Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(48)

“Mama, there’s no regrets in this corner for the way we were raised and I don’t reckon you’d get any complaints out of Fiona or Allie, either. So go have fun with your friends, and good luck at the blackjack table.” Lizzy winked.

Fiona!

She hurried through her supper and said she was going up to take a long, hot bath and then watch some television in her room. No lie there. She was going to do both but not until after she’d talked to her sister.

Lizzy was antsy by the time she finished dessert. Could she really confide in anyone and could she trust her youngest sister to keep her secret? Her bedroom was a complete mess, as usual. Clothing strung everywhere and dust all over her dresser. The floor hadn’t been vacuumed in two weeks because when it had been her turn to clean the house last week, she’d rushed through it and ignored her room.

“This is a teenager’s room, not a grown woman’s who owns a business,” she fussed as she started cleaning. “Granny said lots of problems could be solved with good hard work. Let’s see if she’s right. Maybe I won’t need to call Fiona after all.”

Sweat streamed down her neck and through the valley between her breasts. She tugged at the wet band of her bra and kept on working until the room was neater than those times when it was Allie’s turn to do the house cleaning. “Take that, Alora Raine Logan Dawson,” she said as she sank into the rocking chair to catch her breath.

Trouble was she didn’t feel a damn bit better than she did when she started. A spotless room that took two whole hours to put to rights didn’t erase the feeling that she needed to talk to her sister.

The phone was in her hand when it rang, and it startled her so badly that she threw it across the room. It bounced in the middle of her bed and landed on the pillows. She left the rocker and snatched it, saw that the call was from Fiona, counted that as an omen, and hit the TALK button.

“Fiona! I’m so glad you called. How are things in Houston? God, I miss you. Please tell me you are coming home this month. You really need to meet Blake and Toby and see Allie at least once while she is pregnant and I’m about to lay a guilt trip on you so get ready for it—Granny don’t have many good days anymore so you need to come home and see her.” Lizzy rattled on and on.

“I talked to Allie and she said that she hired a crew to get your roof done and Herman’s barn built. Okay, okay! Mama is sending plane tickets and has rented a car for me so I’ll be there. But it’ll only be from Friday evening until Sunday. I can’t be away from work any longer than that and I miss you, too. Now tell me what else is going on? I hear you’ve got kittens and one is named for me.”

“Yes, four of them. Their mama is Stormy and the babies are Raylan, Duke, and Hoss, and the one little black lady is Fefe. She’s my favorite because she’s so sassy. But I’ve got a big problem and Mama and Allie are too close…” She paused.

“Toby Dawson,” Fiona said.

“What did Allie tell you?”

“Just that you liked him a lot and that she discouraged you and I should do the same if you brought up the subject,” Fiona answered. “How bad is it?”

Lizzy sat down on the edge of the bed, then remembered how sweaty she was and moved to the rocking chair. “I cleaned my room and it’s spotless. Clothes hung up. No dust, not even on the window blinds, and shoes are in neat rows. Does that tell you anything?”

“Holy hell! What have you done that warranted that punishment?”

“Are you sitting down and how much time do you have?”

“I am now and I don’t have to be at work until three tomorrow,” Fiona said.

“Okay, here goes.” Lizzy started with that evening when she was watching the store for her mother. Business had been slow at the feed store and Katy had to go to Wichita Falls to sign more papers for Granny’s care, so Lizzy put a sign on the door and went down to the convenience store for the last hour of the workday.

Toby had come in for a couple of pounds of bologna. Blue, as well as Blake’s dog, Shooter, liked a piece of bologna as a treat in the evenings. One thing led to another and after she locked the store, they wound up on the cot in the back room. Since she had the key to her mother’s store, it was the perfect spot for three weeks of the hottest sex in all of Dry Creek’s history.

She went on to tell the rest of the story. “And now we’re in this fake relationship. Toby is in it because he wants the people in Dry Creek to see him as a respectable citizen and not the player he is and because Sharlene is stalking him and he gets text messages and probably phone calls from women all the time and he needs a pretend girlfriend. I’m still not totally sure why I’m in it. I’m over Mitch even though some folks don’t think I am. Like I told Toby, one bad apple does not mean we have to throw out the whole crop.”

“And you’ve gone and fallen for him?” Fiona said.

“I wouldn’t go that far, but I do like him a lot.”

“You need a counselor. You’ve been hurt and…”

Lizzy laughed sarcastically. “Oh, sure. I’ll rush right down to Dr. Know Yourself Better on Main Street in Dry Creek and make an appointment tomorrow morning. And don’t tell me to talk to the preacher. I can’t tell him all this stuff.”

“Not the preacher. God no! I meant a real licensed counselor like I saw.”