Love Me ~ Like That (28 page)

There are a couple of other stops I want to make while I’m out real quick. I want to be prepared for our next rendezvous in the barn. Plus, I would like to get a trim and a pedi. I think I will call Lizzie and see if she will meet me. I put my phone on speaker so it’s easier to talk and drive.

“Hey, girl, I’m out running errands. Wanna meet for lunch and then go get our toes done?” I ask. “I have so much to tell you. Papa apparently hit Hendrix in the nose this morning. Hendrix blamed it on Cash and it turned into a fight. Anyway, I’m going to run a couple of errands and then we can go.”

“Slow down, Bailey. I can’t go, I have other plans this afternoon.”

She always goes with me. I’m thrown off and a little disappointed. “Other plans? You never have other plans, what are they? Can’t you do them afterward? Don’t you want to know what all happened?” This isn’t like her at all. “Lizzie, is something wrong?”

“No, Bailey. I just made plans with another friend, that’s all. We’re allowed to have different friends.”

She laughs, but that kind of hurts my feelings. “Yeah, I know, Lizzie. It’s okay. I really don’t have time for all of that anyway. I’m cooking dinner tonight for Cash and his momma. I should probably get what I need and head back.” That’s the honest truth because I really don’t have time for all of that anyway. I was just excited to be out of the house.

“We will plan a girls’ day soon, okay?” She sounds almost apologetic.

“Sounds great, Lizzie,” I say. “I’m at my first stop. Call me later, okay? Love ya, girl!”

“Love you too, Bay! I’m so happy for you, bye.” She hangs up.

She’s so happy for me? Sometimes, that girl confuses me.

Later, I stop back by the pharmacy and they said the oxygen didn’t come from them. I show them the three bottles of pills, and they look up Papa’s medicine in their records. There isn’t a record of them dispensing this medication. The numbers on the bottle don’t match any in their system. They ask if they could keep them and examine them further. Since I want answers on how these meds got into our bag and what exactly they are, I leave the extra medications with the pharmacy. I don’t even want them in our house. They have Papa’s name on them and say they are prescribed by his doctor. I leave my cell number with them and thank them for their time.

I walk into our house, and Mom is on me quick. Telling me we need to go to the Jacksons’ because they’ve invited us over, and Bailey has been cooking all day. Mom doesn’t notice the package in my hand and I don’t mention it since she is in a tizzy right now.

“I’m half an hour earlier than normal. Do you think I would have time to change clothes and clean up a bit?” I smile and put an arm around her.

“I didn’t even notice the time. Sure, go ahead.”

We walk over to the Jacksons’ house. The food smells wonderful, but I don’t notice anything else when I see my girl looking all hot in a pair of jeans that hug her ass just right. I go over and give her a small peck on the cheek. We keep everything very PG around her grandparents. They don’t want to see me all over her. That wouldn’t be right. I bend down a little and whisper in her ear, “Hello, beautiful. Your ass looks great in those jeans. Makes me want to get you out of them.”

She puts her arms around my neck. Sometimes she doesn’t play fair when I’m trying to keep things respectful. She gives me a kiss on my lips, but she manages to keep the heat down.

“I’ve missed you all day. I didn’t text you because I knew you were late getting to work and probably busy.”

“Sweet Cheeks, I always have time for you. You can call or text anytime you want. I will always be there for you.” I look up, and mom is watching the exchange with a satisfied smile on her face.

“Let’s eat before everything gets cold,” Granny calls out.

We all gather around the table and join hands to say grace. As we are passing around the food, we hear a knock at the door. When Bailey gets up to answer it, she tells everyone to go ahead and eat.

I can’t see the door from here, but I can hear clearly.

“Hendrix, what are you doing here?” Bailey asks.

“I just need to talk to you. There is something you need to know about that redneck. He isn’t good for you, Bailey. I care for you, love you and only want the best for you.”

That little fucker. I pick up my napkin from my lap and scoot my chair back.

Granny puts her hand on my arm and holds up one finger. “Let’s see how she handles this first,” she whispers.

This will take a little self-control, but I’ll sit here unless things escalate.

“Hendrix, I love Cash. The sooner you realize that things are completely over between us the better. I thought at one time I wanted the high heels, the BMW and all the stuff you consider high class, but you can keep it. I’d much rather have Cash. He knows how to treat me like a lady. I like my cowboy boots. I always have. That’s just me—it’s who I am. If you don’t mind, we just sat down to dinner—”

“Oh thanks, Bailey, I don’t mind if I do.”

I hear him come into the house.

When he rounds the corner, he sees me, and the smirk falls from his face.

“Hello, everyone. Thanks for having me. Sorry I’m late.”

He is priceless, acting like he was invited all along.

“Henry, I don’t remember inviting you. This is just for our neighbors tonight.” Granny isn’t giving an inch.

He laughs. “Oh, Mrs. Jackson, you always make me laugh. I love your funny side.”

The nerve of this guy. Bailey is way too nice because she brings him a plate and silverware. When I finally put this guy in his place, I’m going to have fun doing it.

Bailey sets everything in front of him and goes back to get him something to drink.

I see he has his nose all cleaned up. Asshole.

“Mrs. Jackson, everything looks and smells lovely.” He smiles. “I didn’t know you were back to your cooking.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know, Henry.”

She leaves it at that, but I can hear the animosity in her voice. She has never come right out and said she doesn’t like him, but hell, he has to know. I chuckle under my breath. She has a way of saying, “Go screw yourself,” but like a lady, Hendrix will be lucky if Granny or I don’t stick a fork up his ass.

Bailey brings him a glass of tea and sits down to make herself a plate.

“So, what all do we have here to eat?” he asks, taking inventory of the table.

“Grilled chicken, beans and taters.” Granny cuts her eyes over to him. “That’s the kind of food we eat out here in the sticks.”

I snigger a little. She is trying to annoy him.

“That sounds really good to me, Granny. I love home cooked food,” I say.

He has taken small helpings of everything. I look at the huge piles on my plate compared to those on his. I guess he’s trying to keep his boyish figure. “This grilled chicken is really good, I’ve never had any like this before.”

Bailey blushes a little. “That’s my secret recipe, we can’t have plain grilled chicken around here.” She grins at me, pleased with herself.

“You made this, Bailey?” Hendrix asks. “I didn’t know you could cook. This is scrumptious. You really need to give me the recipes for mother, or you can just cook them for me again.”

He is full of shit.

“Did you not hear the part about her recipes being secret or has all that hair goop gotten to your brain?” asks Granny.

I need to let Granny know how much I love her.

Hendrix just laughs. “Good one. I’ll have to remember that.” He is picking at his food.

“Everything is great, Bailey, and your cornbread turned out wonderful,” Mom tells her.

And it is.

We finish up the meal as soon as possible, in hopes Hendrix will leave. He doesn’t take hints, or he ignores them rather.

Granny says she thinks Papa needs a break from so much stimulation and asks Mom to help her get him to bed. “Henry, I’m glad you got to see how good of a cook Bailey is. Goodnight. Cash will see you out.”

That again is how Granny tells you to get the hell out of her house.

“Yeah, Henry. My girl is good at a lot of things.” I pull Bailey in and stake my claim, right here, in front of everyone. After I release her, I go open the door and look at him expectantly.

“I guess that’s my cue to leave.” He walks to the table where Bailey is clearing dishes. “I’ll see you later. I’ve got a surprise for you.” She looks at him with her eyebrows drawn together.

“Hendrix, I don’t want anything from you. Please leave.”

My girl is standing up for herself. I love it.

“You heard her, pretty boy, it’s time to go,” I tell him.

He struts over to me with a smirk on his face. “It’s not over between us, redneck. There’s no way I’m letting scum like you take her away from me,” he whispers as he goes out the door.

I want to go fucking crazy on his ass, but that is what he wants. He keeps taunting me so I will make a scene, but I’m a bigger man than that. “What you don’t seem to understand, Henry, is that she wants a man not a boy. So if you want Bailey, you have work, both mentally and physically. Even when you get to be a man, you still won’t be able to please her with your one inch wonder.” I shut the door in his face and go help Bailey do the dishes. I feel much better now.

Hendrix keeps coming over wanting to help me with any and all things. I only allow this because he has really done so well turning himself around. He is no longer the self-centered guy I once knew. He is more caring, and comes over in the early afternoon before Cash is home to help with whatever chore I happen to be doing. Today he is helping with yard work, which is so unlike him. Normally, he hires people to do this kind of stuff. He borrowed a pickup truck from someone and brought over enough topsoil and mulch to do the flowerbed and the little beds around the house too. I want to keep encouraging this change in him, maybe I can teach an old dog new tricks after all.

We have been out here spreading the topsoil for a couple of hours in the heat, and he isn’t complaining. He is doing manual labor and he isn’t fussing about sweating.

“Hendrix, what made you want to do this?”

“I can tell that this flowerbed has come to mean a lot to you since you’ve moved in and I wanted to help you make them beautiful.”

“That’s really sweet, Hendrix.” I look across the street and see Cash’s truck in his driveway. “Oh, Cash is home early today. I’ll get him to come over and help us.”