Читать книгу An Accidental Family - Loree Lough - Страница 9

“Did you run over a nail or something?” Adam asked.

Squatting, Nadine inspected her right-front tire. “I suppose that’s possible,” she said, feeling for sharp objects. “But nothing seems to be sticking out.”

As Lamont’s pickup roared up the drive, she understood how those first residents of Texas must have felt when they heard the distant notes of the cavalry’s bugle.

“G’morning,” he said, climbing from the cab. His smile faded the moment he saw her flat tire. “What happened?”

“Everything was fine when I got home from grocery shopping last night,” Nadine said, shrugging.

As Lamont stooped to get a closer look, Adam pointed at the gash in her right-front tire. “Found boot-prints in Mom’s rose garden, too, and they’re way too big to be hers…”

“I probably ran over something inadvertently. As for those footprints, they’re probably just Big Jim’s,” she said to Adam. “You know how much he likes flowers.”

“I hate to say it, Mom, but you really oughta fire that guy.”

“I know he seems a little…off, but Jim wouldn’t hurt a fly.” She laughed a little. “And I mean that quite literally. He’s adopted several, you know.”

Lamont and Adam exchanged an “Oh, brother” look.

“He’s the hardest-working ranch hand I’ve ever had.” She shrugged. “So he likes to keep bugs as pets and builds little cages for them. What’s the harm in—”

“Mom,” Adam interrupted, “no disrespect, but that’s just plain weird.”

“Adam’s right, Nadine. That is weird.”

Sighing, she looked at the cloudless blue sky. Could she make them understand? “Listen,” she began again, “if he can be kind to a bug of all things, surely he wouldn’t hurt me. Besides, he’s worked here for years. Why would he start doing crazy things all of a sudden?”

“Would he even know if he hurt you?” Adam asked.

“Good question,” Lamont added. “I mean, maybe he flattened the tire because he liked the hissing sound or something.”

“Honestly, listen to yourselves!” Nadine scolded. “Jim’s a little slow, but he isn’t an idiot.”

The men traded another “Uh-huh” look.

“And there isn’t a mean bone in his body!” she added.

Lamont unpocketed his hands, pointed at the tire, then the flowerbed. “Now look, it’s all well and good to believe in the innate decency of people, but you’re carrying it to an extreme. Jim might be abnormal by some standards, but he’s still a man. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

“How…Jim?” The very idea inspired a nervous laugh. “Now that is crazy.”

He looked to Adam for confirmation, and her son nodded in agreement. “If you insist on keeping him around, then you’d better keep an eye on him.”

“A sharp eye,” Lamont put in.

“Two against one ain’t fair,” she said. “I can take care of myself. It isn’t as if I haven’t had years of practice.”

“Nobody who’s known you longer than five minutes would disagree, but this is different.”

“The boy’s right,” Lamont said, “on both counts.”

Her two favorite men stood side by side. Why, Adam had even adopted Lamont’s stance, boots shoulder-width apart, arms crossed over his chest. She saw the resolute expressions on their faces. But they had nothing on her when it came to stubbornness. Or accurateness, either. Adam had only been home a few weeks. What did he know about Jim? And Lamont, well, he didn’t know the man at all! Greeneland Ranch was hers and hers alone—land, stock and the mountain of unpaid bills—and she’d run it any way she saw fit, right down to whom she’d employ. “I won’t fire him.” Fists on her hips, she dared them to defy her.

“Oh, all right,” Adam said, hands in the air. “I give up.” He headed for the barn, saying over his shoulder as he went, “Good to see you again so soon, Mr. London.”

“Same here, Adam.”

“Speaking of seeing you,” she said once her son was out of earshot, “what brings you to my place this early on a Sunday morning?” Hopefully, the subtle reference would remind him that this was her turf, and he wasn’t in charge here.

“Just thought maybe you’d like a ride to church. Seems I recall something about your practicing for a solo before the services began.”

Only Julie, Nadine’s accompanist, knew about her rehearsal plans. “So my daughter-in-law is acting as my press agent now, is she?” Nadine grinned. “That girl might just turn out okay after all.”

“After all?”

Julie was forgetful and clumsy, but she had a good heart, especially considering her troubled past. She waved his question away, unwilling to share that private bit of information, even with Lamont. “I’d love a ride into town,” she said, “especially since I don’t have a spare.”

“I’ll drive you to Lotsmart after church, and we can get one.”

Between now and then, she’d have to come up with a legitimate excuse to avoid the side trip, because even at a discount store like Lotsmart, she couldn’t afford a tire. “We have time for a cup of coffee, if you’d like.”

“I’d like.”

And maybe, between now and then, she’d figure out how to keep her heart from hammering every time he smiled at her, too.

Lily’s Valentine’s Day wedding seemed like only yesterday, but the wildflowers popping up everywhere—especially in Nadine’s yard—proved otherwise.

Several times a week, Lamont had used one flimsy pretext after another to drive over there, telling himself that if she didn’t intend to keep an eye on Jim, he would. Why, Lamont wondered, did Nadine’s ranch hand occupy so many of his thoughts here at home, and rarely come to mind as he sipped coffee while her adorable granddaughter chased Julie’s tabby cat around the kitchen?

Yesterday, he called to see if she wanted a ride to the church social. Normally, he didn’t have time for such functions, but if it provided another bona fide reason to see her—and check on Jim—well, then, why not? She’d cited laundry on the clotheslines and a sticky kitchen floor, critters that needed to be fed and weeds to pull in her flowerbed…and Lamont countered every excuse with one of his own. Thankfully, he wore her down.

He couldn’t believe how fast the time passed as they stuffed themselves on baked ham and potato salad, talking with their fellow parishioners. Since Rose’s death, his involvement at church had been limited to Sunday services, because everywhere he looked, his wife’s contributions were constant reminders of his widowhood. Oddly enough, despite all the hubbub, he’d had a right good time. The enjoyment continued as he drove her home, mostly because Nadine decided to rehash the squabble between Martha Turner and Barbara Gardner over whose vocal rendition of “The Old Rugged Cross” should be sung every Sunday. Dread and disappointment closed around him as his pickup ground its way up her gravel driveway. Had she invited him up to the house because she’d sensed it?

“It’s such a pretty night,” she said. “How about joining me for a cup of tea on the back porch?”

If she’d suggested guzzling it from a washtub on the roof, Lamont would have found a way to join her. Amazing, since the only time he’d allowed the stuff past his lips was the few occasions when he spiked a fever. Yet here he sat, toes tapping, fingertips drumming on the arms of his rocker as he waited for her to kick off her heels and brew the tea.

He looked around at her yard, colorful even in the semi-darkness. Bright spring blossoms shocked his senses. To him, planting involved seeds that became food for his livestock or turned out a couple of tomatoes and bell peppers for salad. Subconsciously, he compared it to his own lawn, devoid of blooms now that Lily was busy tending her own yard. Until now, he hadn’t realized how much he missed the little things women did to turn a house into a home.

She handed him one of two steaming mugs. “You like yours black, right?”

“Smells like cinnamon,” he said. How’d she know that, he wondered, when he couldn’t for the life of him think of a time when they’d talked over herbal tea? Raising families and running ranches hadn’t left much time for such niceties. Lately, though, he’d managed to make time for such niceties…lots of it. “I hope you don’t mind my sudden intrusion into your life,” he said as she settled into the other rocker. “You’ve made my adjustment to living alone a whole lot smoother.”

“Oh, I’d hardly call you an intrusion.”

He didn’t know what to make of her slight hesitation. “What would you call me, then?”

Nadine leaned against the headrest of her chair, squinting as she considered her answer. His heart beat double time, waiting…

“I guess I’d have to say, you’re a very pleasant diversion.”

“From what?”

A strange expression—sadness? detachment?—flit across her features like a fast-moving shadow, and he wondered about that, too, as he waited yet again for a reply.

“Oh, just…everything.”

She had a talent for turning two syllables into four, and three into six, just as Rose had. Lamont waited for the usual twinge of grief that followed a memory of his late wife, and when it didn’t come, he chalked it up to Nadine’s gift for making folks feel at ease.

“Do you believe this sky?” She pointed at the stars, winking on their bed of black velvet, then clucked her tongue. “And the so-called experts were calling for thunderstorms…”

“I hope it’s this clear tomorrow night.”

She looked at him over the rim of her mug, and sent his heart into overdrive. “Why?”

He shrugged. “Might be inclined to throw a couple steaks on the grill, if you’ll share ’em with me, that is.”

She put her cup down and turned to face him. “Lamont London,” she said, her blue eyes boring into his, “are you asking me out on a date?”

He’d gone down the “dating road” more times than he cared to remember, with disastrous consequences. Granted, he was mostly to blame, comparing every woman to his wife a couple hundred times between the pickup and the dropoff. He’d made a promise to Rose after that last calamity: Since no woman could hold a candle to her anyway, why torture them and himself? “Can’t a fella be neighborly without people jumping to conclusions?”

It was a moment before she answered, “Sure. I guess so.”

“Sure,” a fellow could be neighborly, or “sure,” she’d share the steaks with him? “Can I take that as a ‘yes’?”

She gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Why not?”

Chuckling, he said, “Try to curb your enthusiasm.”

“Can’t a gal be blunt without people getting overly sensitive?”

My, but he liked the sound of her laughter! But why stop there? He liked everything about Nadine, from her sunny blond hair right to the cherry-red toenails poking out from her terrycloth slippers.

Lamont stared at the floorboards beneath his boots, trying to make sense of everything that was going on in his head and his heart. He’d escorted a couple dozen good-looking women to the movies, dinner and concerts, and never once felt the way he did drinking tea with Nadine.

“I’m probably wasting my breath,” he said, “pointing out that I’m not one to mince words.”

“I’ve been in the crowd at enough cattle auctions to know that’s the truth!” she said, grinning.

Lamont didn’t have a clue what she meant. But that was no surprise, because what he knew about women, he could put in one eye.

She reached over the table between them and gently squeezed his forearm. “And I like you, too. You’ve always been a good neighbor, and I count myself lucky to call you a ‘friend,’ too.”

“I like you, Nadine.”

Friend? The term made him sound like a wet-behind-the-ears schoolboy, because he wanted this—whatever this was between them—to be so much more. And doggone it, he didn’t cotton to feeling this way, not one little bit! He’d sustained broken bones taming wild stallions, and the ice-white scars on his forearms were reminders of his run-ins with barbed wire. The whole idea behind dating vain, empty-headed beauties was to ensure he’d never be tempted to marry one of them. But this thing with Nadine?

Show me a sign, Lord. Show me a sign!

The wind kicked up, thunder echoed in the distance and a bolt of lightning sliced the black sky. Coincidence? Or had God decided that it took the power of nature to get the message through his thick skull?

He didn’t have time to come up with an answer because, quick as the blink of an eye, the skies opened up. Lamont could barely see his truck through the teeming rain.

“Oh, my,” she said, standing to gather their cups, “you’d better make tracks, cowboy. You know what that road is like in a storm…”

Yeah, he knew. The hard-packed runoff would turn the blacktop into a swift-moving river of muddy water. But his place was just over the next rise. If he floored the pickup, he could make it home in ten minutes flat. Plenty of time to spend with Nadine—

Thunder boomed directly overhead and lightning exploded, brightening her yard.

Okay, Lord, I can take a hint…

“Guess I’d better make a run for it,” he said, jamming the Stetson onto his head. “Thanks for the tea.”

And as he hotfooted it toward his truck, he couldn’t help but wonder if he was running from the storm flashing all around him…

…or the one roiling in his heart.