Cowboy Take Me Away

Chapter 9


A little before noon, Luke lucked out and found a parking space on the square, which still oozed with the kind of charm people expected all of Rainbow Valley to have. Every business followed a strict set of unwritten rules. A floor could be gouged and scuffed and otherwise beat up—that was charming—but it couldn’t be dirty. Something could be painted an oddball color—that was quirky—but that paint couldn’t be peeling. Every shop owner had to be kind and welcoming, even if a dozen other emotions lurked beneath the surface. Rainbow Valley had always felt like a movie set to Luke. All façade and no substance.

As he got out of his truck and headed for Rosie’s, he passed Hildy and Honey Hancock, whom he’d have recognized no matter how long he’d been gone from Rainbow Valley. They were sisters who lived together in a house on Persian Street, trust fund babies who’d never worked a day in their lives and busied themselves instead with volunteer work. Honey had always been at least cordial to him in spite of his reputation, but Hildy had always treated him as if he had leprosy. He wasn’t sure, but it might have had something to do with the lit firecrackers he’d once stuck inside their mailbox.

As he passed by them, Hildy looked at him, looked away, then jerked her head back, coming within inches of running into a lamppost. He glanced over his shoulder to see her chattering away to Honey, who was looking at him with eyes so big a Martian with good vision could have seen them without a telescope.

A minute later, Luke slid into a booth at Rosie’s across from Rita. At the counter, the waitresses had already noticed him. They were chattering like chipmunks and eyeing him as if he were the special of the day. Finally Bobbie Whatshername emerged from the fray and headed to their table.

“Luke Dawson,” she said with a big smile. “Heard you’re back in town for a while.”

“That’s right.”

“Missed you at the reunion a few years ago. I was kinda hoping you’d show up.”

She seriously thought he might show up to a Rainbow Valley High School reunion? “Yeah, I was real sorry to miss that.”

“What can I get for you?”

Bobbie took their order, gave Luke what she probably figured was a sexy smile, and disappeared into the kitchen.

“You should have told me you were short on money,” Rita said. “I’d have let you borrow—”

“No. I don’t borrow money. Not from anyone.”

Rita nodded. “How are you and Shannon getting along?”

He shrugged. “She’s the boss.”

Rita smiled. “Yeah. She’s never had any trouble calling the shots.”

“I remember your management style being a little less hands-on,” Luke said.

“Yeah, but you can’t argue with the way she gets things done.”

“No wonder you wanted her to take over the shelter.”

“Nah. That didn’t really have much to do with it.”

“Well, then. It must have been her amazingly uptight and annoying personality.”

Rita smiled. “Nope. That wasn’t it, either.” Then her smile faded. “I wanted her for the job because there’s nothing on this earth she wouldn’t do for those animals. But sometimes that’s a problem, because she puts people who want to adopt them through the wringer. She’s afraid nobody else will take care of them the way she does. But that just means more animals and more work. She’s going to burn out something awful. She’s close to it already.”

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Luke said. “In the end, nothing gets her down. She’s tough.”

“To a point. She doesn’t fool me, though. And you shouldn’t let her fool you. I think the older she gets, the worse it gets, because she realizes there’s only so much one person can do. And that’s just not acceptable to her.” Rita folded her arms on the table. “Only a few weeks after she came back to Rainbow Valley, somebody brought us a greyhound who’d been starved and abused. He had four broken ribs and a punctured lung. In spite of everything she did, giving him medicine, staying with him twenty-four hours a day, he didn’t make it. I know she seems tough as nails, but she fell apart. She sat there beside that poor dog, tears running down her face. She told me she has nightmares about injured and homeless animals crying out for help, but suddenly she’s paralyzed and she can’t do anything about it. She was crying so hard she could barely get the words out. I’ve never seen anything so heartbreaking in my life.”

Luke couldn’t imagine that. To him, Shannon had always been strong. Resilient. A force to be reckoned with. But this…

“I wondered right then what I’d done encouraging her to come back here,” Rita said. “I told her maybe she belonged back in Houston after all. But there was no stopping her after that. The next morning, she shook it off, picked up her sword, and went into battle again. But don’t let her fool you. Her heart is way closer to the surface than you think.”

A few minutes later, Bobbie brought their lunch. Luke may have had a problem with Rainbow Valley as a whole, but he’d never had any argument with Rosie’s chicken-fried steak.

“I know she came to the shelter last Sunday,” Rita said. “That’s the day she needs to be doing something else. Anything else.”

“I told her that. She went home.”

“Good. That’s good.” Rita’s face grew uncharacteristically serious. “Will you do me a favor?”

“What’s that?”

“While you’re here…will you watch out for her?”

Watch out for her? That made no sense to Luke. Shannon wasn’t the kind of woman who would take kindly to anyone holding her hand.

“You’ve got the wrong guy,” Luke said. “Shannon doesn’t want anyone watching out for her. And even if she did, it wouldn’t be me.”

“But what we want isn’t always good for us, is it?”

He didn’t get why Rita was telling him all this, putting him on the spot, trying to make him responsible for anything that went on at the shelter. Or with Shannon.

Bobbie dropped by their table and slid a piece of apple pie in front of Luke, giving him a big smile. “On the house.”

As she walked away, he noticed a paper napkin beneath the plate with a phone number on it.

“Think twice about that,” Rita said. “Bobbie has two kids and a boyfriend with a short fuse.”

As if Luke would even consider picking it up.

They went to the counter to pay the tab. After they left the café and Luke was walking toward his truck, Rita called out to him.

“By the way, Luke.”

He turned back. “Yeah?”

“You don’t fool me, either.”

With that, Rita hobbled off, leaving Luke wondering what drove her to say something like that. An overabundance of empathy and compassion was something he’d never been accused of having.



When Friday night came, Shannon did her best to dress appropriately for the Majestic Golf and Country Club, which meant a skirt, a dressy top, and heels. When Russell picked her up, he did a double take and gave her a big smile, which pleased her, until she realized it had taken her an hour and a half to look good enough to generate that kind of reaction.

They drove to the club in Russell’s new Lexus, and it astonished Shannon just how many features that particular car had and how long it took him to orate about every one of them. She’d had no idea that a Lexus GS 450h had a continuously variable transmission, Sirius XM satellite radio, an electrochromatic inside rearview mirror, and HDD navigation. Chances were that she could have continued to exist without knowing any of that, but Russell didn’t offer her that option.

They arrived at the club just after seven. As they made their way down the drive to the clubhouse, they passed rolling hills of deep green grass. Shannon could only imagine the water it took to keep that golf course in perfect condition in the middle of this drought.

The valet whisked Russell’s car away, and they headed into the club. There was nothing new or trendy about the Majestic. It was old money through and through. Chandeliers flowed from the ceilings, and the rooms were filled with antique furniture. The club manager greeted them at the door of the ballroom where the event was being held, making a fuss over Russell because he was a new member. It had been ages since Shannon had been there with her parents, but the man still remembered her and made an even bigger fuss.

They made their way to the various tables. The hors d’oeuvres were to die for, and the wine was even better. Shannon started to feel a little loopy, but that was okay. This place looked a whole lot better to her through the haze of alcohol.

“Russell!”

Shannon turned around to see another couple approaching. The woman was a pristine little blonde with perfectly highlighted hair. She gave Russell a pseudo-hug and an air kiss, and the sight of her umpteen-carat diamond ring against the shoulder of Russell’s suit coat nearly blinded Shannon.

Russell introduced them as Lauren and Dan Something-or-Other. Dan shook Russell’s hand and commented on the round of golf they’d apparently played a few days before. Dan was a better golfer than Russell, it appeared, but Russell was coming on strong.

“Are you a golfer, Shannon?” Dan asked.

“I’m afraid not.”

“Neither is Lauren.”

“Tennis,” Lauren said. “That’s my thing. Do you play?”

“A little,” Shannon said.

Actually, she’d been on the tennis team in college, but she hadn’t picked up a racquet in years. That person seemed so far away now, as if she’d dreamed being her. Shannon had enjoyed college. And for a while, she’d enjoyed her job, too. It had been a challenge in so many ways. But the more she fought her way up that ladder, the more she realized the ladder was against the wrong building. And this place only reminded her of that.

“Wonderful,” Lauren said. “We’ll have to play sometime.”

“Yes,” Shannon said. “We’ll have to do that. Sometime.”

“It’s so nice to finally meet you. Russell couldn’t stop talking about you. He said you run an animal shelter.”

“That’s right.”

“Taking care of homeless animals is such a worthwhile cause,” Lauren gushed. “What would we do without women like you?”

Shannon smiled. “I’m glad you feel that way. We’re always looking for supporters. Why don’t you drop by the shelter sometime and I’ll take you on a tour?”

Lauren froze. “Well, you know, I’d love to do that, but up to my neck right now. Why don’t I give you my e-mail address and you can send me some information?”

Which you’ll delete the moment you receive it.

Shannon went through the motion of taking Lauren’s card, after which the woman suddenly had to be somewhere else. As she grabbed her husband’s arm and walked away, Russell said, “Nice couple. We should do dinner with them some night.”

“Yeah,” Shannon said, because what else could she say? “Sounds like fun.”

For another hour or so, she and Russell swirled and sniffed and sipped, during which time Shannon said hello to a few couples who were friends of her parents. When she introduced Russell, he turned on the charm, clearly wanting to become part of this place in a major way. By the time they left, he was in a jovial mood. He’d had just enough wine to loosen him up and just enough stroking from the management and the other members to feel as if he was part of the crowd.

When they returned to her apartment, she could tell he wanted her to invite him inside. Dismissing him at the door seemed a little ungrateful after the nice evening he thought he’d shown her, so they went inside and she fixed them both a cup of coffee.

He sat down on the sofa with her. Soon his arm was around her. He took her coffee cup, set it on the table, and kissed her.

“Thanks so much, Russell. It was such a nice evening.”

“It doesn’t have to be over yet, does it?”

“I have to get up early tomorrow morning.”

“It’s Saturday. I thought that was why you hired a caretaker. So you wouldn’t have to work so hard.”

“Saturday is a regular workday for me.”

She could tell he was a little put out, but true to Russell’s nature, he didn’t push. He just smiled at her, thanked her for a wonderful evening, and rose to leave. She followed him to her door.

“We should do this again,” he said. “I’ll see what other events are coming up.”

“Sure,” she said. “Let me know.”

After Russell left, Shannon closed the door and leaned against it, letting out a breath of frustration. He could do everything right, everything a man was supposed to do to get a woman’s attention, but nothing seemed to stick. Shannon looked at him and thought, This is nice. Why don’t I like nice? And then she’d wonder if she was being unreasonable for thinking that being with him was supposed to feel like more than a pleasant day at the park. More than enjoyable. More than agreeable.

More than nice.

Her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID. Eve. Aaargh. Shannon didn’t want to talk to her sister right now. She let it ring through, then picked up the message Eve left.

“Okay, so I know you heard your phone ring and you’re screening so you don’t have to talk about your date with Russell tonight,” Eve said. “Hope you said hi to all the snotty people at the club for me. And yes, I remember that I’m supposed to come by the shelter and take photos for the new brochure tomorrow. Looking forward to it. And by it, I mean him. And my him, I mean Luke Dawson. Can’t wait to see if he’s as hot as he was in high school. Later.”

Shannon tossed her phone aside. Damn it. Why did Eve have to remind her of Luke? After going out with Mr. Nice, she didn’t need to be thinking about, well…Mr. Not-So-Nice. And by Not-So-Nice, she meant exciting and compelling and…

And really, really bad for her.

She’d had too much wine tonight. That was the problem. It made her mind travel to places it had no business going. By tomorrow, she’d forget all about this feeling and realize what was good for her again.

And it wouldn’t be Luke.



The next morning, Luke had finished with the horses and was starting in with the cats, when he heard his text message tone. He pulled out his phone.

Hanson. Shit.

Missed you in Tucson. Too bad you couldn’t have seen me win!

A spark of anger slid along Luke’s nerves. He’d been watching the standings. There was still plenty of distance between him and Hanson, so he wasn’t worried yet. Luke was religious about his physical therapy and hit his exercises hard. When the World Championship came, he fully intended to shove those words right back down Hanson’s throat.

Luke heard the door open behind him. He pocketed his phone and turned around, expecting to see Shannon, only to see another woman walk in. She wore skintight jeans with rips all over them. Luke couldn’t tell if she was being fashionable or she just hated to throw away a pair of her favorites. Her hair was bright red, flowing across her shoulders and down her back. She wore a T-shirt that read, “Everyone is Entitled to My Opinion.”

“Hi, there,” she said with a smile. “I’m Eve. Shannon’s sister.”

Even though Luke had known who Eve was when he lived there before, recognition came slowly. She was one of those people who changed dramatically from one day to the next, unlike Shannon, who he’d be able to spot on a crowded street from now until they were a hundred.

Eve grinned. “I know, I know. Don’t look for it to make sense that we’re sisters. Genetics can only explain so much. And you’re Luke.”

“That’s right.”

“I remember you. You used to let the air out of the vice principal’s tires.”

“I remember you, too. You used to wear a black cape and vampire fangs to school.”

Eve groaned. “You remember that?”

“You were hard to miss.”

“Is a little selective amnesia too much to ask?”

“Tell you what. If you forget my transgressions, I’ll forget yours.”

Eve grinned. “Deal.”

Luke only wished it would be that easy with the rest of the citizens of Rainbow Valley.

“I hear you have an antique shop,” he said.

“Resale. More unique than antique, but I have some of both.”

“Not open today?”

“My assistant is running the place. I came here to take some photos for the shelter’s new brochure for the festival.” She pulled a camera out of the tote bag she carried. “Act like you’re working. I’ll take a few shots.”

“How about I just work rather than acting like I’m working?”

Eve smiled. “Suit yourself.”

Luke shoved a bowl of food into one of the cat’s cages. “How’d you get drafted for this job?”

“I sell a lot of stuff on eBay in addition to in my shop. Requires a lot of photos. I’ve gotten pretty good at it.”

“You’d better think twice about putting me in your brochure,” Luke said, dishing up another bowl of cat food. “I’m not exactly Rainbow Valley’s favorite son.”

“This is for the out-of-towners, so nobody will care. Though I don’t know why I’m even bothering with photos. I should just put together a single sheet that says ‘We’re broke. Give money.’” She snapped a photo. “So how does it feel to be back in town?”

“It’s been an experience.”

“Getting reacquainted with some of the people?”

“Well, Sheriff Sizemore is just thrilled to have me back.”

“I can imagine.”

“I also saw Myrna Schumaker at the Pic ’N Go. She gave me a regular hero’s welcome.”

Eve winced. “Yeah, Myrna’s like that.”

“In all fairness, I did do a little damage to the Pic ’N Go at one time, so it’s not surprising that she’d have a little leftover hostility.”

“Actually, Myrna’s having a hard time these days. Her husband died a few years ago and left her with a lot of debt, and then her daughter ran off, so she’s raising her grandson. She’s always been a little crabby, but with the added pressure…” Eve shrugged. “I guess I’d be crabby if I were in her shoes, too.”

Luke remembered the little boy he’d seen in the store a few days ago. So he’d been right. The boy was Myrna’s grandson. The question was, what kind of girl took off and left her own son behind?

Eve lifted her camera again and snapped. “Perfect! Now take off your shirt.”

Luke lifted an eyebrow. “Why would I take off my shirt to feed cats?”

“Uh…sex sells?”

“Isn’t this supposed to be G-rated?”

“Hey, I’m not getting paid for this. I need to get something out of it.”

“Eve? What are you doing?”

Luke spun around to find Shannon behind him, and she didn’t look happy.

“This is supposed to be about the shelter,” she said to Eve. “Not about Luke.”

“Can I help it if he’s photogenic?”

“Go take a few photos of the llamas. That’ll make us look interestingly exotic.”

Eve made a face of disgust. “No way. They spit.”

“Yes, but not very often.”

“All it takes is once to gross you out forever.”

“That’s what telephoto lenses are for.”

Eve turned to Luke. “Looks like I’m being dismissed. It was nice to see you. Too bad you’re not staying longer. Shannon could really use the help.”

As Eve left the kennel, Shannon turned back to Luke. “My sister is a little intrusive. Don’t let that keep you from working.”

“Wouldn’t think of it.”

“Did you fill the stock tank?”

“Yep.”

“Trim the hedges around the kennel?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Water the new trees near the front gate?”

“Next on my list.”

“And sometime soon you’ll need to replace some of the fence boards the horses have chewed up. Oh! And I got a donation of some pansies we can plant in the beds next to the office. This place has to look good during the festival. We always have a lot of people coming through.”

Luke was already breathless just from hearing her recite her to-do list. Or, more accurately, his to-do list.

And just as quickly as she came, she was gone again.



Shannon caught up with her sister on the path leading to the barn. “Don’t you dare use any of those photos of Luke in the brochure.”

“Why not?”

“That should be obvious.”

“It’s for tourists,” Eve said. “They’ll love him.”

“Tourists aren’t the issue.”

“But women will come from miles around just to get a look at him,” Eve said. “They might even adopt an animal while they’re here.”

“Eve? Just once could you do something I ask you to? Just once?”

“But Luke’s hot. Did I tell you that?”

Shannon closed her eyes.

“Tell you what,” Eve said. “You marry Russell, and I’ll take Luke. If he really is the devil, he’s the right man for me.”

“Do you want to give our mother a heart attack?”

“Okay, forget that. But at least we could give Mom a little chest pain. Let’s go to the City Limits tonight.”

Eve was right. Loucinda would hate that, too. The idea of her daughters frequenting a rowdy, cowboy-infested honky tonk was more than her delicate sensibilities could tolerate. As much as Shannon liked the idea of doing something her mother would hate, tonight wasn’t the night.

“No,” she said. “I’m tired. I’m going home.”

“But they have a band tonight.”

“So go.”

“No. I don’t want to go by myself.”

“Why not?”

“Because if I’m there alone, the locals think I’m desperate and the tourists think I’m a prostitute.”

“Or maybe everybody thinks you’re a desperate prostitute.”

“Exactly. You can save me from that.”

“Call Tasha to go with you.”

“I already did, but she’s not sure if she can make it. Cynthia’s coming, but she may be late. That’s why I need you.”

“Eve—”

“Oh, all right,” Eve said. “I’ll buy. But that’s my final offer.”

Shannon finally gave in. Actually, having a few margaritas didn’t sound so bad right about then. At least when she was at the City Limits, she could bask in a lovely, tequila-laced world where life was a breeze and problems didn’t exist.



By the time Luke gave the horses their evening feed and turned them out, everyone was gone for the day, including Shannon. He went back to his apartment and took a shower, letting the hot water spray on him until it ran cold. His knee hurt less every day, which meant the exercise he’d been getting had been good for it.

After he threw on some clothes, he looked in the dresser mirror just as he’d done every night since moving in there and asked himself, Now what? He found himself automatically looking for a television remote, only to realize for about the tenth time since he moved in that it wouldn’t do him a bit of good since he didn’t have a TV.

Crap.

He’d told Shannon it was no big deal to have no TV, but the truth was he’d kill for basic cable right about then. He grabbed his phone, poked around for a while, but that could only go so far as entertainment.

On the rodeo circuit, he knew at least one or two guys in most cities he could meet for a few drinks. And then there were the women. The more successful he got, the more they seemed to be willing to hook up for an evening and then say good-bye before breakfast. In Rainbow Valley, if he took up with a woman and she was displeased at such a limited relationship, she’d know where to find him. Not a good thing.

That left him with exactly nothing to do, and it was starting to drive him just a little bit nuts. Now he understood how people who lived alone in remote places could go stark raving mad.

Okay. Enough was enough. He couldn’t sit alone in this place one more evening. One way or another, he was getting out of there tonight.



An hour later, Shannon pulled into the gravel parking lot of the City Limits, a big metal building on Highway 12 east of Rainbow Valley. According to the moveable sign out front, White Lightning was playing that night. Whenever they didn’t have a real gig in Austin or Houston, they played at the City Limits for a few bucks and all the Bud they could drink.

Shannon pulled her truck in between a beat-up Chevy minivan and a spit-polished Ford pickup. She got out and walked through the parking lot by the light of the red and blue neon sign. When she opened the door, she found the place already packed. The band wasn’t playing yet, but the jukebox was blasting.

Les Parker had opened the bar in 1964 at a time when Rainbow Valley liquor laws prohibited him from running his business in town. Much to the dismay of the upright, uptight citizens who supported those laws, he thumbed his nose at them by establishing his business approximately six inches outside the city limits. Its current owner, Terri Vaughn, kept the kind of décor and attitude Les Parker would have been proud of, which included neon beer signs, an ancient jukebox, a pair of scuffed-up pool tables, and a gigantic stuffed javelina standing guard by the front door.

Then times got tough, and Terri recognized the limitations of catering only to locals. She toned the place down to attract tourists, with fruity drink specials, flavored margaritas, and a cutesy menu, but it seemed to Shannon that Terri was always more comfortable serving sinners than saints. Every once in a while one of those sinners stepped out of line, but Terri had a baseball bat behind the bar and zero tolerance for bad behavior.

Shannon passed the stuffed javelina and approached the bar. Terri was behind it, drawing a couple of frozen margaritas from the slush machine. Tonight she’d pulled her long, bleach-blond hair into a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck, letting it fall in a curly mass down her back. She filled out her Levis and tank top in a way that got the attention of most men, but as soon as their heads turned, she gave them a glare that told them they’d do well to look someplace else. Unfortunately, that tended to limit her dating opportunities. But Shannon liked any woman who was tough as nails and took no crap, who made her own rules and stuck by them.

Part of the behavior Terri expected of her customers involved her beagle, Rufus. The sign over his doggy bed near the bar made it clear what they were not to do:

Do not feed the dog.

No matter how much he begs.

Those who ignore this warning will be shot.

On her way to the barstool Eve had saved for her, Shannon took a detour to say hi to Rufus. He lifted his graying muzzle, sniffed her hand, then gave her a doggy smile as she scratched him behind his ears.

“How’s he doing?” she asked Terri.

“Doesn’t much like his shots,” Terri said as she slapped the margaritas on the bar for Shonda to take to customers. “Not crazy about his diabetic dog food, either. But he tolerates it. As long as I can keep people from sneaking him French fries, he’s going to be just fine.”

Shannon gave Rufus one last pat on the head before sliding onto the barstool beside her sister. Eve already had a margarita in front of her, and Terri immediately set one in front of Shannon. Shannon leaned in and took a long drink from the straw, closing her eyes ecstatically. Nothing was better than a big, tart, slushy, salty Texas margarita.

A few minutes later, Cynthia showed up. She wore a denim skirt, a pair of boots, and a straw hat over her short, dark hair. Miraculously, a margarita also appeared in front of her.

They chatted about nothing for several minutes, and then Cynthia said, “Dr. Morgensen told me he decided to sponsor the petting zoo at the festival.”

“Yeah,” Shannon said. “It means a lot to the shelter.”

“Forget the shelter, Shannon,” Eve said. “He’s thinking it means a lot to you.”

“So exactly how serious are you two?” Terri asked.

“Pretty darned serious,” Eve said. “After all, they’re getting married.”

Shannon rolled her eyes at the same time Cynthia’s eyebrows flew up. “You’re getting married?”

“No!” Shannon said. “God, no. Eve’s just causing trouble again. I’m not even thinking about getting married.”

“Fine,” Eve said. “Break your mother’s heart.”

Shannon sighed. “Can’t a man and a woman just date without everybody shoving them down the aisle?”

“Around here?” Eve said. “Nope.” She turned to Cynthia. “You see Russell more than Shannon does. What’s he really like?”

“Hey!” Shannon said. “Don’t put her on the spot with a question like that!”

“I don’t mind,” Cynthia said. “He’s really good to work for.”

“He seems kinda uptight,” Eve said.

“Not really,” Cynthia said. “He’s just careful about things.”

“Like I said. Uptight.”

Cynthia just smiled. “And he’s a good dentist.”

“Well, that’s exciting.”

“And he’s really nice to his patients when they can’t afford stuff.”

“Really?” Eve said.

“The other day, I overheard him tell a patient who couldn’t afford a filling that he needed practice on that particular procedure, so if she’d let him do it, he’d only charge her half.”

That surprised Shannon. She’d always thought of Russell as the kind of guy who was a little too proud of his professional services to ever discount them.

“But his diet,” Cynthia said. “Now, there’s something that needs to change.”

“His diet?” Shannon said.

Cynthia shuddered. “He eats frozen stuff out of a box almost every day for lunch. The ones that are nothing but a scrap of chicken and a pile of vegetables.”

“Oh, that. He’s just careful about his health.”

“In other words, uptight,” Eve said.

“Will you hush?” Shannon said.

“One time I offered to share my homemade macaroni and cheese with him,” Cynthia said. “He looked at it as if it was poison.” She shook her head sadly. “Too bad. He needs comfort food more than any man I’ve ever met.”

Shannon thought about her favorite homemade comfort food—a scoop of chocolate ice cream on top of a Twinkie covered with whipped cream out of a can. If she and Russell ever did get married and he expected her to cook, he’d be out of luck.

A minute later, Tasha slid onto the barstool next to Eve and set her giant orange handbag on the bar. She wore a casual jersey dress cinched by a skinny silver belt. The dress hit her mid-thigh, but it looked even shorter when she wore the platform pumps she had on this evening. Silver chandelier earrings came within an inch of grazing her shoulders.

“You made it after all,” Eve said.

“I was supposed to do a dry run on Trina Dobson’s up-do for her wedding, but she canceled.”

“The appointment or the wedding?”

“Both. I don’t have the details yet. I’ll let you know.” Tasha looked at Shannon’s hair and frowned. “You have split ends.”

“Hello to you, too, Tasha.”

“Right there,” Tasha said, flicking the ends of Shannon’s hair. “And they’re only going to get worse.”

Shannon worried about a lot of things, but split ends wasn’t one of them. “I’ll be in for a haircut soon.”

“You’re also getting gray hairs.”

“It’s stress,” Eve said.

“It’s genetics,” Shannon said. “You have gray hairs, too. You just cover them up with your color of the week.”

Eve turned to Tasha. “Stress.”

Terri set Tasha’s usual Diet Coke on the bar in front of her. Tasha had told them once that alcohol was nice, but that nobody wanted to see what happened when she had one too many. And for a woman her size, she said, one was one too many.

“So what’s stressing you out?” Terri asked.

“Luke Dawson,” Eve said.

“Yeah, I heard he was back in town,” Tasha said. “Is he still as hot as he used to be?”

“Oh, you bet he is,” Eve said.

Shannon turned to her sister. “Will you let me speak for myself?”

“Okay,” Eve said. “Your turn. Is he as hot as he used to be?”

Shannon gave her sister a deadpan look, then shook her head and took another sip of her margarita.

“Who’s Luke Dawson?” Terri asked.

“A guy we went to high school with,” Eve said.

“Ah,” Terri said. “The one who’s working for Shannon now.”

Shannon slumped with disbelief. “Has everybody in the whole town heard about him?”

“Uh-huh,” Terri said. “And from what I hear, he’s bad to the bone.”

“Terri,” Eve said, “you’re bad to the bone.”

“True. Which is why I’ll never hold it against him.” She glanced over at a nearby table. “Uh-oh. Shonda’s getting slammed out there. Gotta go take an order.”

She swung around the bar and went to a table where four young women sat. They wore capris and sparkly sandals, and designer handbags hung over the backs of their chairs. The band had shut off the music so they could test sound levels, but the women’s chatter was almost as loud as the jukebox had been.

“We were heading for our girls’ weekend in Austin,” one of them told Terri. “And we saw this place on Yelp. The reviews said it has a lot of local flavor.”

“And the best margaritas ever,” one of the other women said.

“And curly fries,” the third woman said. “I love curly fries.”

The fourth, a petite blonde with too much makeup and a haughty expression, glanced at the stuffed javelina. “I see you have a wild boar by your door,” she said, looking Terri up and down. “I’m betting you shot it yourself.”

The other women snickered.

“You betcha,” Terri said. “Dropped him with a single shot right between the eyes. I don’t stand for anything charging at me, man or beast.”

Of course, the javelina had actually come from an estate sale Eve had run a year ago, but Terri had never been one to let the truth get in the way of a good story.

“Shall I make that four margaritas, then?” she asked the women.

Three of them nodded enthusiastically. The blonde, however, shook her head. “No. I’ll have a glass of Prosecco.”

“Champagne?” Terri said. “Honey, we don’t even have that on New Year’s Eve.”

The blonde looked exasperated. “Do you have white wine?”

“Yep. I think I can scare up some of that.”

The only reason Terri sold wine in addition to beer and hard liquor was because Cordero Vineyards was right in her backyard, and she wholeheartedly believed in supporting her fellow businessmen.

Just then, the squeal of microphone feedback filled the room. Rufus lifted his head and howled, and everybody in the place laughed. Everybody except the little blonde, who crinkled her nose with disgust. “Oh, my God. You have a dog in here?”

“That’s not a dog,” Terri said. “It’s an eighty-year-old man with an extra-long nose and floppy ears.”

“No, that’s a dog,” the blonde said, as if it needed saying.

“You do realize you’re in Rainbow Valley, don’t you?” Terri said. “Where pets outnumber people?”

“But I can’t believe you keep an animal in a place where you sell food.”

“He lives here,” Terri said. “It’d be downright unhospitable for me to ask him to leave.”

The woman turned up her nose at Rufus, then leaned in and whispered none too quietly to her friends. “That is so unhygienic. What if he licks something?”

Terri put her fist on her hip. “His mouth is a damn sight cleaner than yours, Twinkie.”

The blonde whipped around. “Excuse me? What did you just say?”

“Did you really not hear me, or are you asking me to repeat it because you think I won’t?”

The woman raised her nose a notch. “I’d like to speak to your manager, please.”

“Don’t have one of those.”

“Then I’d like to speak to the owner.”

“You’re talking to her.”

The woman drew back. “You’re the owner, and you talk like this to your customers?”

“I’m the owner, and I talk like this to people who say nasty things about my dog. Now, you gonna order, or should I get Rufus to lick something so you’ll leave?”

The woman snatched up her purse. “Come on, girls. Let’s go.”

“But I’m hungry,” one said.

“And they have curly fries,” another said.

“And margaritas—”

“Now!”

As the blonde and her entourage hightailed it away from the table, Shannon, Eve, Cynthia, and Tasha looked at each other with trepidation. Sure enough, Terri followed the women all the way to the door.

“Uh-oh,” Eve said. “Here it comes.”

“And don’t let the door hit you in the ass!” Terri shouted.

“Oh, my God,” Shannon said, dropping her head to her hands. “It’s a wonder she has any customers at all.”

“Hey, that woman was crabby,” Cynthia said. “I’m glad she’s gone.”

“Me, too,” Shannon said. “But Terri has bills to pay.”

Terri came back to the bar to find all three women staring at her. She blinked. “What?”

“You might try being a teensy bit nicer to your customers,” Eve said. “Even the difficult ones.”

“Okay, so how about I send that blond chick over to the Red Barn and let her bitch about the cat cooties all over your furniture?”

“On second thought,” Eve said, raising her glass, “life’s too short to put up with pissy people.”

The women clinked glasses and drank. A few moments later, the band stopped tuning up and the lead guitarist took the microphone.

“It’s nice to see all y’all here tonight,” he said. “Let’s get this party started!”

With that, the band launched into a bouncy country song, and everybody cheered. Couples got up from tables and made their way to the dance floor. Shannon, Eve, Cynthia, and Tasha turned on their barstools to watch. Shannon never danced—she’d been born with zero rhythm and a pitiful lack of coordination—but she liked watching other people do it.

“Oh, my God,” Tasha said. “Look who’s over there.”

“Where?” Shannon said.

“At that table in the corner. By the jukebox.”

Shannon looked toward the jukebox and just about spilled her margarita.

Luke?