Merry Cowboy Christmas (Lucky Penny Ranch #3)(49)

“You might enjoy it more if we parked,” she said.

He nosed the truck into a parking spot but left the engine running. She settled the coffee into the two cup holders at the end of the console and removed everything from the bag. She flattened the paper bag onto the console and made it into a mini picnic table. The two containers of fries became one big order when she poured them all out in a pile.

“Looks like you’ve done this before,” he said.

“On payday, I treated myself to a burger. I went to the park not far from where I worked, parked the truck, and put the console down just like this. Then I pretended Lizzy or Allie was in the passenger seat and I talked to them,” she whispered.

Jud folded the paper back from his burger and bit into it. “You were really lonely, weren’t you?”

“At times.” She shot ketchup from two small packages onto one of the empty French fry sacks. “These are addictive, you know. They have a special salt they shake on them and it makes you keep coming back for more.”

Like you, she wanted to say, but she crammed fries into her mouth to keep from talking.

“I like Allie’s fried potatoes better. She makes them like my mama does, in a cast-iron skillet with onions. It’s snowing harder. I thought the Lucky Penny was far enough south that we’d only see snow a couple of times a decade,” he said.

“It’s crazy weather all right. Maybe you Dawsons brought it with you from northern Texas. We might have had a white Christmas one time when I was growing up and we never had a white Thanksgiving. I remember an ice storm once when I was about ten.” She removed the lid from her coffee and took a sip. “It snowed, but it never stuck around for more than a day and seldom ever covered the ground.”

“So it’s our fault?” Jud chuckled.

“Must be. You’re the only thing that’s changed.”

“I believe two things changed. You came home, too,” he argued.

“I came from the south. We don’t get bad weather in Houston,” she protested.

“Want to talk to me about those floods?”

“That’s not snow and sleet.”

“But it’s bad weather all the same. Slide off the road with ice and snow. Get washed off with rising water. Either way, you’re still off the road.”

“Well, Mr. Smartass, you’d better finish your burger because the way this stuff is falling, we might find ourselves sitting in a ditch like Toby and Lizzy did last spring.” She put the lid back on her coffee and wondered what it would be like to cuddle up next to Jud all night with nothing but a single blanket to keep them warm.

They were only two miles from the store and it stayed open twenty-four/seven. The parking lot was full, even though it was well past midnight, but they did snag a spot about halfway out from the front door.

“What’s going on? Is this a Black Friday sale a week or two late?” she asked as she made her way gingerly toward the doors on the slick concrete.

“Not that I know of. I guess lots of people don’t have anything better to do at nearly one o’clock in the morning other than go shopping,” Jud answered.

“Oh. My. God.” She gasped. “Look at that. My eyes may never be the same. I thought those pictures on the Internet were doctored.”

The man rolling his cart out had a beard, tattoos up both arms, and a bald head. Yet, bald wasn’t the right word. The whole top of his head was hairless but the rim around the edge had been let go until it was long enough to make a ponytail in the back. He wore camouflage leggings with a hot pink western shirt with pearl snaps and cowboy boots. But the crazy thing was the makeup job on his face. It looked like it had been applied by a six-year-old who’d spent the day with her grandparents getting sugared up on candy and soda pop. And right there in the cart was another person—a woman with hot pink hair, wearing a red prom dress that was two sizes too big and a plastic tiara. She waved at everyone they passed like she was riding on the top of a brand-new Caddy in a homecoming parade.

“Well, it is after midnight,” Jud chuckled.

“But it’s not Halloween,” she said softly.

“Don’t burst their bubble,” he teased.

They were met by warm air when they walked through the automatic doors. Fiona brushed the snow from her shoulders and snagged a shopping cart. Jud walked along beside her all the way to the back of the store where the diapers were shelved in the baby section.

“What size?” he asked.

“She didn’t say,” Fiona answered.

Jud picked up a package and read the print on the outside. “This one says up to twelve pounds. Does Audrey weigh that much?”

“I have no idea. She was seven pounds and some ounces at birth.”

“She wears that number two,” Deke said right behind them. “I had to get some a few days ago when I was up here.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Buying beer.” He pointed at his cart. “Date didn’t work out too good. She wanted to go to her place, but when we got there, I found them bride magazines strewed all over the coffee table. That’s my cue to run faster than the wind.”

“Were you…did you use…oh, hell, tell me you used protection when you were out in the car with her.” Fiona spit out the words but couldn’t keep the blush from dotting her cheeks.