Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(4)

Chapter Two



June was coming in hot with the temperatures already in the eighties that morning. The cowbell hanging on the door of the Dry Creek Feed and Seed store had sounded loud and clear early the next morning, and a blast of hot air swept across the whole store.

Hot! That word reminded Lizzy of what she’d given up with Toby, and she blushed. She stretched the kinks from her neck and rounded the end of the display case where she’d been moving flower seeds to another part of the store. Thank God she’d not given in to the moment of weakness the night before. It had taken ten minutes before she finally pressed the DELETE button and tossed her phone to the recliner across the room.

If it was all the way on the other side of the room, she wouldn’t be nearly so tempted to send Toby a message, or God forbid, call him. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to miss the calls, texts, and the sex. Maybe this whole thing with him was like craving alcohol. Too bad there weren’t meetings in town that she could go to, but no one had thought to start up a therapy group for TDA—Toby Dawson Anonymous. Give it six months, though, and there might be enough women in the area to begin one.

The cowbell above the door into the feed store announced a customer, and Lizzy peeked around the corner of the aisle between two rows of shelves to see Lucy Hudson. At least it wasn’t Toby. This was only day one of her resolution, and she wasn’t ready to be alone with him just yet.

“Good morning, Lucy. What are you doing in town this morning?”

Lucy’s jeans hung on her slim frame like a tow sack on a broom handle. Her long gray hair had been twisted up in a bun on top of her hair, but several wispy strands had escaped and stuck to her sweaty neck.

“I’m here to see if you still got that size small orange hooded jacket. Nadine said you put it on half price last week, and the zipper in mine done broke last week. I can put it up for another year.” Lucy found the jacket and latched on to it. “You take this and put it on the counter so nobody else will come in here while I’m lookin’ around and steal it out from under my nose.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll start a ticket and put it in a sack,” Lizzy said.

Lucy kept going through the sales rack, one item at a time. “I’m supposed to get Herman a chain saw blade. He said you kept a note of what kind and size up under the counter.”

Lizzy bagged the jacket and went to the aisle where she kept supplies for chain saws, chose the right blade, and was on her way to the checkout counter when the cowbell rang again. Truman O’Dell brought in a gust of hot air with him along with a sneeze that sounded like it came from a three-hundred-pound trucker rather than a skinny little fellow who wasn’t much taller than Lizzy’s five feet, five inches. He quickly jerked a red bandanna from the hip pocket of his bibbed overalls and held it against his face for the second sneeze. The paisley pattern didn’t do much to muffle the sound, but it did seem to stop the attack.

“Damned old allergies. Hits me every year at this time,” Truman said. “Mornin’, Lucy. How’s things at your place? Y’all’s garden producin’?”

“Comin’ right on. We got tomatoes and squash comin’ out our ears. Can’t seem to work fast enough to get everything frozen or canned. Y’all still runnin’ produce down to Throckmorton to the farmers’ market on Saturdays?” Lucy kept going through clothing racks without looking up.

“Yes, we are.”

“If you got room, I could send some produce down there with you. You still chargin’ ten percent for the extra stuff you take?”

Truman propped an elbow on the edge of the clothing rack. “Herman still cuttin’ wood out there at the Lucky Penny?”

“Yes, he is. Long as Blake is willing to bulldoze it down, he’ll be taking it to the wood yard. Could be we’ll have another hard winter next year and we’re gettin’ a supply for then,” Lucy answered.

“I don’t agree with him helpin’ them boys,” Truman said.

“Don’t reckon anybody that size can be called boys,” Lucy answered. “And Herman likes Blake and Toby. Says they are hardworkin’ cowboys who love the land and will take care of it.”

“Summer is just about to get geared up, and I reckon they’ll get tired of hard work when they have to sweat and fight every kind of varmint there is. Ain’t no use in us folks that’s been here all these years helpin’ them clear the land,” Truman said.

Lucy glared across the clothing at him. “So, are you sayin’ that if my husband cuts wood on the Lucky Penny, wood that Blake and Toby are giving away for free when they clear the land, that you won’t take my extra produce to the market?”

“That’s what I’m sayin’.” Truman nodded.

“Why are you being a horse’s rear end about that ranch?” she asked. “It ain’t nothing to you whether they make it work or not.”

“I just think the folks around here need to be careful who they go openin’ up their arms to is all. Why make a big show of welcomin’ them boys to the community when they ain’t goin’ to stay?” Truman sniffed.

Lizzy grabbed a dusting rag and worked over every inch of the checkout counter and the cash register while she kept an ear tuned to the argument.