I Love This Bar (18 page)

   Jarod let go of Daisy and opened the door for her. "So are you ready for a nap?"

   She glared at Jarod, angry at him and Chigger and Jim Bob all three for putting her in such a pickle. If Chigger hadn't needed an alibi for her momma none of it would have started to begin with. So the majority of the blame and anger went towards her. A nap might be just the thing to clear her mind. At the very least it would keep her from strangling Jarod and then going after Chigger with her shotgun.

   Once they were in the house he threw up both hands to ward off the evil looks. "Hey, don't shoot daggers at me. I didn't create this mess."

   "And I did?" she smarted off.

   "I did not say that."

   "Which room is mine?" she snapped.

   He pointed up the stairs. "Mine is the one with the computer in it. You can have the one right beside it. It's pink," he said.

   She stomped across the hardwood floor and up the stairs. The door to the first one on the left was open and she peeked in. The faint smell of his cologne was still in the room and a computer sitting on a card table in the corner said the room belonged to him. She went on to the next door to the pink room. Just before she slammed the door, she thought about Emmett. If he heard the crack of a door he'd think they were fighting again and Jarod would have to kiss her to prove they weren't. Easing the door shut was the most difficult thing she'd done all day. She kicked off her boots and removed the snowy white chenille bedspread. No use in getting it all dusty just because she was angry. It hadn't created the mess she was in.

   The bed was an antique cherry four-poster with a matching vanity that had a round mirror and a little bench with a pink velvet cushion top. A rocking chair with the same color velvet pads sat in the corner of the room. Every flat surface had a crocheted doily covered with knickknacks. Chigger should be the one playing at being the new bride. She'd love all the folderol sitting on every spare inch of space. It gave Daisy an acute case of claustrophobia.

   She stared at the ceiling for a long time before she made her up mind to go along with the charade. She could easily kill the two proverbial birds with one big rock. Let Emmett die happy and put the crazy thing she had for Jarod behind her all at the same time. Jarod was probably a real son-of-a-bitch, just like Emmett, when he didn't get his way. She planned to provoke him often so that she could see him at his worst and then presto, the fascination with him would vanish.

   She snapped her fingers in the air to show herself how fast it could be done and went to sleep with a smile on her face.

   When she awoke she had a plan that she could live with so she bounded out of bed, picked up her boots, and bounced down to the living room. "Hey, I thought we were having steaks. I'm starving. Am I going to have to grill them myself? And after supper I think you should take me for ice cream."

   Jarod dropped the book he'd been reading and his jaw at the same time. The book hit the floor with a bang. His jaw came close to unhinging.

   "Okay?" he said slowly.

   Emmett smiled. "I love ice cream."

   "Car is air conditioned. You could come along if you want," she offered.

   "Naw, y'all go on and have a good time. Me and Mavis used to go get ice cream on Sundays some of the time. I like it that you're goin'. But first, Jarod, get up off your lazy ass and get those steaks going. Didn't you hear the woman say she's hungry?"

   "I'll even help," she offered.

   Emmett began to hum. The expression on his face was happy and peaceful.

   She shucked six ears of corn and put them in boiling water, popped a dozen brown-and-serve rolls into the oven with the foil-wrapped potatoes already baking, and set the table while Jarod grilled steaks.

   Emmett was sitting at the table when Jarod brought in the steaks. "I been waitin' for half an hour. It's a wonder I ain't dead. You tryin' to kill me by starvin' me to death so you can have this ranch faster. If I don't eat I can't take my medicine and it's twenty minutes past time for me to have it. Y'all are the slowest cooks I ever did see."

   Daisy put the potatoes and corn on the table. "It's here now so eat and stop your whinin'."

   "If I die it'll be on your conscience because you didn't get my food to me so I could take my medicine." He picked up a long pill case with the days of the week lettered on the compartments. "See here, I ain't had my evenin' pills because I got to take them with food."

   "Then eat," she said shortly.

   "Don't you sass me."

   "Don't be a pain in my ass."

   Jarod chuckled under his breath.

   They both shot him a dirty look.

   "What?" He threw up his hands.

   "Don't laugh at me."

   Emmett settled down immediately. "No more fightin'. Let's eat these steaks. Don't they look good, Daisy?"

   She cut a chunk off the corner and popped it into her mouth, chewed slowly, and tamed her anger. "How anyone could ever be a vegetarian is a mystery to me."

   "Fools is what they are. God made the Angus for us to eat," Emmett agreed.

   "Then why in the devil do you have a bunch of white faced cattle out there? Angus don't get pinkeye like they do and Angus grows off faster and bigger," Daisy said.

   "Them white faces was cheaper on the day I bought them than Angus," Emmett said.

   "Get rid of them and use the money to buy Angus," Daisy told him.

   "You hear the woman. Get rid of them sorry white faces this week, Jarod. Take 'em to the sale barn," Emmett said.

   "Last week you said we weren't sellin' off a single head of cattle."

   "That was last week. This is today. Sell the sumbitches. If Daisy wants Angus steaks then we'll have Angus steaks. Maybe then I won't have to burn down that sumbitch Honky Tonk."

   Daisy pointed her fork at him. "Hey, wait a minute."

   "Angus or the Honky Tonk. Your decision," Emmett declared.

   She shoved a piece of steak in her mouth to keep from smarting off. All the Angus cattle in the state of Texas could die of mad cow disease before she'd give up her beer joint.

   "You going to answer me?" Emmett asked after a few seconds.

   "I'm thinkin' about it," she said.

   "Well, that's the way it is. You got until sale time to make up your mind. You ain't back here where you belong, I'll sell all the Angus and keep the white faces and you can deal with pinkeye forever."

   Jarod coughed.

   She huffed.

   He grinned.

   She bit her tongue to keep from lashing out with a string of cuss words long enough to scorch the hair out of Lucifer's ears.

   After supper they shared the cleanup with Emmett rushing them to hurry so the ice cream parlor wouldn't be closed before they arrived.

   "You two is the slowest critters on the earth. A possum ain't got a thing on you for lazy. You'd think you didn't even want any ice cream," he said.

   "I've got to shake the tablecloth and then we'll go. Why do you want us to leave anyway? You got a hot date with some filly?" Daisy teased.

   "Hell no, I ain't got no date with a woman. Mavis would claw her eyes out if I did. Get on out of here and let me watch my television in peace and quiet and don't you dare wake me up if I'm sleeping when you get home," he fussed.

   Jarod was amazed when she tossed him the keys as they were leaving.

   "You trust me to drive your precious car?" he whispered.

   "You are driving because men drive when they go with their wives for ice cream and Emmett will have a fit if I do. We're going to the Honky Tonk so I can pack a few things. If I'm staying over until tomorrow evening, I'll need some clothes and my personal stuff. Can't have the old goat having a stroke out of anger, can we? But it's got to be our secret. Far as anyone knows I'm just coming out here to see you and Emmett. We aren't even dating. We are barely friends. That's the condition," she said softly so Emmett wouldn't hear.

   Jarod started up the engine and backed the small car out of the driveway. It had been years since he'd driven anything but a truck and he felt cramped. "You got it."

   She leaned her head back and shut her eyes. She could come to the ranch on Sunday morning and stay over until Monday; maybe make a couple of appearances through the week with the excuse she had to leave by seven to get back to the Honky Tonk. It would make Emmett happy.

   When he stopped the car she opened her eyes and blinked several times. Surely that wasn't who she thought it was sitting on her back porch. It was simply a trick of the light and the fact that she'd just talked to Cathy the week before. It had to be Chigger stopping by for one more beer or a glass of tea because she didn't want to go home. She squinted and narrowed her eyes.

   "Very nice lookin' company," Jarod said.

   "My cousin," Daisy mumbled.

   Cathy opened the passenger's door for Daisy. "You said I could come anytime. I hope you meant it. I quit my job."

   
How in the devil am I going to explain Jarod and
Emmett to Cathy? She'll have to know at least the part
about Emmett being a dying man.

   Daisy said, "Of course I meant it. This is Jarod McElroy. I was just coming by to pick up a few things. I'll be gone until tomorrow night. Think you can just hang out and make yourself at home without me?"

   Cathy took a step back. "Nice to meet you, Jarod. How'd you talk her into driving her baby?"

   "It's a mystery." He smiled.

   Cathy was taller than Daisy. She had long, flowing blond hair and the same steely blue eyes as Daisy. Her waist was small and her hips rounded. A bright blue T-shirt was tucked into the waistband of tight jeans and stretched over her skin like blue paint. Not an extra ounce of fat or cellulite bubbled up under the shirt. If a man didn't take a second look he was either blind or stupid.

   Jarod was neither. But she wasn't as pretty as Daisy. Even though her eyes were close to the same color, they didn't sparkle like Daisy's did when she was angry or tickled. She was so tall that if he ever held her in his arms she wouldn't fit there perfectly like Daisy did. And she didn't have the pizzazz that Daisy had when she walked, either. Pretty lady, and most men would already be drooling, but she didn't light up his desire button like Daisy did.

   Cathy touched the car and peeled her eyes away from Jarod back to Daisy. "So since he got to drive it, are you goin' to let me drive it?"

   "Hell, no. Last time you drove my car it wound up in the junkyard."

   "It was a piece of junk anyway," Cathy said.

   Daisy turned and looked at Jarod. "You comin' in?"

   "No, ma'am. I'm waiting right here. Figure you two got some talkin' to do that'll be easier if I'm waitin' under the shade tree." He shut off the engine and rolled down the windows. The night breeze was still scalding hot but not as much as his thoughts. He'd started measuring women by Daisy and how she made him feel. Were all women going to come up on the short end of the stick when he looked at them?

   
Yes, they are,
he thought with a groan.
What
happened to "I'm not going to fall for a bartender?"
So what if she's a vet tech too. She's in Texas and
has stated more than once that she loves her bar and
won't leave it. I'm going home to Oklahoma when this
business with Emmett is over. What in the hell am I
going to do?

   Daisy looped her arm through Cathy's. "It might have been a piece of junk but it was mine and it was all I had to get back and forth to work. So no, you cannot drive my car."

   Cathy followed her to the back door of the Honky Tonk where several suitcases were stacked up. "Okay, I won't ask again if you'll give me a job."

   Daisy looked around the parking lot and back at Cathy. "How in the hell did you get here? You damn sure didn't walk with all that baggage."

   "It's a long story."

   Daisy hadn't believed in coincidence or fate, not one bit, until the day her car played out and she met Ruby. Now here was Cathy parked on her doorstep needing a job the same day she'd made up her mind to go along with the lie about being married to Jarod. It had to be an omen that she was doing the right thing.

   "Tell me the short version."

   "Brad and I were saving money for a big wedding. We bought a car together and used both of our old ones for trade-ins. When he left he took the car so I rode a bus from Mena to Mineral Wells and caught a taxi from there to here."

   "Good lord. The taxi fare would have bought a good secondhand car."

   "I can afford it. I just didn't want to buy a vehicle until I found out whether I was staying here or not. Couch is new since I was here. Does this one make out into a bed?" Cathy asked.

   "Yes, it does and yes, you can claim it. I haven't got time to explain the whole thing but I'm glad you are here. I need someone to close up for me at night. You've got experience in that. We'll both work until ten and then you can keep it going until two all by yourself. I'll be home tomorrow evening and tell you the whole story. You okay with that?"

   "I'd be fine if you handed me a toothbrush and told me to scrub the toilet with it. I need a change of scenery that bad."

   Daisy pointed. "Make yourself at home. There's food in the 'fridge and beer in the Honky Tonk. I'll be home after supper tomorrow. Got to grab a few things."

   "Get on with it. Like I said, I'm sleepy. The ride down here was hell on wheels. Didn't know how much I loved to fly until I had to take a damned bus. Why couldn't you live in Dallas?"