Brody hadn’t planned to go with Kasey to Walmart but as she and the kids were leaving, Emma fell off the porch steps and scraped her knee. He couldn’t stand to see her cry and the only thing that she said would make it better was if he’d go with them and if she could have a purple bandage on the tiny little cut.
When they all arrived at the store, Kasey situated Silas in the cart and then pointed to the side. “Emma, you hold on right here and don’t let go.”
Emma crossed her arms over her chest and sucked in a lungful of air. “I want to go see the toys.”
“Me too,” Rustin said.
“You want to see toys or go for ice cream? We can’t do both,” Kasey said.
“Ice cream,” Rustin said quickly.
“Toys!” Emma pushed him and he fell on his fanny.
Like a feisty little rooster, he popped to his feet, hands knotted into fists ready to fight until Brody got between them. “Okay, kids. No pushin’. No arguing. Give me half the list and I’ll take Emma with me, Kasey.”
Kasey divided the list and handed half to him. “After that, you don’t deserve to get ice cream or go see the toys either.”
“I want to go with Uncle Brody,” Rustin declared.
Brody started to put Emma into her seat but she wiggled free of his arms and ran back to her mother.
“I’m not a baby. I’ll go with Mama if I have to ride in the basket like Silas.”
“Testy today, isn’t she?” Brody said.
“Didn’t get her nap and everything Rustin does aggravates her today. I remember when you and Jace did the same to me,” Kasey said.
“Okay, big girl, you’ve made your decision. Even if your legs get tired, you don’t get to ride in the cart,” Brody told her. “But if I look around and you’ve disappeared, there will be no ice cream or toys and I won’t read to you tonight.”
“Granny Hope is reading to me tonight.” Emma stuck her nose in the air.
“She won’t either. Remember what I told you. You got to listen to your uncles and granny but…”
“Mama’s word is the law,” Emma sighed.
“That’s right and both of you better behave.” Kasey gave her the mama look. “Now I’m taking Silas to the grocery section.”
“No, no, no!” Silas screamed. “Want Memma.” He stretched out his hands and tears rolled down his cheeks.
“Take them both and go on. He’ll settle down when they’re out of sight,” Kasey sighed. “It’s been a day.”
Brody nodded and walked in the other direction. With Rustin telling him all about what kind of ice cream he was going to order and Emma butting in every chance she got to talk about Lila and the ice cream party they’d had with her. Brody made his way to the area where the things on his list were located. He’d put two bottles of tear-free baby shampoo in the cart and was looking for a special kind of kid’s toothpaste when someone tapped him on the shoulder.
“There is my friend!” Emma pointed toward the end of the aisle.
“Lila!” Rustin waved.
Brody wondered how in the world perfect little demons could trade their horns in for haloes in a split second. It was pure magic and he’d like nothing better than to put it into a bottle to give to Kasey for her birthday.
“Well, what a treat, gettin’ to see my favorite kids tonight.” Lila beamed.
She parked her cart beside Brody’s and quickly hugged both of the children. “Hello, Brody. I saw Gracie and Paul back at the pharmacy. Guess everyone in Happy is out shopping tonight.”
“Yep,” Rustin said. “And then we’re going for ice cream.”
“And you’re going with us,” Emma declared.
“I’m afraid I’ve got to get back to my kittens. Duke and Cora will miss me if I stay too long.”
“I could go home with you and read those kittens bedtime stories if you’d go with us,” Brody said.
“Uncle Brody reads a real good story,” Rustin piped up.
“And they have strawberry ice cream,” Emma whispered.
“I guess I could but are you sure, Brody? I wouldn’t want…”
Kasey parked her cart beside Brody’s. “Hey, Lila, good to see you. I just bumped into Mama. If I’d known she was coming, I would have sent my list with her and saved a trip. You about ready, Brody?”
“Soon as we get the toothpaste.” Rustin tossed two boxes into the cart. “That’s it, Mama, and now can we go for ice cream? At McDonald’s so we can play?”
“Lila is going with us,” Emma said. “And I don’t want McDonald’s. I want the ice cream store and then we can go to the park.”
“I should probably be getting home,” Lila said. “Storm is brewing and dust is already flying out there.”
“Nonsense,” Kasey said. “Get the rest of your stuff gathered up and we’ll wait until you get to the store before we order and then we’ll go to the park for half an hour.”
“The park sounds like so much fun. Can I push you on the swings, Emma?” Lila asked.
“Yes,” Emma said with a tilt of her chin. “And then I’ll push you.”
“It’s a deal.” Lila smiled. “I’ll get on with the rest of my shopping and meet y’all at—it is the ice cream place right beside the park, right?”
“That’s the one,” Brody said. “They make a mean banana split.”
Lila remembered laundry soap and hairspray but forgot at least five items on her list, which meant she’d be making a trip to Tulia to one of the dollar stores later in the week.
Her brain ran in circles all the way to the small ice cream place. It was not a date. It was only ice cream with a family. If it was a real date, Valerie would have Brody committed and Hope would take the ranch away from him. She parked her truck and sat there for several minutes.
Through the window, she could see Kasey and the older two kids on one side of the booth. Silas was in a high chair at the end, leaving Brody alone across from his sister. That meant she’d be sitting with him but it was still not a date. Grown-ups sat beside each other at all kinds of events without it being anything that folks would gossip about.
Decision made, she hopped out of the truck, grabbed her purse, and slammed the door. The wind was blowing even more now, sending all kinds of dirt swirling through the air. She hurried into the store and was halfway to the booth when Brody stood up. His eyes lit up like they used to when she walked into Henry’s old hay barn. He met her in the middle of the store and draped an arm around her shoulders. She wasn’t a bit amazed when hot little shivers danced down her spine.
“Thank you for coming. The kids are being little devils today and Emma would have thrown another fit if you hadn’t come, plus I wanted you here with me,” he said.
“Then I’ll do double duty?” She grinned.
“Triple. I’ve volunteered you to help carry the ice cream back to the booth as the lady gets it ready,” he said as they walked past the booth. “I’ve got the list right here.” He showed her a napkin with writing on it. “Kasey says if we’ll order and then bring it to the booth, she’ll corral the three monkeys.”
“We ain’t monkeys. We’re childrens,” Rustin declared loudly.
“I’ll be a monkey if they eat ice cream,” Emma said.
“They eat bananas, not ice cream, so you can’t be a monkey,” Rustin argued.
“Girl monkeys eat ice cream. Boys don’t,” Emma argued.
“Enough!” Kasey said in a tired mother’s voice.
“Brody, this might not be such a good idea,” Lila said on the way to the counter.
He laid a hand on the small of her back and escorted her across the floor. “What? Me ordering and you totin’? I trust you not to stumble over your feet and waste good ice cream.”
“You know what I mean,” she said, enjoying every delicious little shiver that his hand created.
He gave the girl behind the counter the order and then drew Lila even closer. “The end—except for your banana split, unless you want to share with me.”
“Sharing is fine.” She nodded.
Oh, Lord! What had she just agreed to? If anyone saw them eating from the same bowl…She took a deep breath and reminded herself that she was thirty years old and so was Brody.
“You tell her what toppings we want, then.” His hand slipped around to rest on her waist.
She was amazed that she could utter a word with all the heat his hand created but she managed to rattle off strawberry, caramel, and chocolate.
When everyone had their order, Kasey put a bib on Silas and Lila slid into the booth with Brody right after her. Then Kasey sat beside him so that she could help all three kids: Silas at the end in a high chair and the other two across the table from them.
Brody was a big man and the booth wasn’t one of those huge ones, so their sides were plastered tight together. It was a miracle that the heat between them didn’t melt every bit of ice cream in the whole place.
Brody filled a spoon with ice cream and moved it toward Lila’s mouth. She had no choice but to open wide. She’d barely gotten her mouth shut when Gracie and Paul McKay entered the store and headed straight toward them.
“Nana!” Emma squealed.
“Hey, kids.” Gracie smiled. “Imagine finding all y’all at an ice cream store. I saw your van outside, Kasey. Can we steal the kids for a couple of hours? We’ll have them home by bedtime. We’d take them to the park but the dust storm out there now is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a big one going to hit in about an hour. What we’re seeing in the sky isn’t clouds at all but dirt.”
“That would be great. I can get some computer work done this evening without having to stop every five minutes.” Kasey nodded. “Drag over a couple of chairs and join us.”
Paul was already busy getting two from a nearby table and placing them on either side of Silas’s high chair. “We had to run in to get prescriptions at the drugstore. I guess y’all heard about the new church pianist coming in. I’m glad to hear that we’ll have another person who can play. That way if Gert needs to be gone, it won’t be such a big deal.”
“Just don’t try to fix her up with me. I’m not interested.” Brody grinned.
“She is not my friend,” Emma said bluntly.
Rustin pushed her arm. “She can be my friend.”
“Mama, he hit me,” Emma tattled.
“Did not!”
“Did too.”
“Whoa!” Brody said. “Let’s eat our ice cream without fighting.”
“Emma! You haven’t even met her,” Kasey scolded.
“She can’t be my friend because Lila is.” Emma glared at Rustin.
Paul chuckled. “So how’d you get tangled up with this bunch of renegades, Lila?”
“Met ’em in Walmart,” she answered.
“Lila is my friend,” Emma said seriously.
“And a mighty good one,” Gracie told her. “How’s your mama? Any way we could talk her into coming back to Happy and running the café rather than selling it?”
“She’s been thinkin’ about that.” Lila wondered how quick it would be all over Happy that she was out with Brody. Maybe she’d better hightail it to Australia with him. Valerie Dawson was a pretty good shot with a rifle, the last she heard.
“Well, tell her to think real hard,” Paul said.
Lila smiled and nodded. Daisy had grown pretty fond of the whole family out there, so it wouldn’t be easy for her to move back to Texas.
After they’d eaten their ice cream, everyone drove away from the parking lot. Paul and Gracie had shifted Silas’s car seat and Emma’s and Rustin’s boosters to the backseat of Gracie’s van and waved as they headed out toward the park. Kasey had driven off in the van on her way back to the ranch. That left Lila and Brody standing beside her truck.
“I thought you drove the van for Kasey,” she said.
“No, I like to bring my own vehicle in case I want to go home before they do.”
“Thanks for invitin’ me. I love bein’ around the kids.” The wind swept her hair across her face and blew dust into her eyes. “I’d forgotten about sandstorms in this part of the world. We’d better get on out of here before it gets really bad. Thanks again.”
“Anytime.” He pulled his hat down tighter, opened the door, and took a step closer, shielding her from the wind. “One more thing. Will you be my date for the Hope Springs Fourth of July ranch party?”
“I know I keep saying this but…”
He ran a finger down her cheek. “Yes, it’s a good idea. We’ve got to get over this thing between us or embrace it and we can’t do either by running from it. Can’t rewrite history or do a thing about it. But it doesn’t have to ruin the future.”
She laid a palm on his cheek. “It’s tough playing second fiddle to a woman who is going to play the church piano. Besides, what is your mama going to say about that?”
He grabbed her hand and kissed the palm. “Darlin’, you will never be second fiddle to anyone and Jace can have Tara if he wants her. And I don’t really care what Mama or Granny has to say. Just tell me that you’ll go with me.”
“Pretty good pickup line there and the kiss on the palm is a nice move. Yes, I will go with you and thank you for asking me. I’ll wear my runnin’ shoes so when your mama brings out her rifle, I’ll at least have a fightin’ chance,” she laughed.
“I’ll lock Mama’s firearms in a safe place and pick you up at nine that morning. But we’ll see each other before then.” He brushed a soft kiss across her lips and disappeared around the back of her truck into a fog of sand blowing half of New Mexico into the Texas Panhandle. She started the truck and licked her lips. They tasted like a mixture of chocolate and sand. Not a bad combination; not bad at all.
The passenger door opened and Brody’s big frame filled that side of the truck. Without a single word, he leaned over the console and wrapped his arms around her. Their lips met in a scorching hot kiss that made her knees weak. It was a good thing she was sitting and that her truck was not a stick shift because she couldn’t have walked and she sure could not have held down the clutch. The weatherman on the radio said something about a fierce sandstorm and then Jennifer Nettles started singing “Unlove You.”
He looked deeply into her eyes when the words said that it wouldn’t work and would be nothing but hurt but that she couldn’t unlove him.
“I can’t unlove you either.”
“Like it says, we have other lives,” she whispered.
“We can change that,” he said.
“What are we talking about here?” Lila asked.
Brody kissed her again. “One of those alternate endings to an old story.” He got out of the truck and walked away, his head bent against the blowing dust.