Life After Wife (24 page)

“Then I guess you’re off the hook until next week. But if there aren’t at least three kisses a week between now and then, Fancy is talking to the youth director,” Kate said.

“You are both…” Sophie couldn’t think of anything vile enough.

“Pigs from…” Kate started one of their favorite lines from
Steel Magnolias
.

“Hades,” Fancy hurried and finished the line without using bad language.

“Yes, you are,” Sophie said. “And for being so demanding and such good friends at the same time, next Saturday is when we’re all going to Abilene to a trailer place to find my new home. I’m tired of living in a house where I wake up every morning to men’s voices in my kitchen.”

Kate handed her a cookie. “He’s not your life after wife?”

“Too soon to tell, and I need my own space.”

“If I wasn’t married, I wouldn’t mind waking up to three sexy cowboys in my kitchen every day. Those brothers of his would make a holy woman’s panty hose start falling down,” Kate giggled.

“Yeah, if Elijah ain’t the one, then maybe Hayden or Tanner is.” Fancy laughed with Kate.

Sophie looked at both of them like they’d developed a third eye right in the middle of their foreheads. “You are both certifiably goofy.”

That set them off into more giggles.

Fancy wiped her eyes with a dish towel and said, “Sounds like true love to me. How about you, Kate?”

“Speaking from my experience, I’d say it’s about time to put the two of you out on a Louisiana swamp island like Granny did me and Hart,” Kate said.

“No, thank you,” Sophie declared.

“You’d be amazed at how much thinkin’ you can do when you are fishin’,” Kate said.

“Really? That’s where we are going today when we leave here. He’s got a boat lined up over at the lake, and the fishin’ gear is in back of the truck. I’ve got a book in my tote bag in case I get bored,” Sophie told her.

“Bored! Honey, if you get bored, you come on home and stake out a claim on one of them other Jones boys or else the youth minister. I figured out a lot with a fishin’ pole in my hands when me and Hart were trying to get over the speed bumps of life,” Kate said.

Sophie looked at Fancy. “You and Theron been fishin’?”

She shook her head. “No, we got stuck in a cabin back in the boondocks during an ice storm, remember?”

It was Sophie’s turn to nod. She wasn’t sure that fishing or spending time in an iced-in cabin would convince her that Elijah Jones was the man for her, or that he was able to offer her a life after wife. There were moments when she was slyly watching him that dark shadows passed over his face and his eyes went dull. Times like those, she wondered if he was reliving bad experiences from the war. Maybe it wasn’t that he wouldn’t offer her what she needed to say those two words again, but that he was afraid to let anyone into his heart. In that case, she sure wished he’d keep his kisses to himself.

“Did you hear me?” Fancy touched her on the leg.

“I’m sorry, I was woolgathering. What did you say?”

“I said that your aunt Maud knew exactly what she was doing when she left the ranch to both of you. She was a wise old girl,” Fancy said.

A knock on the back door caused them all to look that way. Elijah was standing on the other side of the old-fashioned
screen door with a big grin on his face. “You about ready to go, Sophie? The wind has died down, and it’s a perfect day for catfish to bite.”

“I’ll see you girls next Saturday.” Sophie handed the baby off to Kate who already had her arms out. “Meet me at the ranch at ten o’clock. Fancy, bring the kids. We’ll put their car seats over in my truck. Plenty of room.”

“Oh, no!” Fancy said. “I’m keeping the nanny all day and having a day out with just y’all. That’s what Tina has taken to calling the housekeeper.”

Elijah couldn’t have wiped the smile off his face if it had meant doing it or eating dirt. Sophie looked so darned cute sitting in that rocking chair with that baby in her arms. He could visualize her with a child of her own, maybe with his blue eyes and her red hair, rocking him to sleep at night.

Him!
His mother’s voice crawled inside his head.
What makes you think you’re going to have sons like your father did? You might wind up with a house full of girl children, and they’ll sure enough make you pay for your raising, son.

The smile disappeared in an instant. Girls! He’d never thought of girl babies. Actually, he’d never thought of children until that very moment. But he liked the idea, and there was still time for him to experience fatherhood…if he didn’t drag his feet too long.

They were on their way to the lake when Elijah’s phone started playing “Good Directions.” He dug it out of his shirt pocket, flipped it open, and answered. He listened for a few seconds, tossed the phone on the dash, whipped a U-turn right in the middle of the road, and stomped the gas pedal.

“Place to the north of us has a grass fire. Tanner is plowing a firebreak right up next to the road as a precaution, and Hayden is herding cattle to the south. It’s not huge yet, since the wind isn’t blowing like last time, but we’d better get on back,” he explained.

Sophie held onto the armrest, disappointment filling her heart and soul. After what Kate said, she’d looked forward to a fishing trip. Now it looked as if her Sunday afternoon would be spent fighting fire again.

“It’s leased land. The owners retired to Arizona last year and leased it to the folks who live across the road. The house has been up for rent. Last renters moved out at the end of the school year. Couple of teachers who decided Baird wasn’t for them. I suppose you’ll be wanting to buy it next?” she asked.

“I’ll buy all that we can afford,” he answered.

He slowed down in Albany, but it wasn’t easy to go the speed limit. When they were back out on the highway, he
eased the gas pedal down until they were going eighty. Sophie sighed when she saw gray smoke spiraling toward the sky out ahead.

“I’m only ten miles over the speed limit,” he snapped.

“I wasn’t sighing because of buying the land or the speed you are driving,” she snapped right back at him.

This wasn’t the way the day was meant to go. They were supposed to have a lazy afternoon together. Sophie was going to think about things between her and Elijah, not fight with him. She was going to lie back in the sun with her straw hat shading her eyes and catch a catfish for supper, then tease Elijah because her fish was bigger than his.

“Then why were you sighing?” he asked.

“Smoke. Fire. I hate fighting fire, and it’s a constant worry in this part of the country when things are so dry. I’d love a wet spring, wet summer, and no drought, but this is Texas and I might as well wish for…” She stopped midsentence.

Elijah slowed down enough to slide around the corner into the lane leading back to the ranch. Smoke was as thick as fog and about the same color. There were no two-story flames dancing across the dry pasture. They came to a screeching halt in front of the house, and she didn’t hear the pained bawling of cows to the north, only the aggravated carrying-on of those being herded to safety back behind the house.

She hopped out of the truck, grabbed her straw hat, and crammed it on her head. “I’ll take the old tractor and start on up by the highway. Looks like Hayden has got the new one cuttin’ a groove toward the east.”

“I’ll go help Tanner herd cattle.” Elijah headed to the barn where the four-wheelers and horses were kept. Four-wheelers were better in the case of fire because it spooked the horses, so he mounted one and took off toward the south of the ranch.

It was near supper time when they all four met at the house. Kendall, Randy, and Frankie drove up just as they were walking up on the porch, and Tanner shot them a dirty look.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that,” Frankie said. “If you would’ve called, we’d have been here sooner. We didn’t even know there was a fire until we was coming home.”

Home! The word struck Sophie so hard that it brought tears to her eyes. The guys thought of the ranch as home already and that was where family resided.

“You kids stop your bickering. I don’t know how your momma raised nine of you.” She looked at Elijah. “Hayden, you and Tanner get on out to the bunkhouse and wash the smoke out of your hair and change clothes. You other three get on in the house before you get the smell on you. Elijah, me and you are going to have a shower, and then we’re going to make supper. We can all eat in the house tonight.”

Elijah wiggled his dusty eyebrows.

Sophie cocked her head to one side and then it hit her.

“Not together! Good grief! I don’t have time for your shenanigans any more than I do the kids. You go on and get a shower first. I’ll put a couple of frozen lasagnas in the oven and get a salad cut up. Mercy! Living with boys! I’m glad I never had brothers.” She mumbled as she headed toward the kitchen.

Elijah whistled all the way to the bathroom. He took a quick shower, shaved for the second time that day, and applied Stetson aftershave. He dressed in fresh jeans and a knit, three-button blue shirt the same color as his eyes, and brushed his black
hair back. He’d be glad when it grew back out a little, especially since Sophie had made that comment about liking it longer.

When he reached the kitchen, she had already slid two big pans of lasagna in the oven, washed a head of lettuce, and was chopping tomatoes and green onions. He took the knife from her hands and was only slightly amazed at the tingle when their fingers brushed in the transfer.

“Go on and get your shower now. I’ll take over here. Garlic bread?”

She nodded. “And when the timer goes off, put that cobbler in the oven. We’ll have it warm with ice cream for dessert.”

She hurried down the hallway, but even rushing didn’t take the scent of his aftershave from her nostrils, and it sure didn’t do a thing for her already speeding pulse.

Elijah moved right into the position of cook with ease, and while the salad chilled, he whipped garlic with butter, slathered it on thick slices of Italian bread, and wrapped it all in foil. When the timer buzzed, he removed the lasagna pans and slid the cobbler into the oven, reset the timer, and set the dining room table for seven.

That’s what the table would look like if me and Sophie had five kids,
he thought.

“Holy smoke, what am I doing?” he muttered. “It’s this living in close quarters and not seeing other women for days on end. I couldn’t live with that woman. She’s got a temper.”

And you don’t?
His mother was back in his head arguing with him again.
I like Sophie. You’ll never have a dull moment if you spend the rest of your life with her. She’ll keep you on your toes, son.

“Yeah, right!” he said aloud.

“Right what?” Sophie asked from the hallway.

His mouth felt like he’d just eaten alum pie. If he was forced to speak or be shot, he would have had to put on the blindfold and get ready to feel the bullets. She was wearing a white sundress with straps that tied on her shoulders. Her red hair was still damp, and kinky curls floated on her shoulders. And she smelled like something between heaven and angels.

“Who were you talking to?” Sophie asked.