Daisies in the Canyon(76)

“And have fun,” Shiloh said.

“Why don’t y’all go have some fun tonight, too? You don’t have to have a date to get in the doors at the Sugar Shack.” She fished in her purse for her keys and tossed them at Bonnie. “Take my truck. They might not even let you park a van in the lot at a honky-tonk.”

“Why not?” Shiloh asked.

Bonnie caught them midair. “Because it’s a cowboy place and they might only allow trucks. Don’t argue. She’s offering to loan us her royal chariot tonight.”

“Hey, is there a gorgeous woman in this house who’s promised to dance with this rusty old cowboy tonight?” Cooper’s voice floated down the hall.

“It’s not a royal chariot,” Abby said.

“You are the queen, the firstborn, which gives you the crown until you jump the barbed-wire fence over onto the Lucky Seven. Right, Bonnie?” Shiloh grinned.

Bonnie dangled the keys in the air. “Yes, ma’am, she does.”

She rolled her eyes at her sisters and made her way to the living room, where Cooper waited with another bouquet of gorgeous daisies. This time they were all yellow with brown centers and arranged in a quart-sized fruit jar with a big blue ribbon tied around the top.

He held them out to her. “For the lovely blonde lady with the blue eyes.”

She took them in one hand and rolled up on her toes to kiss him. “They are beautiful.”

“But you are gorgeous this evening,” he whispered.

“Thank you,” she smiled up at him. It would be easy to fall in love with him, just like she’d said when she was drunk off her ass.

“More flowers. I’m jealous,” Shiloh said as she made her way down the hall.

Bonnie was right behind her and held out a hand. “Give them to me and I’ll put them in your room.”

“Thank you,” Abby said.

Cooper laced his fingers in hers. “We’re off to the Sugar Shack to do some serious dancing.”

“We might see you there in a little while. If you’d give us directions, we would appreciate it,” Bonnie said.

Cooper quickly told them how to get there and then he led Abby outside. The sunset had finished its show for the evening and the stars had popped out. A big lover’s moon rested on top of the chimney-shaped formation as if it were a gazing ball. Too damn bad it couldn’t show her a glimpse of the future.

With his hand holding hers on the console, she should be giddy with excitement at going on the first real date in months, but instead she was thinking of that fear-of-commitment thing.




“You have got to be kidding me. This is the Sugar Shack?” Abby asked when Cooper parked the truck in the lot of the ugliest building she’d ever seen.

“No, ma’am. Up until a couple of years ago it looked like a shack. And then Tiny Lee—that would be the owner of the place—had a customer who couldn’t pay his bill.”

“And he spray-painted the thing with Pepto-Bismol?”

“That’s not paint, darlin’. It’s vinyl siding. The feller who couldn’t pay hung siding for a living. He’d ordered too much for a job, so he was stuck with it. Tiny Lee said he could work off his bill by using it on the Sugar Shack.”

“That is some seriously ugly stuff,” Abby said. “You should have loaned him your pistol so he could shoot the fellow rather than let him put up pink siding on a honky-tonk.”

Cooper chuckled. “He has a pump shotgun up under the bar and he’s not a bit afraid to get it out. Are we ready to let me show you how I can waltz a lovely lady around the dance floor?”

“No, if I’ve got to sit on the sidelines while you dance with a lovely lady, then you can take me back home,” she said.

He leaned across the console, turned her to face him, and kissed her. “There won’t be another lady in that joint who will be able to get me to take my eyes off you, darlin’.”

“Then let’s go dance.”

Dance. Drink a little beer. It was a date, for God’s sake, not a damn proposal. She should enjoy the flirting and the evening, not be wound up tighter than a hooker in the front row of a tent revival. She determined that she would loosen up and enjoy the time with Cooper and most importantly, push all the heavy thoughts out of her mind.

Lord, nothing could go wrong anyway in an ugly pink building called the Sugar Shack. In that she could trust.

Cooper opened the truck door for her and she put her hand in his. “Have I told you that you are one sexy cowboy tonight? I’m sorry that I forgot my pistol.”

“What on earth would you need a pistol for?”

“To shoot all the wild women who try to worm their way between me and you.” She smiled up at him.

“Maybe you could borrow Tiny Lee’s shotgun,” he flirted right back. “I was just thinking that I might need to use it to keep the cowboys away from you.”

He looked like sex on a stick that evening in his tight jeans, polished boots, brown-and-yellow plaid pearl-snap shirt, and the faded denim jacket. She couldn’t wait to get inside to dance with him.

Country music echoed out across the canyon long before they made it to the door. Folks must have been line dancing because Abby could hear “Yee-haw” periodically as Travis sang “T.R.O.U.B.L.E.”