“I’m game if you are.” He grinned, mischief glinting in his eyes.
She caught his gaze and didn’t blink. “I’m afraid you’d stretch this out way too much. But rest assured I will be wearing red at the game this fall.”
“And I’ll be the one across the field from you in orange cheering on the winning team. This way to the living room.” He put a hand on the small of her back and guided her across the foyer into a huge living area with the cat running ahead of them. “I’ll be glad to buy a Texas shirt for you if you change your mind about who you should be rootin’ for.”
“I’d love one. I’ll need a nice dust rag for my new apartment. But if you’d like a Boomer Sooner shirt, I’ve got a couple of extra ones in my suitcases,” she threw back without hesitation.
“What did I hear? Blasphemy coming from the new girl?” A tall guy who had to be Cade’s brother waved from a recliner. “I’m Justin.” He had deep dimples in his cheeks when he smiled, and though his eyes were blue, they had more gray mixed in than Cade’s.
Another guy raised his beer bottle. “And I’m Levi Jackson, the lowly foreman on this big old ranch. Bear with her, guys. She’ll learn that none of us will ever wear a Sooner shirt, and I’m not sure you can get into heaven if you use a Texas shirt as an old dust rag.” He took a long drink of his beer and nodded toward Cade. “If you look closely, ma’am, you will see that Cade’s shirt is clear red, and that stuff that Oklahoma wears is dark blood red…like what they bleed when we whip their butts on the field.”
“Pleased to meet you both. And we Sooners wear red so that when we wipe up your blood with our shirts, they don’t get stained.” Retta shifted her gaze over to the other cowboy.
“Whoa! We got us a smarty-pants,” Levi said.
“Got to be able to growl if I’m goin’ to sit on the porch with the big dogs.” She’d forgotten how much fun it was to banter with folks her age. For the past year, things had been pretty serious around her home.
“What can I get you to drink, Miz Retta?” Cade asked. “As you can tell, we’re pretty informal around here.”
“I’ll have whatever they’re having,” she answered.
“Have a seat,” Justin said. “Mavis is putting the food on the table and she’ll yell when it’s ready. She likes to be out of here by six, so believe me, it won’t be later than that.”
“And what about when the kids are here?” Retta asked.
“She’ll stay in a spare bedroom. She’s married to Skip, who’ll be the supervisor for the boys, so they stay on the ranch during that time,” Justin answered.
She settled down in the corner of the sofa. “My dad liked his supper at the same time, so I’m used to it.”
Cade went to an antique side bar and opened a door to reveal a small hidden refrigerator. He pulled out a Coors longneck beer, popped the lid off, and carried it to her. “Do you want a glass?”
She shook her head. “Better right out of the bottle.”
“Yes, ma’am, you got that right, even if you need some educatin’ when it comes to football.” Levi’s green eyes twinkled.
His light brown hair floated on his shirt collar. She could imagine the women tangling their fingers in it during a makeout session. That thought made her glance over to Cade, who’d sat down on the other end of the sofa. His clean-cut dark brown hair was something she could sure enough imagine running her fingers through during a hot makeout session.
Stop it! She scolded herself. Just because it’s been a while since you’ve had time for a man in your life is no excuse to be daydreaming about your boss. So get over it.
The cat jumped up on the sofa and curled up in her lap. “What’s its name?”
“That would be Gussie.” Levi chuckled.
“Now ask him why,” Cade said.
She glanced over at Levi as she stroked the cat’s fur.
“Gussie was the name of my first girlfriend when I was in the third grade,” he answered. “They say you never get over your first love. Anyway, I rescued the cat and her six kittens from the creek. Someone had tied them up in a plastic bag and tossed them over a bridge.”
“That’s horrible.” She gasped.
“But there’s a happy ending.” Levi smiled. “I brought her home and she’s kept us in barn cats for ten years. She’ll be bringin’ in a litter a couple of times a year and supplyin’ the kids around here with pets for a long time.”
“Levi is always draggin’ in a stray of some kind. He rescued our ranch dog, Beau, about five years ago,” Justin said.
“He was just a pup walkin’ down the middle of the highway between here and Bowie. Been a good dog.” Levi tipped up his bottle and finished it off, then glanced at his watch. “Five, four, three, two…”
“Okay, boys, food’s on the table and I’m leavin’,” Mavis called out.
Cade rose to his feet and held out his hand. “He hardly ever misses the exact second that she’ll call us to supper, so never bet with him. She gets it on the table for us and then we’re responsible for cleanup. It’s my turn tonight.”
Retta set Gussie to the side and her beer bottle on the coffee table before she put her hand in his. Careful not to let it linger after she was on her feet, she walked beside him out into the foyer, through a formal dining room and into a huge country kitchen. A table laden with food sat at an angle so that everyone could see outside through a window so big that it covered a whole wall and brought the outdoors right inside to them. She could see Mavis and a tall cowboy she guessed would be Skip getting into a fairly new truck and driving away as Cade pulled out a side chair for her.
When she was seated, Levi sat down across from her. Cade and Justin both took places at the ends and bowed their heads. Levi said a quick grace and then picked up the bread basket, took out two hot rolls, and passed it on to Justin.
“Pot roast was my dad’s favorite meal. Mama made it for him on Sunday,” Retta said as she laid a roll on the edge of her plate and sent them to Cade. Their hands brushed in the passing and she could swear there were vibes. Or maybe she was just hungry and the smell of a good, home-cooked meal caused the flutter in her stomach. She attributed it to hunger and not chemistry because no matter how much they’d teased about football or his saying that everyone formed a team, Cade Maguire was her boss.
“We don’t have any complaints when Mavis makes it. We all love her home cookin’ and we like whatever she puts on the table,” Levi said.
“So tell us a little about yourself, Miz Retta,” Justin said.
“Born and raised in Waurika, Oklahoma, a little town about twenty miles over the border. Went to OU.” She glanced over at Cade. “I went to college at Cameron in Lawton, majored in business, and took a job for Arlington Bank when I graduated but I'm a Boomer Sooner fan to the death. Gave up my job as vice president when my dad got lung cancer a few years ago and I went home to help him. He passed about three months ago.”
Cade loaded his plate with a thick slice of pot roast, potatoes, and carrots and set the platter back on the table. Retta had answered Levi’s question, but it sure enough had been an impersonal version—same as when he’d interviewed her. She had to be still hurting from losing her father. He couldn’t imagine the pain if either of his parents passed away.
“So what about you guys? What’s your story? Are y’all kin?” Retta asked.
“Well, it feels like they’re both my brothers,” Levi said. “But Mavis and her husband, Skip, raised me since I was a baby. He retired and I stepped into his shoes as foreman, but he still likes to help out. I’d been working here since I was about thirteen. When I finished high school, I moved out here to the ranch and have lived in the house ever since.”
“And me and Cade were born in Bowie, but Mama brought us home to the ranch soon as she could and we been here ever since. Except for the four years when Cade was in college.” Justin’s voice held more than a little touch of pride.
“We thought he might go into the NFL,” Levi said. “But
he loved ranchin’ too much to give it up. He’s probably best remembered around these parts for the time he scored the winning touchdown that took us to the state playoffs and got him the scholarship to play for the Longhorns,” Levi said.
“Tell me about it,” Retta said.
“Ten seconds left on the clock. He’s the quarterback, and a thirty-yard field goal would’ve tied the game. But he faked handing the ball to the kicker, shook off three guys, and ran it in for a TD himself to get the win,” Justin said.
“Did you both play for the Longhorns?” Retta asked.
“No, ma’am. I didn’t go to college. I’d had enough school when I graduated,” Justin answered.
“Me, too,” Levi said. “Me and Justin graduated on Friday night and went to work full-time right here. Ain’t got a single regret in the world. But let me tell you Cade’s still a hero around here.”
“And it was all over for the other team,” Justin said.
“I wonder if their coach yelled at them in the locker room like Coach Hamp would have us if Cade hadn’t made that touchdown.” Levi shook his head, seriously.
“Whew!” Justin wiped at his forehead and pretended to throw off the sweat. “Old Coach Hamp could do his fair share of hollerin’. Were you a cheerleader, Retta?”
“Oh, no, I was the kicker and shared the quarterback position with another girl,” she said.
All three guys almost dropped their forks. Cade stared at her, not caring if it was rude.
“You’re jokin’, right?” Cade finally asked.
With her height and curves, Retta easily could have been a runway model. If she strolled down the red carpet, made a turn, and batted those brown eyes a couple of times, buyers would be flocking to the designer of that skirt and orange top to stock their stores in all sizes.
“Nope. I was on the girls’ intramural football team. My field goal record is forty-five yards, and I threw more completed passes my senior year than anyone else,” she answered.
“Tag or tackle?” His breath caught in his chest at an instant vision of her in a uniform with hips rounding out below a small waist and stuffing that chestnut brown hair up into a helmet. He’d never been into role play, but his throat went slightly dry at the idea.
“Honey, in Waurika, Oklahoma, there is no such thing as tag or powder puff ball. We play for keeps.”
“Did you borrow the Waurika team’s uniforms?”
“Oh, no! We played in bikinis and helmets.” She giggled.
“Now I know you are kiddin’,” Levi said.
“Yes, I am. The school let us use the old shoulder pads and we wore jeans and knee pads, but I promise we were tough as the guys. We raised enough money to pay the electric bill for the football field every single time so no one had to sponsor us. And we had a load of fun doing it.”
“Who did you play against?” Levi asked.
“Any area teams who wanted to suit up and play with us on Saturday nights.”
Justin finally put his fork on his plate. “Saturday nights?”
“Most of us were farm kids. Our parents needed us to work, but they’d give us Saturday nights off to play most of the time.”
“Did your father—” Levi started.
She butted in before he finished. “He came to all my games he could. It was Mama who had a fit. Her daughter could have been a ballerina but not a football player.”
“Wow!” Justin said.
Retta shrugged. “Mama eventually got her wish. I left the farm and went into business, where I dressed up every day. But I never lost my love for a good game. Do y’all ever play ball with the kids, or is it ranchin’ stuff?”
“Oh, honey, Cade always coaches the boys in how to throw a spiral and how to dance through a tackle every year that they’ve been here,” Justin answered.
“Sounds fun,” Retta said. “Maybe we should organize a game, girls versus boys this year.” Cade loved the sparkle of the challenge in her eyes.
Levi picked up his fork and started eating. “Maybe you ought to be a boys’ bunkhouse mama instead of a girls’.”
“No, thank you. I do better with girls even when they get pissy and whiny,” she said. “Boys at that age want to fight or strut around like they’re all big and mighty.”
“Got brothers?” Cade asked.
“No brothers or sisters, but got a few boy cousins.” She followed Justin and went back to eating.
Cade did the same but couldn’t get the picture of her in tight jeans and shoulder pads out of his mind.
After they’d finished the meal, Cade brought out a fresh apple pie and a container of ice cream and four dessert plates. “Who wants pecans?”
Justin and Levi both nodded so he went back to the refrigerator and got a small jar of chopped pecans. “Anything else while I’m up? More sweet tea? Coffee?”
Retta held up her glass. “Yes, please to the tea. Got any caramel ice cream topping? My dad always loved pie, ice cream, a sprinkling of pecans, and then caramel over it,” she answered.
“I want mine like that too,” Levi said.
Cade put the pie on the table along with dessert plates. “I think I’ll give it a try too.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask all through dinner, who did those drawings on the wall?” Retta asked as she put four slices of pie on the plates.
Cade brought ice cream, pecans, and caramel to the table. “That would be Benjy’s work. You’ll meet him on Friday. Benjy is special needs in a really different way.”
“How’s that?” she asked.
“He’s almost genius on the IQ chart, but he’s what they call high-functioning autistic. He has limited social skills, but he retains everything he reads and believe me, he reads a lot.”
“But with no social skills, he doesn’t do well with others, does he?” she asked.
“That’s right,” Levi said. “And he’s prone to blurting out facts, but he loves ranching, and his grandmother thinks the camp might teach him some people skills.”
“Well, he’s a fantastic artist. I recognize Gussie. Is that Beau, your dog?” she asked.
“Yes, it is, and the third one is Hard Times.” Levi passed the caramel over to Retta.
“Is there a story about Hard Times the turtle? That sounds like a children’s book.” She applied the caramel to the top of a scoop of ice cream and handed it off to Cade.
“Oh, yeah, there is,” Cade said. “Hard Times came up out at the barn with a cracked shell and like always, Levi came totin’ him home. We applied some superglue to it and it got better. We figured he’d seen some hard times so that’s how he got his name. He’s shown up again every year for the past decade and stuck around through the summer months.”
Levi took the first bite and made appreciative noises. “His favorite thing is watermelon but he’ll eat Gussie’s cat food or even Beau’s dog food in a pinch. I’ll have to see if he’d like a bite of this fancy apple pie sometime.”
“We’re just glad that elephants don’t live in Texas or Levi would bring in a stray one and want to keep it in the house,” Justin said.
“Can’t help it. It’s who I am and I make no apologies.” Levi shrugged.
Beau, Gussie, and Hard Times. Retta committed the names to memory. “Is there a story that goes with Beau’s name too?”
Cade nodded. “Beau Beauchamp was quarterback for the Longhorns the year that Levi and Justin was born. My dad thought he was great and talked about him a lot so we named our pup that. He belongs to the ranch but he’s mostly my dog.”
“You’re welcome for that,” Levi said.
Retta hadn’t sat at a dinner table with adults since the church dinner after her father’s funeral. Since then she’d been so busy with the sale of the farm, the auction to get rid of all the stuff in the house and barns, and all the paperwork involved with medical bills that she scarcely took time to eat. And when she did, it was usually a sandwich or canned soup dumped into a bowl and heated in the microwave. Being able to do this three times a
day would certainly warrant taking the job, even if the pay had only been half of what Cade had offered.
When Cade finished, he started clearing the table. “Y’all don’t have to rush. I’m just gettin’ things put away. Got someplace I need to be by seven-thirty.”
Of course he did. A cowboy that sexy probably had a girlfriend in the wings.
“Me too,” Levi said. “Only got a couple of more nights after this one before we have to be good for five weeks.”
Justin rolled his eyes. “It’s like Lent for cowboys. We give up drinkin’, dancin’, and women to take care of the kids. I love them, but it sure lets me know that I’m not ready for the husband and daddy role in my life just yet.”
“It’s a good thing you do here.” Retta finished off the last of her dessert and carried her plate to the sink. “I’ll be glad to rinse while you load to make the job go faster.”
“I’d never hear the end of it from those two if you did. They’d expect me to help them on their nights for cleanup duty because I had help.” He grinned.
“Okay, then,” she said. “It’s been a long day. I’m going to the bunkhouse. You guys all have a good time tonight. See you tomorrow.”
“Breakfast at seven,” Levi called out as he left.
“I’ll be here,” Retta said. “Thanks for the dinner. This kind of cooking is a pretty fine benefit.”
“Glad you liked the pot roast and apple pie. After breakfast I’ll show you around the ranch. You used to a horse or a four-wheeler?” Cade followed her to the door.
“I’m okay at riding but enjoy a four-wheeler,” she said as she left.
Beau followed her back to her bunkhouse and whined when she started into the house. “You are as spoiled as the cat.” She bent to scratch his ears. “So you are named for a quarterback that I never even heard of, are you?”
Beau licked her up across her face. Her laughter rang out across the ranch and echoed back in her ears. It came straight from her heart, something that she hadn’t felt in a long time.
When she straightened up and opened the door, Beau chased inside and curled up on the sofa. “Does Cade let you inside? I don’t guess it matters what he does since this is my house for the next month. Besides I may register you as a service dog, one that helps little girls who wouldn’t have room for a dog in the inner city. That way you’ll have to be inside so they can pet you.” She talked as she changed from her skirt and tank top into a pair of denim shorts and a faded chambray shirt that she knotted at her waist. She tossed her sandals into the closet and went out to sit on the porch in her bare feet with Beau right behind her.
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