by Jeannie Watt
Lillie Jean finished her coffee, washed the mug and put it back on the shelf before dumping the rest of the coffee and rinsing the pot. There. Duty done. Payback complete.
She pulled out her phone and dialed Kate to give her an update. Kate’s mom answered almost immediately.
“Hi, Julie. Is Kate around?”
“She’s in the examining room with Caleb.”
“You’re at the doctor’s office?”
“Urgent care. Caleb put a bean in his ear.”
“Oh, dear heavens.”
“On the plus side, Kate’s hours have been increased at the market and she qualifies for insurance coverage. It starts next month.”
Which meant that she’d be covering the cost of today’s bean removal.
“How about you? Are you doing all right?”
“My hours haven’t increased, but that means I’m available to babysit while Kate’s at work.”
“Still no help from Dennis.”
A growling sound answered that question. Lillie Jean had never really liked Dennis. She’d tolerated him for Kate’s sake, but Dennis was self-centered, and Kate was a natural born helpmate. All fine and dandy, except that Dennis took advantage. Constantly.
“By the way, Lillie Jean.” Julie’s voice lowered, as if she was afraid of being overheard. “Kate was going to call you this morning, except this bean thing happened. Andrew came by last night.”
“What?”
“He wanted to know if you left anything with us. He was pretty pushy with Kate until he realized that I was there.”
“I’m so sorry,” Lillie Jean said, pressing her hand to her forehead. The last thing she wanted was to bring trouble down on her friends.
“Oh, don’t worry. I put a scare in him.”
“You shouldn’t have had to do that.”
“I never liked Andrew. I kind of enjoyed it.” And there it was. Both she and Kate had chosen poorly.
“Look,” Lillie Jean said, taking a couple of paces across Gus’s kitchen, “I’m sending you money today and I want you to ship me the two boxes in the attic. I’ll send the money as soon as I hang up.” She probably shouldn’t have left them with Kate in the first place, but she’d never dreamed she’d be in Montana for so long.
“I don’t think Andrew will be coming back.”
“All the same... I want the boxes here with me. I’ll send enough money so that you can ship them using a priority method.”
“Understood.”
“As to the other stuff.” Meaning her clothing, her books, her cookware. “I—”
“Will leave them in the garage, right where they are.”
Julie used her no-arguments mom voice, so Lillie Jean didn’t argue. “If you will send me a text when the boxes are on their way, I’ll make sure that Andrew knows where they are.” She gritted her teeth together. “That way he’ll leave you alone, and I don’t think he’ll be coming to Montana to get them.”
“How long are you going to stay there?”
Lillie Jean face flushed as she said, “For a little while. I’m still working out how to handle the sale.” And again, the thought of leaving kind of ate at her.
“We look forward to you coming back. Your bedroom is still available.”
Her bedroom being the other half of Julie’s bedroom.
“Thank you. I appreciate that. I hope that once I get back to Texas, I can hit the ground running. Start over quickly and give Andrew a run for his money.”
“Me, too, darling. Let’s us just show that man.”
Lillie Jean would like nothing better.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE BAR WAS BUSY, which meant more revenue, and less time to think. Gus couldn’t say he was unhappy about it. The only problem was that he’d expected it to be slow, so he could discuss bulls with Jess and Tyler Hayward.
The twins came into the pub a little after 7:00 p.m., pausing just inside the door. One of them—Gus never could tell the guys apart from a distance—tipped back his cowboy hat and surveyed the room with a shake of his head.
“Mad rush,” he said as he approached the bar, and Gus nodded. Now that the twins were closer, he could identify Tyler by the scar on his chin.
“I don’t know how long this will last.” He poured two beers and set them on the bar in front of the twins. “But it looks like some of them are digging in for the night.”
“We can talk between pours,” Jess said before he and his brother lifted their beers at the exact same time.
“Back in a sec,” Gus said before heading to the end of the bar to take Ginny’s drink order. A few minutes later he was back in front of the twins, a bar towel slung over his shoulder. “Tell me what you’re looking for.”
Jess leaned his elbows on the bar. “Ty and I bought a small herd of registered Angus—”
“Hey, Gus.”
Somehow Gus managed to keep from reacting when Madison, the one person he hoped to not see that evening, appeared out of nowhere and squeezed her way in between Jess and Tyler. She gave each twin a sparkling smile. The woman was drop-dead gorgeous, but neither Jess nor Ty did more than nod and ease sideways in opposite directions, giving her more room at the crowded bar.
“I thought you were in Missoula for good,” Gus said. Starting her new life as a property manager there. She’d made it very clear that she was never returning to Gavin, and he saw no reason to let her know that he’d known she was back.
“Guess I changed my mind. Can I have the usual?”
“Which is?” When he and Madison dated, the usual had changed along with her mood.
She gave him a playful look. “Surprise me.”
Gus poured her a glass of water and set it in front of her. Madison’s eyebrows lifted. “Surprise,” he said. “Would you like something else?”
“You know what I want.”
Gus’s stomach tightened. They were not good for each other. Madison disagreed.
“This isn’t the time.”
Madison cocked one eyebrow at him, took the glass of water and joined a table nearby.
Jess cupped his beer glass with both hands and pointedly brought the subject back to bulls. “Skye and Tyler invested in additional property, so we can graze in the summer.”
“We’re just looking for a decent bull.” Tyler shrugged. “We’d be pretty steady customers if you have bloodlines that work for us.”
“Behind you,” Ginny said as she squeezed by, a full beer glass in each hand. She exited out the end of the bar and disappeared into the crowd.
“Yeah. About that.” Gus leaned in. “I don’t know what our breeding program looks like in the future, because I don’t know where we’ll be in the future.”
“What does that mean?”
“Thad’s silent partner’s granddaughter—” whom everyone in town knew about by now “—wants to sell her interest. If she sells to someone I can’t work with, then I don’t know what’ll happen.”
The twins did one of those silent communication things they did every now and again, then focused back on Gus who held up a finger before moving down the bar, taking orders and filling glasses. When he got back, Tyler leaned an elbow on the bar. “Is there any way to convince her not to sell?” he asked.
“You can follow my ex-husband’s example and use sweet talk and manipulation,” Ginny said as she slipped behind him again. Gus made a face at her and she patted his arm. “Kidding.”
He barely had time to acknowledge her comment before one of the guys sitting at Madison’s table pushed up to the bar and ordered two whiskeys neat. Gus poured, then turned back to the twins.
“I’m hoping she doesn’t put the place on the market until I have a chance to come up with the money to buy her out.” He left out the part about her wanting the money to start over ASAP. That was Lillie Jean’s busin
ess and he wasn’t spreading it through a pub, even with guys he trusted. The selling part would be common knowledge after she visited with the real estate brokers.
A shout went up from the far end of the bar and Gus headed that way. When he came back, Tyler asked, “Is she going to give you some time to come up with the funds?”
“I hope so. I’m looking into Ag loans.”
“Prepare for a wait,” Jess said. “We just got one and it took close to a year.”
“Thanks,” Gus said drily. The crowd was growing, and Jess and Ty were being shoved closer together. The time for conversation was over. “I have bulls to show you,” he told the twins. “You want to see them?”
“Day after tomorrow,” Jess said, before saying, “No. Wait. Emma has some wedding thing I need to okay. The day after the day after tomorrow.”
“That would be Saturday?” Gus asked, wanting to make certain he had the right day-after-the-day-after.
Jess frowned as he consulted his phone calendar. “Yes. Saturday looks clear.”
“Midday,” Ty added.
“Works for me,” Gus said as he moved down the bar. “See you then.”
The rest of the shift sped by as they tended to do when it was busy. Madison hung in there, moving from table to table. To his surprise, she stuck with water, which meant that, unless she’d been pilfering drinks, she was stone-cold sober as she approached the bar around midnight.
The place was still full, but with Ginny working shoulder to shoulder with him they were holding their own. Madison leaned her elbows on the bar and gave him a soulful look. “I heard you might lose your ranch.”
“Don’t believe everything you hear in a drinking establishment,” he said lightly. “More water?”
She smiled a little. Shook her head. “I didn’t realize you had a partner.”
Gus somehow kept himself from saying that was because it was none of her business.
The smile widened. She knew him fairly well. Knew he was purposely not talking, so he talked. “What brings you back to town, Madison?”
“I like being a big fish in a small pond.” Gus couldn’t help smiling at the very truthful reply. The smile faded as she said, “And this woman, your partner? She’s living on the ranch?”
Gus set his forearms on the bar and leaned closer. “Madison...let’s keep the conversation on less personal matters.”
She regarded him silently for one long moment, then wrapped her elegant fingers around the glass and gave him a knowing half smile. “Fine. I guess I’ll see you around?”
Probably not, since he didn’t plan on taking a lot of shifts.
“Yeah. Sure. Good night, Madison.”
“Night, Gus.” She sauntered away, leaving him staring after her.
He didn’t mind helping out his uncle at the pub, but he couldn’t wait to get back to the ranch. Now, as Tyler said, he needed to figure out how to hold on to it.
* * *
LILLIE JEAN’S PATTERN boxes and sewing machine arrived three days after she’d spoken to Julie. As the delivery truck drove away, she carried the boxes into the house one at a time and stacked them on the kitchen table. At least Andrew wouldn’t get his hands on them now. Isabella was going to have to settle for whatever Taia managed to design for her, and Lillie Jean had a strong feeling that the musician was not going to be happy. Taia’s aesthetic was heavily influenced by ultramodern minimalism, whereas Isabella liked Western-inspired pieces that spoke of 1940s and 1950s. In other words, she preferred Lillie Jean’s specialty.
Even though there was no chance of anything happening to the boxes in her absence, Lillie Jean stowed them in her bedroom, beside her bed, and set her laundry basket on top. They represented the beginning of her new business, and she wasn’t going to leave them chilling on the kitchen table while she went to town to pick up her lemon fabric from Annie Get Your Gun and visit one of the local real estate offices.
Her first stop upon reaching Gavin was the ranch supply store she’d read about on her phone, where she bought two pairs of jeans and four T-shirts in unattractive colors on deep discount. Who cared if a shirt was the color of mud if it would eventually be covered in mud? Henry was waiting with his nose pressed against the window when she returned to the car.
“New sweater for you, Bud.” Lillie Jean pulled the fleece doggie vest with decorative buttons down the back out of the bag. “And look. I have a shirt the color of muck, one the color of dust, and two the color of creek slime.”
Henry lifted his front paw as she tried on his vest. It fit well, but she was going to sew a piece of orange ribbon to it, so she could see him when he chased bunnies, and sometimes Clancy the cat, on their evening walks.
After the ranch store, Lillie Jean drove on to Annie Get Your Gun where she parked in front of the real estate office on the opposite side of the street. She hesitated before going in, then bit her lip and turned to cross the street. Property went for a lot of money in Montana. A lot more than it did in her part of Texas. The value of her interest in the ranch wasn’t going to drop if she gave Gus a little time before putting the place on the market. She’d eventually get her money, and, in the meantime, she’d work on new designs. And—finally—she was working on new designs. Designs she liked.
Painting the house seemed to have shaken loose something in her brain. She’d spent a couple of evenings searching through retro photos on the internet and debating as to how she could reimagine them. She’d even reached for her sketchbook a time or two. It felt good to be moving on, and, in a way, she had the isolation of the ranch to thank for that. She could see why Gus loved the place, and maybe that was what had kept her from walking into the real estate office. Gus and his love of the place.
Her stomach tightened. She couldn’t let feelings for Gus trump common sense. If she sold the ranch, her future was secure.
You promised him time.
Exactly. She’d go to the real estate office another day. There was no hurry.
The bell atop the door rang as Lillie Jean entered Annie Get Your Gun. A small group of women was gathered around the jewelry display case and two more ladies stood in the doorway of the quilt room, where Annie was holding up a crib-size quilt. Annie glanced at the door as Lillie Jean came in, then smiled broadly.
“Hi, Lillie Jean. Welcome back.”
“Hi, Annie.” Lillie Jean edged past a woman at the display case, pretending she didn’t notice the way the blond was staring at her.
Annie handed the crib quilt to one of the ladies she’d been speaking to, and then crossed to the counter and reached beneath it. “Your fabric.” She set a box on the counter. “You should have a lot of fun with this.”
“Oh, I’m going to,” Lillie Jean said. She was going to disappear into the project ASAP, keeping her mind on her sewing and not on Gus. “I’m probably going to put in another order soon. I’m making a bathroom ensemble next.”
“Then you’ll be staying in the area?”
Lillie Jean turned toward the woman who’d spoken, a tall willowy blonde with a short geometric haircut. Pretty much the antithesis of herself. “I...uh...” Don’t know how to answer a direct question about my personal business to a stranger. So she held out a hand. “I’m Lillie Jean Hardaway.”
The woman took her hand, gave it a warm squeeze. “I’m Madison Jones. A friend of Gus’s.”
“Oh.” A hollow pit seemed to open inside of her. This was quite an attractive friend. “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.” She stepped away from the jewelry case and Lillie Jean automatically moved with her. “Gus is kind of torn up about the future of his ranch.” Lillie Jean’s lips parted, but she had no idea what to say. She didn’t have to say anything because Madison continued on with a gesture that made the single stone on her elegant silver bracelet catch the light. “He and his friends were having a war council about it at the bar a
few nights ago.”
Lillie Jean’s cheeks started to feel warm. “Oh?” she asked politely.
“Not that Gus would want that to get out, of course—”
“Then why mention it?”
Lillie Jean’s blunt question brought Madison to a stuttering stop. She pressed her palm against the front of her tasteful linen dress. “I want you to understand how much Gus’s ranch means to him.”
“It’s Thad’s ranch. And mine.”
“Yes. Of course.”
Lillie Jean narrowed her eyes, aware that everyone in the shop was trying to appear engaged in other matters while listening to her conversation. “I’m sure Gus appreciates your concern. I’ll pass it along to him.”
“You don’t—”
“It’s not a problem.” She reached for her package, which, thankfully, she’d paid for upon ordering. All she wanted was to get out of the shop, back to her car and her little dog. Madison Jones had an agenda and Lillie Jean didn’t want to be part of it.
“Thank you,” she said to Annie. “I’ll be back when I have more time.” She gave Madison a cool look then headed for the door, well aware that many pairs of eyes were following her exit.
She somehow crossed the street without being hit by traffic, which was a feat, since she’d walked blindly to her car and forgot to unlock it before trying to open the door. If she’d been certain no one was looking, she’d have brought her forehead down to rest on the steering wheel after sliding inside. But people probably were watching, and discussing, and she wasn’t about to show weakness. So she put the key in the ignition and started the car, surprised to find that her hands were shaking.
Lillie Jean had never been a fan of confrontation. She’d listened to her mother’s advice about finding peaceful solutions and rolling with the punches, but in this case, it felt too personal. The crazy thing was that she didn’t know if she was more upset about the confrontation with an aggressive stranger in front of an audience, or the fact that Gus had been discussing her.
