Courting Trouble (14 page)

As she remembered, Cade had spent most of his time in high school trying to get a good look at her out of her uniform. He leaned closer. His shoulder brushed hers and even through her thick winter jacket that tiny pressure caused her pulse to jump.

“Is Ash here?”

“She is.” Tulsa nodded toward the freshman section. “I hear your nephew is a quarterback?” She unfolded the wool blanket and spread it over her legs.

“Holt is Wayne’s boy,” Cade said. He looked toward the field where number six stood behind the line of scrimmage.

“And I thought Ash starting high school made me feel old.” “Yep, it seems we are sitting in the correct section.”

Holt let rip a pass that hit his receiver, number twenty-four, right in the numbers.

“Is Ash dating the Conroy boy?”

Dating? Were Ash and Dylan dating?
So far the only thing she and Savannah knew was that Ash was getting a ride home from a football game.

“I wouldn’t call it
dating
,” Tulsa said. “Who told you?”

“It’s a small town, Tulsa. You hear everything about every kid. Especially the athletes. As far as sixteen-year-old boys are concerned, Dylan’s a pretty good kid. I’m just happy I don’t have a daughter.” Cade leaned forward and Tulsa smelled the mint on his breath. “Especially one that looks like you did.”

His breath tickled her neck. The urge to turn her head and press her lips to Cade’s shot through Tulsa—an urge she wasn’t about to surrender to.

“What are you doing after the game?” Cade whispered into her ear.

Deep and sexy—she knew that tone, her body remembered that tone. Her toes curled in response and a thrill shot up her spine. Years ago, she’d spent most nights after Powder Springs’s football games fogging up the windows of Cade’s pickup and then rushing like crazy to get back in her cheerleading uniform and home in time for her curfew.

“The game just started.” Her voice sounded soft—she couldn’t help that her entire body was betraying her.

“Did Savannah give you a curfew?”

Tulsa ran both hands over the blanket on her lap. She studied the black lines running through red. “Tonight, I have a mission. Ash takes her first car ride with Dylan Conroy.”

“To where?”

“To Charlie’s for pizza.”

“Then I guess we’re going to Charlie’s after the game.”

Cade slipped his hand under the blanket and his fingertips roamed over her thigh. She should tell him to stop making the tiny tight little circles on her leg, but her body wanted all the thrills Cade’s fingertips and the light pressure against her jeans promised.

“Listen, cowboy,” Tulsa whispered, her breath barely contained. “I think you better stop that.”

“Nobody called me cowboy in Manhattan,” Cade said.

The crowd erupted and Tulsa pulled her gaze from Cade and toward the football field. Number twenty-four, with the ball in his hands, sprinted toward the uprights. Tulsa jumped up and the wool blanket fell from her lap and with it Cade’s hand. “That’s Dylan, isn’t it?”

Cade nodded and stood beside Tulsa. Dylan sprinted into the end zone. “He’s got really good hands.”

“That,” Tulsa said, “is the
last
thing Savannah would want to hear.”

*

At Charlie’s Pizza the aroma of garlic thickened the air and Brad Paisley sang out from the jukebox. The front room warmed with too many bodies in a tight space. Teenagers, parents, and fans crowded together, waiting for the victorious team to arrive and the quarterback to make his mark on Charlie’s wall. Names, phone numbers, and sayings decorated the pine walls of Charlie’s Pizza in downtown Powder Springs.

Everyone signed the wall at Charlie’s. For a quarter, a waitress would let you borrow a Sharpie so you could leave your mark. Beside the front door, going back to the first Friday night that Charlie’s opened in September of 1971, was the Powder Springs High School win-loss record. The starting quarterback made his mark after every home game.

In the middle of the room at one of the Formica tables, Ash and her friend Brie sipped sodas with a group of gangly freshmen. Tulsa spotted Wayne, Cade’s brother, across the room. He waited beside a petite woman in a red sweater and a tall thin man in glasses. A cheer erupted behind Tulsa and she stepped away from the door. Like bulls loosed at a rodeo, the Powder Springs football team barreled into Charlie’s. A cheer erupted and Holt, Cade’s nephew, hopped onto the table beside the Powder Springs tally board.

“Hey!” Holt yelled. He sailed high on post-win adrenaline. “I’m not going to make a big deal of this, because we
always
beat Hayden.” Holt’s eyes searched the room and found Cade, who now stood beside Tulsa. A teasing smile filled with the teenage cockiness of a high-school quarterback spread across Holt’s face. “Well,
almost
always,” he said, acknowledging that his uncle was one of the few quarterbacks who’d actually lost to Hayden.

“Nice boy, isn’t he?” Cade whispered into Tulsa’s ear while a self-deprecating smile decorated his face.

Charlie’s rumbled with stomping boots. Every teenager and most adults joined the noise. They stomped in unison against the wood floor. The pounding rattled the window panes.

“Mark! Mark! Mark! Mark!” The call went up, a tradition recognized for the last forty years.

“I’ll just take this Sharpie and make my mark.”

Once Holt placed his “x” under the win column, he stood back and held his hands over his head in victory and another cheer erupted from the crowd.

“Some things don’t change.” Cade slipped his hand against the small of Tulsa’s back.

“Do the old people still sit in the side room?” Tulsa stepped away from Cade’s touch. Traditions might remain, but so did all the complications of the past.

“Yep,” Cade said.

“Aunt Tulsa?” Ash said, a tremor in her voice. “This is Dylan.”

Tulsa turned. Beside Ash was a big kid with bright blue eyes, his curly black hair still damp from his post-game shower. The boy was taller than Tulsa. He wore a sheepish smile and seemed nervous to meet her. He held out his hand.

“Hello, Miss McGrath.” He pumped Tulsa’s hand with anxious energy. “I’ve heard a lot about you. Ash talks about you all the time.”

Ash twirled a lock of her hair between her pointer finger and thumb and watched her aunt meet her boyfriend. She bit her lip and a blush played about the edge of her neck. She swiveled her torso back and forth like she had when she was nine.

“Evening, Mr. Montgomery,” Dylan said and held out his hand to Cade.

“Nice catch tonight,” Cade said as he shook the boy’s hand.

“All because of Holt’s pass.”

“Nope,” Cade said. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his boots. “I know that play. My nephew overthrew that ball. You got there and snatched it out of the air. That play had nothing to do with Holt—it was all you. All talent.”

Dylan’s eyes lit with pride. “Thank you, sir.” A grateful smile covered Dylan’s face, directed at Cade for recognizing his snag. Not everyone, Tulsa included, would realize what Dylan had accomplished on the football field tonight. They’d assume that Holt made a good pass and Dylan made a reception, when actually Dylan had turned a quarterback error into a touchdown.

Ash flipped her curls over her shoulder and fluttered her eyelids, and Dylan pulled her toward their friends and his teammates.

“You remember being that… what’s the word I’m looking for?” Tulsa asked.

“Young?”

“No.”

“Enthusiastic?”

“Effervescent,” Tulsa said. “Almost like you’re lighter than air.”

“Most of those times I was with you,” Cade said and steered Tulsa toward an empty back booth.

Tulsa scooted along the booth bench and Cade sat down across from her.

“Pitcher of beer?”

“Sure.” Tulsa flipped open the menu.

“You all mind company?”

Tulsa met Wayne’s eyes.

“Have a seat,” Tulsa said. With another person present the evening felt less like a date and more like old friends sharing a pizza and a beer. Cade scooted out the far side of the booth and plopped down beside Tulsa.

“I thought you were on duty tonight,” Cade said.

“Tomorrow night.” Wayne grabbed a breadstick from a bowl in the center of the table. “I switched with Tommy so I could watch the game.”

Wayne looked across the room and Tulsa followed his gaze. Holt was with the woman Wayne had stood beside earlier and next to her was still the thin man in glasses. The woman folded Holt into a hug. The three of them looked like an advertisement for the perfect family.

“The ex-wife and the second husband. A doctor.”

“Laura looks good tonight,” Cade said.

“She looks good every night,” Wayne grumbled.

Where did Wayne fit into that picture? A man who lived for his job and loved his son, but someone who was odd man out where the picture-perfect family was concerned.

“I get Holt every other weekend and two Wednesdays a month. Plus half the holidays, which we spend with them, anyway.” Wayne jerked his head toward his ex-wife and her new husband. “Cozy.”

Marriage and children and family and holidays… didn’t anyone’s life work out as they had planned on their wedding day?

“It’s been seven years,” Wayne said. “And I still think of her as my wife.”

“Don’t tell that to Dr. Bob,” Cade said and poured beer into three frosted mugs. “He might carve more than the turkey at Thanksgiving this year.”

“I’d like to see him try,” Wayne said and upended his beer. His humor didn’t mask the real pain present in his eyes.

“You see the Conroy boy make that catch?” Cade asked and picked up a piece of garlic bread from the basket the waitress set down.

“Holt throws like his uncle,” Wayne teased. “High and far.”

“Maybe if my linemen had protected me a little better I would have been more accurate.”

“I think Mr. Montgomery forgot the first rule of Powder Springs football.” Wayne grappled with a piece of pizza. “No excuses.” Wayne nodded toward the crowd of teenagers still huddled by the north wall. “That’s Savannah’s girl?”

“Yep.”

Ash sat on Dylan’s knee while both his arms were wrapped around her.

“Ah, the glory days,” Wayne said.

“Remember what used to happen when varsity beat Hayden?” Cade asked.

“A stop at Pilot’s Bluff.”

Tulsa’s stomach clenched and memories flashed through her mind. Her senior year, the night Cade beat Hayden and made his mark at Charlie’s, his and Tulsa’s victory night involved a hunting lodge ten miles out of town, a sleeping bag, and a bottle of Boone’s Farm wine. Ash rested her head against Dylan’s chest, too comfortable in the boy’s arms for Tulsa to remain calm. Her heart pitter-pattered in her chest. Ash was fourteen, she was a baby, she was naive, and young, and pure, and—

“Don’t worry,” Cade said. “She’s a freshman and this is their first date. I’m sure they’ll go straight home.”

Ash cuddled in her boyfriend’s lap.

“Would you?” Tulsa asked.

Cade looked straight into her eyes. “I never did.”

*

Two pizzas, three orders of garlic bread, and four pitchers of beer later, Wayne stood and stretched his arms behind his back.

“I best get home.”

“Night, Wayne,” Tulsa said.

Wayne paused by the front door and shook hands with Dr. Bob. Next he walked over to Holt, clasped him on the shoulder, and nodded approvingly at his son.

“He’s a good dad,” Cade said.

“He’s still in love,” Tulsa said softly.

“Seems to be a real problem in our family. Men staying in love with the women who leave them.” Cade upended his beer and took the final sip. “Want another pitcher?”

“Can’t,” Tulsa said. “Gotta drive home.”

“Don’t you worry about it, Miss McGrath. I can get you home safe.” Cade settled his arm along the top of the booth.

“Not worried about the safe part, it’s the me-getting-home part that concerns me.”

“Why?” Cade asked softly, slowly, with gravel in his voice.

His mouth was infinitely kissable and so very close to Tulsa’s lips. After several cold mugs of beer, even though she knew better, Tulsa doubted her resolve to keep her hands off that muscle-thick body and her lips to herself. If she just leaned in a half inch—

Tulsa jerked away from Cade’s mouth. “Ash is leaving.” Over Cade’s shoulder, Tulsa watched Ash pull on her jacket. “What time is it?”

“Eleven,” Cade said.

“Eleven? It won’t take her an hour to get home. I’ve got to go.” Tulsa pushed on Cade, attempting to exit the booth.

“Stop.”

“What? I can’t stop, I have to find out where they’re going, what they’re doing, and—”

“—and we will.” Cade grasped Tulsa’s wrist and leaned in closer to her. “But let’s not be quite so obvious about it. I mean, she’s fourteen. She can figure out if you’re following her.” Cade waved at the waitress and handed her a number of bills for the check.

“Let them get out the door and then we’ll find them.”

“We? What do you mean
we
? This is my mission, remember?”

“I’ve come this far, I’m not bailing now.” Cade placed a tip on the table.

Before walking out the front door of Charlie’s, Ash turned, searched the room, and when her gaze finally fell upon Tulsa, she waved. Tulsa plastered an oh-you’re-leaving-I-hadn’t-noticed smile onto her lips and waved back at her niece. Dylan placed his arm around Ash’s waist and steered her out the front door.

Tulsa elbowed Cade. “Okay, they’re gone. Get up.” Tulsa jumped to her feet and the room wobbled. She grabbed the booth, more than a little unsteady in her high-heeled boots. Cade’s hands grasped each of her hips. Electricity shot through her with his grip.

“And that’s another reason. One McGrath sister already has a criminal case pending. Let’s not make it two.”

Chapter Fifteen

Tulsa walked out of Charlie’s and the cold air snapped at her cheeks. Cade held her arm and steered her toward his truck. She scanned the cars in the parking lot, looking for Ash and Dylan.

“They’re already gone.”

“Relax.” Cade opened the passenger side door for Tulsa. “He either took Ash home or—”