Читать книгу The Twin - Jan Hudson, Jan Hudson - Страница 11

Sunny was just walking into Chili Witches after her lunch with Cass when the phone near the register rang. Melanie, a short blonde who was the assistant manager, grabbed it, then put her hand over the phone receiver and said, “Sunny, a call for you on line one.”

“Who is it?”

“Beats me. Some guy. Are you in?”

“Sure. I’ll take it.” She reached for the receiver. “Hi, this is Sunny. May I help you?”

There was a pause, then a deep voice said, “Hello. This is Ben McKee.”

Her breath caught and an odd rush spread over her. “Ben?”

“Yes. I’m the Ranger who came in with Sam Outlaw on Wednesday. I was there at noon today for chili.”

“Oh, yes, of course. Ben. Did you forget something?”

He chuckled and the sound seemed to resonate in her belly. How very odd.

“No, I think I got out with everything I came in with. I wanted to ask you to have dinner with me tomorrow night.”

“Din-dinner?” she said, stammering in spite of her efforts at control. “Tomorrow night?” Panic clawed its way up from her stomach to her throat. She wasn’t ready to deal with this.

“Yes. Tomorrow. Saturday night. If you’re free. That is, if you’re not involved with anyone. I didn’t even think to ask that. Are you?”

Her mouth went August dry. She finally managed to say, “No. I’m a widow.”

“Good,” he said quickly. “Oh, God, I didn’t mean it was good you were a widow. Sorry about that. I meant it was good you weren’t—”

“I know what you meant.” She almost smiled. He seemed as nervous as she felt. “And I really appreciate the invitation, but I have a previous commitment tomorrow night.”

There was a moment of silence, then Ben said, “Oh. Well, maybe another time. I’ll catch you later.”

And he was gone. She was left with a dial tone and a minor shock. What was that all about? His invitation had surprised her. True, she’d noticed a bit of interest on his part, but she hadn’t expected him to ask her on a date. She really did have a commitment tomorrow night. Her band, the Copper Pistols, played somewhere almost every Saturday night. Made up of police officers, the Pistols had been a garage band formed when Brian was still alive. She played drums, and Brian had played bass. Two other friends played guitar and keyboard and a third sang lead. They’d first started playing together as a stress reliever, and then realized they were pretty darned good and started accepting gigs now and then. After Brian’s death, the members of the group had helped her keep her sanity. And although she was no longer employed by Austin PD, the guys hadn’t kicked her out. Sometimes the band seemed like her last connection to Brian. They’d had so much fun playing together.

She hadn’t even had a chance to explain to Ben that she was working tomorrow night, that her excuse wasn’t a brush-off. He must not have been too interested or he would have asked her about another night. She wasn’t doing anything Sunday. Or Tuesday. Or Thursday.

It was just as well. She really wasn’t ready to date. It had been so long since she’d dated anyone, she wasn’t sure she’d know how to act. The whole business was awkward.

When she turned around the Senator stood there, shaking his head.

“What?”

He sighed and disappeared.

“It wasn’t my fault,” she said to the empty space. “I really am busy tomorrow night.”

“I believe you,” Melanie said.

“Believe what?” Sunny asked.

Melanie grinned. “I believe you’re busy tomorrow night. I’m coming to see you at the Spotted Cow. Remember?”

“Uh, great.” It took Sunny a few beats to catch up with the conversation. Melanie, who dated the keyboard player, had thought Sunny’s remarks to the Senator were aimed at her. “Listen, did that new supply of napkins come in yet?”

“Sure did. Not ten minutes ago. Jimmy put them in the supply room. Was the guy on the phone asking you for a date?”

“Uh, no. It was something else. Some committee he wanted me to serve on.” Sunny didn’t like lying, but she didn’t want everybody in the place buzzing about her love life—or lack of one. She adored Melanie, and she was an excellent employee, but she was a terrible gossip.

During the afternoon lull, Sunny sat behind the bar, where she could keep an eye on the door, dispensing an occasional beer and rolling utensils in napkins and placing them in a bin.

She glanced up and saw a tall, dark-haired woman enter. Dressed in a blue silk blouse, a gray pencil skirt and killer gray heels, the attractive woman sported a rock on her left hand roughly the size of a large ice cube. She stood by the door and scanned the room as if looking for someone. When her eyes met Sunny’s, both of them stared. Sunny had the odd sense she knew the woman, but nothing registered.

Leaving the bar, Sunny approached her. “May I help you?”

A bright smile spread across the woman’s face that transformed her from merely attractive to a real beauty. “I’ll bet my bottom dollar you’re Sunny Outlaw.”

“I am. Sunny Outlaw Payton. Have we met?”

“Not yet.” The woman threw open her arms. “I’m Belle Outlaw Burrell. I’m your cousin.”

“You’re kidding!”

“Nope.”

Sunny was stunned for a moment, then elation filled her. “My cousin? I can’t believe it! You’re Sam’s sister.” Sunny fell into her arms, and the two of them hugged as if they were long-lost buddies.

“I am,” Belle said, laughing. “And Colt’s and Frank’s and J.J.’s. I also come with a husband, two parents, assorted sisters-in-law and a growing number of nieces and nephews. Welcome to the family.”

Sunny hugged her again. This was better than Christmas. “I want to know all about everybody. But wait. I’ve got to call Cass. She’ll kill me if she misses this.”

“Cass?”

“Cassidy Outlaw, my sister.”

“Uncle Butch had two daughters?”

“That’s right.” Sunny grabbed her cell phone from her pocket and punched Cass’s code. When she discovered her sister was upstairs, she said, “Drop everything and get down here right away. I have a surprise!”

“I can’t believe he had two daughters. We didn’t even know he had one.”

“He didn’t, either. We were born after he…died.”

When Cass rushed into the room, Belle looked from her to Sunny, then back again. “You’re…twins.”

“Yep.” Sunny introduced Cass and Belle and they hugged, as well.

“I can’t believe we’ve finally met,” Cass said, hugging her again. “It’s awful being the family pariahs.”

“Pariahs?” Belle said. “Good Lord, why would you be pariahs?”

“Well, our father was married to someone else when we were conceived.”

Belle made a dismissing motion. “Aunt Iris never counted for much. My mother said they were married in name only. She wouldn’t give him a divorce. She and Daddy were tickled to death when they heard they have a new niece—nieces now. They’ll be doubly pleased. They can’t wait to meet you. In fact the whole family wants to meet you. They’re hoping we can all get together for Thanksgiving in Naconiche. Can you arrange it?”

“Sure we can,” Cass said.

“We’ll manage somehow,” Sunny said. She ordered drinks for everyone, and they talked for two hours, mostly with Belle catching them up on the Outlaw family.

They were captivated by learning Belle was a former FBI agent.

“Why on earth did you ever leave?” Sunny asked. “Sounds like a dream job for an Outlaw.”

“I discovered I wasn’t cut out for being an agent. I’m much happier running a newspaper in Wimberley. I love it.”

“I hear that,” Cass said. “I got sick of lawyering, too. Boring. And too dog-eat-dog for me.”

“My brother Frank is a lawyer…well, a judge now,” Belle said. “And his wife, Carrie, is a lawyer. But she was a landman before she went back to practicing law in Naconiche. It might be boring, but there’s not much dog-eat-dog dynamics in Naconiche.”

“Actually, I think Cass just missed Austin,” Sunny said.

“True,” Cass admitted. “I love this place. Always have.”

“I do, too,” Belle said. “And Wimberley isn’t that far away. I can’t believe we’ve been living so close all this time. I even went to school at UT here in Austin.”

“So did I,” Cass said. “Law school. Unbelievable we could have passed each other on the street and not known it.”

“Isn’t it? Listen, my husband, Gabe, and I are coming up tomorrow with Sam and his wife to Sam’s place on Lake Travis. Why don’t you two join us? We might even do a little fishing.”

“Oh, rats,” Cass said, “I can’t make it tomorrow. It’s my day to run the place, and we’re going to be shorthanded, but Sunny can go. She loves to fish.”

“Count me in,” Sunny said. “I haven’t been fishing in ages. But I’ll have to make an early day of it. I have a gig tomorrow night.”

“A gig?”

“Sunny’s a drummer in a band on Saturday nights.”

“How fun! I want to come hear you sometime.” Belle glanced around. “It looks like the early dinner crowd is beginning to arrive, and I’d better leave and meet Gabe. He’s probably through with his business by now, and he’ll be chomping at the bit to get home.” She gave Sunny directions to Sam’s lake house, then rose and hugged them both warmly. “I’m so excited to have met you and have you as part of the Outlaw clan.”

Sunny was flying as Belle handed her card to each of them and they exchanged cell phone numbers. For as long as she could remember, she’d yearned for a big family. Having Cass and her mom and Aunt Min had been great, but she’d always envied families with fathers and brothers and kids running around.

“Cass,” Belle said, “do you work on Sundays?”

“Nope. We’re closed on Sunday.”

“Great. I want you both to plan on coming to Wimberley on Sunday of next week. We’ll have a barbecue or something.”

They walked Belle to the door, hesitant to let her go. Funny, Sunny thought, as she waved goodbye to her newfound cousin. It felt as if they had been friends and cousins forever.

“She looks like us,” Cass said. “Did you notice?”

“I did.”

“I like her.”

“Me, too.”

They looked at each other, connecting as they always did, grinned and hugged. “Hot damn!” they said in unison.

“You know what this means?” Cass said.

“Yeah. We’ve just acquired a humongous family.”

“Besides that.”

Sunny heaved a big sigh. “We’ve got to figure out how to tell Mama.”

“I vote we table telling her until she and Aunt Min get home from their grand adventure.”

Mama and Aunt Min had rented a cottage in France and were making excursions to various places in Europe—the dream of a lifetime. “But they won’t be home for another six months.”

Cass grinned. “Yeah. I know. But we wouldn’t want to spoil their trip now, would we?”