Kate glanced at Jamie.
Jamie pushed up out of the chair. “Yes—same story again, but different reasons. I like the future I see here. Let’s have a glass of wine to celebrate. You haven’t put your two cents in yet, Kate. Are you staying or going?”
“Staying,” Kate said. “I’ve got some things I need to work through that have nothing to do with Conrad. Right now he’s probably more history to me than he is to y’all.”
“Yes,” Amanda and Jamie said at the same time.
Kate had gone to bed with damp hair the night before, and now it was sticking up and out in so many directions she could have modeled for a punk rock band. She ran a brush through her hair, drew it up in a ponytail, and got dressed. When she looked into the mirror again, the same Kate stared back at her, but this one was far different than the one who’d left Fort Worth more than a month ago. That corporate lady would never have been caught in denim shorts and a neon-green T-shirt with a picture of a multicolored unicorn on the front. Gracie had picked it out when they’d gone shopping after the court date, and wearing it made Kate smile—every single time.
She padded to the kitchen in her bare feet and poured a cup of coffee, picked up a leftover breakfast burrito from the stove, and carried both out to the deck. Wednesday morning, five minutes till eight thirty. She’d made an appointment with her mother’s assistant for a fifteen-minute block of time to talk to Teresa.
At fifteen seconds before the time, Kate dialed the number. Her mother picked up at exactly eight thirty. “Okay, Kate, your vacation time is over on Friday. Your name has been cleared. You don’t have any common sense when it comes to men and that will hurt your business a little, but it won’t ruin you if you go forward with determination to show your worth. It’s time to come home.”
“Where is home?” Kate asked. “Is it where you hang your hat or where you park your checkbook?”
“Don’t mess with me,” Teresa warned.
“Okay, I’ll shoot straight. Either I get a year off, without pay, of course, or my resignation will be faxed to you in ten minutes,” Kate said.
“You are serious? What are you going to do? Drive a tractor for a living?”
“Maybe. That does sound exciting.” Kate pictured herself walking across a plowed field hand in hand with Waylon.
“I’m not giving you a year off, and if you resign, I’ll sell this company and you won’t get a dime of the money.” Teresa’s icy tone left no room for argument.
“I’ve never been poor. It might be an interesting adventure.” Kate could live for years on the interest from her own investments. She didn’t bother to remind her mother that she owned thirty percent of the stock in Truman Oil.
“I mean it, Kate. I’m not backing down one inch.”
“Then you’d better call Red Dirt and see what their offer is, or else get ready to sit on the throne awhile longer. I’m not coming back to Fort Worth.”
“Send me the resignation.” Teresa hung up on her.
Ten minutes later, Kate watched her two-line resignation with her signature at the bottom go through the machine in her bedroom. When it finished, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. There were no regrets, and she felt freer than she had in her whole life.
“What does a godmother wear to a christening?” Kate asked, standing in the living room wearing nothing but her underpants, bra, and a short silk robe.
“Are you nervous about the godmother thing or about seeing Waylon as a totally free woman?” Jamie asked. Waylon had finally tied up all the ends in Dallas and come home the night before.
“Don’t go judging me until you walk a mile in my high heels.”
“High heels, hell!” Jamie laughed. “You aren’t that girl anymore, darlin’. You are a barefoot country girl now, so embrace it. It’s an August Sunday in Texas, so wear one of those cute little sundresses and sandals.”
She looked down at her bare feet and unpolished nails. She had taken the time to remove the last remnants of polish and promised Gracie that they would do each other’s toenails when Gracie decided on just the right color.
“I’m wearing fancy flip-flops,” Jamie said.
Amanda held up a foot. “My feet still aren’t skinny enough yet to get into my regular shoes. Which reminds me, Aunt Ellie is bringing a truckload of my things today. I told her to sell the furniture because we don’t need it.”
“Don’t you want a bigger bed?” Kate asked.
“I’m fine with the one I have. I shared the one in the apartment with Conrad and don’t ever want to see it again. She’s packed up my prebaby clothes and my other things, and the apartment lease is up on the first day of September, so now I don’t have to go up there and deal with it.”
“And you, Jamie?” Kate asked.
“House is for sale. I’m leaving the furniture in it, because the Realtor says that it helps sell the place. When papers are ready to sign, we can decide if there’s anything we want out of it,” Jamie answered.
“Are we ready? Y’all take forever!” Gracie sighed. “I haven’t seen Lisa in four whole days and she hasn’t even met my baby sister.”
“Give me five minutes.” Kate slipped her feet into a pair of sandals that matched a bright floral sundress with thin straps over the shoulders.
Waylon waited for her at the front of the church and walked inside with her hand tucked in his. His touch after two weeks made her want to drag him off to the hay barn instead of to a church pew, but today was the christening and she’d have to be good for a little while longer. The service lasted three minutes longer than eternity, but finally the preacher wound down and called Amanda, Jamie, Gracie, Kate, and Waylon to the front and the christening began. Kate tried to listen as he explained the duties of godparents, but she kept shifting her eyes and her thoughts to Waylon. The wink he shot her let her know he was also having trouble paying attention.
The ceremony ended, and as everyone in the church gathered around Amanda and the baby, Waylon maneuvered the other way and draped an arm around Kate’s bare shoulders. His breath warmed her neck as he whispered, “You sure we can’t sneak out of here?”
“We are the godparents. We have to stay.”
“A drive afterward?” He kissed her earlobe.
“Definitely.” She nodded.
She’d begun to think the party would never end and the congregation would never stop talking, but at three o’clock, Hattie pulled her to the side. “Why don’t you and Waylon sneak out the back door? I can see he’s getting antsy to talk to you in private, and I bet it’s got more to do with you than that nasty murder business.”
Kate made her way around the crowd and tapped Waylon on the shoulder. “We’ve been given the green light to leave this party.”