A Maverick's Heart (10 page)

Tawana turned her head and punched a button to lower the head of her bed.

Myra continued to have a furrowed brow as she said, “Goodbye,” then none-too-gently hustled Seth from the room. In the hallway she said, “You should stay clear of that mine.” Head up, she marched to the elevator. “It claimed the lives of an entire mining crew. One being Lila’s husband.” She stabbed the elevator button repeatedly.

Seth followed her into the empty car. “I’m sorry for the tragedy, but gemstones are often found in defunct shafts,” he said, quickening his steps to keep up as Myra left the elevator. “Poison gas can be an issue, but if the state gives me a permit, I have equipment to explore safely. I’m careful. I don’t disturb old scaffolding. I’ll look for specific rock formations. Crystals and such, not gold or copper. Sapphires sell for a tidy sum. What’s bad about that?”

“Nothing to me. But do you honestly think Lila would look on you favorably?”

Seth struggled, trying to picture Lila’s reaction. He liked her. He wanted her to like him back. But he was who he was. “Until I have a permit in hand and am at a point to say ‘Yes, I’m going to look for sapphires in Opportunity Mine’ or ‘No, I’m not,’ is there any reason to worry Lila?”

They reached the car. “I have another question, Myra. If one person cares for another, shouldn’t they accept them as they are? I’ve been a gem hunter for a dozen years.”

Myra appeared to give that some hard thought as she buckled up. “That’s a tough one, Seth. I’m no expert on love, but I believe love is give and take. Did you know your brother was ready to walk away and leave the ranch my folks had given him because my brother told him I expected to inherit it? He loved me that much.”

“Okay, this has gotten too deep for me. Who said anything about love?” Seth started the car. “Lila and I are barely past the getting-acquainted stage.” He recognized his laugh sounded nervous. Luckily, though, Myra laughed, too.

“So it isn’t love at first sight for you two, like with Hunter and Tawana?”

“We just like each other,” he rushed to say. But recalling the kiss he’d planted on Lila’s neck in the restaurant, and admitting his heart gave a funny, happy kick whenever their paths crossed, he worried that he might be lying to his sister-in-law.

A series of loaded grain trucks slowed their progress. Seth turned down the ranch lane to the Flying Owl and saw that he’d be later than three to meet Rory.

“Thanks for taking me to the hospital.” Half in, half out of the car, Myra paused. “All this time we’ve been talking and I forgot Zeke asked me to tell you he wants to start roofing the barn day after tomorrow. Can you be here by seven? He said we’d check on cattle first. I told him I’d do that alone, but he likes us to share chores.” She blushed a bit and, if Seth wasn’t running late, he’d tease her.

“I’ve just been waiting to get word on starting the roof. Tell him I’m not available for long days. Because, like today, I’m sort of teaching Rory to play ball after school.”

“Zeke can’t very well complain since he suggested you help Rory.”

“That’s right. But it’s helping the kid, so I’m glad Zeke mentioned it.”

They said their goodbyes and Seth headed for the highway again.

It was a quarter past three when he found street parking and jogged to the café. The first thing he saw was Rory standing inside the entrance looking anxious, his new mitt and ball in a vise grip against his skinny chest.

The instant the boy saw Seth, his eyes lit up and his shoulders squared. “Mom, Mom,” he shouted as he rushed toward the pass-through where Lila had set out two steaming plates. “Seth’s here! We’re gonna go to the park. We’re goin’ to the park, Mom!”

Seth banked a smile over the fact Rory had to make every statement twice. He stepped up to the kitchen door and again experienced a funny little punch to his chest from merely seeing Lila, even though she looked hot and rumpled. “Sorry I’m late,” he said. “There was some truck traffic and I had to take Myra home. We delivered the flowers to Tawana together. She liked them and is doing well. How’s your mother?”

“Okay, I think. She’s upstairs now. It’s hard for her to watch other people do her job.” She blotted sweat from her forehead with the tail of her apron. “I’m glad to see you, because Mom delighted in thinking you weren’t going to show up. I can’t believe she’d want Rory disappointed. I’m sorry she’s not nicer to you, Seth.”

He tugged on his lower lip with thumb and finger, but said nothing. It didn’t surprise him to hear that Doreen expected him to flake out, but he was happy Lila thought better of him. He hadn’t expected that. “We’ll go across to the park and play catch until you close, or dark, whichever comes first.”

“Or unless Rory makes a nuisance of himself first,” Lila said, turning away to flip three hamburgers cooking on the grill.

“I’m not gonna be a nuisance,” Rory declared. He’d come in to tug on Seth’s shirttail and stayed long enough to barge past him and respond to his mother.

“Come on, slugger. It’s never good to contradict your mom.”

“What’s ‘contradict’ mean?” the boy asked as Seth hustled them both out of the café.

The few words that came to mind might also be unfamiliar to a nine-year-old. Seth settled on saying, “Sometimes it’s simply a safer bet to keep quiet.” He stopped at his rental vehicle and got his mitt out.

“All right. But I don’t wanna be a nuisance. I know what that is. It means, like, bug you. I want you to teach me more about baseball ’cause Kemper told his coach I’m getting better. Coach said maybe you’ll bring me to the school ball field tomorrow afternoon. Memaw said I shouldn’t ask. She even told my mom not to ask you.” Rory jogged along to keep up with Seth’s longer stride as they crossed the street at the light. “Am I bugging you?” the kid asked, a tremor of uncertainty lacing his voice.

“No, Rory. I don’t want you or your mom to feel bad about asking me. If it’s something I’m not able to do, I’ll say so. I have plans for part of tomorrow, but I can easily arrange my horseback ride for the morning. That’ll leave my afternoon free. But did you clear my going along to your school practice with your mother?”

“Not ’xactly. I think her and Memaw bickered some more.”

“Well, we’ll check later. This looks like a clear spot to play catch.” They split up and Rory threw the first ball. The play soon grew repetitious for Seth, while Rory’s energy never flagged.

After an hour Seth said, “I’m thirsty. We should’ve thought to bring water.”

“The park has a drinking fountain,” Rory said, and pointed toward some tennis courts.

“If it’s not far, let’s hike over and get a drink.”

“Yeah. Does your arm get tired throwing? Mine kinda is.” Again Rory skipped to stay abreast of Seth.

“You don’t want to overdo it. It’s a good idea to mix throwing and catching with batting. Do you know if there are batting cages around here?” Seth stopped by the fountain and let Rory take the first drink.

The boy wiped his mouth and moved aside. “Kemper and his dad practice at the cages. But they’re ’spensive.” His narrow shoulders slumped. “Mom talked to Mr. Barnes. Then she said it’s silly to pay money to bat a ball. But Mr. Barnes is going to buy Kemper his own batting machine.”

“The machines are costly, but it’s not too bad to rent. I remember spending a lot of time in one. I recall we bought tokens and, depending on how many you bought, the machine gave you
X
number of times at bat.”

“Probably. But we don’t have much money, Seth.”

“I know. Let me check into it.”

“’Kay. But I see Mom worrying when she pays our bills.”

Seth let the comment slide. It was easy to see how much Rory understood about the family finances. He divided the rest of their time between giving Rory pointers and encouragement, and deciding how he might convince Lila to let him pay for batting practice. He didn’t think it could cost more than ten or twelve bucks for a hundred to hundred-fifty pitches from the machine. Well worth having the consistency of the high, low, middle range of pitches for a newbie player like Rory.

By five-thirty Seth saw Rory catching better but rubbing his arm between throws and growing less accurate. “We’ve probably practiced enough for one afternoon, slugger. Besides, my stomach’s growling.” Seth hoped by putting the onus on himself for stopping rather than suggesting Rory was weakening would be better for the boy’s ego.

“Memaw gave me a snack after school. But I’m kinda hungry, too. I played good tonight, didn’t I, Seth?”

“You sure did.” Seth set the ball back in Rory’s mitt, folded his own over and tucked it under his arm. “A secret to playing well is always keep your eye on the ball and don’t let what anybody else is doing distract you.”

“You mean like when those two kids with the dog ran past us and I totally missed catching that ball?”

“Exactly like that. At games people wander all over. There’s clapping and yelling, and a lot of other things happening. You can learn to tune it all out.”

“I hope so. I want to play on a team. Kemper said some kids never play good enough to get off the bench.”

“Hmm.” Seth thought that sounded a little extreme. Why would parents pay Little League fees if their kids didn’t play? Maybe Lila thought that could happen to Rory. Another reason he’d need to get the kid some batting practice.

They crossed the street and entered an empty café. The entry bell over the door jingled. A young woman was stacking menus and Lila, who stretched up to peer out of the pass-through, visibly relaxed when she saw who’d come in.

The girl stopped and said, “Hey, Rory.”

“Hey, Becky,” the kid said.

“Your mom’s dead on her feet and I served so many trout specials I think I wore a hole in one sneaker. If it’s okay with your mom, will you lock the door?”

Lila gave her okay. “And after you lock the door, will you run up and check on Memaw? She hasn’t surfaced since she went upstairs. I hope she’s okay.”

“Can I go later? Me ’n Seth are hungry. Is it too late for mac and cheese? Or Seth said he wanted soup.”

“I can fix mac and cheese while you go upstairs,” Lila said after rubbing her neck. “Becky, go ahead and clock out. And if you can work from eight to five all next week, I’ll name my first daughter after you.”

Seth saw the girl’s head come up. “Are you pregnant?” she gasped.

Lila laughed. “Mercy, no. There’s not even a man in my life. That’s an old saying.”

“Oh.” She sounded mollified. But all the same Seth noticed Becky darting glances between him and Lila. And it surprised him to suddenly suffer a flash of something akin to longing. He actually tried to imagine what a little girl might look like if she shared Lila’s rich brown hair and blue eyes, and his blond, green-eyed attributes.

Becky passed Lila her time card and said goodbye, asking Seth if he’d lock the door again after she left.

The request jarred him out of his contemplation enough to hear Rory bounce down the stairs to announce, “I woke Memaw up. She said she’ll feel better in the morning.”

“That’s so not like her,” Lila said. “I’ll go up and see if she needs to come home with us tonight. Did she seem woozy?”

“I don’t think so.”

Seth walked into the kitchen. “I’ll watch the mac and cheese if you want to go up and check on Doreen.”

“I’m sure it’s breaking some restaurant rule to let you work in the kitchen.”

“I’ll wash,” he said, grinning at her.

She sighed. “I won’t be long. Why don’t you two eat first? I’ll get to the dishwasher when I’m back down.”

“Maybe you need to take a break. When we finish eating, Rory and I can help you wind everything down.”

Lila blinked and looked skeptical.

“Mom,” Rory said. “You didn’t ask if I caught and threw good tonight. And I did.” He telegraphed a glance at Seth, requesting his concurrence.

“He did great. You’re raising a good little ball player,” he said then decided maybe it’d be smart to strike while her defenses were down. “Next on our list is to get him batting practice at a batting cage.”

Lila tripped on the first step and hurriedly grabbed the stair rail.

“Whoa, take it easy,” Seth cautioned. “Last thing anyone needs is for you to be out of commission. We’ll talk in the morning about the cage.”

She hurried out of sight without replying.

“Mom had on her serious face,” Rory said, downcast. “She’ll say no.”

“Maybe not. This is almost ready to eat. Will you grab a couple of bowls? And if you know where they keep crackers, that’d be nice, too.”

They took their steaming mac and cheese to the dining area, where the lights were turned down. It wasn’t long before Seth heard Lila futzing around in the kitchen. He scarfed down his food in a few bites, but told Rory to take his time. “Give me a little while to see if I can talk your mom around,” he murmured.

Rory stifled a yawn, but he certainly didn’t object.

Seth carried his dishes into the kitchen and rinsed them in the sink.

Lila had her back to him, unloading the dishwasher.

He dried his hands and was unable to resist spanning her narrow waist with his hands again, pressing another kiss on the sweet indentation at the back of her neck.

She tried to turn. This time she wasn’t holding a large, wicked-looking spatula, so Seth slowly brought her around to face him without letting go.

“What are you do-doing?” she whispered, attempting to see over his shoulder. “Where’s Rory?”

“I’m bargaining for batting practice,” Seth replied seconds before he slid his hands up her slender back and anchored her solidly against his chest. Then he doubled down by joining their lips.

He heard Lila’s sigh of pleasure before she raised her arms and steadied his head, kissing him back until he broke their lip lock to breathe.

She leaned heavily into him, whispering dreamily, “Anything. Ask me for anything and it’s yours.”

Seth gazed straight into her softened blue eyes. He ran a forefinger over her mouth, abruptly followed by a pressure brush from his lips. Lifting his head ever so slightly, he said in a labored voice, “So, you’re cool with Rory practicing at a batting cage? I don’t want to take advantage. Frankly...as much as it pains me to say this...you should probably rescind that blanket offer before I ask for way more than you’re prepared to give.”