Take Me Back To Texas

by Amy Lillard

  “Nuh-uh.”

  “Bethie Grace, I can’t leave her there.”

  “I’ll go pick her up.”

  He stared at her for a full minute as if examining the idea from all angles. Then he released a pent-up breath, his shoulders relaxing if only a little bit as he exhaled, resigned. “Okay, but be careful. I’ll…call her and let her know you’re coming.”

  Bethie Grace nodded. “Be back in a flash.”

  She started for the door, but he snagged her arm in his good hand, his eyes suddenly more serious than she had ever seen them. “Before you pick her up, there’s something you should know.”

  Elizabeth hated how her heart pounded in her chest.

  “I don’t date,” he said.

  She frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t want Mallory to know what’s going on between us.”

  “Okay.” Why did the words slice like a knife? She had known all along that what they shared was temporary. What benefit would there be in her getting involved with his daughter?

  “As far as she’s concerned, we’re just friends,” he added.

  She tried to smile. “Friends. Got it.” She had to get out of there before she lost it. “I’ll be back in a few.”

  He looked down at his bloody hand and shirt and waved her away with his left. “Take your time. I think I’m going to be here a while.”

  Chapter Nine

  Driving JD’s truck for the second time wasn’t nearly as nerve wracking as it had been the first time. Maybe because JD wasn’t there keeping a critical eye on her every move. Yet the unfamiliar vehicle gave her something to concentrate on besides the words knocking around in her head. “Just friends.” She and JD had never been only friends. Nor would they be any more than what they were right then: casual lovers.

  With practiced ease she pulled the shiny black Ford into the circle drive of the school. It, like everything else in Loveless, was frozen in time.

  The sign announcing it was the home of the Mustangs looked the same as did the red brick and navy blue trimmed windows. A few new buildings dotted the campus along with a trailer or two and a new annex that doglegged toward the football field.

  She pulled the truck to a stop in front of a dark-haired girl who could only belong to JD. Tall and slender, she was the spitting image of her father.

  The teen wrenched open the door and tossed her book bag inside.

  Familiar, dark blue eyes scanned Elizabeth as if assessing why she was there and driving her father’s truck. “Bethie Grace?”

  Elizabeth didn’t bother to correct her. It was a lost cause with everyone in Loveless. “Mallory.”

  “Dad said you’re a friend of his?” Mallory’s voice rose on the end making it sound more like a question than a statement.

  There was that word again. “We went to high school together.”

  “I see,” she said, but made no move to get into the truck. “Did your dog really bite him?”

  “Nonono. It’s not my dog.”

  “But it was at your house?”

  “My grandmother’s house.”

  “Is Dad going to be okay?”

  Elizabeth nodded.

  “What about the dog?”

  “I don’t think your father’s going to press charges.”

  Mallory stopped. “That’s funny.”

  “I’m glad you think so.”

  The teen grinned, then nodded, finally swinging herself into the passenger’s seat. “Are we going back to the hospital?”

  “Yep, otherwise your dad won’t have a ride home.”

  With a quick smile at Mallory, she pulled the black truck into the street and pointed the nose toward the other side of town.

  JD’s daughter was sweet and funny, the female image of her father. Given half the chance, Elizabeth could fall in love with her just as easily as she had fallen for him.

  ****

  JD sat back down on the exam table even though his feet wanted to pace. What was taking them so long? He checked his watch. Okay, so Bethie Grace hadn’t been gone that long. But he wanted her back where he could see her. And his truck too.

  Whatever. His truck wasn’t the problem; it was Bethie Grace and Mallory. Together. That was what worried him. He had been so very careful all of these years to hide his relationships from Mallory. Not that any of them were serious. But he wanted his daughter to feel secure. He needed her to know that she was his number one girl now and would always be.

  But that was before Bethie Grace came back to town.

  He shook his head. She was leaving soon. And he had no intentions of getting serious. But that just made her mixing with Mallory harder to swallow.

  A quiet knock sounded on the door.

  He jerked his attention to the entryway as Mallory preceded Bethie Grace into the room.

  “Ew, Dad.” Mallory pointed to his bloody shirt and hand.

  “I’m gonna be fine. Thanks for asking.”

  A quick chuckle escaped Bethie Grace.

  Mallory wrinkled her nose in an expression identical to her mother. “I mean, look at it.”

  That was exactly what JD was trying not to do: look at it. It was a nasty bite, and it throbbed like a bad toothache. He didn’t even want to think about what they were going to have to do with the ragged sides to make it whole again. He suppressed a shudder. Not a manly man reaction at all.

  “How was school?” he asked, needing a change of subject.

  Mallory shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”

  “And your algebra test?”

  “Aced it.”

  He grinned and raised his left fist for a knuckle bump.

  She complied with a smile of her own. “You know what that means.”

  He nodded. “You want to go eat pizza.”

  “Yeppers.”

  “Not sure if we’re going to make it tonight.”

  She nodded toward his hand. “Because of that.”

  “Well, yeah. It’s going to be hard for me to drive for a day or two.”

  Mallory jerked her head toward her silent companion. “What about Bethie Grace? Why can’t she drive us?”

  He saw Bethie Grace start at the mention of her name, then shake her head in surprise. At least he hoped it was surprise. Then again, why did he care? “Mal, it’s not polite to shanghai strangers into chauffeuring you around.”

  “She’s not a stranger.” Mallory turned toward Bethie Grace. “You said you and Dad went way back.”

  “That’s not exactly what I said,” Bethie Grace countered.

  “Don’t you want to go eat pizza with us?” She tilted her head to the side, and JD knew the look she bestowed on the unsuspecting Bethie Grace.

  “It…it’s not that,” Bethie Grace hedged.

  “Mallory.” His voice held a beat of warning.

  “Then what is it?” his daughter pressed.

  “I think your father may have other plans.”

  His original plan had been shot to pieces. Plan B was nothing more than a wispy idea of enjoying Bethie Grace’s company while she was in Loveless. Afterward…? He’d figure that out when the time came.

  He opened his mouth to lie and tell her that he did indeed have plans but what came out was “Come with us.”

  “Tonight...”

  “Yes.” When had the moment gotten so tense? And why did it feel like he’d invited her to do more than share a pizza at Dale’s?

  Get a grip, man.

  “Please.” Mallory clasped her hands together and blinked innocently at Bethie Grace.

  “I—”

  “Knock, knock.” The door swung open, and old Doc Maynard strode into the room. Short and thin, he still somehow made a presence to be dealt with. “JD Carmichael, what have you done to yourself now?”

  JD grinned not bothering to point out that the last three times he’d seen the doctor it had been his daughter who had needed medical care. “Bethie Grace started feeding this stray and evidently the pooch likes her better tha
n me.”

  “Sure, make it all my fault. No one told you to stick your hand in her mouth.”

  “Now aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” Dr. Maynard turned to survey Bethie Grace over the top of his glasses. “I’d heard you were back in town.”

  “For a while,” she murmured.

  JD noticed she didn’t correct the good doctor concerning her name.

  “Why don’t you take Miss Mallory out into the waiting room while I see what JD has done to himself?”

  Bethie Grace nodded. “Come on.” She motioned to Mallory and led her from the room. Only then did JD realize that keeping the two of them apart was a doomed plan from the beginning.

  ****

  “He’s going to be all right…right?”

  “Of course he is,” Elizabeth said as she and Mallory picked their way across the crowded waiting room and found seats. The chairs were hard plastic, orange, and pushed against the far wall. Mallory waved to a few kids as they made their way to the waiting area, but all in all, she seemed more worried about her father than interested in making an appearance. “It wasn’t that bad of a bite.”

  “I guess.” Mallory collapsed into the seat and thunked her head against the wall. “The dog wasn’t sick, right?”

  “I don’t think so, but we’ll check her out when we get home, uh, back to my grandmother’s house.”

  Mallory turned those navy blue eyes to Elizabeth. “But you are coming to eat with us.”

  It wasn’t a question. And the omission of “right?” wasn’t missed. “I don’t…”

  “You have to come.”

  Elizabeth shook her head. “I don’t have anything to wear.” That had to be the lamest excuse she had ever used. But she wasn’t sure how long she could pretend to be JD’s friend with such an astute audience.

  “What’s wrong with what you’ve got on?”

  Nothing. She had on an old pair of jeans she’d found in one of the closets and a Loveless High Mustangs T-shirt that she was pretty sure she’d sold to her me-maw during a cheer fundraiser. She shrugged.

  “Please.” The light in those sapphire eyes took on a familiar gleam.

  “What’s his name?”

  Mallory sighed. “Jeremy. Oh, Bethie Grace, he’s so cute. He lives in Fredericksburg. He comes down on Wednesday nights to go to church with his grandmother.”

  “Let me guess. He’ll be eating pizza after church.”

  Mallory nodded.

  Who was she to stand in the way of young love? “Okay.”

  “Thank you, thank you,” she gushed, squeezing one of Elizabeth’s hands between both of hers. “I think he wants you to go.” Mallory’s tone changed, quick as the wind. Her confidence had slipped a notch.

  “Jeremy?”

  She shook her head. “Dad.”

  “Yeah?” Elizabeth turned to look at the young girl who had suddenly developed an intense interest in her fingernails.

  “We’re just friends, you know.” Elizabeth wasn’t sure why she felt the need to explain. It was what JD wanted. Or maybe it was the doubt clouding Mallory’s eyes. The teen was accustomed to having her father all to herself. It was important that she knew Elizabeth wasn’t there to take her place.

  “But there used to be more.”

  Was it that obvious?

  Elizabeth shook her head. “I’m just here to clean out my grandmother’s house. In a few more days, I have to go back home.”

  “Home?”

  “I live in LA. Los Angeles.”

  Mallory’s shoulders slumped with relief. “That’s good. I mean—”

  Elizabeth couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her. “I know what you mean.” She was leaving in a few days, there wasn’t time to get deeply involved with JD again. She’d do well to keep that in mind.

  If it wasn’t already too late.

  Chapter Ten

  His hand throbbed, and after ten minutes in the pizza parlor, the pain in his temples was pounding to the same rhythm. Normally Dale’s was a great place to eat with plenty of atmosphere—black and white checkered flooring, chrome and red vinyl stools, and a Wurlitzer jukebox filled with favorites from Sinatra to Green Day. But tonight wasn’t the standard, run-of-the-mill get together.

  Because normally he hadn’t been attacked by an angry mutt, chauffeured all over town by a beautiful woman, and drove completely out of his mind watching that same woman as she sat across from him.

  He exhaled in disgust and was thankful for the noise all around so that no one heard him.

  What had started out to be a sweet celebratory outing with he and Mallory had turned into a family-esque supper of three.

  “Tell me what you do in LA again,” Mallory asked.

  “I’m a chef. Well, I was. I’m waiting on a loan to come through. Once I get that, I’m taking over this French bistro near Hollywood.”

  “Is your food any good?”

  “Mallory.”

  Bethie Grace laughed. “I think it is.”

  “Better than this?” Mallory held up a huge piece of extra cheesy pizza.

  “I’d like to think so.”

  “Hey, Mallory.”

  His daughter jerked her attention around to the young man who had just approached.

  She turned a little red around the ears, then used her straw to punch down the ice in her drink. “Hey, Jeremy.”

  “I saw you over here. Thought I’d come say hey.”

  Watching them was painful. Had he been like that at that age? He cut his gaze toward Bethie Grace, thoughts of the past swamping him. Then realization hit. His daughter was growing up.

  When had this happened? Had he just not been paying attention? Or had he only allowed himself to see what he’d wanted to see?

  Yet tonight he saw her through another’s eyes, not just a father’s, and he was shocked at what he discovered. His little Mallory was a beautiful woman-child, with a charming smile and an awkward grace that only the young can carry off with aplomb.

  His stomach fell at the thought. He wasn’t ready for her to be that adult, but ready or not, the time was now.

  He felt the warmth of Bethie Grace’s hand soak through the thin fabric of his plaid button-down a second before she leaned in and spoke for him and him alone.

  “What’s the matter, cowboy? You look worried.”

  Was his anxiety that apparent? “How old is that kid?”

  She shrugged. “I’m guessing about sixteen.”

  “Sixteen!”

  He was halfway out of his seat before she pulled him back down.

  “You won’t make things better by embarrassing her in front of him.”

  “How would you know? You don’t have any children.” His words sounded snippy and petulant, but they were already on the loose, and he couldn’t call them back now.

  “No,” she said quietly. “But I was fourteen once.”

  He made himself sit back down in his seat. “I’m sorry,” he said. “That was rude.”

  She nodded. “Yes, it was. But I forgive you.”

  When she smiled like that, his heart gave a painful lurch, and his mind once again traveled back to the glory days.

  He shook away the thought. No good trying to go back in time. A body could only go forward.

  ****

  “Do you find this emasculating?” Elizabeth glanced over to JD as he sat uncomfortably in the passenger’s seat of his own truck. He’d protested when she dropped him and Mallory off last night at their house and insisted on taking his truck home with her. She hadn’t wanted to leave him there without transportation, but if something had happened, she wouldn’t want him driving anyway. Instead she made sure he had her phone number and made him promise to call if he needed anything before the morning. The intimacy of the words was not lost on either of them, but thankfully Mallory hadn’t seemed to notice.

  Since Mallory had arranged a ride to school with one of the soccer moms, Elizabeth agreed to pick JD up no later than eight a.m..

  Now he s
at next to her in the big black truck, sulking, though he was doing his best to pretend that he wasn’t.

  “Well?” she asked. “Are you going to answer?”

  He shook himself out of his reverie. “What was the question again?”

  Elizabeth laughed in spite of herself. “Don’t answer. The look on your face is answer enough.”

  “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

  “Of course not.” But her smile made her words out to be the lie they truly were. She was enjoying herself, but not for the reasons he thought.

  But as she pulled JD’s truck into the driveway of her grandmother’s house, she knew it couldn’t last for much longer. Eventually—a couple of days, maybe even tomorrow—she’d have to go back to her real life.

  She got out of the truck, her mood taking a sudden downward turn. “Maybe I should just hire one of those truck services to take all of the keepsakes to LA for me.”

  He shrugged as he trudged up the steps and into the house.

  She followed him, holding the screen door open as he unlocked the front door.

  “You could do that. Or—”

  “Or what?”

  JD shook his head. “I say do whatever’s easiest.”

  Her heart sank. What had she been wanting him to say? That she could forget about leaving and stay in Loveless forever? With him?

  Face it, sister. That ain’t happenin’. He’d made it perfectly clear how he felt about getting into a relationship. She loved her grandmother’s house, but the man in front of her was the only thing that could keep her in town. Despite the yearning she had seen in his eyes more than once, he wasn’t about to make good on it. That much she knew for certain.

  His wife’s deception had ruined JD on future relationships. How sad it was that from the grave Heather was dictating his happiness.

  “I think I’ll call one of those shipping companies and have them come pick all this up.”

  A frown puckered his brow. “And then you’ll go back to LA?”

  She didn’t know what she was going to do. But she didn’t have to decide right away. And she didn’t have to make excuses for needing time to think. “Eventually, I guess. Maybe this weekend.” Ask me to stay.

  He seemed about to say something, then shook his head. The moment shattered as Travis knocked on the door then let himself in.