chapter Sixteen
Jake wanted to head to the pit and do nothing but shoot pool and fantasize about Sugar, but life that was Pecan Creek called. Sugar had departed before he’d awakened that morning, but she’d left a note that read, Paybacks are usually hell, but I underestimated you, so he was feeling pretty proud of himself.
He couldn’t wait to be with Sugar again. The woman turned his crank in a serious way; she made him breathless and made him hornier than he thought the human body could stand, all of which he considered really good signs for the future. He felt alive when he was with Sugar, and that was saying something.
Five minutes later, while he was still slack-jawed from replaying last night’s amazing adventures with Sugar, Kel called to say that Bobby had backed into the outside dining area with his big, stupid truck, tearing a chunk out of the patio. Kel also managed to mention that he’d seen Lucy go by in a pink convertible with his mother’s best friends, and that was trouble with a capital T.
Jake hustled over to his secret investment. “Holy shit,” Jake said, staring at the damage Bobby had done to the Bait and Burgers. “Why didn’t you just take out the whole restaurant?”
“Jesus, I’m sorry, Jake.” Bobby looked at him with deeply regretful eyes. “I’ve had stuff on my mind. And I wasn’t paying attention.”
“I’ll say. What had your attention?”
Bobby swallowed. “Lucy Cassavechia walked by, and I gunned it as I was backing into my usual spot. Truck just got away from me.”
Jake blinked. “You don’t have a thing for Lucy, do you?”
“No. Well, kind of. Don’t tell Kel.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” This was a potentially explosive situation. “Whatever you do, keep your fly zipped. For all our sakes.”
Bobby sighed. “She wants me.”
“She wants you?” Jake studied his friend. Bobby was a good-looking guy. He was unattached. He was brave as hell. It was not entirely impossible that Lucy might have come on to him. “How does she communicate such a thing?”
He shrugged. “She smiled.”
“Shit, Bobby. She smiles at everybody.”
“Yeah. But this was a different kind of smile. You know. She looked me up and down.” Bobby kind of blushed as he repeated the story, and Jake got worried.
“Listen, this is a bad idea. You know Kel’s practically dizzy with lust for her. Plus Sugar and I—”
He edited his confession, considering how much one could tell a good friend about one’s love life.
“Sugar and you what?” Bobby looked at him curiously.
There was no reason to tell anyone. Sugar wouldn’t, and he shouldn’t, either. To do so would be to invite all of Pecan Creek into their relationship, which wasn’t a relationship—not yet—and that would be poison.
“Sugar and I are finally getting along in the tenant/landlord sense. I just want everybody happy around here.”
“Yeah,” Bobby said, “what does that have to do with whether I ask Lucy out?”
Jake looked at the chunk Bobby had plowed out of his diner. “Bobby, if you ask Lucy out, I swear I’ll take every penny of what it’s going to cost to repair this out of your pay.”
“Then I won’t be able to make rent.”
“Exactly. The choice is yours. I’ll have to call someone to fix this.” He went inside to consider his options. It was almost the middle of October, so it would be turning too cool for diners to eat on the patio. Still, there were a few nights of warmth left, and the restaurant made more money on the nights that people sat and chatted.
But the social season was mostly over for the fall. Jake sighed, and then he saw Vivian making a beeline for him.
He sat on a stool and waited for the incoming to hit.
“Jake.”
“Present and accounted for.”
She looked at him. “That little Cassavechia trollop insulted me in the grocery the other day.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. She probably didn’t appreciate you giving her hell.”
Vivian shrugged. “It’s important that Miss Cassavechia understands how this town works.”
“I’m seeing Sugar, Mother,” Jake said, deciding to cut through all the drama. “You’re going to have to learn to get along with her, or you won’t see me very often.”
Two bright spots appeared in Vivian’s cheeks. “Seeing her?”
He nodded. “And seeing her makes me happy, so that should make you happy, in a perfect world. I’m aware this is not a perfect world, but even a stiff ‘congratulations’ would go a long way with me.”
Vivian blinked. “Oh my goodness. You’re serious about her.”
He glanced around the Bait and Burgers, then met his mother’s gaze. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. It’s too soon to be serious. Do I like her? A helluva lot.”
“I’m leaving,” Vivian said. “You’ll come to your senses one day. In the meantime, I can’t bear to watch you ruin your life.”
She walked out of the restaurant, not happy, and Jake pulled out his cell phone. He called the one person who could handle a structural job like this. “Lassiter. It’s Jake.”
“Hey. Missed you at the fence last night.”
“Yeah. Uh, I got tied up.”
Lassiter laughed. “Thought I saw Sugar’s car pull into your garage.”
“Keep it under your hat, all right?”
“Same goes this way when I have company. I guess you know Miss Maggie and I have been spending time together. Mostly she writes up recipes, but I manage to romance her a little too.”
“Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. I’m happy for you.” He sighed. “You up to repairing a patio?”
“Sure. What’s the job?”
“Bobby backed into the Bait and Burgers, took out a chunk of the patio. Probably doesn’t meet code now, at the minimum, and it’s an eyesore. The concrete, the wood and the basic structure’s going to need to be replaced.”
“The owner have insurance?”
“Yeah.” Jake drummed his fingers. “But he’d like the job done right. That would involve you, if you’ve got time.”
“Who does own that place?” Lassiter asked, and Jake said, “Me. But don’t tell anyone, especially not Vivian,” and Lassiter laughed.
“I should have known. You ought to buy Pecan Fanny’s and bring it up to snuff.”
“Is Fanny selling out?”
“Yep. She’s gotten tired. Wants to spend time with the grandkids.”
“Maybe I’ll think about it.”
“Hey, I’ll come by this afternoon to look at Bobby’s artwork. See what I can do.”
“Appreciate it.” He hung up, sat down at a table. Strange winds were blowing through Pecan Creek. Lucy and the Pillars were riding in a pink convertible sans Vivian—not that Vivian would have wanted to ride in such a vehicle—but he knew very well Lucy was working for the Pillars in Minda’s underground. He wondered what was up their little lacy sleeves. Whatever it was, it did not include Vivian. Pecan Fanny wanted to sell out. Bobby liked Lucy, and Kel was getting a divorce.
He was falling for Sugar, and he couldn’t stop thinking about her even though he was missing a chunk in his restaurant.
Evert came in with Cat Jenkins, all lovey-dovey in a public way that Jake knew would drive Vivian mad. She frowned on PDA.
“You’re missing half your bait shack,” Evert said. “Who did the deed?”
“Our good friend, Bobby.” Jake smiled at Evert’s companion. “Hi, Cat.”
“Hi, Jake. I asked Evert if Bait and Burgers is doing a float for the parade this year, but he said he wasn’t sure.” She looked at him, curious. “Every business does a float.”
Jake stopped flipping through the cards in his wallet. “Parade?” He looked at Bobby. “You and Evert and Kel better get out your little pencils and start drawing off some ideas.”
Evert nodded. “You got Maggie fitted for her suit yet?”
“Suit?” Jake felt like he was ten yards behind the conversation. He didn’t care about the parade, except he had to; it was the backbone of PC’s life. All he’d been thinking about for the past several weeks was Sugar. “We’ve got to order Maggie’s suit!”
“I know,” Evert said, his tone dry. “And you’ve got to fix the billboard. Vivian’ll be annoyed if it’s not new and shiny and proclaiming Pecan Creek to the world in time for Christmas.”
The billboard Sugar wanted an ad on for her business. Jake winced. He hadn’t been quite up front with her about that, but maybe she’d forgotten about it. He hadn’t heard anything more about that or her business. Maybe she’d given the whole idea up.
Some friend you are—you don’t even ask. You just undressed her and used up a half a box of condoms, but you never asked about Hotter than Hell Nuts.
She hadn’t given up. According to Sugar, Maggie was channeling her psychic recipe box. The breakthrough for Sugar’s business could be any day now.
“I’m a son of a bitch at times,” Jake said, and Evert said, “It’s cool. We don’t let it bother us.”
Jake shook his head. This was the problem. He was a lot like Vivian; he was always running things. Even when it wasn’t obvious he was running PC, he was in it up to his neck.
He wasn’t being fair to Sugar. He was the only one who could help her—and he hadn’t bothered.
“I’ve got to go,” he said.
“Where?” Evert asked. “What about the patio? Think I better put some caution signs out and tape to keep people from going down the rabbit hole,” and Jake slapped some money down on the counter, shoving it over to Evert.
“Let me know how much more you need. I’ll be back by the dinner rush,” Jake said.
“Okay,” Evert said.
“Don’t forget the float, Jake,” Cat said, and Jake hurried toward his truck, not thinking about floats.
All he could think about was Sugar. And he was very close to making a serious mistake.
“Jake!” Sugar smiled when she opened the door. “What are you doing here?”
“Can we talk?” Jake asked.
“I’m in the middle of something,” Sugar said, “but you can come in.”
He walked inside his family home, smelling something sweet cooking, which was new and different. “You working?”
“Yeah. Come in and taste.”
He followed Sugar into the kitchen, happy to watch her hips sway as she walked in the tiny, ripped-hem skirt. Her long legs caught the eye, smooth and shapely. His throat went dry. She stirred some nuts in a creamy brown sugary sauce.
“Smells good.” She smelled good too. Jake let her feed him a lightly toasted sugary pecan, and as the flavors melted over his tongue, he knew Sugar had a winner.
“Delicious,” he said. “Maggie remembered.”
Sugar beamed. “Yes. Hotterthanhellnuts.com is open for business.”
“Congratulations.” Jake smiled, but he didn’t really feel it. He’d pushed this part of Sugar out of his mind. He hadn’t wanted the certain tizzy that was going to erupt when Vivian found out what was going to occur in the family home, and in Pecan Creek.
He was pretty much a weasel.
“We could lease that abandoned billboard on the highway now,” Sugar said. “There’s so much traffic on the highway that it would be great advertising for my business to start with.” She beamed.
Jake felt a bit sick. “Pecan Creek leases the billboard every year for two months at Christmas, to advertise the parade and the Christmas festivities.”
“That would give us plenty of time to get our business up and running,” Sugar said. “We could pick up the billboard in January.” She put her arms around him, making his every muscle hum with need for her. “Hey,” Sugar said, “want to do a victory dance to celebrate in my room?”
He sure as hell did. He got hard just thinking about it.
Kel hadn’t mentioned the billboard for January lately, but the shirts ’n ’skins party had never gone off. Kel’s divorce was consuming his life. The billboard would definitely be bare and available by January.
“I better go,” he said. “Bobby took a chunk out of the Bait and Burgers, so I’ve got Lassiter coming to take a look at it. Thanks, though.” He brushed her lips with a fast kiss and headed to the front door.
“Jake?”
He turned. “Yeah?”
“Why did you come by?” Sugar looked confused, and frankly, Jake was too. Guilt gnawed at him.
“Just to say hi,” Jake said. “Congratulations, again.”
“Thanks,” Sugar said. “Hope you get your restaurant fixed.”
He left, wishing like hell he could have accepted Sugar’s invitation. Nothing would have made him happier than to fall into bed with Sugar in the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas room, draw those funky drapes around the circular bed and make crazy love to her until he couldn’t make love anymore.
With Sugar, he could see pulling all-nighters.
Some things were going to have to change. He just didn’t know if the changes were going to be for the better—or the worse.
Sugar’s breath left her with Jake. She’d thrown herself at him, and he’d jetted off like she was the devil. Was it because this was his house? Had she made some kind of faux pas?
He’d make the observation that she hadn’t let him into her life, when he’d shown her all his favorite private haunts. But when she’d tried to level the playing field, he’d passed in a hurry.
“He’s a guy,” she told Paris. “You never can really figure them out.” She bit into a nut, sighing. “I’ve got the packaging ordered, the designs, and now we’ve finally got the product. It’s a winner, Paris. We’ll be able to keep you in dog bones morning, noon and night.”
No doubt Pecan Creek would be proud that there were nuts being grown, packaged and sold out of their glad-handing, self-promoting town. Sugar smiled. Christmas was coming, and if there was ever a time when nuts went over like candy in stockings, it was the Christmas season.
Finally, she’d found their home.