Wild Cowboy Ways (Lucky Penny Ranch #1)(41)

He grinned. “Sorry about that. I called your name when I came in and a couple more times as I came this way. Want some help? The dozer is bogging down in the snow. Deke and Herman have plenty to keep them busy with what I’ve already got piled up. Crazy, even with the snow it’s not as cold as it was over the weekend.”

“There isn’t any wind. That makes a difference. Got a hammer?”

“Of course.”

She nodded. “Then yes, you can help get these nails out and then we’ll be ready to hang the Sheetrock after we have dinner.”

He was only gone a few minutes before he returned wearing a pair of coveralls like hers and carrying a hammer. “Seems colder in here than it does outside, don’t it?”

“Yep,” she said.

His biceps strained the seams of the camouflage coveralls as he popped one nail after another from the ceiling rafters. Keeping her eyes uplifted and concentrating on her own job was not easy for Allie. More than once, she found herself pausing to stare at the ease with which he reached up with that heavy hammer, hung the claw on a nail head, and pulled it free without so much as a grunt.

Riley had hated quiet. If they had nothing to talk about, then he turned on the television. Even if he didn’t watch it, he wanted noise at all times. Blake seemed perfectly comfortable working in silence with her, and she liked that. The screeching sound of nail after nail coming out of an old rafter was better than music.

That’s when she remembered the tiny player in her coverall’s pocket and pulled it out, turned it off, and was returning it when they heard a loud rapping on the front door.

Blake laid the hammer on the floor. “Be right back. Can’t imagine who is here.”

The claw of the hammer was hung in a nail when Allie heard a familiar raspy giggle. She eased it back down and laid it on the top of the ladder. Two backward steps and her boots hit the floor. Five steps forward and she opened the door a crack and peeked. Yep, she’d been right. It was Sharlene and she was handing off a six-pack of beer to Blake.

She patted his cheek affectionately. “I was up in Wichita Falls over the weekend and thought you might need this. I know you have lots of food but a man cannot live by bread alone, he must have beer.”

“Thank you.” Blake’s smile lit up the whole dingy room. “Bless your heart for thinking of me. And truer words were never spoken. I’ll put this in the refrigerator. Want a cup of coffee to take the chill off?”

“No, darlin’, not today, but I’m still waiting on your call.” Sharlene rolled up slightly on her toes, cupped his face in her hands, and kissed him long, hard, and leaving no doubt tongue was involved. “Although, I might be willing to be late if there was something more than coffee involved.”

Allie had to fight the sudden urge to throw her hammer at Sharlene. She did owe Blake. He had, after all, helped her pull nails for the last hour and a half, so she should help him out of the pickle. But then who’s to say he wanted out of the situation? A streak of hot jealousy shot through her veins as she slammed the door into the bedroom and headed up the hallway.

“Hey Blake, is it time to put in one of those casseroles?” She talked loudly and put on her best innocent face. “Oh, hello, Sharlene. I was in the back room with the door shut and didn’t realize you were here. Blake, is it time to warm up one of those casseroles for dinner?”

“I was just leaving,” Sharlene stammered. “You think about what I said, darlin’.” She winked at Blake and hurried out the front door.

“What took you so long?” he asked.

“Was it good?”

Blake frowned. “What?”

“How does kissing a smoker taste? I always thought it would be like licking the bottom of an ashtray,” she said.

Blake’s laughter echoed off the walls.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“You are funny and you are right. I need a glass of sweet tea to get the taste out of my mouth. Want one?”

“No, I’m going to finish up that last corner so we can hang drywall after we eat. Holler when dinner is ready.” She returned to the cold room, shut the door firmly, put her earbuds back in place, and went back to work. When Mr. George started singing “You Can’t Make a Heart Love Somebody,” tears came out of nowhere and streamed down her face. She crawled off the ladder, pulled the mask off, threw it on the floor with the broken wallboard, removed a glove, and brushed the tears away with her bare hand.

The lyrics reminded her of what Riley said when he finally admitted that he was having an affair. He said it was all her fault because she wouldn’t stay at home and be a wife, especially since she couldn’t be a mother. When she hadn’t gotten pregnant in those two years, he said he’d go to the doctor for a checkup. He came home with the news it wasn’t him so she didn’t need to go. And like the lyrics of the song said, she couldn’t make him love her.

She hadn’t cried that day so why were the tears flowing now? She slid down the wall, bowed her head, and listened to the next song—“Today My World Slipped Away.”

The song fit that day when Riley told Allie all about his new love, Greta. Riley said they had looked at each other across the top of that new Ford Mustang he had just sold her and he was smitten. She was the most beautiful, feminine woman in the whole world, and he had found his soul mate. Of course, it did help that she was a trust fund baby and he would be cashing in on that dividend check that came every month.