Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(76)

“It’s not Truman. I would never do that to Deke or to you. Besides I don’t think Truman wants land that sets between Herman Hudson and your ranch.” She leaned in for another kiss.

“Will I like this new buyer? Will they be good neighbors?” He nibbled on her earlobe.

“I hope you’ll like them, and I guarantee they will be good neighbors.” She shivered. Talking about a ranch, even if it was the one she’d just agreed to buy, wasn’t at all what she wanted to think about right then.

The cowbell above the door sounded loudly and he stood up straight. “So if you will ring up about ten fence posts, I’ll be on my way.”

She poked buttons on the cash register, ran his credit card, and he signed it before she ever looked toward the door. “Hey, Mary Jo, what can I do for you today?”

“I need some advice. I want to buy a store building to put in a beauty shop and I don’t even know where to start.” Mary Jo pushed her red hair behind her ears and stooped down to pet Stormy and the kittens.

“Nice seeing you, Mary Jo,” Toby drawled. “See you later, Lizzy. Allie says that you are having supper with us tonight. Deke is coming, too, so don’t be late. You know how cranky he can get when he’s hungry.”

“I’ll be early but don’t worry about Deke. He’s running on adrenaline today,” Lizzy said.

“Did he sell his ranch?” Mary Jo asked.

“Yes, he did, and he’s starting to move things across the road today.” Lizzy smiled.

“Who’s the buyer? I heard you had a hand in telling someone about it.”

“I’m sworn to secrecy until the deal is closed. Now about a building for you.” Lizzy quickly changed the subject. “There’s lots of empty places. Which one do you have your eye on?”

“I wouldn’t mind having the one next door to you on this side of the street, but that won’t happen since Truman owns it. Please tell me that you didn’t help him buy Deke’s place. Allie don’t need that old fart next door to her,” Mary Jo said.

“It’s not Truman, I swear. Besides like I just told Toby he wouldn’t want to be sandwiched between Herman and the Dawsons. I thought you were looking at one of the two across the street that Mama has for sale.”

“I am but I’d really like to be on this side of the street.”

“Good luck with that. Sharlene is looking at the old clothing store, and the old barber shop is right next door to it, so you wouldn’t be the only one over there.”

“I didn’t think of that,” Mary Jo said, and smiled. “At one time she thought about the old hotel.”

“She wouldn’t want the old hotel because it’s two stories and the stairs could make the insurance go sky high with little kids around,” Lizzy said. “How many kids do you think she’ll keep and what ages?”

“She’s already got a couple of women interested in helping her run the place and says she’ll keep the number to whatever the rules say she can keep. She really likes kids and she’s so tired of that job at the bank.”

Store buildings. Ranches. Lizzy would rather talk about Toby but that wasn’t possible. “I think that would be a great place. Lots of parking since there’s nothing else over there right now, and even if Sharlene does put in her day care center, not that many women at one time will be parking out front.”

“I really want to do this. I’m so tired of driving to Wichita Falls every day and I have saved a little since I first started to work,” Mary Jo said.

“Mama would be glad to rent, sell, or even give you a deal like she gave Nadine with the café, and you can lease to own,” Lizzy answered.

Mary Jo pumped her fist in the air. “You’ve talked me into it. I’m off to talk to Katy.”

Lizzy waved as Mary Jo hurried from the building.

Everyone had thought the Logans were downright stupid to buy the buildings as they came up for sale, but few realized that Katy owned all of them except for the one Truman held the deed to. Lizzy’s mother and father had bought them one by one with hopes that someday Dry Creek would be more than a ghost town. Maybe that dream would become a reality even yet.

Thinking of owning land and buildings brought Lizzy back to the situation she’d just gotten herself into that morning. On Friday she would own six hundred and forty acres of land complete with a crop of hay in the field, a couple of barns, two ponds, and an old house that had a decent roof but needed lots of repair. What had she been thinking when she let her heart do the talking instead of her mind?



Supper plans changed for the evening. Allie took a pot of soup and a pan of cornbread to Deke’s place and the guys moved tractors, four-wheelers, and cattle across the road all evening. Allie, Katy, and Lizzy sat on the porch after supper, swatted at the flies, and drank a half-gallon jug of iced sweet tea.

Katy slapped the red plastic swatter on the table and two flies were eliminated from the Sullivan ranch forever, amen. “I’m ahead of y’all. That makes forty-three for me.”

“Mama is the superwoman fly killer in the whole state of Texas.” Allie laughed.

“Yes, I am, and next week I expect a cape for all my efforts. Lizzy, you could whisper the name of the new owner real quiet and we promise we won’t tell,” Katy said.