The Barefoot Summer(77)

“Not me!” Gracie said. “We need to take them with us. There might be a bear out there.”

Waylon climbed down from the top and opened the stage door on Kate’s side. He held his hand, and she put hers in it. A sweet little shot of heat flushed her cheeks.

“You girls did a fine job of protecting us. Miz Gracie, may I help you out of the coach?” Waylon asked.

She jumped out into his arms and then wiggled free and yelled, “Look, there’s water! Lisa, come on over here to this side. We’ve got a swimmin’ pool! Nobody told me about this!”

“It was a surprise,” Jamie said.

“Water’s cold, so y’all might want to just wade around and look for minnows,” Waylon told them.

“Hey, Mama, can I get in the water up to my knees?” Gracie yelled from the shore, where she’d taken off her sandals.

“That’s about how deep the creek is,” Waylon said to Jamie. “It’s spring fed and cold as ice so they won’t get in that deep.”

“Yes, you can, but stay where I can see you,” Jamie yelled back.

“We’ve got guns, so if y’all see any bears you call us and we’ll come runnin’,” Lisa hollered.

“If I could go back in time, I would have a houseful just like them,” Waylon told Kate.

“So would I,” Kate answered.

Kate helped Hattie spread a quilt out under the drooping limbs of an old willow tree not far from the clear, trickling creek. Then Victor and Paul brought the food down from the top of the stagecoach and they set out a picnic fit for a queen. The girls romped through the water shooting bears behind every rock and blade of grass until Lisa said something to the Gracie and the bears were forgotten.

“Is that fried chicken, Daddy? We ain’t had that in a long time,” Lisa said.

“Not since Sunday at the church potluck,” Paul said.

Lisa nodded. “That’s a long time.”

After they ate, Hattie brought out a couple of old books and moved the children over to another quilt that she’d arranged under the shade of a big pecan tree. “I thought I’d read to you while your dinner settles,” she said. “You can’t hunt bears or get in the water for a little while after you eat.”

“Is that ABC?” Lisa yawned.

“Camel on the ceiling. C-C-C,” Gracie answered.

Hattie sat down, and Lisa cuddled up next to her while Gracie claimed the other side.

Somewhere in the middle of the book, Gracie had laid her head on Hattie’s lap and fallen asleep. Lisa was asleep before that. Without disturbing either of them, Hattie arranged a couple of pillows against the trunk of the tree, leaned back, and shut her eyes.

Kate pulled her phone from the hip pocket of her shorts and snapped a picture and then one of Jamie and Paul chatting beside the stagecoach. And one more of Victor with his cowboy hat pulled down over his face and his arms crossed over his chest. She was looking for Waylon through the camera eye when she felt him behind her. She slipped the phone back in her pocket and resisted the urge to turn around and kiss him.

“Walk?” he asked.

“You would have made a good father, Waylon,” Kate said when they were fifty yards down the edge of the creek.

“Thank you. I like kids, but like I said before, I wasn’t ready when the time was right, and now the time has passed.”

“You really think so?” She pulled off her sandals and set them on the edge of the quilt. “With the right woman, you could still have a houseful of kids.”

“I can’t imagine that. I think I’ll just enjoy Lisa and Gracie and be their surrogate uncle. Are you fixin’ to wade in the water?”

“I am.” She nodded.

“It’s been years since I’ve got my feet wet in the creek.” He tugged off his boots and socks, rolled up the legs of his jeans, and took her hand in his. “Shall we step off into it together?”

“One. Two. Three.” She counted and then put her foot in the water. “Sweet Lord, Waylon! That water is really icy. How did those kids stand it so long?”

“They were hopping around and having such a good time that they didn’t even notice.” He chuckled. “This little creek is always clear and cold. It will cool you right down.”

“I am definitely a tenderfoot.” She moaned as she took baby steps into the water.

“Not any more than I am. I haven’t gone barefoot in years. I have a big favor to ask,” he said.

“Yes, you can kiss me.” He tipped her chin up with his fist, and she looked deeply into his eyes. Her hands snaked up around his neck, and the temperature of the cold water around her calves felt as if it shot up forty degrees.

By the time the kiss ended, Kate was sure the water was boiling. No one had ever made her feel like he did. Timing was wrong, right along with everything else, but she liked this detective—a hell of a lot.

“I feel like I’ve known you my whole life.” He smiled. “The favor is that when this is really settled, you’ll go out with me.”

“Like on dates? Even if I’m in Fort Worth? A long-distance dating thing?” she asked.

“Sounds crazy, but we might make it work,” he said.

“Everything else in our world has been crazy this summer, hasn’t it, so why not?” she said.