny clothes she never dreamed she’d be wearing. Long skirts and sandals. Jeans that fit and western shirts that she tucked in. A double-breasted raincoat that looked like she could be a spy in it—and boots. Red cowboy boots that looked great with the jeans.
“Now when we go to Buffalo’s to listen to Border and Beau, you’ll fit right in at the place.” Marty grinned. “I don’t know when I’ve had so much fun. What do you say, let’s toss the bags in the trunk and go back in to buy another round.”
“No, I only have a few things to pick up and then I’m starving.”
She had him wait in the car while she ran into Target to pick up a few personal things she needed. While she was there she picked up Autumn a few new books. When she ran back to the car with two bags Marty wanted to know what she bought, but she wouldn’t tell him. How could she explain how much fun it was to buy little things like lip gloss and panties without her mother looking over her shoulder?
They made a stop at a bank branch where she’d been sending her extra money for nine years. She signed up for a checking account and got a debit card.
They ate Mexican food a
t a place called The Plaza on Interstate 40 where Marty claimed he had the best stuffed sopapillas on the planet. As he ate all of his and half of hers, they planned what she would do. Ronny wanted to just coast for a while, but he loved details. She’d never seen him so excited, so happy. He might want to drift in his life, but he saw lots of roads she could go down.
They were back in Harmony by nine. Even in the shadows she could tell he was tired.
When he pulled up to the funeral home, Dallas Logan’s car was parked out front.
“I could drive you to the back,” Marty offered, “or take you home with me. I wouldn’t mind that at all.”
She had a feeling she’d be asking too much if she asked for his help now. “Take me to the back, and then I’ll walk out front and talk to her. I’m not afraid of her anymore.”
Marty nodded.
Ronny took her bags in through the kitchen, then slipped on a sweatshirt and walked to the front hallway.
Tyler was there. “Do you need help?”
She shook her head. “This is something I have to do alone.”
Ronny knew he was watching her as she walked down the steps to where her mother sat beneath the streetlight. Dallas Logan could have been a stuffed dummy in the car. She didn’t move, but faced straight ahead as if she couldn’t hear the tapping of new boots coming toward her.
“Hello, Mother,” Ronny said.
Silence. Dallas saved silence for the worst times. Those rare times when she got too angry to even speak.
“How are you?” Ronny tried.
Nothing.
Ronny waited, knowing Dallas wouldn’t be able to hold in her rage for long.
Finally, it came fast and hateful. “I’m so embarrassed at what you’ve done. I’m the laughingstock of this town to have a daughter like you. I may never live down what you’ve done.” She gulped a breath and delivered what she’d come to say. “I have no daughter; you’re as dead to me as everyone else in my family. Never contact me. Never speak to me if you pass me. Never. Do you hear me? Never.”
