I Love This Bar (12 page)

   She couldn't shake the satin sheets vision from her head but kept reminding herself as they passed the food around the table that after that night she'd be a hell of a lot more careful. She would never ever put herself in a situation like that again.

   "This is reach-and-get night since the table is so small," Chigger announced.

   Every time Daisy reached for something she either touched Jarod's hand or pressed her knee tighter into his. She glared at Chigger. The woman hadn't been born of woman. She'd been spawned in a voodoo kitchen from the sperm of a warlock and the egg of a witch.

   To keep from reaching across perfectly good fish and slapping the shit out of her, Daisy tried conversation. "This is the best catfish I've ever eaten."

   "Thank you. I'm better at it than Jim Bob." Jarod grinned.

   "The hell you are. You always get too much red pepper. If I hadn't grabbed the can, this would be too damn hot for anyone to eat," Jim Bob protested.

   Too damn hot! Those words crept into Jarod's mind and flashed across Daisy's face every time he stole a look her way.

   Too damn hot! The words snuck in Daisy's head and every time she glanced at Jarod they were branded across his forehead.

   "You had a funny look on your face. Don't you eat red pepper?" Jarod nudged Daisy. His touch was damn sure hotter than the red pepper coating on the fish.

   "Whatever is on it is wonderful and it's perfect. I didn't mean to have a strange expression. It's just that the last time I had a Sunday supper like this was when Ruby was alive. Sometimes the cycle gang would gather up at her house and we'd cook. I miss that," Daisy said. Hopefully they'd all believe her and not read the real thoughts in her head!

   "Who was Ruby?" Jarod asked.

   Chigger answered. "You missed something when you didn't have the privilege of knowing Ruby. She was a hell-raiser who was probably the first one in line when the women threw their bras on the bonfire. She was her own person and didn't give a damn what anyone thought of her." She picked up a hush puppy with her fingers and bit into it.

   Jim Bob picked up where she left off, "Ruby built the Honky Tonk. She was raised in a little town over in east Texas and wound up in Fort Worth or Dallas with an aunt who died and left her a wad of insurance money. So she decided to put in a beer joint and got just as close to the county line as possible. She built one foot inside the legal limits. Then she bought that big sign out on the highway. Before long she was running the best joint in the county."

   "I thought it was the only joint in two counties," Jarod said.

   "Why would you think that?" Daisy asked.

   "The sign I guess. I didn't see any advertisements for anything else."

   "Lots of joints have come and gone in and around Mingus over the last forty years. There're empty buildings with the signs on them to prove it. And there's still the Boar's Nest and the Trio Club on up the road from the Honky Tonk. Trio has been there fifty years, just a little less than the Honky Tonk. Its claim to fame is live entertainment and unescorted ladies get in free on Sunday nights," Daisy said.

   "Why don't people go there? How can there be that much trade to support three joints? It seemed to me like everyone in the area was in the Honky Tonk," Jarod said.

   "People always like to have a good time and for years Mingus was the first place to find it. Used to be that there were more honky tonks and beer joints that a person could shake a stick at," Chigger said. "You ever watch
Cheers
, that old sitcom on television?"

   "Uncle Emmett never misses it."

   "Well, folks like me and Merle and the Walker boys have our favorite place, which is the Honky Tonk, just like Norm has his barstool in
Cheers
."

   "So I'd find a different crowd if I went up the road a few miles?" Jarod asked.

   "Hell, yeah," Jim Bob said. "Trio has live entertainment and I heard they even have free hot dogs on Sunday. The Honky Tonk ain't open that night so they get all the trade then."

   "Why doesn't the Honky Tonk open on Sunday or have live entertainment?"

   Daisy answered, "Ruby said that folks don't care if it's a human singing the blues or a jukebox. They just want to drink, dance, shoot pool, and have a good time. I live by the rule that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And she said that even a bartender needs one night off."

   "So that's why Billy Bob doesn't put in another joint. There're already three and that's all the area will support," Jarod said.

   "You got it! Plus he wants the Honky Tonk because he also gets Daisy that way. You know what she says. The only way she'll ever leave the place is when they drag her cold dead body out the doors and she'll have her fingers wrapped around a longneck bottle of Coors when they do," Jim Bob said.

   "So a man takes you and the Honky Tonk or nothing?"

   Another shrug. "Pretty much."

   "That's why old Billy Bob is just the woman for her," Jim Bob said, then jumped. "Ouch! Why'd you kick me, Chigger?"

   "Because I don't think Billy Bob is the man for her."

   "Why? Don't you like him? He's my brother and just like me and you like me," Jim Bob said.

   "Of course I like you, darlin'. But Billy Bob isn't half the man you are and Daisy is my friend. She deserves someone as good as you are."

   A wide grin split Jim Bob's face.

   "Let's get the cleanup done and I'll give Daisy a ride home," Jarod said.

   Daisy pushed back her chair. "I'll wash."

   "Stack them by the sink. Jarod, run along and get Daisy home before midnight. She might turn into a pumpkin or a witch if you don't or maybe even a cute little—" Chigger said.

   Daisy interrupted. "No, I'll just turn into a barmaid. You sure about the dishes, Chigger?"

   Chigger winked broadly. "Oh, yes, I've very sure. You two run along and I'll take care of this little job while Jim Bob gets a shower."

   Daisy came very close to blushing. "Okay, then, thanks so much for the day and the good supper."

   "We'll do it again, I promise," Chigger said.

   
Not if I see you coming,
Daisy thought. "See you later," she said.

   Jarod had his hand out to place it on the small of her back but shoved it inside his pocket instead. Their bodies brushing against each other in the kitchen would have caused him embarrassment if his shirt tail hadn't been hanging down below his belt buckle. He couldn't take a chance like that again.

   "So how'd you end up at the Honky Tonk?" Jarod asked when they were in the truck. Two feet of empty air separated them. He hated bucket seats right then. Had he bought a car with bench seats he could have made a sharp turn and she'd have slid right over next to him. Tomorrow he was trading his truck for Jim Bob's old fishing wagon. Hell, he might throw in a couple of thousand dollars to boot.

   "Car got hot and started smoking on the highway and I pulled into the next exit. Closest place to stop was the parking lot at the Smokestack in Thurber, which is spitting distance from the Honky Tonk. Ruby had come there for lunch and she asked if she could help. Ended up buying my lunch and putting me to work. Been there seven years now. She died last year and I inherited the Honky Tonk. Tinker got her house in Mingus, which he rents out. Says he can't live in town," Daisy answered with the short version.

   "Where'd you live before that?"

   "Mena, Arkansas, until I graduated high school. Worked a year until I saved enough for a semester of college and went to a little school down in Tishomingo, Oklahoma. Murray State College. Then I came home to Mena. From there it was to the Honky Tonk. So where did you go to school?" She turned the conversation around to him.

   "Cushing for thirteen years, kindergarten through high school. College in Stillwater," he said.
I don't want
to talk about school. I want to talk about how beautiful
you are and how bad I want to touch you.

   "You have to go to college to be a rancher?" she asked.

   "These days with the big business eating up the small farmers and ranchers, it helps. I've got a degree in agribusiness. Thought in the beginning I wanted to get away from the ranch but figured out right quick how much I love it. I should stop by and see about Emmett again. That all right with you?"

   "That's fine," she said.

   "Want to come inside for a few minutes? Uncle Emmett would probably love to see you again," he asked when they reached the house.

   "Sure. Why not?" At least the old toot could see that she'd changed clothes and maybe forget that she'd been dressed in short shorts and a halter top.

   Emmett picked up the remote and muted the sound when he noticed them. "Why Miss Daisy, don't you look nice. Don't reckon I've ever seen you in a dress before. What's the special occasion?"

   "Nothing special. Chigger loaned it to me."

   "Don't be tryin' to josh an old man. I know you two been up to something and I bet I know what it was. You sure didn't look like that when you left here a few hours ago."

   "What would you think we'd be up to? We cleaned fish and had supper at Jim Bob's. Chigger was there too."

   "Just remember, you can't fool me. I know what y'all been out doin' and it wasn't eatin' fish," he said. Before either of them could answer he turned the sound back on the television and ignored them.

   "I'm takin' Daisy home," Jarod said. But I'd rather b
e
taking her upstairs.
He reached up to slap his forehead to knock the silly notion out of his head but shoved his hand in his pocket instead.

   Emmett waved a hand at them without taking his eyes from the television. "Get on out of here. You done lied to me. I told you to bring me some fish for my dinner tomorrow, so you didn't go over there at all. Go on and don't be thinkin' I'm so old I can't smell a lie."

   "I'm sorry. He's getting more belligerent every day. Any idea that didn't come from him is wrong." Jarod whispered as they crossed the foyer on their way back outside.

   "It's all right, but what on earth does he think we are hiding?"

   "Who knows? He may think we brought a donkey on the place without asking him. Who knows how his mind works? We were talking about Tinker. So why can't he live in town? I wouldn't think of Mingus as a metropolitan area," Jarod asked as he drove toward Mingus. Maybe talking about Tinker would take his mind off her bare shoulders and long neck meant for nuzzling.

   
Damn it. There I go again,
he thought.

   "Tinker was in Vietnam. Ruby knew him before he went and said he was a different man back then. Something happened and he doesn't talk about it. When he came home he spent a long time in a hospital out in California. When they let him out he came back to see Ruby and she put him to work. He's a damn good bouncer and he does very well with the crowd at the Honky Tonk. But Ruby said he couldn't live in amongst lots of people anymore."

   Jarod tapped the brakes and reset the cruise control to a lower speed. "Wonder what happened?"

   "Ruby didn't even know. Tinker doesn't talk about it. He don't talk about anything much, but I'd trust him with my life."

   
What about your heart? Jarod thought as he passe
d the Smokestack in Thurber and drove the short distance to the Honky Tonk.

   "Thanks for the ride."

   He started to get out of the truck.

   "This is not a date, Jarod. You don't have to walk me to the door."

   He got out anyway. "I'll have to give up my gentleman badge from the Boy Scouts if I don't. You want me to be the shame of every McElroy male in the family? We've had our chivalry badge for more than a thousand years. I can't be the reason the grand hoorah came all the way from Ireland to take it back."

   "I'm sure that would be an unforgivable sin." She smiled.

   "You cause all that trouble, they'll burn you at the stake. Only a witch could make a McElroy give up his chivalry badge."

   He slowed his long stride to keep up with her. When she reached the porch she dug her keys out from the bottom of her purse and opened the door. She turned to thank him again to find herself in a snug enclosure made by one arm braced on the door jamb. Instinctively she threw up her hands to his chest.

   He brushed the tips of his fingers down her cheek and leaned in. She tiptoed and their lips met in a clash of passion. Every burning nerve in her body screamed for more than one kiss, yelled for her to drag him through the door and begged her to ignore that troublesome inner voice telling her to put a stop to his kisses.

   He broke the kiss but kept her in his arms. His heart ached at the idea of stepping away from her. Desire was so thick in his veins he had no room for blood.

   "It wasn't supposed to be a date." She rolled up on her tiptoes and he bent slightly. Their lips and tongues met in another fierce battle of blazing heat.

   "Daisy?" he said hoarsely.

   "Mmmm," she mumbled.

   Before he could answer she reached up and pulled his mouth to hers again. He moaned, picked her up like a bride, and kicked the door the rest of the way open with his foot. Without breaking the kisses he carried her into the living room and she stiffened in his arms.

   "Does that mean no?" he whispered.

   "It means not here," she whispered back.

   "Why?"

   She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. "Long story. Grab that quilt and let's go out to the bed of your truck."