Getting Lucky (A Nugget Romance Book 5) (21 page)

And he was anxious. He wanted his girls to like Cecilia and for Cecilia to like his girls.

Cecilia looked out the window. “The weather is good. They’ll be here soon, Jake. Stop worrying.” The woman could read his mind.

Lucky came through the door, carrying three bottles of wine and a bouquet of flowers. “Noah’s behind me.”

“You invited the reporter?” Jake said.

Lucky hitched his shoulders. “He didn’t have anywhere else to go and thought it would be good color for his story.”

“I think it was generous of you to invite him,” Cecilia chimed in. “Where’s Tawny?”

“She’s not here yet?” Lucky looked at Katie, who’d stayed the night to help Cecilia with the preparations, leaving Jake to stay at his cabin.

“I forgot, Grandma. She called while you were in the shower. She’s trying to finish Mr. McCreedy’s boots, but will be here soon. She’s bringing a salad and wine.”

“Thank you, Katie.”

Lucky kissed his daughter and asked what he could do to pitch in.

Jake laughed. “Men are relegated to setting up the bar.”

“I’ll set up the bar,” Lucky said.

“One of you, then, should build a fire. I want it to be nice when Jake’s girls get here.” Cecilia slid her diced onions into a sizzling frying pan.

A few minutes later Noah showed up and was put on glass duty, which consisted of him inspecting each piece of stemware for spots. Cecilia was pulling out all the stops. Jake had just gotten the fire going when he heard a car pull in. Up on his feet, he opened the front door.

“What took you so long?” he said, going outside to wrap all three girls in a bear hug.

“There was a lot of traffic,” his eldest, Sarah, said.

“Come in and meet everyone.”

The girls grabbed some packages out of the trunk. It looked like they too had brought wine, a box of chocolates, and flowers. Jake’s heart warmed with pride.

Tara, Jake’s sixteen-year-old, whispered in his ear, “What are we supposed to call her?”

“Cecilia,” he said, and winked. “You’ll like her. You’ll like everyone.”

“Is the rodeo dude coming?” Janny asked.

“Yep. And his nine-year-old daughter, Katie, and Katie’s mother, Tawny. There’s also a reporter from
Sports Illustrated
.”

“Get out,” Janny said. “How come?”

“He’s doing an article on Lucky.”

They seemed duly impressed. When they got to the front door, Cecilia was waiting with her arms open.

“Welcome.” She hugged each of Jake’s daughters. “You had such a long drive.”

“Thank you for having us,” Sarah said.

“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. Jake talks about you so much.” Cecilia pulled Lucky into the circle. “This is my son, Lucky. And my granddaughter, Katie. That’s Noah.” He waved from the bar. “And Tawny should be here soon. Come in, get warm by the fire, and Lucky will make you a drink. Katie, you take Tara into the kitchen and show her what kind of soft drinks we have.”

“What would you like us to do with these?” Sarah held up the bag of wine and candy.

Cecilia told Katie and Tara to take it to the kitchen. Janny asked for a vase and said she’d arrange the flowers. And again Jake couldn’t have been prouder.

“I’ll call Tawny,” Lucky said. “See what’s holding her up.”

Not for the first time, Jake wondered if there was something going on between those two. It was as if Raylene had fallen off the planet, which Jake knew would make Cecilia happy. Although rumor had it that Tawny was seeing the new Lumber Baron chef.

Lucky didn’t have to call because Tawny showed up a few minutes later, lugging a giant wooden bowl from her Jeep.

“Need some help?” Jake asked.

“There’s wine and soda and cider still in the car,” she said. “And cranberry sauce. It’s the kind in a can, though.”

Jake didn’t say anything but knew Cecilia wouldn’t use it. He brought it in anyway, along with the rest of the stuff. Lucky came into the kitchen and greeted Tawny with a big smile on his face. Yep, something was definitely going on between those two.

“What took you so long?” Lucky asked her.

“I wanted to deliver Clay’s boots. One less thing to do before Monday.”

Jake knew she was nervous about the transplant. He couldn’t blame her. “Come meet my daughters.”

He introduced his daughters to Tawny and left them to get acquainted with each other. Katie seemed to have adopted Tara. Noah, who claimed to have put himself through college working as a bartender, took over making the drinks. Jake suspected he just wanted something to keep him busy, being the outsider.

As awkward as it could’ve been, everyone seemed to be getting along and enjoying themselves.

“They’re beautiful girls, Jake.” Cecilia came up alongside him. “And so polite.”

“Their mothers did a good job,” he said. “I’m proud of the women they’ve become.”

“I’m sorry Erika and Jillian couldn’t make it for dinner.”

“You’ll meet them this weekend.”

“How is it that you didn’t have one boy?” Cecilia gazed across the room at Lucky, who was talking to Tara and Katie.

“Beats the hell out of me. But I wouldn’t trade one of them.” He wrapped his arm around her.

“Lucky said he’ll take them riding tomorrow. Katie is over the moon.”

“You think Tawny will be okay with Katie getting on the back of a horse before Monday?”

“Lucky will take her on the horse with him. It’ll be fine.”

“How you holding up?” Jake asked, knowing that between getting the news that Lucky was a match for Katie’s transplant and preparing for this dinner, Cecilia hadn’t had a moment to breathe.

“I’m happy to have all of us together.” She kissed Jake, surprising the stuffing out of him. Behind closed doors, Cecilia was a passionate woman. In public, she tended to be more reserved. But the kiss pleased him enormously.

He nuzzled her ear and whispered, “Marry me.”

She swatted him away, but this time he noticed that she didn’t out and out say no. There was hope yet. He just had to break through the woman’s resolve.

Cecilia and Tawny worked companionably in the kitchen to put appetizers out. Jake was heartened to see that the two women had formed a nice camaraderie. He caught them laughing with his daughters in the kitchen.

“What’s so funny?”

“Janny has been telling us her dating travails,” Cecilia said.

“That’s my cue to leave.” The last thing Jake wanted to hear were stories about his daughter’s crazy love life. Last time she’d brought home a guy, Jake had wanted to shoot him for lazing on the deck while Janny waited on him hand and foot. Thank the good Lord, she’d dumped him over the summer.

In the living room, Lucky and Noah planted themselves on the couch. It seemed like a safe enough place for Jake too. So he plopped down beside them.

“If you’re not training, how are you preparing for the finals?” Noah asked Lucky.

“I’m watching a lot of video. As soon as they take me off the meds, I’ll be fine. The procedure itself is done outpatient, so I’ll have the beginning of December to train.”

Noah nodded. “You planning on watching video this weekend? If so, I’d like to join you.”

“Sure. That’s not a problem. Tomorrow I’m taking the ladies riding, though.”

“Do you have an extra horse for me?” Noah asked.

Lucky gave him a cool perusal. “You ride?”

“Not great. But I can hold on.”

“How ’bout you, Jake? You want to come?” Lucky asked.

“I’ve got to work tomorrow.” And no way in hell was he climbing onto the back of a horse.

Noah turned to Jake. “That drug bust must’ve been something for a town this size.”

“I won’t say that we don’t occasionally have our problems. But the scope of this was large even by big-city standards.”

“And the cattle rustling?” Noah grinned when he said it. Jake got it. The term cattle rustling seemed so
Lonesome Dove
. But even now it was a big problem in California. So much so that the state had passed laws with stricter penalties for people convicted of stealing livestock.

“Looks like we nipped that in the bud when we took out the drug ring.”

“They were for sure connected, huh?”

“Looks like,” Jake said, not wanting to go into the details. It was still a pending investigation.

“Where does that leave Ray Rosser?” Noah asked.

“It’ll depend on whether the evidence points to self-defense.”

“That’ll be kind of tough, since he was trespassing on my property, looking for a fight,” Lucky said.

“You don’t like him much, do you?” Noah asked.

“That’s an understatement.” Lucky got up. “I want to see if they need help in the kitchen.”

Once Lucky left the room, Noah said, “No love lost between those two, huh?”

“Nope,” Jake said.

“Were you around ten years ago when Ray Rosser leveled the sexual assault accusation against Lucky?” Noah watched Jake closely.

“I was not.” Although Cecilia had told Jake everything about that night at the Rock and River Ranch. “But Ray Rosser isn’t a man to be trusted.” The Plumas County DA agreed with him on that one. As soon as George had his evidence, he planned to charge the SOB.

Jake sincerely hoped that Lucky got as far away as possible from Raylene. Troubled women had once been Jake’s specialty, and Raylene reeked of trouble.

Cecilia came into the living room. “We’re having snacks in the kitchen. You’re missing out.”

The men dutifully followed her. Jake’s daughters had made themselves at home, lounging on stools at the center island and eating from the elaborate spread Cecilia and Tawny had put out. Katie sat on Lucky’s lap, sharing a plate of appetizers. Tawny rinsed a few stray dishes and loaded them into the dishwasher. Wine glasses got refilled while conversation and laughter flooded the room.

Cecilia’s eyes found Jake’s from across the kitchen and her lips curved up. Her face positively glowed, telling Jake that everything she’d ever wanted was right here in this room. Family and friends and hopefully a man she could always love and depend on.

Jake wanted to be that man . . . was that man. Now all he had to do was persuade Cecilia of that.

L
ucky didn’t know why she continued to text him. Couldn’t Raylene take a hint? Hell, it had been more than a hint. He’d flat out told her they were over. Not just in his trailer and truck, but several times after. He’d texted her that they were done, left it on her voice mail, and told her to her face when she showed up at his single-wide at two in the morning, drunk off her ass. What did he have to do? Hire a skywriter?

Raylene was so relentless and desperate that she was telling tales. Lucky knew that she’d given Noah a twisted version of what happened at the Rock and River Ranch ten years ago. He knew that she was using the story to manipulate him. And he knew that she’d try to ruin him if she couldn’t get him back.

He’d always known that she was spoiled and even vindictive when she didn’t get what she wanted. But this was a side of her he’d never seen before. Or maybe he’d been too blindly in love with her to notice just how vicious she could be. The woman was nothing like the one he’d pined for all those years. Maybe she’d never been that woman. Maybe he’d let himself create her out of a youth’s fantasy.

“What’s wrong?” Tawny asked as Lucky slipped his phone back inside his pocket.

“Nothing.”

She gazed around the Four Seasons suite he’d gotten them. “This is amazing, Lucky. Was it terribly expensive?”

He didn’t care how expensive it was. These next few weeks would be tough on everyone, and he wanted them to at least have a little luxury at the end of the day. “Nah. You guys brought your swimsuits, right?” He’d been fantasizing about seeing Tawny in a bikini since the moment he told her about the heated indoor pool.

“I did,” Katie said. She’d found the minibar and was poring through the candy section.

“Hey,” Tawny told her. “Close that up. A Snickers bar is fifteen dollars.”

Lucky would give it to her; she wasn’t one of those women who liked to spend his money. Jake wouldn’t spend Lucky’s money either; Lucky had tried to pay for Jake and Cecilia’s room, but Jake wouldn’t have it.

Tomorrow doctors would start harvesting Lucky’s stem cells. Depending on how many they got, that could take a few days. But today they were free to do whatever they wanted.

“You want to go over to that mall?” Lucky hated shopping, but he figured his clotheshorse daughter and Tawny would like Bloomingdale’s and the other big department stores they didn’t have in Nugget or even Reno. “Or we could go swimming.”

“Mall now, swimming later,” Katie shouted.

Tawny looked at Lucky and shook her head.

Lucky grinned back. “Mom and Jake are doing their own thing, so let’s get a move on.”

They wandered the Stanford Shopping Center. Katie loved looking in the windows and stores. Tawny pretended not to be that interested, but Lucky saw her green eyes light up every time she saw something she liked. Pretty clothes that she probably couldn’t afford. He’d buy her whatever she wanted, but Tawny was the type to get offended. She couldn’t stop him from buying his kid stuff, though. That was his right as a parent.

At the food court they stopped to get some lunch. Katie ran off to get a pretzel, giving Lucky and Tawny time to talk alone, which they hadn’t done since Lucky got the news about the transplant.

“How you holding up?” Lucky reached for her hand and before he knew it, he and Tawny had threaded their fingers together.

“I’m nervous, but hanging in.”

“Cowgirl tough.” He kissed her cheek.

Every time he was around her now, he hankered to kiss her. Not like this, but like the way they’d kissed the evening they’d made love. He still didn’t know whether she was seeing Brady or what he was getting himself into. The whole thing was pretty crazy, given that until recently it had always been Raylene.

“How about you?” she asked him.

“It sounds fairly straightforward. Just praying to the man up there that it works.”

“The man up there?” She cocked one eyebrow. “You mean the woman up there?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Ain’t touching this one. You want something else to eat?” In his opinion she hadn’t been eating too well. Even at their pre-Thanksgiving dinner he saw her pushing food around on her plate. Nerves would do that to you.

“I’m good. When Katie gets back I’ll have a bite of her pretzel.” They both gazed over at the long line where Katie waited.

Lucky whistled to catch his daughter’s attention and held up two fingers. She nodded back in understanding.

“God, I love that kid,” he said. “She’s got a natural talent with horses. You should’ve seen her riding the other day, like she was born in the saddle. As soon as this ordeal is over, I’m getting her a horse of her own.”

“She’s too young,” Tawny said, and he knew she was just being protective. “How were Jake’s daughters?”

“Good. The youngest one, Tara, she’s had a lot of lessons. Rides English, though. Janny—that chick is fearless. I’d worry about her if I were Jake. Sarah’s a nice lady. She’s in law school. I didn’t get much time with the other two—Erika and Jillian. But they seemed nice enough.”

“Cecilia liked them and they seemed to like her. But five stepdaughters and three ex-wives . . . whoo! That’s a lot to take on.”

“Who says anything about my ma taking that on?”

Tawny glared at him. “Lucky, where have you been? Your mother is nuts about Jake and he is besotted with your mother. What do you think that dinner was about?”

“Giving thanks, eating until I popped a button on my jeans, and making new friends.”

“Yeah,” she said. “You keep thinking that.”

“What do you think it was?”

“They wanted their two families to get to know each other before taking their relationship to the next level.” She took off his cowboy hat and smacked him across the head with it. “Are you dense? Why do you think Jake’s here, spending what is probably a week’s salary on that luxurious hotel we’re staying in?”

He’d been so caught up with his own problems these last few weeks that he hadn’t really given his mother and Jake a lot of thought. “You don’t think they’re serious enough to get married, do you?”

“Would it bother you?”

“Jake isn’t exactly good husband material, given that his last three marriages ended in divorce. I don’t want my mother burned, and he has the capability to burn her bad.”

“She’s awfully happy, though.” Tawny stopped talking when Katie came loping back, and grabbed one of the pretzels from her hand. Katie gave Lucky the change and sat down next to him to eat.

“How long until he makes her unhappy? That’s the question.”

“Who?” Katie wanted to know. “Who’s making who unhappy?”

“No one,” Lucky said, and looked over Katie’s head to smile at Tawny. “Give me a bite of that.” He took a piece of Katie’s pretzel and dipped it in her mustard.

After they finished eating they continued to wander around the outdoor mall, which Tawny seemed to know as well as she did the square in Nugget. It was a beautiful day, much warmer than home. There didn’t seem to be anything that Katie didn’t want to see, and how could he not indulge her?

“You’ve been here a lot, haven’t you?” he asked.

“When we stayed at the Ronald McDonald House and Katie was feeling up to it, we used to come here and walk around.” He couldn’t help but respect Tawny’s perseverance and courage. She was cowgirl tough, all right.

They strolled into Nordstrom and Tawny stopped to admire a coat.

“Try it on, Mommy.”

Tawny took a quick look at the price tag and motioned for them to keep walking.

“Don’t you want to at least try it?” Katie asked.

“Another time,” she said.

They continued to the kids’ section. Lucky found a bench and plopped down while Katie proceeded to look at every rack and display. Tawny shrugged at him apologetically.

“I’ve got to find a men’s room,” he told her.

It took a while to figure out how to get back to that coat, but he suspected he wouldn’t be missed. At least not for a while. He found a sales lady, had her wrap it up, and made a beeline for his truck, where he stashed the package behind the backseat in his crew cab, and returned to the store. Like he thought, Tawny and Katie had barely noticed he was gone.

“What do you have there?” he asked Tawny, who was holding a couple of garments in her hand.

“She wants to wear a dress on the day of the transplant.” She looked at him like
Don’t ask
.

“Pick one,” Tawny told Katie.

“But I like them both,” Katie said.

Lucky was ready to scoop up the two dresses, throw them at a cashier, and pay so they could finally get out of here. But Tawny’s body language told him if he did that he wouldn’t live very long.

“You get one. Choose, or you don’t get any.” Tawny held both up.

Katie started to pout. Lucky suspected she was milking this transplant for everything she could. And who could blame her? Except Tawny was trying to raise her right, teach her the value of a buck, when all he wanted to do was spoil her.

Katie stuck out her bottom lip and looked right past Tawny to Lucky. “Daddy, can I have both?”

Lucky didn’t have to see Tawny’s expression to know how angry that had made her. “You heard your mom. Pick one. You’ve got five minutes or we’re out of here.”

He glanced over at Tawny, who gave a slight nod. As if to say
Good
,
we’re on the same page
. Katie deliberated for what seemed to Lucky like hours. It was a goddamn dress. How long could it take to choose?

“I’d go with the pink one,” he said, hoping to expedite the process. The lights in the store made him bleary-eyed. The air was stuffy. Plus, he sincerely liked the pink dress for his little girl. The other one seemed a little grown-up for a nine-year-old, not that he was any kind of an expert. Until now his full experience with dresses had been the fastest way to get them off.

“All right,” Katie said. “I’ll take the pink one.”

“Good choice.” Tawny kissed the top of Katie’s head. “Now stop being a brat.”

They went up to the cash register and Tawny and Lucky pulled out their wallets at the same time.

“I’ve got it,” Lucky said.

Tawny glowered at him. “No. I’m buying the dress for
my
daughter.”

Not wanting to make a scene, Lucky refrained from mentioning that Katie also happened to be
his
daughter, and shoved the wallet back in his pants. He really wished the woman was less independent and less controlling. He didn’t find it the least bit attractive.

That’s when he felt his phone vibrate and looked at the display. Another text from Raylene. Suddenly, independent women seemed more appealing. Everyone in Nugget knew that he and Tawny were in Palo Alto for Katie’s transplant. Did Raylene not get the memo, or was she so selfish that she didn’t care?

While Tawny finished the transaction, Lucky stood off in a corner and read the text.

Lucky didn’t know what the whole story entailed. Raylene had already filled Noah’s head with so much bullshit, Lucky couldn’t imagine her having any lies left to tell. Because he wanted the transplant to go smoothly and didn’t know what Raylene was capable of, he sent her a quick text back.

Tawny and Katie came up alongside him and he put the phone away. “We done now?”

“We’re done,” Katie said, and Lucky tickled her.

By the time they got back to the hotel, Lucky was ready for a nap. The meds were doing a number on him. But Katie wanted to swim.

“I can take her,” Tawny said. She’d noticed how sluggish he’d been, which bothered him. He didn’t like being listless and he didn’t like anyone knowing that he wasn’t in top form.

“Nah. I’ve been looking forward to this.” Looking forward to seeing Tawny in a bathing suit.

They went into their private rooms to change. Lucky looked at his phone again to make sure Raylene wasn’t still haranguing him. No texts, thank goodness. He put on his trunks, a pair of cowboy boots, and shrugged into the hotel’s complimentary robe.

Except for the cowboy boots, the girls had done the same.

“You’re not wearing those, are you?” Katie asked, wrinkling her nose.

Lucky laughed. “You don’t like the look?” He opened the robe to give them a full view of his getup.

Tawny eyed his Hawaiian-patterned trunks with the cowboy boots and let out a laugh. Then her eyes moved up to his chest and lingered there. Lucky saw her lick her lips. Time to close the robe before she witnessed just how much he liked her looking at him.

“You ready to go?”

“Really, Daddy, you can’t wear those.” Katie pointed to the boots.

“Why not?” He enjoyed teasing her. “World champion bull riders can dang well wear their boots anywhere they want.”

Tawny pealed with laughter. It was nice to see the worry lines gone from her face. He had other ways of smoothing those lines, but this was a G-rated trip.

“Let’s go,” he said, and for effect grabbed his Stetson off the fancy-pants table sculpture he’d been using as a hat rest and put it on his head, which sent Tawny into hysterics.

“Seriously, Daddy, you look like a freak.” But even Katie was laughing now.

Lucky viewed himself in the full-length mirror. “Y’think?” Before Katie could answer, he grabbed her and hung her upside down over his shoulder. “I’ll change then, just for you.”

Back in his bedroom, he pried off the boots and slid his feet into a pair of flip-flops. On their way out of the suite, Lucky perched his hat back on the sculpture. The pool was empty. Lucky assumed the hotel guests, mostly business travelers, didn’t have time to swim in the middle of a weekday. Katie wasted no time diving in. Tawny was more tentative, dipping her toes first, then sitting on the edge and dangling her legs in the water.