CHAPTER 19
McKenzie Ridge’s Spring Fling was the first event of the New Year. Each year, as soon as the snow melted, temperatures were bearable, and everyone came out of hiding after a long snowy mountain winter…it was festival time. The Saturday event boasted a host of town fair full of booths where locals sold their goods, played carnival like games, and of course enjoy delicious treats.
The annual picnic at the town Pavilion in the park took over the evening with the talent show closing the day as a main event. The entire town participated on some level. It was a fundraiser for the senior center that serviced not just McKenzie, but the elderly in surrounding areas as well.
Morgan enjoyed showing Guy around, introducing him to those he had yet to meet, and of course exposing him to all that made McKenzie the town it was. Hand in hand, displaying affections throughout the day, it was no secret that they were a couple. Being away from the ranch offered a nice change of scenery. Though they were on alert, cautious of any potential danger, they managed to enjoy their day, with their friends, further cementing their relationship and new roots for Guy.
As the day gave way to evening, crowds made their way to the picnic where they anxiously awaited the always fun talent show. A stage had been erected, so all could see, this town took their spring event seriously. Amidst the magicians, talented vocalists, not so talented vocalists, and everything in between was the main event…Doc Charles and his group, The Scalpels. They would open and close the show, provide background music as needed, and fill time in between the individual acts.
Doc and The Scalpels remained on the stage for the final act, a surprise dance group. Much to everyone’s surprise, a very iconic song began to play as a very recognizable group of men took the stage led by a little old lady with a dog and sling attached to her hip, wearing a Native American headdress. Granny Lou and the guys.
“What the hell?” Everly was the first to question the scene on stage, not sure what to make of it.
The crowd went crazy, whoops and hollers so loud, the women could hardly hear each other. As hunky as their men were, Granny Lou was a town favorite and likely the instigator of all cheering.
“Oh my God,” Everly started, her face reddening with more embarrassment than anger, “she’s wearing a headdress!”
Morgan chuckled, appreciating it for what it was. “It’s a War Bonnet
.”
“I am so, so sorry, Morgie! I had no idea!” Everly began to defend, mortified by her grandmother’s actions. “It’s so insensitive…she’s old…doesn’t know what she does half the time, and…”
Relieving Everly of any worry, Morgan interrupted her with, “It’s okay – honestly. It’s just a costume and she’s…Granny Lou!”
“It’s …oh hell, its YMCA! Do you get it? Gran’s the Indian.” Morgan gave Jessie a side eye look over her choice of culturally incorrect terms, mostly because it was Jessie, and fun to hold her accountable to things that made her skin itch. Like political correctness. Jessie paused and corrected herself, “I mean Native American. Blake’s the Cop. Dunny is the cowboy and the rest are like a modified version of the group. Oh my God – this is epic!”
Jessie lost herself in laughter. Accompanying Blake and Dunny, Dawson and Colton took to the stage in their respective work uniforms, followed by Gabe Hernandez from Fire, and Guy. The intro built, and Doc Charles led the vocals in the background, while the band of misfit dancers began to move in near unison.
“So this is what they’ve been up to!” Sam offered.
“This must be that ongoing poker game
they said they were playing!” Slapping one knee, Meg let out a hoot, “No wonder Colton has been sore, complaining about his muscles aching!”
“Of course they were,” Sam added. “Look who’s obviously in charge. My guess is all that hip swiveling and bending over is a great core workout for the guys, but a better view for the old lady!”
Heads tilted to one side, as looks of confusion shifted to surprise when the line of hunky men, and their ornery grey-haired director, engaged in an awkward thrusting motion likely intended to be provocative, but fell short.
“I think I know who the choreographer was,” Jessie added, before joining the cheering crowd with some encouragement of her own. “Granny Lou! WHOOOO!”
“Please don’t egg that old woman on,” Evie scolded. “How on earth did she get them to do this?”
With a single word, Morgan was able to make sense of the question at hand, “Snickerdoodles.”
A group ah ha
ensued and silenced the ladies who could not take their eyes off the train wreck happening on stage. Shock turned to snickers with every odd grind or blundered gyration. The area closest to the stage was reserved for the very seniors that this event was to benefit.
It wasn’t lost on the ladies that the loudest fans were from that very group – Granny Lou’s Posse. The louder they got, the more committed the men became, specifically when they each took a turn; front and center, to do what appeared to be a dance solo of sorts. The solo’s also happened to be the shift in the wind that changed the mood amongst the men – one man in particular – Dunny.
When Guy took center stage with his unwieldly graceless attempt at wowing the crowd, a roaring cry of praise filled the night air. That didn’t set well with a hasty wrathful Dunny, especially when it was obvious Morgan was the loudest of all. In a vengeful move, Dunny took to the front of the stage with Guy, and added his own uncouth, inept, flavor in an effort to steal Guy’s schmaltzy, propitious thunder.
Challenge accepted, Guy began to move for the crowd, his attempt full of heart, but missing the mark of greatness. He knew what this was really about, and he wasn’t about to fight over Morgan’s attention, or affections, before the entire town. As far as he was concerned, she was already his.
Both men, eyes trained on Morgan, danced for her, creating a thorny scene of embarrassment. Not wanting to be outdone, Dunny reached new heights, with the crowd when he grabbed the hem of his shirt and slowly pulled it up over his head. Game changer.
Guy upped the ante, following suit, but went a step further, tossing his shirt right to Morgan. The crowd of seniors, led by Granny Lou, approached the stage, waving dollar bills and delivering pitchy whistles.
The men looked to Granny Lou, now in the crowd rather than on stage. “I don’t remember this part.” Dawson said to the other men.
Colton laughed, “Neither do I, maybe it’s just that improv thing Lou mentioned?”
Shrugging their shoulders, and responding to the crowd, Dawson and Colton began to follow suit; Dawson unbuttoning his EMT shirt, Colton dropping his fire jacket and going for his t-shirt underneath.
Blake, still dancing, turned a perturbed glance to the men. “What the hell are you doing?”
Sam and Meg, now at the foot of the stage, pulled Dawson and Colton from the stage before they could answer Blake, or attempt to remove any shred of clothing. Cranky boos and hisses came from the geriatric mafia when the men were pulled into the crowd, from the stage.
They began to shout, “Take it off, take it off…”
“I hoped this would happen! It’s just like I pictured it!” Granny Lou shouted in excitement, earning an eye roll from Evie.
Blake and Gabe broke up the heated chest bumping happening between Guy and Dunny, again with the cheers, as the crowd thought the rough and tumble shenanigans were all part of the act. With Gabe escorting Dunny stage left, and Blake escorting Guy stage right, there was only one man remaining on stage.
With all eyes on him, and the heightened energy of the crowd giving him a sense of courage, Doc Charles succumbed to the chanting crowd and took to the spotlight. A few awkward thrusts later, he ripped open his white button up shirt, revealing a Superman logo t-shirt underneath. And the crowd went wild.
The band played the final notes as Mayor Jed Baker took the stage to close the evening while money continued to flood the stage for the now pegged strippers
. “Well, Louise Shaw, you certainly know how to bring down the house
, as they say. Thank you all for supporting the McKenzie Ridge Senior Center and to the guys for…whatever…that was.”
Then the crowd cheered some more…
Driving home was anything but joyful. Guy not only felt ridiculous for acting as he did, but was also angry because he let Dunny get to him. The terrible dancing was an entirely different issue. He acted as if Dunny was a threat even though he knew he wasn’t. It was his
bed that Morgan was sharing; after all, she made her choice. Love
, he thought, was the driving force behind his behavior.
Loving Morgan so much made him act like such a fool, puffing his chest like a damn Neanderthal, frightened him. That kind of love, that you guard with every fiber of your being, was fierce, all consuming, and worth protecting. Even worth making a fool of yourself for.
He looked to his right, and watched her nod off in the passenger seat with her head against the window.
She hadn’t been feeling well. It appeared that whatever was plaguing her was getting the upper hand. With her throat and lungs still irritated from the fire, and the trip to the hospital, it was likely she was exposed to a bug while there, surrounded by sick people.
Guy parked the Jeep in front of the main house, and then moved around the front of the vehicle to Morgan’s side of the car to help her inside. Slowly sliding his arms underneath her, he tried to carefully extract her from the Jeep without waking her. A smile crossed her face as she laid her head against his shoulder.
“Are you trying to sweep me off my feet, mister?”
A chuckle escaped him. “Something like that.”
Her voice turned to a raspy whisper, “You already have.”
A gentle kiss swept across his neck, but was quickly overshadowed by the warmth of her forehead as it met his cheek. “You’re hot, honey,” he said. “Let’s get you inside.”
Morgan’s hand roamed across his chest, feeling every peek and valley below it, completely turned on by the flex in his muscles as he maneuvered her inside.
“You’re pretty hot yourself, handsome.” She continued to pepper kisses down his neck, until his amused snort distracted her.
“Darlin’, I appreciate the sentiment, and although I think you’re drop dead gorgeous, I meant hot, like a fever. You’re burning up.”
Her head lay back on Guy’s shoulder, a long drawn out groan expressing her response to said fever. “I do feel pretty achy. My head and throat are killing me. I thought it was just left over from the fire, and if I ignored it, it would go away.”
“Well, I’d say that plan failed.” He stood her on her feet just inside the door, placing a kiss on her forehead. “You go change into something warm and lose the jeans. Meet me in the kitchen. Let’s fix you up.” He swatted her on the ass, sending her on her way.
“By the way, I really love how those tight black stretchy things hug your perfect ass, just throwing that out there.”
Her sudden swagger included a sexy sway of her hips, just for him. “Yoga pants,” she said over her shoulder, “got it. That means…no panties.”
Tossing his head back in a dramatic fashion, he grabbed at his chest as if her words were a shot to the heart. “You’re such a tease, woman.”
Just before rounding the corner to her room, she slowly pulled her t-shirt over her head in a seductive and sultry way, and held it out to her side, dropping it to the floor right before disappearing from sight.
As enticing as she was, and as much as he would love to help her out of the rest of her clothes, he knew it was all a front. A good show to distract from her compromised health – she coughed her way down the long hall. He could hear her, all the way in the kitchen.
He went to work on a concoction sure to get her back on track in no time. Her sniffles and throaty sounds alerted him to her return. Perfect timing.
“Follow me.” He directed her to the overstuffed couch in the family room that would be her cozy retreat for the evening.
A single hand extended, instructing her to find a place on the couch, while he started a movie – some sort of chick flick, based on the cover. Returning to her side, he put the mug full of healing magic within reach, and pulled the soft afghan blanket over her from its place on the back of the couch. Tucking her in, he kissed her temple before giving her instructions.
“You
stay right here, watch the movie I put on, and drink this,” he handed her the ceramic mug, “and relax!”
“Aww, my favorite movie! How’d you know?” She cheered.
“I…know things.” He tapped at his forehead as if indicating he was full of all knowing details. “And because it’s the only movie in here.”
A snorted reaction turned to a choking cough with the first drink from her warm mug. “Oh my…what is this?”
Proud smile, and puffed chest, “Fresh lemon juice, honey…the organic and raw stuff, and hot water,” he prided, “with a shot of whiskey.”
Morgan nodded with understanding, “Granny Lou?”
His proud smile moved to surprise. “How’d you know?”
“I know things…” she said, tapping on her forehead, mocking him.
“Whiskey?” he asked.
“Dead giveaway. Nice try, though.” She laughed at his cute attempt at being sly, appreciating his effort and desire to take care of her.
Standing to his feet, he walked toward her office. “I had a few ideas for the ranch finances…I’m going to go work on it for a bit. Just holler if you need me. Don’t get up, just rest.”
Already engrossed in her movie and mug of liquor, her waving hand dismissed him, while she snuggled into her spot on the couch.