Make Mine a Bad Boy (36 page)

“Whoo-wee, Colt, that was a good one. Especially when Hope must’ve had a hun-nerd marriage proposals in the last week, and she ain’t accepted a one.” Kenny glanced back, and his eyes scrunched up at the corners. “Come to think of it, the only one you did accept was Slate’s.”

“Kenny, Slate didn’t ask Hope to marry him,” Harley clarified. “Hope asked Slate to marry her, but it was too late because Faith had already beat her to it.”

The words caused Colt to stumble, and he had to hang on to the car or end up face-planted in the asphalt. When he righted himself, he expected to see Hope looking as confused as he was. But instead her face was painfully pale.

“You asked Slate to marry you?” It was difficult to talk around the huge lump in his throat.

“No.” She shook her head. “I didn’t ask him.”

“No, she’s right,” Rachel jumped in again. “She just accepted his non-proposal.”

Stunned, Colt tried to keep up, not only with the car but with the conversation.

“You came back to marry Slate?”

Her mouth opened, and then closed, then opened again. “I was confused… after that night I didn’t know…”

“Did you know about the baby then?” The words felt like sawdust in his mouth.

“No!” She shook her head. “I swear I didn’t, Colt.”

But it didn’t make any difference. All along, he thought she’d come back to Bramble to attend her sister’s wedding, when in reality, she had come back to Bramble to marry Slate—right after she’d screwed the poor Lomax kid.

His feet slowed, and the car pulled away from him.

“Colt!” Hope called back to him. “It wasn’t like that! It was a mistake!”

It was a mistake, all right.

A mistake to think that the Sweetheart of Bramble would ever love him.

“C
OLT
!” H
OPE YELLED
as loud as her hog-calling lungs would allow.

But he didn’t pay any attention as he walked away, his back straight and his dark hair waving in the wind. And with a sinking heart, she realized he wasn’t coming back.

Not now.

Not ever.

“What are you doing?” Faith leaned over. “Go after him.”

“It won’t make any difference.” Hope blinked back her tears. “There’s no way I can ever explain.”

“So you’re not even going to try?”

Hope shook her head as she turned back around. Sherman rooted against her, and she hugged him close as the tears dripped in cold streaks down her cheeks.

“Well.” Faith sat back and released her breath in one long agitated huff. “I guess I didn’t realize my sister was such a chicken shit.”

Hope’s head came up, and her eyes narrowed. “A what?”

“A chicken shit,” Kenny Gene supplied.

Just that quickly, anger joined pain, and Hope shot
Kenny a mean glare before she turned on her sister. “Oh, you should talk. You ran off with your tail between your legs as soon as I hit town.”

“Only because I thought you were pregnant and needed a father for your child.” Faith glared back at her. “But you’re right, I was a chicken shit, but at least I let you talk some sense into me. Unlike you, who is just going to sit there and let the father of your child walk right out of your life without your doing one thing to stop him.”

Kenny stretched around. “Colt ain’t the father of Hope’s baby, Faith. The entire town is bettin’ on Matthew McConaughey.”

“Shut up, Kenny!” They both yelled in unison.

Shrugging, Kenny turned back around.

“In case you don’t remember,” Hope continued, “I
did
accept Slate’s proposal.”

“Non-proposal,” Rachel Dean clarified before she quickly unicycled away.

Exasperated, Hope spoke through her teeth. “I accepted Slate’s non-proposal.”

“So what?” Faith shrugged as if her twin sister hadn’t wanted to marry her husband. “You were just on the rebound after Colt. Besides, when you had the chance to have Slate all to yourself, you didn’t take it. Instead, you came and got me.”

“Except I wasn’t exactly happy about it, and everyone in town knows it.”

“Of course, you weren’t. Your safety net had been jerked out from under you by a sister you didn’t even know you had.” Faith reached out and took her hand. “But you don’t need a safety net, Hope. All you need is enough guts to take a chance—to just step out on the wire.”

Suddenly Hope realized it wasn’t such a bad thing to have a twin sister after all. “But after everything I’ve done, how am I going to make him believe that I never loved Slate like that? That it was always him?”

“I don’t know,” Faith said, and Hope’s shoulders slumped before her sister continued. “But aren’t you Hope Scroggs, and isn’t this Bramble, Texas?”

“Meaning?”

Faith smiled with so much evil devilry that it would’ve made a Disney villain proud.

Anything Hope wants… Hope gets.

It took more than a few seconds for her sister’s thoughts to sink in. But once they did, Hope didn’t waste any time screaming at the top of her lungs.

“Kenny Gene! If you don’t stop this car right now, I’m going to jump out and hurt myself and the twins too!”

The car jerked to a stop and, as soon as it did, Hope handed off Sherman to Faith and hopped out. Unfortunately, Colt was already a good half of a mile down the street. She thought about running after him, but she didn’t have more than a few minutes before he reached Shirlene’s SUV.

“Uncle Harley!” she yelled.

He zipped over in the Jeep. “What, Hope?”

“As your goddaughter, I’ve never asked for much.”

“No, honey, you ain’t.”

“Well, I’m asking now. I need your car.”

Harley pulled off his big old hat and scratched at a spot on his forehead, leaving streaks in the white face paint. “Now, honey, why would you want this little old car when you can ride in my big old Cadillac?”

Hope glanced back at Colt’s sweet behind. “Because
the man I love is getting away, and I’ve got to go after him.”

Harley’s eyes widened. “Now, are you sure about this, honey? Colt might be a converted convict, but, I hear tell, he doesn’t have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out of.”

“I don’t care,” she said. And it was the truth. She didn’t care if they had to live out on Grover Road in a tiny trailer with a leaky roof. As long as she was with Colt, she’d be happy. “Please, Uncle Harley.”

Since she rarely used the word
please,
it only took Harley a second for his mustache to twitch up in a smile. “Well, in that case, honey.” He waved Kenny Gene over. “Kenny, come help me out of here. Hope needs to go get her man.”

It turned out to be harder to drive the little car than Hope had anticipated. Of course, her coat and the ugly purple maid-of-honor dress that Cindy Lynn, the parade coordinator, had insisted she wear didn’t help matters. She ran up on the sidewalk more than a few times, scattering people like a bunch of startled chickens. But that didn’t stop them from hurrying after her. Nor did it stop word from traveling. By the time she reached Colt, she had most of the town running behind her, quickly followed by the people in the parade—including the band, the football float, the coach’s truck, and the mayor’s Cadillac.

“Colt!” Hope tooted the horn.

His steps faltered, but he refused to stop.

“Colt, wait!” She sped up and circled around him. He adjusted his stride, but didn’t stop, forcing her to talk and drive at the same time.

“I didn’t come home to marry Slate. I came home
because I was heartsick and confused. I thought I was over the bad boy of Bramble who gave me sweet kisses, and then five seconds later ran my bra up the flagpole.”

“Tiniest little bit of lace I’ve ever seen,” Rachel Dean said, as she wheeled her way up.

Ignoring her, Hope continued. “But all it took was one look from those beautiful gray eyes and I was thirteen again, begging for whatever scraps you’d toss my way. And when you left that morning without saying a word, I couldn’t deal with the rejection. So I did what I’ve always done to save face—I came running back to Slate. Except Slate had moved on and found someone else.”

Making another circle around him, she glanced up at his face. But it didn’t look any more understanding than it had a few seconds ago. His eyes still stared straight ahead, and his jaw was still as tight as one of Harley’s western shirts. Still, she continued, like the rambling lovesick fool she was.

“And at first, I was mad. Slate was my backup plan, someone I counted on to be there when my life didn’t work out the way I wanted. And when he wasn’t there, I pouted like the spoiled brat I am. It took a while to realize what a mistake it would’ve been to marry Slate when I love someone else. And even if that someone doesn’t love me, I still should’ve had enough guts to let him know how I feel—to let the entire town know how I feel.” She took a deep breath and yelled as loudly as she could. “I love you, Colt Lomax!”

Hope thought the revelation would make him stop—or at least falter—but Colt kept on going as if he hadn’t heard her. Completely defeated, she took her foot off the pedal and let the little Jeep coast to a stop. The town slowed with her, although their mouths kept going.

“Who does Hope love?” Twyla asked.

“Colt, you idiot,” Cindy Lynn jumped in.

“Hope loves Colt?” Kenny said. “Well, ain’t that a shocker.”

“Not really,” Rachel Dean said, as she pedaled up. “Not after seeing his hand up her shirt in the elevator.”

“Come to think of it,” Ms. Murphy huffed her way into the group, “there were all those suspicious times I caught them in the bibliography section, supposedly doing research for book reports.”

“And there was that one time that I caught them beneath the bleachers,” Sue Ellen offered. “And it didn’t look like kissin’ was the only thing going on.”

“Well, well.” Harley hooked his thumbs in his clown suspenders. “It seems we’ve solved the mystery of who impregnated our little Hope.” He pointed at Sheriff Winslow, who had pulled up in his squad car. “Go get him, Sam.”

“No!” Hope tried to stop him, but the siren drowned out her voice. And before she could even climb out of the Jeep, Sam had pulled up in front of Colt. She figured Colt was going to put up a fight, but instead he turned and walked back toward her, although he looked as angry as the sky above him.

“Now what exactly is goin’ on here?” Shirlene said as she sashayed into the group.

“Colt asked Hope to marry him,” Kenny stated with a broad smile on his face. “But then someone opened their big mouth and told him about her accepting Slate’s proposal.”

“Non-proposal,” Rachel injected, as she whizzed around the group.

Shirlene got the gist and took over. “And I guess my big brother tapped into his stubborn streak and refuses to listen. Well,” she shrugged, “I guess there’s only one thing left to do.” She glanced around the crowd until her gaze landed on Hope’s daddy. “Burl, go get your gun.”

“What?” Both Hope and Colt stared at Shirlene, but she only stared back with an innocence that didn’t bode well.

“What else do you expect us to do? Our little Hope is knocked up, and if my ornery brother is the one who’s responsible, then he needs to step up to the plate—or should I say the altar.”

“Shirlene,” Colt spoke through his teeth, “what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Her head tipped. “Are you saying that Pumpkin Seed isn’t your baby?”

“Pumpkin Seed?” Rachel asked, as she continued to ride the unicycle as if she was competing for a Guinness world record. “Who’s Pumpkin Seed?”

“Colt and Hope’s baby,” Faith supplied, as she struggled to control a wiggling pig. “Isn’t that right, Hope?”

At that moment, Hope had a choice. She could deny it and spend the rest of her days without Colt, or she could accept what the town had given her and run with it.

Tipping up her chin, Hope took two steps closer to Colt. So close she could see the tiny specks of green in his gray irises.

“Yes. The baby’s Colt’s.”

“Get my gun, Jenna,” Hope’s daddy said, not sounding the least bit angry.

Colt’s eyes narrowed. “That’s it? You’re going to let your daddy force me into marrying you at gunpoint?”

She swallowed hard. “If that’s what it takes to keep you, Colt Lomax, I sure as heck am. Especially considering you already asked me.”

“I asked you before I knew about Slate.”

“Well, too bad. You can’t take it back now.”

Hope tried to stare down his angry glare, but her nerves got the best of her and her knees started to shake uncontrollably. Especially when her mother returned with the gun and handed it to her grinning father.

“You can put the gun away, Burl,” Colt said, his gaze never leaving Hope. “I’m not marrying Hope at gunpoint. No one can force me to do that.”

Hope pressed her lips together and tried to act like her heart wasn’t breaking. “I didn’t expect that they could.” Tears continued to form in her eyes until her vision was nothing but a watery blur. Which was why it took her a moment to realize that Colt was no longer standing in front of her.