Merry Cowboy Christmas (Lucky Penny Ranch #3)(8)

“Still using the bank in Throckmorton and going down there on Sunday afternoon to make a night deposit?” Fiona asked.

Katy nodded. “You remembered?”

“Sure I did. We always loved going there with you when we were kids. We got ice cream and you took us to the park.” Fiona smiled. “Memories kept me going, Mama.”

Katy pulled her hand back and shook her head slowly.

Fiona patted her on the shoulder. “Everything works out like it should. I’ll do whatever I can to help. I should have come back a year ago so I could have spent more time with Granny before things got like this.”

“Things do work out and at the right time for the most part,” Katy said stoically. “Now let’s go to bed and get some sleep.”

“I’m going to finish this pie and then put things away. You go on and I’ll see you at breakfast. Pancakes and sausage?” Fiona asked.

“Sausage gravy, biscuits, and bacon and eggs,” Katy declared.

“Yum!” Fiona smiled.

“Good night, sweetheart. I’ll see you at six-thirty in the kitchen. You can make the biscuits. You always could make them just like Mama.”

Fiona nodded and kept eating the pie. When her plate was scraped clean, she seriously contemplated another small slice. But then the turkey looked good and the only thing better than pumpkin pie was a turkey sandwich with a thin layer of leftover dressing between the layers of meat.



Everything in the world could turn around on a dime. Jud didn’t remember who said that. It could have been someone famous, infamous, or even one of his grandparents, but it came to his mind that night as he stretched out on his bed. The room was spacious with a queen-sized bed, a nice reclining chair, a small desk, and a big closet. It beat the hell out of living in a thirteen-foot cramped travel trailer.

The snow had finally quit falling and now a cradle moon surrounded by stars hung in the sky outside his window. It was the same as it had been last night and would be tomorrow night if it didn’t snow or rain. It took a while for the moon to go from full bright to nothing more than a sliver and then make its way back to a big round lover’s moon. But then most things took a while. Like getting used to a different bed or getting to know the squeaks and sounds of an old house. Or hearing another person on the second floor of Audrey’s Place. The sounds were faint but that was definitely Fiona in the shower; then the door hinges whined and she padded across the floor to her bedroom across the landing from his.

A vision of her naked in the shower tightened his chest and jacked up his pulse. He quickly adjusted the picture in his mind to include a towel wrapped around her body, but that didn’t help a hell of a lot. That vision was even sexier than the first one when he slowly let himself pull the towel away and bring her close to his chest, wet red hair flowing down her back, that tiny waist beneath his fingertips.

“God almighty!” He groaned as he jumped out of bed and paced from one end of the floor to the other. Just because they had bedrooms on the same floor did not mean he could go lusting after her. Katy would send him packing out to the trailer or shoot him graveyard dead if she knew what he’d been thinking.

He fought insomnia for half an hour before peeking out the door and tiptoeing down to the kitchen. If he couldn’t sleep, then he might as well make himself a turkey sandwich. A full stomach always made him sleepy.

“So you couldn’t sleep, either?” Jud asked Fiona when he found her in the kitchen. “You want a turkey sandwich with me?” He stepped into the light and started for the cabinet. “Where’s the leftover gravy?”

“What do you need that for?” she asked.

“I make a mean leftover sandwich. A piece of bread with mayonnaise of course—your mama has a loaf that she made at the same time she did the hot rolls. Then a layer of turkey, a layer of leftover dressing, a spoonful of gravy that I’ll heat up in the microwave beforehand, and another layer of turkey. I’ll be glad to make you one. If you don’t like it, I’ll eat yours and mine.” He reached into the cabinet for a small bowl to heat the gravy.

“Dressing is in the red plastic container on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator and, yes, I will try your famous sandwich,” Fiona said.

He nuked the gravy and then made two sandwiches, cutting each of them diagonally before putting them on the same plate. “No use in dirtying up extra dishes. Do you cook?”

“No one grew up in this house without learning their way around the kitchen. Is this your only specialty or do you make other things as well?” she asked.

“I can make a delicious bologna sandwich and a fair grilled cheese.”

She bit into the sandwich. “Sweet Jesus! The gravy adds a whole new dimension. I might even like this better than served hot for dinner.”

“Me too.” Jud nodded. “Fiona, if you’re uncomfortable with me being in the house or if you want time with your mama without a third wheel being around, I can move into the travel trailer.”

“Don’t be so nice. We’ll share a house but we won’t share stories and start bonding like my sisters did with your cousins.”

He chuckled and bit into his sandwich. “Well, I’m sure glad we cleared that up.”

He glanced across the table at her and Lord have mercy, in his mind she was wearing nothing but a towel. He blinked twice to delete the picture and focused on the sandwich. What he needed was a Saturday night in a country music bar with loud music, women coming on to him, and lots of beers. That would take care of his overactive imagination for sure.