Sugar Plums for Dry Creek & At Home in Dry Creek (6 page)

Lizette laughed. “All you really need is something to make the holes. Oh, and a Dutch oven, of course, un less you have a deep fryer.”

Charley took a bite out of his dough nut and started to purr. “I could put in an extra practice session this afternoon if you want.”

“I don't think that will be necessary,” Lizette said. “But if that's a hint that you'd like a second dough nut, you can have one any way.”

“Ah, well, then,” Charley said as he took an other bite out of his dough nut. “Too bad the boys over at the hard ware store don't know you're giving these to your students. They'd be signed up in no time.”

Judd stopped eating his dough nut. He'd just looked out the window and had seen several of the ranch hands from the Elkton place go into the hard ware store. He supposed it was too optimistic to think they'd come to town to buy nails.

“Well, I could take the tray over to the hard ware store,” Lizette said as she looked out the window in her studio and into the big window in the hard ware store. “We certainly won't be able to eat all of these dough nuts, and we do need a few more dancers to do the Nutcracker.”

“Jacob would appreciate a dough nut,” Charley
said. “He's been eating his own cooking for weeks now.”

“Why don't you go get Jacob and invite him over,” Judd suggested. So far the hard ware store door was still shut. Maybe the cow boys really had come in for nails. “Just don't tell him there's dough nuts here.”

“I know how to keep a secret,” Charley said as he slowly stood up. “Although the pastor might want a dough nut, too, and I wouldn't feel right over looking those two little boys of his if they're there.”

“Oh, please invite the children,” Lizette said. “I heard the pastor had two boys. I just haven't had a chance to invite them to ballet class yet.”

“I'm not sure you'll want them in your class,” Charley said doubt fully. “They have a tendency to be hard on the furniture.”

“That's perfect then, because I don't have any furniture—at least not in the practice area,” Lizette said. So far she had just fixed up the main room in her building. The building had been a grocery store years ago, and it had a nice back room with a kitchen area that she was using as a small apartment for her self. “And if they're the kind of boys that like to move a lot, I'll just make them be mice.”

Amanda giggled. “You can't turn boys into mice.”

“Oh, yes, I can,” Lizette said as she tousled Amanda's hair. “If I can turn a little girl into the Sugar Plum
Fairy, I can turn little boys into mice or snow flakes or flowers.”

“I'd rather be a mouse than a flower,” Bobby said.

“Well, we'll see,” Lizette said as her hand rested on Bobby's head, too. “Maybe you can even be something more exciting than either one.”

Judd wasn't so sure about Lizette's powers to turn little boys into mice, but watching her casual affection with the children sure turned him into something else.

“I'm surprised you don't have children,” Judd said. “Of your own, I mean.”

Lizette looked up at him. “I do hope to have children some day.”

Judd could only nod. He didn't really even have any good reason to feel so disappointed. Of course she wanted children. She had to be ten years younger than him, which would only make her twenty-three or twenty-four. A woman like her would want the whole family thing.

Judd didn't know where the thought had come from in the past few days that maybe he could marry if he just limited him self to a wife and didn't think of children. Children were what made a family any way. He wouldn't have a clue about how to be a father. Sure, he'd got ten along fine with Bobby and Amanda. But they weren't like other kids. They'd been fright
ened so badly that they clung to him for safety. If he hadn't been there, they would have clung to that stray dog of his as long as the dog de fended them from their night mares.

Other children would expect more. No, a man like him had no business thinking about raising children. Maybe some day he'd meet a woman who didn't want to have children either, and the two of them could marry.

Suddenly the dough nut Judd was eating didn't taste so good. It was too bad about Lizette.

L
izette heard the sound of boots crunching in the snow. Lots of boots.

“Better hide those dough nuts,” Charley said as he stood and looked out the window. “Another couple of pick ups from the Elkton ranch are parked in front of the hard ware store. Wonder when they got here.”

“It's too late,” Judd said. He'd eaten the last of his dough nut, and he pushed his chair away from the table.

The door to the ballet school was closed, and there were a dozen knocks on it all at the same time. Lizette could see, just by looking out the side window, that a lot of men were standing on her porch.

“I don't sup pose they want to sign up for class,” Lizette said as she stood to go to the door.

“No, I can't imagine they want to be mice,” Judd agreed.

Lizette looked over her shoulder at the platter of dough nuts she had on the table. It still had five doughnuts on it. She had the rest of the dough nuts in the back room.

She opened the door and saw a sea of cow boy hats nod at her. “Come in.”

“Thank you, ma'am,” the man who stepped over the thresh old first said.

“My, it does smell like heaven in here,” the second man said as he walked into the room.

Each man who stepped into the room craned his neck to see the dough nuts sitting on the platter that was on the table. There was a black mat next to the door, but none of the ranch hands paused to let their wet feet dry there.

“We just stopped by to say a neighborly hello,” one of the cow boys said as he craned his neck to look around her at the dough nuts.

“That's nice,” Lizette said. She decided that if they didn't notice her standing there, it was fu tile to point out the black mat. Besides, the mat wouldn't make much difference. If a couple of men stopped to let their boots dry, the others would just keep the door open and the floor would eventually get wet any way. In addition, the air in the room would be cold.

“The dough nuts are for the ballet students,” Charley said be fore any one could carry the conversation further. Then he sat back down at the table. “And
for the men who have been guarding the school, of course.”

Several of the older men stepped for ward through the pack of cow boys.

“We're the guards,” Jacob said as he stepped forward. Two other older men followed him. “We've been keeping a watch out the windows for strangers.”

“That ain't a fair way to decide who gets the dough nuts—they haven't had to do any thing but sit where they al ways sit,” one of the cow boys said be fore he turned to Lizette and swept off his hat. “Begging your par don, miss. I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting you. My name's Pete Denning. The boys and I heard you were making dough nuts. What a fine thing to do on such a nice day.”

Judd could see that the longer Pete talked to Lizette, the less concerned he'd be come about the dough nuts. By the time the man had stopped introducing him self, he had a grin on his face that Judd would wager had nothing to do with baked goods.

“Of course, I'm not asking for any dough nuts for my self,” Pete continued, confirming Judd's suspicions. “I just wanted to come over and see if I could do any chores for you—you know, something to welcome you to Dry Creek.”

Judd grunted. “She's probably got some dishes to wash now that she's made the dough nuts.”

Pete's smile wavered. “I was thinking more along the lines of chop ping fire wood or something. You know, one of those chores that single women need a man to help them out with.”

“I have an electric stove,” Lizette said. “And the dishes are all done. All I need is some one to dance for me.”

Pete's smile brightened. “I can do that.”

“She means the ballet,” Charley muttered from where he sat at the table. “She's not talking about line dancing or any thing fun.”

“She's not?” Pete looked at Lizette. “You're sure? There's a place in Miles City that sets up a mean line dance.”

“What place is that?” Jacob asked as he joined Charley at the table. “You're not thinking of the senior center, are you?”

“No, I'm not thinking of the senior center. How romantic would that be? No, I've got my own kind of places,” Pete said.

“In Miles City?” Charley asked. “What kind of places are there that we don't all know about?”

There was a moment of tense silence.

“Thanksgiving is al most here, and that's no time for quarreling,” Jacob finally said. “It's a time for lighting our candles at church in stead.” Jacob turned and ad dressed his words to Lizette. “That's been the tradition here since be fore the town started. Everyone
lights a candle and says why they're grateful. It helps us all be thankful for what we've got.”

“What we've got right now is dough nuts,” one of the older men said as Lizette started passing the plate of dough nuts to the men who were the regulars in the hard ware store. The man who spoke took a maple dough nut off the plate. “And I'm sure enough grateful for having one.”

“I have more in back, so there's enough for everyone,” Lizette said as the plate made its way around.

By now all of the cow boys were standing with their hats off. Lizette knew she should say something about going back to wipe their wet boots, but she didn't have the heart. They were all gazing at her with hope in their eyes, looking more like little boys than grown men.

Lizette went into the back room and brought out an other full tray of dough nuts. She had a row of chocolate frosted ones, a row of powdered dough nuts, a few jelly ones, a row of apple ones and a section of maple bars. She'd even shaken red and green sprinkles over a couple of sugar-glazed dough nuts just to see what they'd look like when Christmas came. She was al most glad the ranch hands had stopped by. What would she have done with all of these doughnuts otherwise?

The men all sighed when Lizette carried the full tray over to where they stood.

“Of course, these dough nuts are to help advertise my ballet classes.” Lizette felt she did owe it to herself to say that much as several hands reached for dough nuts. “And, remember, no one is too old for ballet.”

One cow boy who was still reaching stopped with his hand mid way to the dough nut. “We don't need to do this ballet stuff if we take one, do we?”

Another ranch hand who had al ready taken a bite of his dough nut sighed. “It would be worth it if we did.”

“No, you don't need to sign up,” Lizette said. Half of the dough nuts were al ready gone from the tray. She looked around and saw that every one had a dough nut. “You could help by spreading the word though. We're hoping to do the Nutcracker ballet be fore Christmas, and I still need a minimum of five more students.”

“The pastor has twin boys that are about six years old,” Pete Denning said as he licked his fingers. He'd had a jelly dough nut from the plate earlier and was now eyeing the tray. “I think the pastor went to get them when we heard about the dough nuts.”

“Well, we'll have to save some dough nuts for them then,” Lizette said as she turned to take the tray out of the room.

“They might not want dough nuts,” Pete said as he saw Lizette turn to leave.

Judd snorted. At least
he
knew kids better than that.

Pete heard him. “Well, maybe they'll want a dough nut, but their mother might not let them have one since it's so close to lunch time and she'll be worried they won't eat their vegetables.”

Judd flinched. He probably shouldn't have let Bobby and Amanda have dough nuts, either. This being a parent seemed to have lots of rules that he didn't know. He looked over at the two kids. They both had frosting on their chins and happy gleams in their eyes. It was likely they wouldn't want lunch.

Judd doubted the kids would eat any vegetables either if he put any in front of them at this point. He'd have to be sure they took a vitamin pill when they got home. He'd bought a big jar of children's vitamins when Bobby and Amanda first came. He didn't want his cousin to accuse him of stunting her kids' growth when she came to pick them up.

He wondered if he should take the kids to the dentist, too. When did kids start going to the dentist anyway?

Just then some one knocked on the door.

Lizette started to walk to ward the door, but one of the ranch hands opened it be fore she got there.

Mrs. Hargrove came into the room and looked around with surprise showing on her face. Or at least what Judd could see of her face seemed to show sur
prise. The older woman had a red wool scarf wrapped around her neck, and she started to un wind it. She was wearing a long pink parka with a green gingham house dress under it. Her gray hair was clipped back with a red barrette. Mrs. Hargrove was al ways colorful.

“You must have got ten the news then?” Mrs. Hargrove said as she looked around the room. She still stood on the small black mat that was be side the door. “Looks like I'm interrupting the celebration. Sheriff Wall al ways did say the rumor line beat the phone line in this part of the country any day.”

“What news?” Judd asked since she seemed to be looking at him.

“They're just here for the dough nuts,” Charley said as he jerked his head at the ranch hands. “They didn't bring any thing but their appetites with them.”

Mrs. Hargrove looked over at the group of cowboys and frowned. “Don't tell me you came to beg dough nuts off of Lizette when she's hardly even settled in yet? What's she going to think of us?”

“Oh, that's all right,” Lizette said. “I'd al ready made the dough nuts when they came.”

“Still, these boys know better than to come in and eat up your food supplies like this. What if you were on short rations your self?” Mrs. Hargrove looked at the men. “I'll bet each of you have been short a time or two in your lives.”

“They're only dough nuts,” Lizette said.

“No, she's right, Miss,” Pete said as he pulled a dollar bill out of his pocket. “We sure don't expect you to feed us with out get ting something in return for it.”

Pete put the dollar bill on the tray where the powdered dough nuts had been. He hadn't even finished put ting the bill there be fore a dozen other bills joined the one he had placed there. She even saw a five dollar bill sticking out. There must be twenty dollars there.

“You really don't need to—” Lizette pro tested.

“We're happy to do it, Miss,” Pete said. “Those were real fine dough nuts.”

“The best I've ever eaten,” an other man said.

“I'd be willing to buy a whole tray of them if you want to make them,” an other man said. “It's my turn to bring something to eat when the guys get together on Friday night in the bunk house.”

“Well, I guess I could make an other batch,” Lizette said. Now that she had the Dutch oven for the oil, all she would need was a few more eggs.

“I'll pay you a dollar a dough nut,” the man said.

“Oh, that's too much,” Lizette said. She could use the extra in come, but she didn't want to over charge her new neighbors. “Especially if you buy a few dozen.”

“It's worth it to me, Miss,” the man said. “Last
time it was my turn to bring the dessert, I tried to make an angel food cake my self.”

“It came out flatter than a pan cake,” an other man said as he gave Lizette a pleading look. “You'd be doing us all a favor if you let him buy the doughnuts. We ended up eating crackers the last time he was in charge of refreshments. And even those were stale.”

“Well, all right,” Lizette said. “But you'll get a bulk discount on the price. How does eight dollars a dozen sound?”

Lizette knew that was some where between what a dough nut shop and a bakery would charge for a dozen dough nuts.

“You've got your self a deal,” the man said.

“So you don't know the news?” Mrs. Hargrove said now that she had un wound her scarf and finished scraping her shoes on the black mat. “About the—” Mrs. Hargrove stopped and looked at the children. “Well, the news will keep for a little bit I guess—what with the kids here.”

“Are there some more kids who are going to be in the ballet?” Amanda asked Mrs. Hargrove. “We need more kids.”

Judd watched as Mrs. Hargrove bent down until she was on the same eye level as Amanda. Judd could see why the older woman was such a popular Sunday-school teacher. She smiled at Amanda.

“I heard you're going to be the Sugar Plum Fairy,” Mrs. Hargrove said.

Amanda's eyes shone as she nodded her head. “And I get to wear the fairy-princess dress. Want to see it?”

“Why don't you ask your teacher if you can bring it over and show it to me?” Mrs. Hargrove said.

Amanda ran over to talk to Lizette.

Judd wondered if Mrs. Hargrove was going to invite him to church again. He al most hoped so. He could use an excuse to talk with the older woman some more. She seemed to know all about children and she could probably answer some of his questions—like was Amanda too old to still suck her thumb occasionally and, even if she was, was it better to just let her be or should he try to do something about it?

He wondered what the news was that Mrs. Hargrove had come over to tell. Maybe she'd just heard that they were taking precautions to be sure the children's father didn't come near them. If that was it, he could put her mind at ease. “Jacob and Charley have been keeping the streets of Dry Creek safe. Well, technically, the
street
of Dry Creek.”

There was just one main street that ran through the town.

“I understand you have been keeping watch, too,” Mrs. Hargrove said with a nod to Judd. She then looked
down at Bobby. “And I expect you have a little helper here.”

Bobby smiled up at the woman. “We're guarding the ballet.”

“So you're in the ballet, too,” Mrs. Hargrove said with an approving nod. “What part are you going to play?”