“Good afternoon to all of you.” Carlton spoke into a microphone that he’d taken from the driver’s hand. “Welcome to my party. This is my lawyer, Rebecca, and my associate, Hilton. We will be mingling among all of you to answer questions, but before that, let’s all eat up and enjoy this lovely summer day.”
The caterers brought out a small card table and set it up close to the limo. Rebecca put her pretty pink briefcase in the middle and headed toward the barbecue. Evidently she wasn’t accustomed to walking in those high heels, because when one of them sank into the earth, it threw her off balance. She pitched forward, and if Ryder hadn’t been standing close, she’d have landed facedown in the dirt. He caught her, set her aright with a big grin, and took a step back.
“You’d do better to kick off them shoes and go barefoot, ma’am,” he said loudly as he tipped his hat and then walked away.
Jancy noticed the daggers that shot from Emily’s eyes. So it just might be Ryder, after all. If that was the case, Vicky was going to have a first-rate Texas hissy when she found out.
Nettie stepped out from under the pavilion, and the whole place went silent. She did not need a microphone for her voice to reach out across the whole park. “We’ll have grace before we dig in. After we eat, the local boys will provide us with some music and we can socialize all afternoon. I’ll ask Woody to bless this food today.”
Men removed their hats, and heads bowed. Woody said a short prayer, and the whole crowd said a hearty “Amen!” Then folks lined up on both sides of the tables under the pavilion. After they’d loaded their plates with home cooking, some of them wandered over to the barbecue table. They carried their food to quilts that had been thrown out under the big shade trees or to lawn chairs they’d brought from home. Jancy wasn’t sure where she belonged in the scheme of things until Shane laid a hand on her shoulder.
“Fall in right here in front of me. W-we’ll get us a plate and go over to the quilt that Ryder brought for us to share with the ladies. It’ll be crowded, but we’ll all fit,” he said.
“Thank you,” Jancy muttered.
“Nope, thank you for bein’ with m-me today. Sometimes it gets old bein’ the third wh-wheel at everything,” he said.
“Don’t I know it.” Jancy smiled up at him.
“There’s plenty of room,” Sarah said. “Just crowd right in here beside me and Jimmy. Good thing that we brought two quilts. Jancy, meet my husband. That one right there belongs to Teresa. His name is Quaid. And that one”—she pointed—“has been married to Waynette for three years, and he’s Will.”
“Hello.” Jancy took them all in with one smile. “Thanks for making room for us.”
“Hey, we’ve got to stick together. I hear that you are going to be our spy of the day,” Ryder said.
“I’ll do my best. Do I need a badge or a gun?” she teased.
“Naw, just your smile. That old cowboy w-won’t even know wh-what hit him.” Shane nudged her on the shoulder.
Jancy still wasn’t sure if Shane was just flirting with her or if he was sincere, but the sparks sure danced around the park when his shoulder touched hers. Still, if he really had a crush on her like Emily said, wouldn’t he be at least a little jealous of her flirting with another man?
“So what do y’all want me to find out? We already know that the wolf is sniffing around wanting to buy land. What else can we discover?” she asked as she shoved a fork loaded with potato salad into her mouth. The good home cooking reminded her of suppers when her mother was alive.
“Find out if Carlton is legit,” Shane said.
“Or if this is his first attempt to build a bedroom community,” Jimmy said.
“And if he’s really got investors or if he’s just a con man.” Quaid threw in his two cents.
“But, most of all, find out why he chose Pick. Does he think we’re all just a bunch of rednecks who’ll fall at his feet?” Ryder asked.
“I’ll do my best.” Despite the tall order, Jancy felt like she really was part of the group.
“But don’t fall for him,” Shane whispered for her ears only.
Two dots of crimson filled her cheeks. “Never. I don’t like fake cowboys.” Mercy, could Shane really be jealous? He shouldn’t be. A man like Hilton would lose in any contest with Shane—looks, eyes, muscles, and even his voice.
“I’m bringing Misty back to you, Waynette.” A teenage girl set a cute blonde toddler on the quilt. “She’s been fussin’ for her mama.”
“Thanks for watching her while I ate.” Waynette picked up the child and began to rock back and forth with her. “It’s nap time, isn’t it, pretty girl?”
Jancy forgot all about everything but the picture in front of her. She wanted a stable life, a good honest husband who loved her and wasn’t a damn crook, and a houseful of babies like that little child.
Vicky was looking around for a place to sit when someone touched her on the arm. She looked around to find Andy Butler smiling and nodding toward the tailgate of his pickup truck.
“Want to join me?” he asked.
“I thought you were Jancy’s date for the day. I wouldn’t want to get between y’all,” Vicky answered.
“She’s done thrown me over for a younger man.” He nodded toward the quilt where several young couples were sitting. “My heart is broken, but if you’ll sit with me, maybe it won’t be quite as painful,” Andy teased.
“Well, I can’t have you poutin’. It wouldn’t be good for our little town’s reputation for hospitality. Lead the way, Mr. Butler,” she said.
“That’s Andy to you, ma’am,” he said.
“Then I’m Vicky, not ma’am,” she shot back.
When they’d set their food down on the tailgate, he took a couple of lawn chairs from the back seat, popped them open, and motioned for her to sit in one. “Thanks for joinin’ me. You are the only person near my age I know very well.”
“Why are you here?” Vicky sat down and pulled her plate a little closer.
“Brought my dad, Wesley. He’s the gray-haired feller over there . . .” Andy pointed.
“Beside Woody? Do they know each other?”
“They’ve sat on a couple of committees together in this area, so he’s over there visiting with him about this estate thing.”
“Didn’t you tell him that Carlton is probably runnin’ a scam?”
Andy chuckled. “He and I . . . it’s complicated. I gave him my opinion after the town hall meeting, but he needs to see for himself.”
“Well, Woody will definitely give him a double earful.” Vicky started with a bite of brisket. “You didn’t make it over to Carlton’s table?”
“I don’t get meat loaf very often, so I bypassed the other table,” he said.
“Nettie makes it every Saturday,” Vicky said.
“Well, that gives me a good reason to stop by when I’m traveling from the new shop in Frankston to Palestine.” He put a bite into his mouth. “Oh. My. God! This is great. What is her secret?”
“That is as classified as the tart recipe,” Vicky told him.
“Oh, really?” Andy raised an eyebrow.
“Good grief!” she sputtered.
“What?” He followed her eyes to the table on the other side of the park.
“Now Jancy is over at that table flirting with Carlton’s cowboy.”