“I’m not into the kinky stuff.” Toby chuckled.
“Then we’ll get Laney to join the party and call it an orgy, not a threesome,” Lisa said huskily. “Mmmm, thinkin’ about that makes me go all soft and mushy inside.”
“We could invite Deke if we’re having an orgy,” Laney said.
“Dammit!” Blake doubled up his fist and hit his palm with it as soon as the women were gone. “I don’t want those two comin’ around here. I’m trying to build a relationship with the community, not start a whorehouse.”
Toby laid a hand on Blake’s shoulder. “Amen to that and I won’t let it happen again. I had too many beers and wasn’t thinkin’ straight. Let’s go eat breakfast if those two women left anything for us. And then we’ll take a look at what you’ve done. I’d planned on helping you clear off some mesquite or repair fence but it’s rainin’. I guess we could tear down the ceilings in the hall and living room,” Toby said.
“And put up the new,” Blake said. “Even if my carpenter doesn’t come back, that would be a start. You any good at bedding and taping?”
“I got the bedding part down real good but like I said, I’m not into the kinky shit. Why wouldn’t Allie come back?”
“I’m not sayin’ another word except to say that you have not lost your touch with these biscuits, brother,” Blake said.
Lizzy met her mother, grandmother, and sister at the door. She clucked her tongue like an old hen or an old woman when she saw her grandmother wearing jeans and a sparkly top, with a yellow rain slicker flopping open with every step. “I’m not even going to ask. I’m going to work and we’ll talk about it this evening.”
Katy glanced nervously toward Allie. “Store should have opened thirty minutes ago. If I don’t get down there, the gossip will be flyin’ over town like Santa Claus at Christmas.”
“I’ve got it. Both of you get going. I’ll get her dry and fed, then I’ll watch her like a hawk. It’s not my day to clean, but I’ll take care of the house cleaning for you, Mama,” Allie shooed them both out the door.
Lord only knew, she needed something to keep her mind occupied that day or she’d go crazy. She’d never known such acute jealousy as she did when she saw that two-bit, brazen blond hussy who looked like she was about to kiss Blake. She hadn’t even been that angry when Riley came home and told her that he was in love with another woman.
“My tits are frozen,” Granny said. “Help me get out of these hooker clothes and into a warm shower. Why’d you tell me to wear this shit anyway? You know I’m old.”
Allie pulled the ruined sequin top up over her grandmother’s head and marched her to the shower. When she was tugging the jeans down from her granny’s hips, she realized the old girl had on two different shoes. One was a brown sneaker that belonged to Katy. It was laced properly and tied in a perfect little bow. The other was a lovely black-velvet flat that Lizzy kept for special occasions. Lizzy would gripe for days, but there was nothing to do but toss them in the trash now because they were ruined.
“Granny, where did you find this shoe?” Allie asked.
“Me? You’re the one who put me in that ridiculous outfit and then let me go out in the weather so don’t ask dumb questions. I’ve got more sense than to pick out shit like that,” Irene fussed. “I can take off my own underpants and bra. You put a towel on the vanity and when my bones are warm, I’ll come out and get dressed.”
Allie sighed. “How about a nice warm sweat suit, too?”
“Okay but don’t you give me none of that stuff that looks like hooker clothes. I keep telling you, I’m not Audrey.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Allie said with a nod.
She laid the clothing out and then sat down in the rocking chair beside the window in her grandmother’s room. She could hear her grandmother singing something about the love of her life. Allie wondered if it was something she made up or if the song had been popular back in her younger life.
Leaning her head back staring at the ceiling she replayed that introduction. She was the carpenter, nothing more or less. Blake didn’t throw an arm around her shoulder or even wink when he said that. The moment had brought the truth to the surface. She was nothing more than another notch on his bedpost.
The headache started with a jabbing pain in her right temple and traveled across her forehead around to the back of her skull. She shut her eyes and put her hand over them to keep out the light. She didn’t even try to open them when she heard the shower stop or when her grandmother grumbled about the ugly pink sweat suit that was laid out for her.
She did open them when her granny kicked the rung of the rocker. “What the hell’s wrong with you? Surely you haven’t let that boy next door get in your pants and give you a guilty headache. If you have, I hope to hell you used protection because your mama will crap little green apples if you get pregnant.”