Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(28)

“Then we’d best get our ice cream and go to the park before it starts. I’m having a double dip of pecans, pralines, and cream. What are you getting?”

“That sounds good.” She smiled. “Thank you for singing with her.”

“My pleasure,” Toby said. “Guess you were right. Here comes the rain.” He slammed the door as the first raindrops hit the windshield with a force usually reserved for sleet or hail. “Ice cream at the drive-through window and a slow ride home? I won’t say a bad word about this rain because we need it so badly.”

“And then maybe a movie with Allie and Blake? Nothing better than cuddling up and watching a movie on a rainy day,” she suggested.

“Sounds like a plan. Those two do love movies,” he said, and chuckled.

“No, they like cuddling on the sofa. The movies are an excuse and gives them something to talk about while they are in each other’s arms,” she told him. “That’s the kind of relationship I want someday.”

“That’s love for sure. Never thought I’d see Blake settle down to one woman or be still and watch movies. He always wanted to be outside or else at a bar chasing women.”

“Never thought I’d see Allie trust any man again after Riley.”

“They got the miracle, didn’t they?” Toby started the engine. “But it would have been nice if they’d left some of the magic for the rest of us.”

“Oh, hush! You’ve already said you aren’t the settling type. You can’t have wings and roots both, cowboy.”

“She can shoot. She speaks her mind. She can dance and she is a prophet. And she is so right. I can’t have it both ways so I’m taking the wings. I can put down roots in Dry Creek, but I don’t ever intend to put them down when it comes to matters of my heart.” He laughed. “Still, you are a remarkable woman, Lizzy Logan.”





Chapter Eight



Lizzy’s grandfather had started the Dry Creek Feed and Seed in what was now the front part of the store. In those days he kept a supply of cattle and chicken feed on one side of the store and pig food, along with seeds of all kinds and plants in the spring on the other side. The cashier’s counter was always right in the middle so he could see every which way, and a few shelves lined the outer edges. He’d sold a limited supply of do-it-yourself vet supplies and cattle medicines, and since there was a hardware store on the other side of the street, he had not offered things like extension cords, chain saw blades, or nails and screws.

Nowadays the store was a combination of hardware and feed store and the actual feed had moved to the back, a room her father had framed in and covered with corrugated sheet metal. It wasn’t heated or cooled, but the space served its purpose. Sacks of cattle, hog, and chicken feed were stacked neatly on one side of the big barnlike enclosure. The rest of the area was taken up with fence posts and rolls of barbed wire. A big overhead garage door let the ranchers back their trucks up close to load whatever they wanted. The smaller door that opened into the store used to be the outside entrance. And during the evolution of the store, Lizzy had put in a few racks of clothing, mainly jeans, western shirts, and hunting clothes, but these days it took on the look of an old-time general store more than just a feed and seed place.

Lizzy stood in the middle of the back room and took stock of what she needed to order that Tuesday morning. She started humming as she wrote numbers on the order pad.

She was in such a good mood when she finished the job that she did several steps of a line dance to the tune of “Footloose” that was playing on the radio. When the song ended, she called the distributor and put in her order, then two-stepped with a broom all the way to her office to Luke Bryan’s song, “Kick the Dust Up.”

She swirled the broom around once more and stood it in the corner. “Well, by golly, some things never change, do they, Luke?” she said as she listened to the lyrics talking about the life of a rancher working all week and then turning a cornfield into a party.

She sighed as she remembered the concert shirt that Toby wore to the bar. It had been a hell of a lot more fun dancing with Toby than it was with a broom.

The cowbell rang loudly and Toby rushed inside and motioned for her to join him. He looked absolutely frantic so she hurried out into the store, heart pumping double time and hands going clammy. Every single time anyone in the family had a look like that on their face, she immediately worried about Allie’s pregnancy.

“Why aren’t you answering your phone?” he yelled across the store.

She jerked it out of her hip pocket and held it up. “It needs charging.”

“What about the store phone?”

She reached the front desk and picked it up. “It’s not working. It was a few minutes ago. I called in some orders. What’s going on? Is it Allie?”

“No, it’s a tornado. It whipped through Throckmorton a few minutes ago and tore up a couple of barns. It’s still on the ground and coming toward us. Allie was having a fit about you and her mama. I just warned Katy and she said her cellar is full. There were a dozen people in the store and they are already in the cellar.” He talked fast, his eyes darting around the store.

“My cellar door is under a hatch in the back room. Come on.” She jogged to the door with him right behind her. The big overhead doors were open and the view offered that slightly green sky color that preceded a tornado. The eerie still feeling in the air made the hair on her neck stand straight up.