Blame It On Texas

by Kristine Rolofson

  And why should it? She was a different person, a woman with a life far from Beauville, Texas, and cheating cowboys.

  “I don’t know why you hired that particular young man,” Martha said, when Kate returned to the kitchen with the bottles of beer.

  “Why did you, Gran?” Kate flipped the cap from the bottle and tossed it into the garbage can by the ancient refrigerator. “I thought you were looking for another married couple.”

  “Or thinking again about a move into town,” Martha said. “Which makes a heck of a lot more sense than living way out—”

  “I’ll move when I’m good and ready, Martha,” Gert interrupted. “And it’s not that easy to find help. Dustin’s only been here a few weeks, but we’re getting along just fine.” She turned to Kate. “Honey, I don’t need a glass. I’ll drink it right from the bottle. It’s more fun that way.”

  “You should have a cleaning woman, someone to help you here in the house all the time,” Kate said, looking around the cluttered kitchen. She would clean while she was here, give the place a good scrubbing, wash the checked curtains, clean the windows. “I’m sure Dustin does his job outside, but you shouldn’t be alone in here all day.”

  “The boy visits.”

  Martha rolled her eyes. “A little boy isn’t the same as a housekeeper, Mother. You know that. And those Jones boys aren’t trustworthy. Isn’t the older brother in jail?”

  “Jail?” Kate almost dropped her pizza in her lap. Gert ignored both questions and continued on as if it wasn’t important or newsworthy.

  “Dustin worked for Jake at the Dead Horse before he came here and Jake had nothing but good things to say about him.”

  “Why did he leave?” She plopped a piece of pizza on her grandmother’s plate, then lifted a piece toward her mother.

  “Thank you, dear,” Martha said, reaching for her glass of iced tea. “That sure smells good.”

  Gert pulled her plate closer. “Mmm, thanks. He needed a place for the boy, he said. With Jake running his own spread and Bobby Calhoun on his own, the Dead Horse has gotten kinda wild.”

  “Bobby was always a character. He’s still on the ranch, then?”

  “Oh, my goodness, yes,” Gert agreed. “Martha, do you remember when he was a little guy?”

  “I sure do. Wildest kid in first grade.”

  Kate figured she’d earned a little prying. “What about Dustin’s wife? Where is she?”

  “I have no idea,” Gram said. “I don’t ask him much about his personal life, but he tries real hard with that boy of his. I don’t think they’ve lived together very long.”

  “Why?”

  She shrugged. “He’s not real comfortable being a father, I guess. Sometimes the man looks like he doesn’t know what to do or say to the boy. And little Danny seems in awe of his father, like he’s on his best behavior all the time.”

  “Maybe he just got custody of the boy,” Martha said, finishing the slice of pizza with one last bite. “I wonder who his mother is.”

  Kate knew. Lisa Gallagher. Lisa had been everything Kate had not been, including free to spend as much time as she wanted with Dustin and the rest of the wild Jones family. A year older than Kate, she’d been a waitress at a bar outside of town that summer. Which was why she’d calculated that Danny would be at least eight.

  “Dustin’s son is very small for his age,” she said, not realizing she’d spoken aloud until her grandmother answered.

  “He’s a little thin, I guess.”

  He looks more like seven, she thought, thinking of the child actors she’d seen on the set of Loves of Our Lives.

  “He’s a nice boy,” Gert declared, but Kate didn’t know if she meant Dustin or his son, and decided not to ask. She’d had enough of Dustin Jones for one lifetime.

  “Have you opened all your cards?” she asked, hoping to change the subject of the conversation. Her mother reached down and lifted a large wicker basket filled with pastel envelopes.

  “Looks like you have your work cut out for you, Mother,” she said.

  “My, my, this will be fun,” Gert said, taking another sip of beer. “Reading all of those might take me a week or two.”

  “And there are presents to open,” Kate said. “They’re in the trunk of the car. I’ll bring them in as soon as we’re done eating.”

  “My, what a day.” Gert beamed at her granddaughter. “Having you home is the best present of all.”

  Kate blinked back sudden tears and leaned over to hug her grandmother. “I’m glad to be here.”

  “And we’re glad to have you back,” her mother added. “There isn’t anything we’ve looked forward to more than that.”

  “Me, too,” Kate managed to answer. “I’m always glad to be home.” She left the older women and went out to the Lincoln under the guise of getting the birthday gifts. She really needed to breathe the thick, heated air and look up at the sky for a few moments of peace. New York seemed very far away.

  “I WANT TO GIVE IT to her now,” the boy insisted, “cuz today’s her birthday.”

  “It can wait ’til tomorrow,” Dustin said. “She’s got company.”

  “So?”

  “So…” Dustin repeated, wondering how to explain without hurting the boy’s feelings. Gert was with her family now. “It’s not polite to interrupt when Gert has company, that’s why.”

  “She won’t mind,” Danny said, pulling his sneakers on over his clean feet. He’d just gotten out of the tub and, instead of putting pajamas on, he’d dressed in clean clothes and figured he was going visiting. “Maybe they’re gone and she’s all alone.”

  No such luck, Dustin knew. He was able to see the driveway of the main house from his second-story bedroom window. Kate’s Lincoln was still parked there. How long was she going to stay in town? Long enough to talk Gert into a retirement home? Long enough to sell the ranch and kick him and the boy out? He’d tried this afternoon to ask Jake if he knew anything about his grandmother’s future plans, but they’d been interrupted before he could get to it. Still, Gert had told him to buy more breeding stock, had given the green light to his ideas for improving the range lands, had agreed to tearing down some of the buildings that would blow down in the next storm. Gert had even hinted that she’d be willing to sell some shares of the Lazy K to the right man.

  “Dad,” the boy said, tugging on his sleeve as if to remind him that he was standing there. “She’s gonna like it, right?”

  “Sure she is, but—”

  “Good.” Danny, dressed in clean clothes that were too small for him, picked up the tissue-wrapped gift and gave his father one of his rare smiles. “This is the best part, you know.”

  “Best part of what?” They wouldn’t stay long, wouldn’t even move from inside the back door. They could be in and out in five minutes and then Danny would go to bed happy.

  “Birthdays.”

  “And the best part is what, the presents?”

  “Yep,” the boy said, pushing the screen door open. “Can I have a party when I’m nine?”

  “Sure.”

  Danny turned back toward his father. “Really? You mean it?”

  “I’ll do my best,” Dustin promised, though he didn’t know where the boy would be come fall. And he wasn’t even sure when his birthday was, exactly. He’d have to find out without Danny catching on that he didn’t know when the boy was born. Damn Lisa for this whole mess, he thought for the hundredth time. She’d no right to mess up the boy the way she had and leave other people to pick up the pieces, but that was Lisa. A more selfish, self-centered woman hadn’t been born.

  “Are you coming with me?”

  Dustin hesitated. “You want me to?”

  “Yes,” the boy answered, his eyes big. “It’s getting dark.”

  “Well, then I’m coming with you,” he said, following the boy out the door and into the dusk. It was his favorite time of day, when chores were done and the wind had died down and everything seemed to be settled into place for th
e night. Kate and Martha should have gone by now, leaving Gert to go to bed. The old woman’s lights were off before nine most nights and here it was almost that time now.

  “I’m not really scared,” Danny whispered, waiting for Dustin on the porch. “You know that, right?”

  “Yeah.” He hid a smile. “I know that. Sometimes a guy just likes a little company at night.”

  “Yeah,” the boy echoed. “Sometimes a guy does.” They walked together in silence. “You think she’ll like it, right?”

  “Right.”

  “It smells.”

  “It’s supposed to.”

  “Oh, yeah, I forgot.” He sniffed the package. “Flowers, huh?”

  “Roses.”

  “Okay. Roses, roses,” he whispered to himself, trying to memorize the name of the scent, Dustin supposed. He escorted the boy to the back door of the sprawling ranch house and knocked against the peeling frame of the door. The whole place needed work. From sanding and painting the house and outbuildings, to repairing the cracked windows on the second story, to putting a new roof on the barn, the Lazy K needed a lot of work to lose its neglected appearance. If it were his…

  It wasn’t the first time Dustin had caught himself thinking that way, knowing that the amount of money he’d managed to save over the past few years while working at the Dead Horse wouldn’t be enough for a down payment on the outbuildings, never mind the house and land. Still, if Gert was willing to sell shares, then maybe anything was possible.

  “Come on in,” he heard Gert call, and Danny was three steps ahead of him into the kitchen, the present clutched in his small hand and the birthday card scrunched into his jeans pocket, no doubt.

  “Pizza,” Danny declared, sniffing the air before hurrying over to where Gert sat at the table. “Happy Birthday,” he said, and handed her the gift.

  “My, my,” the old woman murmured, reaching out to envelop the child against her. “This is too pretty to open.”

  “I wrapped it myself,” he told her, with a shy look at Dustin. “My daddy helped a little.”

  “Not much,” Dustin confessed, staying by the door. Kate wasn’t there, but her mother was eyeing him as if he’d come to steal the silver. “I’m not very good at wrapping.”

  “Come sit down,” Gert said. “Pull out a chair. Are you hungry?”

  “No, ma’am, we ate already.”

  Martha rose and began to clear the table of the dirty dishes. “We have plenty of pizza left. And there’s lots of cake, too.” She surprised him by smiling at the boy. “I’ll bet I could interest you in a piece of cake.” Danny looked toward him for permission.

  “Sure, go ahead,” Dustin said, relaxing now that there was no sign of Kate.

  “Coffee?” Martha McIntosh asked. “I was just going to make a pot. Decaf, though,” she added.

  “Thank you, but don’t go to any—”

  Gert waved her hand at him. “No one’s going to any trouble, Dustin. My daughter’s afraid I drank too much beer, so she’s bound and determined to pour coffee in me.” She winked at Dustin. “Isn’t that right, Martha?”

  “My mom drank too much beer,” Danny said. “The policeman said—”

  “Danny,” Dustin interrupted, giving the boy a look he hoped would stop him from saying anything further.

  “Well, she did,” the boy said, lifting his chin as if daring Dustin to argue with the truth. “Lots of times.”

  “Let’s see what’s in this pretty package,” Gert said, diverting the child from any more revelations. “How did you know I like pink?” He shrugged. Gert lifted the package to her nose. “Ooh-wee, this smells good.”

  “Roses,” the boy announced.

  “Roses? Well, how nice. I’d better open it up.” She untied the bow and the tissue paper fell apart to reveal three bars of pink soap. Until Danny had spotted those in a Marysville gift shop, Dustin had had no idea that soap could be so expensive. Still, it wasn’t much of a gift, not after what Gert had done for them. But Danny had insisted—the rose soaps or nothing.

  “Do you like it?” Danny leaned over and helped move the tissue away so Gert could see the soaps, individually tied with pink satin ribbons.

  “My, my, how beautiful. And these are too pretty to use,” she declared. “But I think I will anyway, first thing tomorrow morning when I take my shower.” She gave him a big hug and kissed his cheek. “Thank you so much, Danny.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “And you, too, Dustin,” Gert said. “Thank you.”

  He opened his mouth to tell her it was nothing, but the kitchen door opened and he had to move out of the way or get hit with a load of shopping bags.

  “Here,” he said, reaching to take them out of Kate’s arms. He should have known she would still be around somewhere. He couldn’t be that lucky. “Let me take those.”

  “I’ve got them,” she insisted, refusing to relax her grip on the bags she held in front of her like a shield. “If I let go of one I might let go of all three of them.”

  He backed off, but he didn’t like doing it.

  “Sit down, Dustin,” Gert said. “You don’t need to hover by the door like that. We’ve plenty of room around the table.”

  “Here, Daddy,” the boy said, pointing to two empty chairs beside each other around the old oval table. “You sit here and I’ll sit here.”

  He’d look like a fool if he refused, but he watched Kate navigate toward her grandmother and set the bags at her feet.

  “There.” She smiled down at Danny. “I’ll bet you came over to have more cake.”

  “And to give me a present,” Gert said, holding one of the soaps up. “Smell. Isn’t that nice?”

  “Mmm,” she said. “Rose?”

  “Yep,” his smitten son declared, staring up at Kate with an eager-to-please expression. Dustin pulled out a chair at the table, when he really wanted to grab the boy and run for the bunkhouse. Careful, boy, he wanted to say. She’s the kind of woman who’ll smile at you one day and break your heart the next. “Oh,” he said, reaching into his pocket to pull out a crumpled envelope. “I forgot this.”

  “Oh, my,” Gert said, taking the envelope. “I just love getting birthday cards.”

  “You must have a lot,” the boy said, climbing on a chair and leaning forward to watch Gert.

  “Coffee’s just about ready,” Martha McIntosh announced. “Kate, do you want some too?”

  Kate began unpacking one of the shopping bags. “Yes, thanks.”

  Dustin walked over to the table and took a seat. Trapped, that’s what he was. A man surrounded by three generations of women determined to celebrate a birthday for as long as possible. He watched Kate pile gifts at Gert’s feet, while Danny and Gert exclaimed over the mounting pile of presents.

  “You’re gonna open ’em now, right?” Danny asked.

  “I sure am. And you can help me. You know where I keep the scissors,” Gert said, and Danny scrambled off the chair and hurried across the room. He dug the scissors out of a drawer by the telephone and hurried back to Gert. “Thank you,” she said, and cut a fistful of purple ribbons tied into a curly knot on top of a white box. “What do you suppose this is?”

  Dustin glanced toward Kate, who looked as intrigued as Danny did. Her hair was lighter, though not as long as it was in high school. Her pink top and blue shorts showed off a figure that had only improved over the years. She looked as if she worked out in one of those fancy New York City gyms. He wondered if she had a lover, if they jogged together in Central Park and drank coffee in those restaurants with tables that lined the sidewalks.

  “What do you take in it?”

  Dustin turned as Martha set a cup of coffee in front of him.

  “Just black, ma’am. Thank you.” He hated himself for sounding like the hired help, but that’s what he was. And that’s the way Kate’s mother eyed him. Did the woman know he’d made love to her daughter for one short summer so many years ago? Probably not, or she wouldn’t have invited
him to stay for coffee.

  Cake appeared for everyone, plus a glass of milk for Danny, who watched as each present was unwrapped and exclaimed over. And the women were careful to include the boy in the impromptu party. How did women—some women—understand all of this, anyway? How did they know that a little boy had probably never been to a birthday gathering like this one? He sat back in his chair and sipped his coffee, despite that it burned his tongue. He ate cake—two pieces, even—and tried not to look at Kate too often.

  She was still beautiful, of course. It was natural to be attracted to her, as he would be to any beautiful woman who smiled at Danny and made the boy feel part of things. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been with a woman, couldn’t imagine anyone in Beauville he’d want in his bed. In his life.

  And now here was Kate, the only woman he’d ever loved. He’d been young and foolish, but he’d been in love just the same. And seeing her again could still tie his tongue in knots.

  “It’s time for bed, Danny,” Dustin said, once the gifts were opened and the boy had stuffed all the wrapping paper in a garbage sack. Gert, frugal as ever, insisted on keeping the ribbons and bows, so Danny stuffed them into a deep drawer filled with string and assorted other things the woman figured she might need some day.

  “Aww,” the boy groaned. “Really?”

  “Yep.” Dustin scraped his chair back from the table and picked up his empty coffee cup to set in the sink. It was long past time to leave this house full of women and take the boy home to bed.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “MOTHER, ARE YOU sure you don’t want to come back to town with us tonight?”

  “I’m sure.” Gert felt a little stiff after sitting at the kitchen table for so long, but she tried not to let on. Any complaint or sign of weakness would bring Martha down on her with that relentless worrying of hers. She shuffled into the sitting room, which used to be the dining room during the days when there were people to feed every day and night, and settled herself in her favorite overstuffed chair. “I like my own bed, Martha. You know I do.”

  “I know.” Martha exchanged a look with Kate, who only smiled and sat down on the old maroon sofa.