Talk of the Town (9 page)

“She used to teach art at the high school, before her children were born. She and Hank lost their firstborn son to meningitis. You can see how precious Sam was to them. He was next born after that loss.”

Myrtle kept up her pace. She was truly a gossip factory. “They built the medical center as a remembrance to their lost baby, then replaced it ten years ago with the new center. She raised funds for that first center like a woman possessed. I think she transferred her grief into fund-raising. Of course, if there had been a proper medical center here before, her first baby might have lived.”

“My goodness, how do you know so much about them?” Kelly asked.

Myrtle struck a familiar Bette Davis pose with one hand on her hip. “Darlin’, what else do women in a small town do but talk and gossip to their hairdresser?”

“Where did they get all that money in the first place?” Kelly asked.

“Sam’s granddaddy was a banker,” Fred said, “He made some good land deals. They managed through the Depression pretty well. He must have stashed his own money in a mattress instead of at his bank. Most likely he saw it coming and ducked.”

Kelly felt a chill tingle over her at the thought of money stashed under the bed. Myrtle looked at her funny.

“Well, that’s enough gossip for today, ladies. My nine iron needs a warm-up, and so do I.” Fred leaned over and gave Myrtle a kiss, then took Kelly’s hand in his and looked into her face.

“You’re a wonderful gal, Kelly. Sam would be lucky to have you,” he said.

“Thank you, Fred.” Kelly smiled. She wished she could believe it herself.

As Fred left, Kelly walked slowly upstairs and drew herself a hot bath in the claw-footed tub. Tiredness seeped into her, despite the nap. She slipped out of her clothes and let them fall in a heap on the floor. The tub filled, and she added a few capfuls of lavender-scented oil.

She stepped into the bath and sank into the warmth. Kelly drifted into the feeling of Sam’s arms around her.

Paradise had
so much
to give her.
Sam
had so
much to give her. How did she even get to that thought? She’d come here a week ago to hide out. She’d come straight from a wedding. She sure hadn’t planned on getting involved with anyone.

Kelly pulled Myrtle’s sea sponge into the bath, then set it on her forehead, letting the hot water drip over her closed eyes.

If she wanted Sam, or Paradise, or both, somehow she was going to have to set it all straight.

Tomorrow she would make some calls and figure out exactly what Raymond was up to, and whether he went on the honeymoon without her. It would help speed up the divorce if she could tell Sam exactly where he was. Divorce? Heck, they were only married three hours before she knocked him out and bolted; she could probably have Sam get the whole thing annulled.

Monday morning she’d call Caroline Prosser. Caroline was the closest thing to a good friend she had in L.A. She’d tell Sam what she found out afterward.

Caroline could find out where Raymond was. He might have already filed for divorce himself and done that thing where he published it in the paper. And even if he hadn’t, she could be a free, unmarried woman in, what, ninety days?

A slow smile spread over Kelly’s face, and she sank deeper into the water, returning to her more
pleasant thoughts of Sam’s arms around her and his fabulous kisses. Yes, that man could kiss the socks off a schoolmarm.

At five o’clock a delivery boy came to the door carrying boxes from Duncan’s Western Wear. He handed Kelly several large packages and grinned nervously as he waited for a tip, eyeing Kelly in her bathrobe.

Kelly scrounged in the bottom of her purse and came up with $2.50 in change.

Seeming pleased, the boy said, “Thanks, ma’am,” and ran off.

He acted like that was probably the largest tip he had ever received. You’re not in L.A. anymore, Dorothy, she realized.

She found Myrtle, and together they ripped into the brown-paper-wrapped boxes like kids. Inside one was a beautiful turquoise Western shirt with white embroidery and silver decorations.

Another box held the hat to match, and the third box had a pair of turquoise boots trimmed in silver and white.

Inside one of the boots they found a gray felt jewelry box. Kelly opened it and took out a stunning turquoise and silver necklace, very tasteful, not too gaudy, and a pair of earrings to match.

“My, my, my. Sam sure does know how to treat
a lady,” Myrtle said. She held the shirt up to Kelly’s front. “This is a wonderful color on you.”

“It is beautiful, but do people actually dress like this? We aren’t in Texas, you know.” Kelly giggled.

“Well, normally we don’t get too gussied up in Paradise, so my guess is you are going to the Grant County Fair and Rodeo, dear. It’s about forty miles east of here. You better hurry up, now. Sam seems to be the prompt type.”

“Okay. Let’s get me all gussied up.”

Racing upstairs, Kelly got the basics on with her own jeans and called Myrtle up for inspection. The boots fit like a glove—thank goodness, because her feet weren’t used to much but Keds and sandals lately. The slim boot toes reminded her of the ten pairs of Charles Jordan high heels she’d left behind in Raymond’s L.A. closet.

God, she missed those shoes. There were some benefits in working in the wholesale garment market, and getting wholesale prices from the shoe rep was definitely one of them. When she got the divorce she would ask for her shoes back.

“Looks like it was made for you.” Myrtle primped the shirt collar and turned Kelly to the full-length mirror.

“I look like Annie Oakley!” Kelly laughed at her reflection. “I can’t actually wear this, can I?”

“You’ll be the queen of the rodeo. You can bor
row my old six-shooter if you like. It has no bullets, but it looks scary. That ought to keep Sam in line.”

“That’s assuming I want to keep him in line.” Kelly winked, and they both elbowed each other.

“
All
young men need keeping in line in my opinion, including Sam Grayson.” Myrtle smiled and helped Kelly fasten the silver necklace around her neck. They stood back for the full effect.

Myrtle reached over and took one of Kelly’s hands. “Just be kind to yourself, sweet cakes, and don’t let anyone treat you badly. You get to choose now. You’re a grown woman, not a child who has no say in how she is treated.” Myrtle gave Kelly a big hug.

“Quit it, you’re going to make me cry again,” Kelly said.

Myrtle pulled a Kleenex out of her pocket and wiped Kelly’s misty eyes.

“Then my makeup will run all over my face, and Sam will run away when he opens the door. You can only do that to a new man once.”

The doorbell rang on cue, and the two women raced downstairs like wild kids. Kelly took a deep breath and swung the door open.

There stood Sam, handsome as the devil in his Western duds. He was all in tan, with a dark brown suede jacket, brown boots, and hat. He
tipped his hat back on his head and held out a bouquet of white roses and daisies.

“You look good enough to ride sidesaddle on my favorite horse, Wild Hair. These are for you, ma’am,” he offered.

“That is the second person that called me ma’am today. Am I looking matronly? Don’t answer that. And you don’t really have a horse out there, do you, Sam?” Kelly peered over his shoulder, half-expecting to see a couple of horses tied up waiting. “Because I don’t do horse, Sam Grayson.”

“Just horsepower. Excuse me, Myrtle, she needs kissing.” Sam took off Kelly’s hat for a minute. Myrtle pretended to look away, but watched out of the corner of her eye as Sam gathered Kelly up and kissed her good.

“Mmm, thank you for the wonderful…presents, Sam,” Kelly said breathlessly. She stepped back and steadied herself, somewhat embarrassed to be kissed in front of Myrtle. She took her hat back and popped it on her head.

“Okay, cowboy. Let’s hit the road. We have a rodeo to get to.”

“How’d you guess?” Sam kidded.

Myrtle sang “Happy Trails” after them.

Sam drove the Chevy straight down the east highway to a place that glowed in the dark called the Starlight Diner. It looked like a railroad car,
but Sam gave her a diner history lesson. He said most railcar diners were actually built to look like they rode the rails, but they never really did.

He almost had to drag her out of the truck in her turquoise duds, but oddly enough, the place was filled with people similarly attired. Kelly felt absolutely tame after seeing a few gold lamé Western outfits on some middle-aged ladies with big, big hair.

Even so, Sam and Kelly turned every head in the joint. Man, she’d love to know what stories people were making up about the two of them.

Sam was attentive and polite. He didn’t order onions and didn’t fawn too much. But she felt constant eyes on them.

It’s hard to bite into a double cheeseburger with everything but onions while you’re being stared at. She did it anyway, because she was starved. Kelly hadn’t eaten since the early-morning picnic Sam had provided. She washed it down with the best chocolate shake she’d had in her life. Once again, even the outskirts of Paradise provided her with fabulous food.

A real live Wurlitzer jukebox played country music. “I Fall to Pieces” came on; Kelly thought that only Patsy Cline could sing it that good. Kelly was done falling to pieces. Now she was going to pick them up and put herself together. Whatever that looked like.

If that included Sam, that was great. If not, they were still her pieces. She’d have to guard her heart against the obvious Grayson charms until she knew for sure he wasn’t just playing some game. Maybe he liked edgy girls from big cities with problems. The gossip on his Philly fiancée pointed to that.

Or maybe Sam Grayson made his parents nuts by dallying with bad girls. Seemed like he was a little old for that sort of thing, but it was a well-established fact in Kelly’s book of knowledge that men never grew up. It was only a matter of what age they stuck at: two or seventeen or thirty.

Question was, was she a bad girl? She’d come from bad, but more of a mess-bad than real-bad. She’d always kept to one relationship at a time, and really, those were few and far between. Sure, she’d lived with Raymond for a few years, but she did decide to marry him finally. Dumb as that was.

Kelly straightened herself up and looked Sam in the eye across the table of the booth. If she’d lived a bad life, that life was over. Paradise was going to give her a new life. She slurped the rest of her milk shake down to the dregs.

“So, did Paradise fall under a curse back in 1955 and just get stuck there forever, or have we time-traveled into the Starlight Diner? When we
leave the city limits are we never going to find Paradise again? Will it vanish in the mist?”

“I know the way back.” Sam stirred his coffee.

“Back from time travel, from curse, or from the rodeo?”

“All of the above. Want a bite of pie? Blackberry-blueberry. Starlight special.”

“I’m willing to try anything.” Kelly stabbed her fork in Sam’s pie and hauled out a big hunk.

Sam slipped his hand warmly into hers on the way out the door. “They’ll get used to it pretty soon, Kelly. I intend to be seen with you in all the best greasy spoons, if you’re willing.”

When they got to the pickup, he pulled her closer and pressed her up against the side of the truck. She kissed him lightly across his lips.

“Let’s give ’em something to talk about,” he said.

“Happy to oblige, cowboy,”

He took off his hat, then hers, and set them on the hood. He kissed her deeply, softly, and passionately, all at once. Their bodies melded together. She was warm and so full of desire, and she surrendered to his kiss like she had the night before, for the first time today. That made him hot for her all over again. Sam pulled back and looked into her eyes. He leaned close to her ear.

“I’d like to get to know you much more, Kelly Atwood-Applebee. Let’s take a drive to the rodeo,
and you can tell me all your secrets. You tell me yours, I’ll tell you mine.”

Sam just hoped she didn’t have too many more secrets. He was still wrestling with the ones she’d already told him.

Back in the Chevy, driving toward the Grant County Fair and Rodeo, Sam listened to Kelly talk about how she wanted to settle herself down and the dream she’d always had about a perfect town, just like in the movies. How she knew you weren’t supposed to say stuff like that to a guy, but he’d asked, and she might as well get it over with so he could bolt if he didn’t like what he heard. That made him laugh, considering it was she who was most likely to bolt.

She talked about houses, and her white-farm-house-with-the-red-and-white-kitchen fantasy. They talked about art, about wanting to go to Italy and Paris and see the museums.

He told her he had a minor in art history, and she told him she secretly wanted to try painting someday.

Sam was listening. She talked like she wanted to stay put, but he still wasn’t sure. He
was
really enjoying her company.

When he’d picked her up at the Hen House there had been a sense of distance in her. Like she’d put up the safety circle again. It bothered him that she sometimes took two steps back
ward with her emotions when he got too close. Too close to some old pain, probably.

Kelly was strong, though. She was a clear thinker, and he liked that. She was passionate, and he liked that, too. He was listening, but he could smell the faint scent of lavender, and his body and mind drifted into the desire that was burning inside him, the desire to make love to this strong yet fragile woman.

Sam could see the lights of a Ferris wheel and hear the announcements over the rodeo loudspeaker in the distance. He’d managed to convince Kelly to appear in public in her Annie Oakley duds once again, and they hiked from their distant parking spot holding hands, into the crowded fair, together.

The night was warm. He was with a very beautiful woman who turned into a kid as soon as they crossed the gate into the Grant County Fair and Rodeo.

First, Kelly made a beeline for the caramel corn and bought a huge bag to share with Sam, then Sam took her to the 4-H tents full of prize pigs and chickens. Kelly took a liking to the
strange speckled breeds with fancy topknots and decided she would have chickens someday to complement the white farmhouse.

Sam watched the pleasure on Kelly’s face. She actually squealed with delight over the lambs and again over a handmade quilt. He slipped the quilt maker’s card in his pocket when she wasn’t looking. Maybe someday he’d wrap her up naked in patchwork.

It wasn’t often a man got to see his date get really excited over small things. His life to this point contained jaded women who stayed cool and unruffled at all times.
Jaded
was such an old word for young women, and Kelly, for all her hard knocks, was not jaded.

At the arts and crafts tent Sam bought Kelly a painting of black and white chickens since she couldn’t have a real one at Myrtle’s.

Then they headed for the beer garden, where folks were dancing to polka music. The ladies wore dresses with huge petticoats. The men wore string ties.

After one beer, Sam convinced Kelly to polka with him. They swirled around the dance floor, Kelly following as best as a greenhorn could. The music ended, and they started back to the table, laughing hard from her lame attempts to two-step.

“Where the heck did you learn to polka, Sam?”

“It’s a required subject at Paradise High. That and animal husbandry.”

“Polka 101. Did you get an A? Of course you did.”

Sam stopped dead in his tracks, and Kelly ran right into his back.

“Ow!” she said, still laughing.

“Sorry,” he apologized, but she noticed he had stopped laughing. He took her arm and walked her back to their table rather quickly. She sat down and looked at him.

“What’s up, Sam?” she asked, but Sam didn’t have time to answer. A tall, slender blonde was standing right in front of them with a look on her face that explained Sam’s reaction—Lynnette.

“Sam Grayson. Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?” The blonde in the bright red Western jumpsuit put her hands on her hips. A tall man in a sheriff’s uniform came up behind Lynnette. This could be interesting, Kelly thought.

“Kelly Applebee, this is Lynnette Stivers. We went to high school together.” Sam had an odd stance as he introduced Lynnette, but Kelly stuck out her hand in greeting.

“Actually, we’ve met. At Cora’s, remember?” Kelly smiled, sort of.

Lynnette ignored her and her hand. Sam broke the silence.

“And this is Tom Blackwell. He’s the sheriff in Paradise. How’s it going, Tom? Anything exciting?”

“Hey, Sam. Just the usual. Kids tipping over headstones at the graveyard. We make ’em do community service and pull lots of weeds. We never used to get caught at stuff like these kids do, right, Sam? Nice to meet you, Kelly.” Tom reached around his stone-statue of a date and shook Kelly’s hand.

“Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?” Lynnette asked as she surveyed every inch of Kelly’s face.

“Yes, at Cora’s,
remember
?” Kelly said again. Boy, this chick was missing a few feathers.

Lynnette stepped back as Sam walked behind Kelly’s chair and put his hands on her shoulders.

“No, I’ve seen you somewhere else. Like in a magazine.”

“She just has one of those lovable faces. Are you going to ride the broncs this year, Tom?”

“I’m getting too old to go flyin’ off some wild horse, Sam. Besides, I have my hands full with Lynnette, here.”

Lynnette looked at Sam and laughed a short laugh. “Too old for that, too, aren’t you, Tom?” Lynnette went on. “Well, Miss Applebee, you’ve got yourself quite a catch, honey, and rich, too, but I’m sure you know that, now, don’t you? You
must be very pleased. You’ve caught the elusive Sam Grayson in your little web, and you’ve only been in town a few days! Why, you must be a talented little thing.”

No one laughed. Tom Blackwell got a sad, faraway look on his face, then tipped his hat to Sam and Kelly.

“We have to be heading over to the sheriff’s charity booth for our shift. Come on, Lynnette.” He gently took her arm. She jerked away and stalked off ahead of him. Kelly shuddered.

“Well, now, I’ll be sure and invite Miss Stivers out for a day of shopping and tea real soon,” Kelly joked.

“We dated our senior year. She was put out that I didn’t marry her then, and it got worse when I came back to town,” Sam said. “But she’s harmless.”

“Oh, I see. Are there any more former girlfriends lurking about I should watch out for?” Kelly stood in front of him with her hands on her hips, in a stance similar to the one Lynnette had taken.

“You’re beautiful when you’re jealous.” Sam put his arms out to her, and she stepped into his warmth.

“I guess you’re right. It is a little early for full possession.”

“Possession is nine-tenths of the law, Kelly.” Sam held her tightly.

“What does that mean, anyway?”

“It means this is our second official date, and we have less than four weeks to go before I can quit being a gentleman, and I am so very pleased about that, and yes, you’ve caught me in your web.” He tipped her chin up with his finger and kissed her tenderly, right there beneath the colored lights of the beer garden.

“Let’s go up on the Ferris wheel and watch the sun go down,” Sam suggested.

Kelly agreed, and they walked over to the rides.

The sky was pink and lavender with evening light. The sights and sounds of the fair surrounded them like a colorful dream: the delighted squeals of children as they rode the carousel horses, the rhythmic voices of the carnival barkers, and the tinny music of the kiddy rides. They got in line at the Ferris wheel. When their turn came up, she saw Sam whisper something to the attendant and slip him a bill.

“Bribing the help, Sam? I suppose he’s going to strand us up there, and you will have to climb down to save me by turning the crank back on? He’s going to set you up to play hero?”

“Sam Grayson, attorney at law, to the rescue!”
He held the bar for her as they sat in their swaying cart.

Kelly held on tightly as the first rush of movement caught her by surprise.

“Ooooh. I forgot to tell you I’m sort of…ride-impaired!”

“This is as tame as it gets, city kid, so we’ll overcome your terror together.”

He wrapped one arm around her, and she snuggled into him. He was such a teddy bear, for a guy with such a great body. Hard but soft, Kelly thought.

Predictably, after once around, the Ferris wheel paused with Sam and Kelly at the top. The sun was just giving a final color show. Scarlet and pink streaked the sky. The moon was already up, almost full, and pale in the last light. Two or three stars sparkled around the moon.

Sam kissed her—first on her neck, then her earlobe, then his lips settled on hers. His kiss deepened. It was like whooshing up on the Ferris wheel. It caught her and moved her so much her heart ached.

She moved back and looked in his eyes. There in those deep blues was the promise of a better future. She touched his cheek gently and kissed each of his eyes.

“Kelly, you’d be damn easy to fall in love with,” Sam whispered.

She ruffled his hair and played with the dark brown curls around his forehead.

“Thank you, Sam. You’re like a special gift.”

“And you haven’t even unwrapped me yet.” He took her hand, kissed the palm and each fingertip. Kelly leaned her head on his shoulder and watched the dark blue night descend and the moon brighten.

The ride began to move again, and Kelly looked down on the tiny scene below them. Something caught her attention. Partially hidden at the back of a row of booths, staring straight up at them, was Lynnette Stivers in her red Western gear. She was gone when they reached the bottom.

Sam had to help her out because her legs were wobbly. It was more than the Ferris wheel ride making her shaky.

She decided not to mention Lynnette. Why spoil their lovely time with a discussion of an old high school girlfriend?

Instead she let Sam feed her purple cotton candy. He tried to win her a blue and white china teapot she said she wanted to take home to Myrtle. Capable as he was, the breeze had kicked up, and the dancing balloons just wouldn’t hold still for his darts. But after about twenty dollars, the barker awarded him the teapot for a three-in-a-row balloon score.

Sam decided to cure Kelly of some of her unreasonable fears and bought her a ticket on the pony rides. He put her aboard an actual horse, the only one on the track, and Sam cheered from the platform as she trotted around the ring, bouncing on her ass unmercifully.

“Post! Post!” He cried from across the ring, making very odd up-and-down movements with his body.

“What post? What the hell is post?” She laughed so hard she almost fell off. At the end of the ride he helped her down and caught her in his arms.

“Ouch,” she said. But then she saw something that startled her. Over Sam’s shoulder, off under the trees, stood Lynnette again, watching them. She ducked behind a tree trunk when Kelly glanced her direction.

“Sam, I think Lynnette is following us. This is the second time I’ve seen her.”

“She’s kind of hard to miss in that neon red and gold number,” Sam joked.

“I’m serious. What’s up with her, anyway?”

“I kind of thought she’d recovered.” Sam and Kelly walked to a nearby bench, and he continued his story.

“Lynnette always took things more seriously than I did. She used to talk about getting mar
ried. I told her we were too young, and that I had college and law school ahead of me.”

Kelly watched Sam tell his story. She started to get the sense he didn’t get how crazy Lynnette was. Sometimes being new in town gave you a clearer perspective than that of people who had grown up there. And Kelly had a much clearer perspective

“She said she would wait for me,” he went on. “I kept trying to tell her not to, but she wouldn’t listen. We broke up over that, and over her jealous fits.

“She didn’t seem to actually grasp that we had broken up since I didn’t get involved with anyone, but we were just about to graduate and I figured, why start something up when I was leaving?

“She hung around me, called me all the time. I was friendly, but I knew I was leaving four days after graduation.”

“What happened when you left?”

“She waited. Years. My mom told me, when word got out I was engaged, she went kind of nuts. She climbed up on the high school water tower in her negligee and tried to scrub our initials off with Comet. Tom Blackwell got the job of getting her down. He was a deputy sheriff then.”

“And what’s up with him?”

“He sees something in her I don’t, I guess. He’s been waiting for her to snap out of it. She’s supposed to be on some kind of medication. She works at Tom’s office now doing data entry and filing.”

“Wow. I think she stopped taking her happy pills. She treats Tom pretty badly. Why does he put up with it?”

“I think he really loves her.”

“Maybe you should talk to Tom.”

“I was hoping she would eventually accept the fact that I’m not interested in her and turn to him.” He smiled at Kelly and reached for her hand.

Kelly figured she’d plow ahead, since Sam was talking. She wanted to know one more thing. “What happened to your engagement, Sam?”

Sam let go of her hand and ran his hand through his hair in a nervous gesture. “Chelsea Westheimer. She had a drinking problem I didn’t know about. I ended up being the lawyer assigned to defend her when she was picked up for driving under the influence—reckless endangerment. She’d gotten into an accident. Her family disowned her, and she had to have a public defender—me.

“Unfortunately, she had a prior conviction I
didn’t know about. She was sentenced for a year, but she got out in six months.”

“Oh, my God, Sam. That must have been bad.”

“She got a particularly hard judge. Not that I disagree with the penalties for driving under the influence. We had already broken up before it happened. Of course, I figured for a long time that’s
why
it happened, but that’s not the case.” He got up and paced in front of the bench. “I came back home after that. I wanted to work where I could do some good instead of…”

“It wasn’t your fault, Sam.”

“You think you know the person you’re with and then she just blows you out of the water.” Sam’s face looked hard.

Kelly’s stomach flipped. She stood up and pulled Sam into her.

“I know exactly what you’re talking about. But let’s just forget about the past and be together. How about we head over to the rodeo now?” she said.

“Sounds just fine,” Sam replied. “Seeing a few boys rope their calves sounds relaxing.”

“Right. Just don’t ask me to do that, okay?”

“I promise. This time. You could be a champ. You’ve got the moves. You were a natural on that horse.”

“Hog-tie 101, huh? You’ll have to teach me
that one, Sam.” They walked toward the brightly lit arena and the cheering crowd.

Kelly was quiet during the ride home. Sam put in a soft jazz CD. His mind was working on the problems surrounding them. First, he’d have to call Tom Blackwell tomorrow and have a chat with him about Lynnette for sure this time.

Second, Kelly was married. He’d have to call his college buddy Peter Brody in L.A. and see if Peter could file the divorce papers down there. The clear choice was to get the marriage annulled, although the prior cohabitation might complicate that

Third, he was having way too many feelings about her. This dating thing was supposed to be a way to clear his head, to get his instincts to shut up and his common sense to take over. It was supposed to be about testing her resolve to stay in town and not run like a scared rabbit.