Wild Cowboy Ways (Lucky Penny Ranch #1)(54)

Lucy pointed to the radio on the counter. “I’m glad that Lizzy plays old country music in here. I hate going into a store and that new stuff is playing. It makes my ears hurt.”

“Daddy always had the classic country station playing,” Allie said.

“I know he did. I liked it then and I still do. It don’t get no better than Conway and Loretta.” Lucy smiled. “You know folks in town say you are on a fool’s mission fixin’ up that house for Blake, don’t you?” Lucy changed the subject abruptly.

“I’m not surprised. Hey, do you remember someone named Walter who lived on the Lucky Penny maybe thirty years ago?” Allie asked.

Lucy nodded. “Remember him well. Tall, lanky old boy with dark hair and glasses. Him and his mama bought the ranch and lived there a year, maybe two, and then like all the rest of the folks who’ve lived there, they moved on. Can’t recall his last name but his mama was one of them women that always had something wrong with her. I wanted to wring her neck for pretending to be sick all the time. Woman who could eat as much as she could at a church social, why there wasn’t a damn thing wrong with her. She just had to act like that to keep Walter under her thumb. Tell all the ladies at Audrey’s Place I hope they stay well.”

Allie plopped down in the lawn chair behind the counter. “So Walter isn’t a total figment of her imagination.”

“No, Walter was very real,” Lucy answered and waved as she left the store. The business phone rang and Allie reached for the cordless sitting beside the cash register. “Dry Creek Feed and Seed,” she answered.

“I forgot to tell you that the vet supply guy isn’t coming this month and what’s on the shelf is all we’ve got until he gets here the first of February. If someone needs more than what’s there, I can make a run up to Wichita Falls but it’ll take me a couple of days to get it,” Lizzy said.

“Drink your hot tea and stop worryin’. I can run this store for a day or two,” Allie said. “Lucy is the only customer that you’ve had and she bought an extension cord and a chain for Herman’s chainsaw.”

“Mitch was coming into town to see me tonight and now he can’t,” Lizzy moaned.

“None of the rest of us have caught whatever you have. Maybe it’s not a bug but wedding jitters. Or maybe you’re pregnant,” Allie said with a wicked grin.

“Alora Raine Logan!” Lizzy yelled into the phone.

Allie held it out from her ear. “Are you telling me it’s not possible? Good God, Lizzy. You’ve been dating this man for a year.”

“We entered into a covenant when we got engaged. We will abstain until our wedding night,” Lizzy said.

“Well, that explains a lot.” Allie laughed. “Your bitchy mood. And your sharp tongue and that hangdog look on your face all the time. You need to get laid.”

“I’m abstaining for the Lord,” Lizzy growled. “You are doing without because you…”

Allie’s jaw set in anger. “Because I’m ugly as a mud fence? Because I have no sex appeal? Because I am a carpenter? Be careful, Lizzy. I’m minding the store for you and I could rearrange everything or maybe I could shuffle all the stuff in the bill box under the counter.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Lizzy huffed.

“Oh, I would and you know it,” Allie said.

“Mitch is going to be your brother.”

Allie shook her head emphatically even though no one could see it. “He’s going to be your husband, not my brother, and I will be every bit as nice to him as you were to Riley.”

“I never did like that bastard,” Lizzy grumbled.

Allie stood up and carried the phone with her to the first round rack of clothing. “Point proven. I’m going to work on straightening and putting up stock on the clothing side. You need to look around before you order. You’ve got four orange hoodies in a two-X size and only one in a small.”

“Those will be gone by the end of next week and the small will still be hanging there. I ordered it for Sharlene’s brother and he broke his leg and can’t hunt this year. Thanks for the cleanup. Bye,” Lizzy said in a rush and the phone went silent.

Allie didn’t need an explanation of the quick end to the call and hoped that she didn’t catch whatever sent Lizzy to the bathroom every fifteen minutes. She looked back through the clothing area of the store. Hunting jackets, hoodies, jeans, and one rack of cute little western shirts for women.

“I need coffee before I tackle this,” she said.

After a quick trip to the office/kitchenette, she propped a hip on the tall stool behind the cash register. She had taken the first sip when the door opened, and she looked across the store into the eyes of her ex-husband, Riley. His light brown hair was longer, almost touching his shirt collar, and he’d gained at least twenty pounds, most of it around his midsection right above his belt. All in all he looked like warmed-over shit and that put a big smile on her face.

“Hello, Allie.” He smiled back at her.

She wiped the grin off her face instantly. “What brings you to Dry Creek?”

His soft-soled shoes didn’t make a sound as he crossed the floor. She didn’t recognize that shaving lotion, but it smelled like he’d taken a bath in it and it cost more than a buck ninety-nine at Walmart.