Justin sat beside Emily again that Sunday morning. He couldn’t begin to keep his mind on the preacher’s sermon but instead thought about the water, the queen bed, and the twin bed sex of the night before. He personally liked the queen bed best because that was where they’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms.
Grandpa always said anything worth having was damn sure worth fighting for, but Justin hadn’t had to do much battling for Emily. A few roses, some tequila, and a red lollipop were all it took, and yet, it wasn’t like he’d just sweet-talked a woman into going home with him from a Saturday night honky-tonk. This was far different and a lot more serious. With the other women, he had been ready to see them go the next morning—not so with Emily.
Justin took her hand in his and rested it on his knee. Larry patted him on the back from the pew right behind him, so evidently he’d seen the gesture and agreed. Pretty soon, Otis did the same, so those buzzing whispers probably meant that Larry was spreading the news.
When the benediction had been given and the last amen uttered, Emily slipped her hand free so she could hug each of the Fab Five. They acted as if they hadn’t seen her in weeks rather than just two days.
“Are you coming to Mavis and Skip’s with us for Sunday dinner?” Patsy asked. “We brought a cheesecake for dessert. The cook in the kitchen let us make it ourselves. It’s Sarah’s recipe for pecan caramel.”
“No, we’re going to the ranch for Italian. Retta made lasagna. But your cheesecake sounds delicious. Do you share the recipe?” Justin answered for Emily.
Sarah batted her gray eyelashes. “Honey, I’d share anything with you.”
Patsy air slapped her on the arm. “Stop it. He’s taken.”
“Oh, really?” Emily’s eyebrows shot up.
“Yep, this tall brunette that works at the center has hog-tied him.” Otis threw his hand over his mouth, but the giggles escaped through his fingers.
“You laugh like a little girl,” Larry said. “But then you have a voice for a guy.”
“Well, you sound like an elephant far—” Otis caught himself and looked up at the ceiling. “Forgive me, Lord, I forgot where I was. Anyway, Larry, you sound like that when you laugh.”
“See y’all later. We’ve got to go.” Justin ushered Emily out a side door and headed straight for his truck. “So tell me about this brunette that’s got me in her sights. Do you know her? Otis said she works at the center.”
“Have no idea who he’s talkin’ about,” she answered. “Maybe he got the places of employment mixed up and she works at the Rusty Spur or a local brothel.”
“She’s not that kind of woman.” Justin opened the door for her and then jogged around the truck to get in out of the wind, which had picked up in the last few minutes.
“Oh, so you are seeing someone else? I have competition?” Emily asked.
He leaned across the console and gave her a quick kiss. “Darlin’, you’ll never have to worry about competition in my world.”
“Don’t tell me that’s not a pickup line.”
“Yep, it is, but this time it’s true.” He turned the radio on and found the classic country station that he liked. George Strait was singing “Check Yes or No.” The lyrics talked about a little girl passing a note to a little boy at school, telling him to check the yes box if he wanted to be her friend.
“So what would you check?” Justin asked when the song ended.
“It says that they were in the third grade. Darlin’, you wouldn’t have chased me on the school ground when we were that age. I was the biggest kid in the class, and boys didn’t chase me,” she said.
“I would have,” he declared.
Emily figured that he really believed that, but he hadn’t known her in the third grade. Back then she had teeth she still had to grow into, and she really was the biggest child in class. The boys barely came up to her shoulder. From the pictures she’d seen on the mantel of the ranch house, Justin had been one of those cute little boys that the girls chased.
They were silent for the first several minutes of the drive, but it wasn’t the kind of quiet that needs to be filled with words. Sitting beside him in church and riding home in his truck felt right.
Home! the voice in her head yelled.
I mean the ranch, she argued. Three nights of sex does not make a place home. If it did, then my last boyfriend’s apartment would be home, she thought. Then Cade’s ex-fiancée not ever wanting to live on the ranch came to mind. The woman must not have loved Cade nearly as much as she should have. What was that girl’s name? Emily’s brow drew down in a frown as she tried to pull the name from her memory.
“Julie!” she finally blurted out when she remembered.
“What?” Justin whipped around to give her a puzzled look.
“I couldn’t think of her name, and when it came to me, I said it out loud,” she answered honestly.
“I’ve done that before with people’s names or even places I couldn’t think of. Why were you thinking about Julie?”
“I wonder why she couldn’t compromise. She could have had her job in the city, couldn’t she? It can’t be a rule that the women have to live on the ranch, because Claire doesn’t. Or is that just because she isn’t a Maguire? Hey, did your mother like Julie?”
Justin’s head bobbed up and down in a nod. “Mama loved Julie and was almost as devastated as Cade when all that happened.”
They drove along in silence for a few minutes. Emily’s thoughts circled back around to the word home. As frustrating as her family could be at times, she missed them and was glad that she’d get to see everyone before long. But where was home these days?
“What do you want to do after we eat?”
She was glad that he changed the subject. “Take a walk? Maybe go back over to the place where you’re going to build your house. Do you have any plans yet?”
“I’ve been looking at a few. It’s a fairly decent day. We could take a quilt with us,” he said.
“And pretend we’re in your house.” She pointed as he parked the truck. “There’s Gussie on the porch, waiting for us. Sarah talks about her all the time. I wish the residents were allowed to have small pets.”
“Sarah, and all the rest, can come visit anytime they want,” Justin said as he leaned across the seat and kissed her. “It’s pretty damn hard to keep my mind on church when you’re right there beside me.”
“Amen.” She looked over her shoulder to see Gloria in the doorway. It reminded her of the few dates she’d had in high school. If she was five minutes late for curfew her mother would be waiting with that same unhappy expression on her face.
“We should get inside so we can help Retta.” She gave him a sweet kiss and then opened the truck door.
“I guess so, but I’d rather stay right here and make out all afternoon,” he said.
“Man can not live on sex and kisses alone. He must have food,” she teased.
“I’d sure be willin’ to give up food and see if that’s the truth.” He grinned.
They got out at the same time, but he hurried around the truck to take her hand in his. When they were inside the house, Emily picked a bibbed apron off one of the hooks in the utility room and flipped it over her head. Justin tied the strings around her waist and brushed a sweet kiss on her neck.
“I’d like to talk to you.” Gloria’s eyes shifted to Justin. “In the living room, please.”
“Sure thing, Mama. Is it about the trip I’m taking?”
“Thought I might go with you, to keep you company,” Gloria said.
“I don’t think so,” Vernon disagreed right behind her. “We’ve made plans to drive to Wichita Falls for a couple of days for that big Cattlemen’s dinner.”
Justin followed his parents into the living room, leaving Emily in the kitchen.
“What can I do to help?” Emily asked.
“Set the table,” Retta answered. “You remember where everything is?”
“Sure do.” Her eyes went to Claire. “I thought you and Levi would be at Mavis and Skip’s for dinner.”
“We were invited, but Levi thought it would be better for Benjy if we weren’t there today.” She put ice into glasses for the sweet tea.
“So that he’d talk more to the Fab Five?” Emily set a stack of plates on the cabinet and opened the cutlery drawer to get out what they needed.
“You got it,” Claire answered. “So what’s happening between you and Justin? Everyone at church was asking if y’all are a couple.”
“I’m not sure what we are. We’ve only known each other a couple of weeks. Well, three if you count from the first time I came out here,” she answered.
Retta patted her on the back. “I remember not knowing where I stood with Cade, but at the end of five weeks, I loved him too much that I couldn’t leave.”
“What did you do?” Emily asked.
“I left, made it to the end of the lane, and then turned around and came. He proposed, but we waited until fall to get married,” Retta answered.
Emily shifted her focus to Claire. “And you?”
“I was the damsel in distress, and Levi rescued me. Lost control of my vehicle on slick roads and took refuge in the old cabin where Justin lives now. He found me and my niece and the rest is history. He asked me to marry him on Christmas.”
“Retta, you lived on a ranch, right? But not you, Claire?” Emily asked.
“Yes.” Retta pulled two pans of lasagna from the oven. “I was raised on one and couldn’t wait to get away from it. I went to college and worked in Dallas. Loved it. But then my father got sick. I came home to take care of him and planned to go back to my banking job. Fate had different plans. I needed a temporary job to pay the medical bills in between selling off the farm and going to the new bank. I landed here and fell in love with Cade.”
Claire took the makings for a green salad from the refrigerator. “Same story. Little different ending. I’m not a rancher. I love the animals, but getting my hands dirty isn’t for me. I like my quilting business just fine. This way I get the best of both worlds.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “And I get to sleep with that sexy cowboy out there every night. I don’t care if he comes home with bullshit on his boots, just so long as he leaves them in the utility room.”
“Now be honest with us. Do you like Justin?” Retta asked.
“I like him a lot,” Emily admitted. “He’s the sweetest, kindest man I’ve ever met, but we haven’t known each other long enough—” She paused.
Claire butted in before she could go on. “I’ll pass on something Levi told me when I said we hadn’t known each other very long. If you add up those hours that you were with Justin on the ranch with the Fab Five, and think about a date a week lasting maybe four hours at the most, then you’ve known him a lot longer than the calendar says you have.”
Emily picked up the plates. “Never thought of it that way.”
“Thought of what?” Justin asked as he took the plates from her hands. “Let me help you.”
“We were thinking that fate has a way of messing up all your plans and rearranging them for you,” Claire answered.
Emily could have hugged her. Girlfriends took care of each other, whether they’d just become friends or if they’d been friends for years, like she and Nikki were. Which reminded her, she should have already called Nikki. Maybe tomorrow night they’d go to the pizza place and eat on the buffet.
As if on cue, her phone pinged. The text from Nikki said: Having a tough day. Meet me for ice cream at two?
Without hesitation, she answered: Yes
Then she turned around to face Justin. “I have to leave right after lunch. Nikki needs me.”
“Who’s Nikki?” Claire asked.
“My best friend for the past five years. She and I started at the center at the same time. She was an aide at the time, working nights and going to school in the day. She got her LPN and switched to days and has been studying at night for her RN. She’s taking the test for that soon and will be going to the hospital emergency room when she passes it. And that’s too much information but…” Emily shrugged and caught Justin’s eye.
His expression said he was disappointed. “Can you come back after you talk to her?”
“I don’t know. If we get out the ice cream, it could take all night,” Emily answered.
“I sure understand that.” Claire nodded.
“I don’t,” Justin said. “Explain it to me.”
“When girlfriends have a problem, they talk it to death, then revive it and talk about it some more. Guys don’t understand,” Retta said. “They hold everything in because they’re tough. But girls have to get it out even if it means hashing it over a hundred times.”
Claire looked up at him. “But when it’s a big, big problem that no amount of talk, tears, or cussin’ can get them through, then they get out a quart of ice cream and two spoons. No bowls. They eat right out of the carton.”
“And that helps?” Justin turned to focus on Emily.
“Every time.” She nodded.
“Will you send me a text if you get out the ice cream?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Cade and Levi, dinner will be on the table in five minutes,” Retta called out.
“On the way,” Cade yelled back.
Emily slipped the phone into the pocket of her denim skirt before she finished folding the napkins and putting them at each plate. After grace was said, Justin leaned over to whisper, “I’ve been meaning to tell you all week. I’ll be gone Monday and Tuesday. I’ve got to go pick up a new breeder bull. Don’t suppose you can get off work and go with me?”
“I’d love to, but I can’t. I’ve already asked for a day off to go home to my family reunion,” she said. “You’ll call me, right?”
“You can count on it,” he said.
“Mavis was so excited about the company today,” Levi said as he passed the steaming hot yeast rolls to Emily. “She and the ladies have been texting and calling all week, planning the day. And Skip couldn’t wait to talk to Larry about a new sheep pen and to Otis about some kind of special food for Benjy’s livestock.”
“What about Benjy? Is he excited?” Cade asked.
“It’s the craziest thing,” Claire said. “He couldn’t wait to get out of church and take them home. I think the ladies remind him of his grandmother who died last fall. Maybe since he was around older people his whole life, he relates to them better than other folks.”
“Makes sense to me.” Justin took two rolls and passed the basket on to Emily.
The simple touch of his fingertips on hers reminded her of the previous night. Bathtub, twin bed, and then queen bed sex. She liked the latter better because she liked falling asleep in Justin’s arms. And waking up to stare her fill of him the next morning until he finally opened his eyes.
It had to be real, didn’t it, for her to feel like that? And yet there was a lingering doubt deep inside her that made her wary to even begin to put her trust in something that was less than a month old.
Justin parked and turned to face her, taking in the cute little freckles across her nose.
“Did I tell you that you look beautiful today?” he asked.
They were sitting in front of the store where Emily was to meet Nikki. She’d dressed in a denim skirt and a sweater the same color as her gorgeous blue eyes. It made him think of her body covered in a pale blue sheet the night before. She’d gone to sleep before he had, so he’d propped up on an elbow and memorized each detail, from the way her thick dark lashes lay on her high cheekbones, to her full bow-shaped mouth, down to that single little freckle right between her full breasts that begged to be kissed.
“Yes, but I don’t mind hearing it again.” She smiled. “And there is Nikki driving up, so I’d better go now. I’m sorry about this afternoon.”
“We’ll do it another day.” Justin cupped her cheeks in his hands and kissed her.
“One more of those and this truck is going to combust,” she said.
“It’d be worth it. Text me later, or call?”
“I will,” she said as she got out of the truck and followed Nikki into the store.
He watched through the window until Nikki stood up and literally melted into Emily’s open arms. From the way her shoulders shook, there was little doubt that she was sobbing, so he resigned himself to the fact that it probably was going to be an all-night affair.
Justin hadn’t planned to stop at Mavis and Skip’s place, but thinking of an afternoon alone in the cabin or listening to another lecture from his mother wasn’t something he wanted to do or hear. So he pulled into the driveway and Skip motioned to him to join him, Otis, and Larry on the porch before he even got out of the truck.
“Thought you had a date today with Emily,” Larry called out.
Justin made his way to the porch and sat down on the top step. “I did but her friend Nikki is having a crisis. Y’all havin’ a good time here?”
“Oh, man.” Otis’s tone left no doubts.
“I’m real glad that we get to go to real church on Sunday. But as much as we love a good home-cooked meal, we’re insistin’ that we take these folks out to eat every other week,” Larry said.
“Won’t happen.” Skip grinned. “Benjy’s not comfortable eatin’ out that often, and me and Mavis love havin’ Sunday company.”
Mavis poked her head out the door. “I thought I heard a vehicle pull up. Come on in here and get a cup of coffee and some cheesecake. It’s the best you’ll ever put in your mouth.”
“You haven’t told us about the date yet,” Skip said.
“Sorry guys.” Justin straightened up. “I’ve got this really big sweet tooth, and cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts.”
He followed Mavis into the kitchen, where the ladies were gathered around the table. Patsy patted the empty chair beside hers. “Come right on over here, you sexy thing, and sit beside me.”
He’d barely settled into the chair when Mavis put a huge chunk of cheesecake and a mug of steaming hot coffee in front of him. She took her chair at the head of the table and said, “Now tell us about the date. We’ve been dyin’ to hear. Is she the one?”
“Have no idea if she’s the one, since we’ve known each other less than a month. But I was disappointed that we didn’t get to spend the whole day together.” He put a fork full of the cheesecake into his mouth.
“That’s good. I hope she wasn’t happy about it either. Drat that Nikki for spoilin’ it,” Sarah said.
“How’d you know about that?” Justin asked.
“Claire called me,” Mavis said.
Patsy laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’ve got some advice for you. Emily is independent and strong willed. Don’t push her or she’ll set her heels.”
“If you think she’s the one, you got to let her think it’s her idea,” Bess said. “It takes a real good man to chase a woman until she catches him.”
Justin chuckled. “I appreciate all the words of wisdom, ladies. I like Emily a lot, but—”
Patsy put her finger over his mouth. “There are no buts in real love. Either she is or she ain’t the one. Y’all can have a good time together, shake hands when it’s over, and go on your separate ways. Or you can figure out that you’re meant for each other and have a future together. You just got to spend time with each other to figure it all out.”
“Y’all ever think about putting in a counseling business?” he asked.
“Hell, no! We ain’t no good at relationships. Ain’t none of us ever been married, so how would we know anything about that?” Sarah said.
“But we do know Emily. She’s like a daughter to us,” Bess said.
“Or a granddaughter.” Patsy nodded. “Now us old meddlin’ hens are done with bossin’ you around. Claire said y’all were kissin’ at the ranch. That as far as it’s gone?”
“A cowboy does not kiss and tell.” Justin came close to blushing. “But I do thank you for the advice and the cheesecake.”