I Love This Bar (28 page)

   "That's for the tourists. You ever been on a reservation?"

   "Every year we went up to Ralston for the Blackwolf family reunion. It was about the same thing you just said. We played with cousins when we were boys. The women talk. The men fish or drink beer and laugh about stunts they've pulled. When we got old enough to drive we ran around the small towns in that area and talked about cars and girls. Before long the youngsters were marrying off and there was a brand new crop of little Indian babies at the reunions. Haven't been to one in a few years so I don't know whether they're still as big as they used to be or not."

   The waitress brought their lunch, refilled Jarod's tea, and glanced toward Daisy's margarita.

   "She didn't flirt," Jarod whispered.

   Daisy leaned forward and whispered back, "You lost your chance when you didn't flirt back with her the first time. Now she's got a tattooed fellow in a corner booth who's probably going to get lucky later this afternoon."

   Jarod cut into his steak. "Win some. Lose some. Am I going to get lucky this afternoon?"

   "I don't think so, cowboy," Daisy said. "Not unless you play up to the hostess who seated us. You might get to see all of that Tweety bird if you wink at her."

   "You wouldn't be jealous?" he asked.

   "Of course I'd be jealous. I'm supposed to be the next bride."

   "For real, Daisy. Would you be jealous of me with

another woman?"

   She thought about it. Hell yes, she would, but what good would it do her? Finally she nodded, honestly.

   He grinned. "Me too."

   "I don't intend to make a play for another woman," she said.

   "You know exactly what I'm talking about," he said.

   "Dessert?" the waitress asked.

   "I'd have to put it in my pocket. Daisy, you want something? I can vouch for their cheesecake," Jarod said.

   She shook her head.

   "Then I'll leave this and you can take care of it when you are ready." She placed a small folder with the bill inside on the edge of the table.

   "What's my half?" Daisy asked.

   "My treat." Jarod quickly shoved several bills into the folder.

   "Does that make this a date?"

   "Only if I get a kiss at the end of it."

   "Then it's not a date," she said. She'd just eaten a plate of grilled onions and couldn't imagine anyone wanting to kiss her with that breath.

   Halfway back to Palo Pinto she asked, "So have you been to Mexico?"

   He nodded.

   "Where's the prettiest place you've ever been?"

   "Home in Oklahoma and right behind that is Montana. I went up there to a big cattle sale last fall. Bought a bull. It's Angus."

   She smiled. "Who went with you?"

   "No one. Daisy, it's been three years since the last

woman I was involved with broke our engagement. It's not like I was engaged three times in six months. The first time I was twenty-two and right out of college. The second time I was twenty-seven. The third time I was thirty-two. She was employed by the university in Stillwater and got a job opportunity in New York. She wanted me to give up ranching and move there. Can't you just see that?"

   With his looks and Texas drawl he could charm the hair off a frog's ass anywhere in the world. Those cute little business types in high heels and cute little suits wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell against his sex appeal. But he would have been miserable outside ranch life.

   "So your family trusted you with the bank account to buy a bull but they don't trust you in matters of the heart?"

   "It wasn't their bank account. It was mine and the bull is mine but I did buy a few head of stock for them while I was there," he said.

   "And?"

   He nosed her car in beside his truck across the street from the courthouse. The distance from Palo Pinto to Mineral Wells was more than twenty miles but the time had gone by so fast he wanted to turn around and go back so he and Daisy could talk some more. "And it doesn't matter what they think when it comes to matters of the heart. Here we are. Margarita settled enough you can drive home, or do I need to follow you?"

   "Honey, I might have some Indian blood that don't hold liquor worth a damn, but the other half is Irish and I could drink you under the table any day of the week if

push came to shove," she said.

   They got out and started around the front of the Maverick. He headed toward his pickup and she was on the way to the driver's side. When they passed, he grabbed her around the waist and twirled her around to face him. His gaze locked with hers and he shut his eyes as he leaned in for the kiss.

   She rolled up on her toes to make it easier.

   He tasted onions and the after-effects of tequila mixed together and the combination was as heady as the kiss. He ran his tongue over her lower lip to get one more sample before he moved his mouth around to her neck and inhaled the sweet aroma of her hair.

   "I guess it is a date since I got a kiss. See you later." He sped off before she could collect her bearings enough to get into her car.

   When her vision cleared and she could see something other than his sexy face and gray eyes, she noticed two elderly ladies were sitting on a bench in front of the bank not five feet from her.

   "You lettin' that get away?" one asked.

   "Not for long," Daisy answered.

   "I wouldn't have let him go for a minute if I was your age, especially with times being like they are today. In my time, a woman couldn't kiss a man like that on Main Street less they was loose-legged. I was always kinda jealous of them loose-legged ones, wasn't you, Ruth?"

   Ruth had lilac hair that kinked all over her head and wrinkles upon wrinkles, but her blue eyes sparkled when she said, "God, yes, I was jealous. We were both born fifty years too soon, Arabelle. We'da been hellcats even more than we was. Why, you remember

that time when—"

   "Bye now," Daisy said and left them to reminisce about the time when they'd been a little naughty. She drove back to the Honky Tonk wishing she could be a hell of a lot more naughty without a guilty conscience afterwards.

The beer joint was busy that night, but without Chigger and Jim Bob things were unusually calm. A few truckers stopped by and Merle came in to beat Joe Bob at pool. Around nine thirty a party of six preppies came in, wearing their pleated slacks and sports jackets. They sat at a table and ordered two pitchers of margaritas.

   "Patron?" Daisy asked.

   "José is fine," one said. "What's your name? You available for some after-hour fun?" one asked.

   "See that big old boy sittin' back there in the shadows beside the door?" Daisy pointed.

   The cockiest of the group asked, "What's he got to do with anything?"

   "You ask me anything like that again and he will throw your ass out the door."

   "Hey, lady, we just saw the sign on the highway and stopped for a drink. We didn't come in here lookin' for trouble. We just want a few drinks, maybe a dance or two with the ladies, and we'll be on our way. Apologize to the lady, Shawn," one of the others said.

   "Sorry, ma'am. I was out of line." Shawn blushed.

   "Apology accepted. Enjoy your evening," she said.

   "What was that all about?" Cathy asked when she

made it back to the bar.

"Newcomers. Thought I was a hooker," Daisy said.

"Set 'em straight?"

   "Yes, I did. You want to make a few extra dollars tonight?" Daisy teased.

   "Not me. I'm sworn off men forever. I'm going to be like Ruby and go out in a blaze of glory. Then all the men I've known can come and weep over my dead body," Cathy said.

   "I'll weep over either of you," Billy Bob said from the end of the bar.

   "Good. We got our first mourner, but darlin', you're going to be so old when the time comes for weeping that you won't remember how to cry," Cathy said.

   Merle came through the door and Joe Bob signaled Daisy for two draft Coors and carried them to the nearest pool table. Merle opened her fancy cue stick case and chalked it, took a long pull off the beer, and told Joe Bob he'd best get ready to lose.

   Billy Bob nodded toward the middle of the floor. "Here comes the competition."

   Jarod chose a stool in the middle of the bar so he could be close enough to talk to Daisy no matter where she was working. "Evenin', Daisy."

   "Jarod."

   "Beer, please," he said. Daisy was a classy woman even in jeans and a sweater. She'd never let on in public that they'd been wrapped up together naked more than once. More and more she was showing him all her sides and he liked every one. A classy wife in public. A hellcat in the bedroom. A fine cook in the kitchen.

   Wife? The word stopped him in his thought process.

"Comin' right up."

   "Hey, could we get a couple more pitchers of margaritas?" Shawn asked from the stool next to Jarod's.

   "Cathy, you want to make them? José Quervo."

   "Aww, shucks. You boys ain't had a decent one until you try Patron," Cathy said.

   "Can't afford that high-dollar stuff," Shawn said. "What's your name?"

   "I'm Cathy and the one who you offended earlier is Daisy. And honey, if you think Patron is high-dollar, you could never afford either of us."

   Shawn smiled. "I ain't sayin' a word."

   "You're a quick learner." Cathy mixed up two more pitchers of margaritas, took his money, and made change.

   "Who offended you?" Jarod asked.

   Daisy quickly said, "It was nothing. Boys hadn't been here before. Thought they could roust up some afterhours entertainment. We straightened it out real fast. Didn't even have to involve Tinker."

   "You don't belong in a bar," Jarod said.

   She set a jar of beer in front of him. "Oh, I don't? Then where do I belong?"

   He held out a hand. "Want to dance?"

   "I'm working, Jarod. I don't dance with the customers."

   Billy Bob slid into the space Shawn had vacated. "Ain't no use in beggin' her. I been doin' that ever since the first night she went to work for Ruby. She don't dance with customers and men folks do not ever go behind that door back there into her house. Must be something awful damn important."

   "You got that right," Cathy whispered. "What's back there isn't for male eyeballs to look upon. If you ever saw it, you'd go stone cold blind."

   "Aw, come on," Billy Bob said.

   Cathy crossed her heart with her hand. "Truth. Swear it."

   "She tellin' the truth, Daisy?" Jarod asked.

   "What do you think?"

   "I was only in the living room and kitchen. Is the blinding stuff in the bedroom?" Jarod asked.

   Billy Bob narrowed his eyes and glared at Jarod. "You rat. You got to go in there after less than a month and I been tryin' to sneak in all these years."

   "Did you offer to take her to a cattle sale?" Jarod asked.

   "That ain't the way to sweet-talk a woman! Cattle sale! I offered to take her on an Alaskan cruise or anywhere in the whole world for a week." Billy Bob pouted.

   Daisy swiped at the bar in front of them. "Drink your beer and stop talking about me. I'm not going anywhere with either of you."

   Jarod lowered his chin and looked up at her.

   "Don't look at me like that. I'm not!"

   Billy Bob poked him on the shoulder. "See, we're both wastin' our time. Cathy, darlin', would you invite me back into the apartment?"

   "You want to go blind?" she asked.

   "Maybe just in one eye," he said.

   Cathy laughed and kept working. She wouldn't risk losing what she had for all the Billy Bobs in the world. Now, if Jarod was up for grabs she might reconsider that risk. However, that man had eyes for only one woman in the Tonk and that was Daisy. Matter of fact, it was pretty damn plain that he had eyes for only one woman in the state of Texas and that was Daisy too. The way he'd picked her up and carried her to the barn out on the ranch was so sweet and romantic it brought a tear to Cathy's eye.

   Cathy's man would come along someday, like Jarod had. He'd appear on a bar stool in the Tonk and she'd feel that special feeling down deep in her gut. Only difference was that when Cathy got her lightning bolt she intended to chase it to the ends of the earth rather than refusing to admit how she felt.

   "Hey Cathy, get that customer on the far end," Daisy said.

   "Sure thing." Cathy came back to the real world with a jolt.

   Jarod sipped his beer, making it last as long as possible, listened to country music blaring from the new jukebox, and watched Joe Bob lose three games to Merle and win one finally. At ten thirty a bunch of women came in, ordered a pitcher of hurricanes, and sat at the table next to the preppie guys. Before midnight the tight fitting jeans ladies had the preppies on the dance floor teaching them to line dance to Garth Brooks songs.

   Daisy made her way to his barstool and asked, "So you ready for another beer?"

   "No, I'm on a one beer limit. My friend taught me that trick today," he said.

   "So your friend got a name?" she asked.

   "Name is Daisy. Pretty woman. Wears her dark hair kinda long and has amazing eyes and legs that go from earth to heaven. I'll have to introduce you to her sometime. I'm taking her on a date Sunday," he flirted. Billy Bob slapped the bar. "Well, I'll be damned. You got to go in the apartment and you got a real date with her too."