The sunshine was bright and beautiful on Saturday morning. It was still cold enough that the dusting of snow that had fallen wouldn’t melt except on the major roads where the traffic was heavier, but the sun took away the dreariness.
Either all that natural light or else the idea of a shopping trip the next day put a new spring in Dora June’s step. And she talked nonstop all during breakfast. She started with how lovely it was to have a day with few clouds, went on to talk about her party the night before and what a success it was, and then segued into what she would buy when they went shopping the next day.
“A nice new Bible case for Henrietta, don’t you think?” She stopped bustling around in the kitchen and wrote something on a list lying on the countertop. “I saw a pretty pink leather one last week with a Bible verse on the front. I think she’d like that. And a doll for Audrey.”
“But, Dora June, Audrey is only a few weeks old.” Fiona finished her breakfast and put the plate in the dishwasher.
“She’ll be big enough to play with a rag doll by this time next year. I saw an adorable Raggedy Ann in a cute little gift store at the mall.”
Fiona slipped her arms into her coat and pulled a pair of gloves from her pocket. Suddenly she couldn’t wait to get to the store where maybe she’d have a few minutes of peace. “Don’t wait on me for supper tonight. I’ll probably work late to get the bookkeeping business caught up.”
“And a scarf for Ruby.” Dora June picked up the pencil and waved.
The store was not quiet.
All day long, it bustled with folks coming in to visit around the table. Fiona had made eight big pots of coffee from morning until closing time and had sold six dozen doughnuts in addition to the prepackaged pastries right off the shelf. It had been a wonderful day for the store but a horrible one for catching up on her bookkeeping business.
It didn’t matter that the clock above the cash register said that it was ten minutes past five. Six old guys were still gathered around the table discussing politics and the upcoming election while they polished off three more packages of chocolate cupcakes.
She did all the closing chores and swept the floor, but they did not take the hint and leave. Then again, what did she expect? They were men and they were used to women working around them.
“Well”—Herman Hudson finally stood up—“I reckon them cows of mine ain’t goin’ to drag a big round bale of hay out to the pasture and feed themselves. It’ll be dark in an hour even if we did have sunshine today.”
“Guess you heard that the weatherman is callin’ for a norther about midnight,” Truman said.
“But no more snow until the middle of next week.” Herman nodded. “Then we’re getting one big enough to run last year some competition. Never thought I’d see two hard winters in a row.”
“It’s them Dawsons over on the Lucky Penny that’s caused all this,” Truman fussed.
“Give it a rest, Truman,” Herman scolded. “They ain’t God and that’s the only person who controls weather.”
They meandered toward the door, taking their own good easy time, stopping to talk more about the weather and about the hay they’d put up for the winter. When they were finally outside, Fiona locked the door, turned the sign around to Closed, and flipped off the light switch.
Time had stood still for the past hour, but when she sat down in front of the computer, it moved much faster. She didn’t realize how late it was until her stomach wouldn’t be ignored another minute. A quick trip into the dark store netted two packages of peanut butter crackers, a pint of milk, a diet cola, and an iced honey bun.
She nibbled as she worked and didn’t look at the clock again until her neck began to ache. Rolling it around a few times to get the kink out, she figured a couple more hours would put her up to date on everything. Then she looked at the clock and rubbed her eyes. Surely it wasn’t midnight already, but the clock had no reason to lie to her, so she backed up all her files and shut down the computer.
The old guys had been right about that norther. In some parts of the country they called such a fierce, cold wind a nor’easter but in Oklahoma and Texas it was simply a norther. It hit with a force and dropped the temperatures by at least twenty degrees. Fiona ran from the store to her mother’s car, slammed the door against the blasts of icy cold wind, and shivered all the way to her toenails.
Disappointment washed over her when she parked next to Truman’s truck in the backyard. Jud’s vehicle wasn’t anywhere in sight. She’d hoped that they could have a few minutes to talk about the night before. She let herself into the house, made sure she locked the door, and went straight for the refrigerator. Dora June had made fried chicken and there were leftovers. She put a leg and a breast in a bowl and picked up a can of diet cola.
She didn’t even turn on the foyer light but made her way upstairs in the dark. Once she was in her bedroom with the door closed, she lit up the room with a table lamp. Then she sat down in the recliner beside the window and bit into the cold chicken. Nothing had tasted so good in a very long time but it didn’t take away the yearning to talk to Jud.
Jud was late to church that Sunday morning and slid into the pew right beside Fiona just as the preacher took the pulpit. Nudging Fiona on the shoulder, he whispered, “What time did you get home last night?”
“After midnight. Where were you?”
“At Deke’s. I waited until ten for you and then got bored, so I went to Deke’s for a beer.”
“Shhhh.” Dora June tapped them both on the shoulder from the pew right behind them.
The preacher cleared his throat loudly. “What do you want for Christmas? Are you thinking about a new car? A trip to a place where it’s warm and you can put your feet in the sand? Or are you thinking about peace and happiness…” The preacher went on but Jud didn’t hear a word he said.
What did he want for Christmas? For the better part of a year Jud had wanted to be at the Lucky Penny with his cousins by Christmas. He’d yearned to be there when Blake and Toby talked about the improvement they were making, the new baby calves last spring, and even putting up fence in the heat of a Texas July. From the moment he’d driven his truck onto the property a few weeks ago, he’d known peace. But what he truly wanted for Christmas was what his two cousins had. The start of a family and happiness with a woman they loved.
Fiona crossed one leg over the other and brushed his hip in the process. She did not bring happiness to him. Turmoil was more like it—that’s what he felt every time she walked into a room.
She was family of family, and the awkwardness of a fling could cause more problems than he could count on his fingers and toes. He told himself for the thousandth time that she would be moving away as soon as she could and he was definitely staying on the ranch of his dreams.
Happiness might not be in Santa Claus’s big bag this Christmas, but if Jud could ask for anything, it would be contentment. Fiona’s shoulder touched his again when she fidgeted. He shut his eyes and imagined kissing that sweet spot between her shoulder and neck and moving up to taste her earlobe before settling his lips on hers for a series of kisses that left them both panting.
Every song, even “Jingle Bells,” reminded him of her, every snowflake that dropped or cold breath of air he inhaled brought back a visual of her. Just one romp in the hay might put her out of his mind, but then what? Her sisters were married to his cousins and they would be thrown together forever. No, that would never work.
“So what do you want for Christmas?” Deke whispered on his left side.
“Haven’t made my list yet. Have you?” Jud said from the side of his mouth.
“A tall blonde full of sass heads up the list or maybe a redhead so hot that she can leave burn marks on my mattress,” Deke chuckled softly.
“Shhh.” Fiona shushed them with a finger to her lips.
Lips.
A stirring behind Jud’s zipper reminded him of how much Fiona affected him.
Think about something else other than the taste of those luscious lips. Think about what the preacher is saying. Think about pulling a calf, building fence in August, or drilling a new well.
“And now I’ll ask Jud Dawson to deliver the benediction,” the preacher said.
Jud stood and shook the legs of his Wranglers down over the tops of his boots, bowed his head, and said the shortest prayer of his life, thanking God for the day and the holiday season and asking that everyone be blessed with heavenly love, amen. It was not easy to talk to God when his mind was on the woman sitting to his right, looking like a billboard model in that red sweater hugging her curves and the green plaid skirt that barely skimmed her knees.
“I wish you’d do the benediction every week,” Deke said the moment the rest of the folks in the church joined in with a hearty amen. “That was the shortest one I’ve ever heard, and Blake had to kick me awake to deliver it one Sunday so you can imagine how short that one was.”
Jud clapped a hand on Deke’s shoulder. “If I’d been sleeping, maybe I wouldn’t have been thinking about things I shouldn’t in church.”
“I understand,” Deke said seriously.
Dora June and Lizzy pulled Fiona out into the center aisle and Jud felt as empty as if he’d lost something. But he couldn’t lay claim to what he’d never had, so he waved at Fiona as the women headed toward the nursery to collect Allie and Audrey.
Tonight, he promised himself, he would be home in time for them to visit. They needed to talk about what nearly happened Friday night and decide exactly where they stood with each other.
When he turned back around, Deke was gone as well as both his cousins and their wives. Truman was standing at the back of the line looking lost. He stepped out beside the old guy and threw an arm around his bony shoulders.
“Want to get some lunch at Nadine’s? I’ll buy if you’ll keep me company,” Jud said.
Truman’s head bobbed up and down. “I wasn’t lookin’ forward to soup out of a can. Never did like that stuff. It don’t taste like Dora June’s.”
“Her cookin’ sure can spoil a man, can’t it?” Jud removed his arm and shook hands with the preacher.
“Yes, it can. She can make something out of nothing when times is tough and she never puts anything on the table that disappoints me. I’m pretty much a lucky man,” Truman said.
The norther that had hit the night before hadn’t let up in intensity one bit. The wind whipped through the bare limbs of the mesquite and scrub oak, creating a strange music that said winter had arrived early and the human race couldn’t do a thing about it.
“Colder’n a mother-in-law’s kiss out here, ain’t it?” Truman pulled his lined denim jacket tighter across his chest with one hand and used the other to keep his cowboy hat from flying south with the other.
“Ain’t never had a mother-in-law. Are you speakin’ from experience?” Jud laughed as he shortened his steps so Truman didn’t have to run to keep up.
“Hell, yes. Dora June’s mama hated me when we married and then when she found out it was my fault we couldn’t have kids that put the icin’ on the cake. Her last words to Dora June was that she wished she’d married someone else.” Truman didn’t waste a bit of time getting inside Jud’s truck.
“What are you doing this afternoon?” Jud asked. “Want to play some dominoes while the girls are out shopping?”
Truman cut his eyes around at Jud. “You want to lose your money?”
“What are we playing for? If you are that good, maybe we’d best play for pennies.” Jud contained the laughter but it wasn’t easy.
“Quarters,” Truman answered. “And I’m really good.”
“Quarters, it is. Maybe I’ll win back enough to pay for our Sunday dinner.”
Truman chuckled for the first time since Jud met him. “I wouldn’t count on it, son.”
Jud wanted to do a fist pump and maybe even a little touchdown dance when Truman called him son but he kept his composure. They snagged the last table at Nadine’s café, hung their jackets on the back of their chairs, and picked up a menu from the center of the table. Truman looked at it for less than a minute and put it back between the salt and pepper shakers and the napkin dispenser.
“Hey, boys.” Sharlene set two glasses of water on the table. “What’ll it be today?”
“I’ll have the liver and onions special with mashed potatoes, corn, and an extra biscuit. Sweet tea and save me a piece of coconut cream pie,” Truman said.
“And you?” Sharlene asked Jud.
“I’ll have a bacon burger basket with gravy on the side for my fries.”
“Sweet tea?” Sharlene asked.
“Yes, and save me a bowl of Nadine’s blackberry cobbler with ice cream on the top,” Jud answered. “I expect we’ll both want a cup of coffee to go with dessert, right, Truman?”
“Sounds good to me.”
A cowbell sounded at the back of the store and Sharlene hurried off to pick up an order to deliver. Truman tucked an oversized cloth napkin into his collar and spread it out over his chest. Jud opened his napkin and laid it on his lap.
“I wanted kids,” Truman said bluntly. “It broke my heart for Dora June when we found out we couldn’t have any. I told her she could leave me even though that would have killed me, but she said that she’d married me for better or worse.”
“Is that when you bought the goats?” Jud asked.
A sad smile turned the corners of Truman’s mouth up. “Dora June said they were her kids. We’ve had a little herd for years and she’d sit out there in her lawn chair in the spring when the babies are little and laugh at them rompin’ around and headbuttin’ each other. I always liked the sound of her laughter. It’s like bells ringin’.”
Jud sipped at his water and waited.
“I feel a change in the air and I’m not sure I like it,” Truman said. “I thought it was because y’all had bought the Lucky Penny, but it’s deeper than that. I can’t put my finger on it yet, but I think it’s got to do with me and Dora June instead of the whole county or even Dry Creek.”
“Is it time for y’all to retire?” Jud asked.
“We don’t know nothing but what we do and we like our life this way. I guess I need some kind of sign to show me that’s what I’m supposed to do. Do I build another house? Do I sell my ranch? And if so, what do I do then?”
“I’m in the same boat only in a different way,” Jud confided.
“Fiona?” Truman asked. “Don’t look so surprised. I see the way you look at her. Same way I did Dora June back when we was young. But Dora June wanted to put down roots. Fiona was born with wings. You got a big job ahead of you if you set your mind for that girl.”
“Yep, I sure do,” Jud agreed, and changed the subject. “I should warn you about something, especially since it’s Sunday and we should be honest on this day. My granddad taught me to play dominoes when I was barely able to see over the top of the kitchen table. He never let me win and when I did at the age of thirteen, I did a victory dance.”
“Fair enough.” Truman pursed his lips together. “My granddad taught me to play when I was about five years old. I won my first game when I was ten, so I’d say you best be real careful and think before you play.”