“Was Walter the man Mama fell in love with?” Allie asked.
Irene stomped her foot against the floorboard. “Hell, no! And we’re not talking about Walter. We’re talking about you and that cowboy. You need to stay away from him. Nobody ever stays long on this place and you’ll get your heart broken like lots of women have in this part of the state.”
Allie parked in front of the house, but before she could get her seat belt unfastened, Irene was out of the van and marching toward the porch with purpose. When Allie reached the foyer and shut the door, her grandmother was tattling, pointing at Allie and her old eyes were flashing anger.
Dementia was a demon disease and nothing could explain the way it worked other than what the doctor told them about the jigsaw puzzles. It must have been frightening to grab a piece from this part of her past and a piece from that one, and try to create a world that made sense when she was losing control of everything.
Allie could not imagine living in such a constant state of turmoil and hoped that someday only one puzzle remained and her grandmother would have a few days of lucid peace before everything was completely gone.
“Alora Raine won’t do what I say and she’s got a boyfriend and you know those men at the Lucky Penny are drifters who never stay in one place. I’m going to get a cookie and go to my room,” Irene said tersely.
Katy winked at Allie. “I’ll see to it that she’s punished real good. You get your cookie and go on to bed.”
Allie hung her coat on the hall tree and kicked off her boots. “Mama, who is Walter? She keeps going over there and flirting with Blake because she thinks he’s Walter. And tonight she talked about you being in love with a boy from the Lucky Penny.”
Katy looped her arm through Allie’s and led her to the kitchen. “I’ve got a pot of hot spiced tea made.”
Allie poured two cups of tea. “Granny said that you got mixed up with some no-good man from the Lucky Penny, too. Is that true, or just another one of her crazy stories?”
“She’s remembering Ray Jones. He was about eighteen when his mama and daddy bought the ranch. I was seventeen that year and we rode the school bus together.” Katy busied herself cleaning an already spotless countertop.
“And did you love him?” Allie asked.
“It was a long time ago.” Katy disappeared into the utility room and returned with half a basket of kitchen towels and washcloths. She set it on the counter and started folding them. “And yes, I loved him very much, but Mama threw a hissy fit because he was wild. He was damn good lookin’ with that hair combed back in a duck’s tail and those pretty blue eyes and Lord, have mercy, but he could kiss good. But trouble followed him around like a little puppy and he liked taking risks.”
“What kinds of risks?”
Katy’s mouth twisted up in a grin. “Like throwing stones at my window at midnight and talking me into sitting on the front porch and making out with him. Mama caught us one night and she almost sent me to a convent over it.”
“We’re not Catholic,” Allie said.
“She would have kissed the pope’s ring if it kept me away from that wild boy, and he was really pressuring me to do things I didn’t want to do and that I’m not talking about now so I listened to her.”
“So you broke up with him?”
Katy sighed. “Yes, I did and then I fell in love with your father and figured out what real, mature love was.” Her hands shook as she folded the last towel in the basket.
Allie picked up a towel and folded it neatly. “Do I hear a but?”
Katy finished the last tea towel and sat down at the table. “There are always buts with every story, but that’s all I’m saying tonight about Ray.”
“Then who is Walter?” Allie sipped her lukewarm tea.
Katy opened the cookie jar in the middle of the table and removed a chocolate one with a chocolate cream center. “He and his mother moved in after Ray’s family moved out west. They were only there a year and it was when I was all tied up with my engagement to your dad and planning my wedding. I was eighteen, but I do remember that Walter was a tall man with dark hair. But Daddy was still alive so I can’t imagine Mama being in love with him. Want a cookie?”
Allie shook her head. “I think she was in love with Walter, and Blake has brought that memory to surface.”