by Reina Torres
“Jesse!”
She saw his face transform at the sound of his name.
“Jesse!”
Turning around, he leaned closer to her. “Prepare yourself.”
“Prepare- what?”
“I was hoping you two would head up to the house first, but then I remembered what it was like the first time I came up here. So, I decided to come down and say hello.”
“Mama,” Jesse gestured to the woman bearing down on them with a wide grin on her face, “this is Etta Bradford. Etta,” he gave her a wink, “this is my mother, Caroline.”
Taking in a breath to steady her nerves, Etta reached out to shake her hand, but Caroline wasn’t going to just shake her hand.
No, Jesse’s mother pulled her into a hug.
“Welcome! So lovely to meet you.”
Etta would have said something if she could breathe, but before it became an issue, Caroline loosened her hold around Etta’s middle.
“Seems perfect to have an Etta around the place,” Caroline laughed and Etta was struck by how much Jesse’s laughter held the same warmth as his mother’s. “I’ve got supper on and your father’s supposed to be watching the stove so-”
“You should be heading back.” Jesse shook his head on a sigh. “Don’t think we want the fire department to have to come all the way out here.”
Etta saw Jesse’s mother look past his shoulder and something in her eyes told Etta that there was something there that Caroline didn’t quite like.
“Jesse,” Caroline reached out her hand and touched his arm, “Mister Calhoun has been looking for you.”
Jesse’s face tightened up and the muscles in his jaw clenched under his skin. “I told him I’d come find him later.”
“Well,” Caroline waved her hand near his shoulder, “looks like he found you first.”
Even though she had no physical connection with Jesse at the moment, she was sure she could feel his shoulders tense up at the sight of the man walking up the street in their direction.
Dropping his chin down to his chest, Jesse let out a weary sigh. “Etta, I’m sorry, but I need to talk to Randy. Would you mind going with my mother up to the house? I’ll come and get you when I’m done.”
There really wasn’t any other answer than, “Sure. No problem.”
Etta felt Caroline take hold of her arm and the look in the older woman’s eyes was full of mischief.
“Don’t worry, son,” Caroline turned to look her son straight in the eye, “I’ll keep Etta entertained. If you can’t come up for a while, I’ll sit her down with some of the family albums.”
Etta felt Caroline tug on her arm so she started to walk.
“There are so many adorable photos of him when he was a little boy.”
She saw Jesse’s expression and thought it looked like a mix of worry that he cast in his mother’s direction and a look of irritation at the man moving in their direction.
As they continued up the road, Etta leaned in and tried to reassure Jesse’s mother. “You don’t have to entertain me. I’d be happy to wait.”
Caroline gave her arm a pat. “My dear girl, it’s not just about entertaining you,” her soft laughter coaxed an answering laugh from Etta, “it’ll entertain me, too. I guarantee you, just the thought of me showing you pictures will hurry him along.”
The main house on the property was set back in the middle of some trees that would hide it from any camera angles in the town, but that didn’t make its situation any less amazing standing there in front of it.
Two stories tall, the house had a wrap around porch complete with hanging planters and flower boxes on either side of the stairs.
Caroline leaned against Etta’s arm. “Jesse and his father built me the flower boxes last year for Mother’s Day.”
“They built them?” Etta struggled to imagine her father doing anything like that for her mother. “That’s so sweet.”
“I am a very lucky woman.”
As they walked up the steps together, Etta thought there was something coloring Caroline’s words with a hint of sadness, but she was sure it wasn’t polite to ask about it and she didn’t want to dredge up any pain for the other woman.
Caroline stretched out and opened the screen door. “Go ahead and go on in, I can show you around the house after I check the stove. I know Holt said he was going to watch it, but he’s been working up a full head of steam all day.”
Once they were inside, Caroline closed the door and gestured to the house in general. “Go ahead and make yourself at home, I’ll be right back.”
Even with Caroline’s kind words, Etta found it hard to do anything more than stand in the middle of the open floor space in the living room. The furniture wasn’t like what she had at home. Her living room wasn’t living at all. It was kept pristine and spotless for guests, otherwise it was off limits.
The Suttons’ home was the complete opposite. That didn’t mean that the house wasn’t clean. The house was just lived in and comfortable and if it wasn’t her first time in the house, but a long-time family friend, Etta would only be too happy to sit down on the couch and relax.
She had a feeling that if she had been a friend of the family while she was growing up, the living room would have been the perfect place to relax and enjoy a quiet afternoon.
“Damnit!”
Etta turned around, trying to locate the source of the voice.
“Damnit, all to hell! Someone bring me my gun!”
Chapter Five
ETTA
“Damnit, all to hell! Someone bring me my gun!”
The demand should have sent her heart racing with fear, but there was something about the tone of the voice that lent itself to bluster instead of violent intent.
“I swear, I’m gonna toss this whole mess out back and burn it to ash.”
The voice lessened into a grumbling tone that was more like an engine turning over and over.
Etta knew she should probably stay where she’d been left, but curiosity won out over manners. Wouldn’t her father be proud.
There was an open doorway off to the left and the sound of a drawer slamming was followed by a colorful curse. Before she knew what she was about, she was leaning into the doorway of the room just on the other side of the hall.
The man standing between the desk and the wall had a brightly colored kerchief knotted loosely around his throat and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses losing the battle to stay on the bridge of his nose.
Before she could say a word to let him know she was there, he pointed an accusatory finger at the piles of paper on his desk and declared, “I swear, by all that is good and holy, I’m done with you!”
“Sir?”
He turned toward her in a heartbeat and dropped his hand down to his side, stretching his fingers out before he set that hand at his waist. “Sorry, Miss. I didn’t hear you come in.”
“With all the hollering you were doing,” Caroline walked up to Etta’s side, “you couldn’t hear a stampede of horses going straight through the living room.”
His eyes narrowed as his brows rose up and his glasses slipped down to the tip of his nose. “No reason to worry about a stampede going through the house.” He gave Etta a wink. “Our horses know better’n to come up the steps.”
Shaking her head, Caroline’s sigh was pure indulgent love. “Now I’m almost afraid to introduce you to this reprobate, Etta.”
The two women laughed as Caroline made the introductions and as soon as she identified Etta as ‘Jesse’s new friend,’ Holt Sutton skirted around the corner of his desk and held out his hand for a welcoming shake.
He covered their joined hands with his left and shook her hand over and over. “Well, I feel all kinds of embarrassed going on and on like that.”
“I’m the one who peeked in, uninvited.” She looked at Caroline and saw the other woman’s smile broaden.
“You’re welcome to make yourself at home here, Etta.”
Holt let go of her hand w
ith a wry grin. “The only problem is that our home has more than its share of odd ducks.”
“Speak for yourself, Holt.”
He turned his gaze toward his wife and his smile took on a whole new aspect. “I am, woman. You’re the exception that proves my rule.”
Caroline shook her head. “Don’t you try to woo me, Holt Sutton. You already have me.”
He covered his heart with his hand and gave Caroline a wounded pout. “That’s no reason for a man to get lazy.”
Etta was wondering if she should duck out and let them have the room when Holt turned in her direction.
“You keep that in mind when a man sets his sights on you, Etta. You make sure he’s no slouch in the romance department.”
Etta’s eyes opened wide and she struggled to find something to say.
Caroline saved her. “You’re going to frighten her away if you keep this up. Jesse brought her by for an introduction. I doubt he wanted you to give her pointers on romance.”
Holt pulled himself up to his full height and lifted his chin in a playfully defiant gesture.
“And my advice on romance is valuable.”
Etta held her tongue as Caroline sighed at her husband.
“Holt-”
“What I know got me you, honey.”
Etta swore she could feel Caroline melt a little.
Or maybe that was just her imagination because she felt her heart pound a little harder at the open admiration in his eyes.
Caroline murmured under her breath. “Sweet talk.” She scoffed at Holt’s words, but her cheeks were flushed with a pretty pink as she looked at Etta. “Supper’s almost ready. If you’d like, you can come with me to the kitchen.”
Looking over at the desktop, Etta worried her bottom lip with her teeth as she pondered her answer.
“Would it be okay if I stayed here with Mister Sutton?”
Before Caroline could answer, Holt jumped in. “Don’t you worry none, honey. My heart belongs to you, and you alone.”
Caroline leaned closer to Etta. “Don’t take him too seriously. He’s a silver-tongued devil when he’s got a mind to be.”
Etta laughed softly at the wounded look on Holt’s face. “Oh, don’t worry. I have no intention of coming between the two of you.”
Holt gave a long-suffering sigh. “And I promise to be good.”
Caroline left them then, calling back over her shoulder. “That’ll be the day.”
As the soft tread of Caroline’s steps faded away, Holt turned to Etta and fixed her with a curious stare. “Okay, now,” he sat on the edge of his desk and lightly folded his arms over his chest, “what do you want to know?”
His frank question shocked her.
“I’m… I’m sorry,” she stammered as she tried to form a whole thought, “what do I want to know about…”
He lifted his chin and looked at a place on the wall between them. A framed photo showed her a photo of a younger Jesse with his white cowboy hat pushed back on his head and his arm slung over the back of a horse, grinning like he’d just won gold at the Olympics.
“If you’ve got a question about my boy, go ahead and ask it. I’m not above helping cupid along and-”
“Wait. No.”
“No?” Holt’s expression said she was an egg short of a dozen. “Why not? He’s a good-looking boy, ain’t he?”
“Uh, sure. Yes. He’s really good looking, but-”
“Well, if he’s good looking, why ‘no’?”
What could she say to that?
A memory popped up into her head of a long, summer afternoon spent at Bradford Auto, her father’s car dealership. Even as dead set as her father had been to involve her in his business, some of his employees hadn’t gotten the message to keep her at arm’s length. Employees like James Rias, one of the salesmen who worked for her father. He took her with him when he walked up to a customer and let her stay while he sold the man and talked him into a more expensive model than the one he’d had his eye on.
Later when she asked him how he’d gotten over the man’s objections and hesitations, he’d looked her straight in the eye and said one word. ‘Redirect.’
So, Etta latched onto the safety net. “I was going to ask about the papers you were yelling at.”
“Ha!” His loud bark of laughter was remarkably like Jesse’s. “I’m not just yelling at the papers, although they deserve it. It’s our books.” Sighing, he turned almost sideways and gestured at the heap on his desk. “Jesse’s handling the day to day on this project, but I told him I’d keep the records.”
His sigh was so heavy it almost made her ache.
“I don’t think I’m doing us any favors.” He nodded at his chair. “Go ahead and take a seat, once you take a look at that gibberish, you’ll go weak in the knees and it’s a long way down to the floor if you faint.”
Chuckling, she moved in between the desk and the chair, not quite willing to sit down just yet. Looking at the papers on the desk, she barely held back a wince, but Holt must have seen something in her expression.
“See? I told you.”
His laughter encouraged her to join in with him.
“I don’t blame you for yelling at the paperwork, I wanted to do the same when I started taking classes at the community college. I tried over and over again to understand the columns and the sums and I thought I’d lose my mind over it too, but one of the men who worked in the back office at the grocery explained things to me in a completely different way and by the time I was done with that first class, I just kept signing up for more.”
A memory of jolly Jack Callahan flashed before her eyes. The quiet man with his shiny bald head had been the only one sitting in at her graduation.
Holt reached up a hand and scratched at his chin. “I said to myself, ‘It looks pretty easy.’”
“Famous last words, hmm?”
“Foolish man, more like it.”
“Nothing foolish about wanting to do things for yourself. I bet you’ve spent hours and hours staring at it.”
Standing up from the desk, he turned around until he was almost shoulder to shoulder with her. “I’ve been up late into the night the last couple of weeks and by the time I drag myself to sleep, I feel like I’m finally getting my head wrapped around it. When I wake up,” he gestured across the desktop, “I feel like imps have snuck in while I was sleeping and started messing around with the numbers.”
Her instinct was to offer her help, but something held her back. If she said something and Jesse’s dad thought it might be a good idea would other people think so?
Would Jesse?
He’d invited her over to show her the ranch and have her meet his parents, but she was sure he had no intention of her wiggling her way into his life and the family business.
Goodness. She had no idea what to do.
Something touched her hand and she looked down to see Holt tap the top of her hand with his index finger.
“You know,” he lowered his hand to his side, “you’re thinking so loud I could almost hear the wheels a’ grinding inside your head.”
Boy, he certainly had her pegged.
“Well, go ahead, Miss Etta, spit it out.”
“Okay,” she let out a little sigh, “now, I was wondering if you might like a little bit of help.”
JESSE
As he was walking Etta out to his truck after supper, he couldn’t help but smile. Meals with his parents weren’t always a chore, but there were times when he and his dad butted heads like a pair of old, cantankerous rams. There might be a whole lot of clashing views and arguments ending up with his mother telling them both to, “Settle down and shake hands.”
But nothing like that had happened on this evening.
His father had doted on Etta and the two had talked about numbers and accounting as much as his mother let them. If his father hadn’t been so happy at the situation, Jesse would have felt a little more jealous than he’d been.
The saving grace had been
just that as well, giving him time to ponder that disturbing thought. Jealous over the smiles and laughter that she’d shared with his father.
He had to consider the fact that he just might be losing his mind.
“You’re pretty silent.”
The sound of her voice warmed him better than his coat. It took quite an effort not to reach out and take her hand. She was close enough for him to do it with little effort.
The effort was to keep his hands to himself.
“Just enjoying the moment.”
While he couldn’t really see her in the darkness, since the ranch keeps electric lighting to a bare minimum, he would have sworn that he could hear her smiling as they walked along together.
By the time they made it back to his truck, he was starting to wonder if he was going to be able to keep this… this thing between them… just friends. He didn’t have the time or the energy to start any kind of a relationship beyond something casual.
When it came to preparing Randy for the film, he knew that there was a train at the end of the tunnel and that train wasn’t going to stop until it spread him all over the tracks.
That wasn’t something that Etta needed in her life. She was taking the first steps in building a new life for herself. Something independent and solid.
He liked her.
Liked her more than he’d admit to himself, but what he wanted for himself was secondary to what he needed to do for the family.
He’d learned that lesson well.
He’d learned that lesson the hard way.
The hard way that came with a stone marker in the family plot on the far side of the ranch, marked FRANK SUTTON.
Family, he reminded himself, was where his focus needed to stay.
Then why, as he walked around the truck to open Etta’s door, did he want to step in closer and take another breath of her scent? Lean in closer and see if she was as aware of him as he was of her?
When Etta stopped just short of climbing up into the cab, he had to hold himself back. It would be only too easy to lean in and kiss her.
