One Hot Cowboy Wedding (28 page)

“Thank you. I appreciate that. Y’all enjoy your tea and cool down a little before you go back to fixin’ that tractor. The heat makes everything worse,” she said.

She’d get Tyson trained and take that haunted look from his eyes if it was the last thing she did. But no man was ever going to talk to her like that again. She watched them from the window above the sink and giggled when Ace applied the wrench to the nut and it twisted right off.

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Jasmine tried to call Lucy several times from noon until two thirty when she locked the doors behind Bridget.

She tried as many times to call Ace, but every time all she got was their voice telling her to leave a message.

She didn’t want to talk to a machine; she needed desper-ately to talk to either or both of them.

She pulled out of the café parking lot at two thirty-five and made a quick dash through the house before jogging out to the bunkhouse. She found Lucy singing a Loretta Lynn song. The smell of roast in one of the ovens and something that smelled like cinnamon in the other filled the whole bunkhouse, and Lucy was setting the table.

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“Hey, I didn’t hear you. You are really early today,” Lucy said.

“Been trying to call you for an hour,” Jasmine said.

“I didn’t even bring the phone with me out here. We need to put a second line out here. Hang one on the wall over there by the fridge. What do you think?”

“I think I needed to talk to you.” Jasmine’s tone was short.

“You sound cranky. It’s this blasted heat. It ain’t supposed to get this hot until August. Them men out there were tryin’ to cuss a nut off of the tractor. Heat gets to us all. Want a glass of tea?”

Jasmine melted into the the corner of the sofa at the other end of the room. “Yes, I’ve had a tough day. Yes, I’m cranky as hell. And yes, please, to the glass of tea.” Lucy filled two glasses with tea and carried them to the coffee table. She sat down on the other end of the sofa and said, “Talk to me.”

Words exploded like a bomb out of Jasmine’s mouth. “Momma and Daddy want to buy the café, but I can’t sell it and I can’t tell them why, and Momma says she wants to live close to me because she wants to see her grandchildren whenever she can, and Daddy is into this cooking shit and thinks he wants to be a chef for heaven’s sake; he never cooked before he retired so why can’t he do what Momma says and go build a bird house,” she stopped to suck in some air and went on just as fast and furious, “and they are coming for supper and I tried to call you to tell you to put on two more plates because I knew there would be plenty of food because you always overcook, but I couldn’t get through to you and I’m falling for Ace and he’s OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 244

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a good- timin’ man like Waylon sings about and I’m not a good- hearted woman because if he ever cheated on me with a woman I wouldn’t welcome him back home again,” she gasped again but it barely slowed her down, “and he will cheat because he’s Ace and he likes women and I knew it when I married him, and who am I to think he’ll settle down and not flirt around other women, and I’ve got to talk to someone or I’m going to blow up like a stick of dynamite and I can’t tell anyone because I promised Ace I wouldn’t and now Momma wants babies and it’s all going to be over in… nothing… I can’t tell anyone.”

“You done?” Lucy asked.

“I don’t know.”

“I hear the worst stories in the world, Jasmine. I counsel abused women. You can talk to me,” Lucy said softly.

“I’ve got a tattoo on my butt,” Jasmine blurted out.

“And your momma saw it and that’s got you this twisted up? Lord, I thought the world was coming to an end,” Lucy said.

Jasmine pushed her hair back with both her hands and held her aching head. “Momma didn’t see it, but it’s a tat of the John Deere logo. I’m supposed to be strong enough to take on anything, but I told her no on the wedding and now she wants to buy my café and I couldn’t even sell if I wanted to because I’ll have to have it back in a year because…”

“Go on,” Lucy said.

“It’s got to be confidential. I promised Ace, but if I don’t talk to someone I’m going to fall to pieces right here, and Momma will be here in an hour so she and OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 245

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Daddy can see the whole place and Ace don’t even know it.”

“You promised him that your parents would never come on the ranch?” Lucy asked.

Jasmine’s hands fell to her lap. “Confidential, Lucy?”

“I’m bound by my own inner code just like them doctors or lawyers is bound by the vow they take to be in their jobs. I tell my girls that they can tell me anything and you can too. Wild horses couldn’t drag it out of me,” Lucy said.

“I proposed to Ace,” Jasmine started.

“I don’t think that’s a hangin’ sin in today’s world.

But your momma don’t have to know, and I’m sure Ace isn’t about to tell them.”

“No, that’s not it. I told him I would marry him because there was a codicil on his grandpa’s will,” Jasmine explained.

“A what?” Lucy frowned.

“A part in small print that said Ace had to be married in two years or this son- of- a- bitch cousin, Cole Nelson, would get the ranch. Anyway, Ace didn’t read the will when his grandpa died so he didn’t know about it until the lawyer died and this fancy- pants lawyer found it and contacted Cole to see if he was still living. He is still livin’ and he said he was selling the ranch to the highest bidder and if Ace wanted it then he had to buy it back from Cole. Ace had one week to get married and I didn’t have any intentions of getting involved with anyone for a helluva lot longer than a year so I said I’d marry him.

It was supposed to be a secret, but then it got put on television,” Jasmine said.

A huge weight lifted from her shoulders.

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“Oh!” Lucy clamped a hand over her mouth.

Jasmine nodded. “And he has to stay married a year or it’s not any good.”

“Oh!” The second one came out muffled from behind her hand.

“Yeah!” Jasmine nodded.

The hand came down. “And your parents want to buy the café and they want grandchildren and you’re in love with Ace?”

Jasmine nodded.

“Dear Lord.” Lucy gasped. “Now that is a first- rate pickle that bacon grease won’t fix for sure. What are we going to do?”

“Hell if I know. But Momma and Daddy will be here any minute and Ace don’t even know they are coming because he didn’t pick up his phone either.”

“Hello!” Kelly yelled from the front door of the bunkhouse. “Anyone in here?”

“Smile pretty and we’ll talk about this later,” Lucy said.

“We can fix it, can’t we?”

“Jasmine, you can fix anything. Look at what you did for me. You are Wonder Woman. Hello! Come right on in here! We’re in here,” Lucy yelled and stood up.

“Thank you,” Jasmine said.

“Don’t mention it. We are strong women. Between us we could take on King Kong.”

Jasmine smiled at Lucy’s choice of words. But right then she sure didn’t feel like King Kong on steroids; more like a mouse hiding in a corner.

Kelly marched across the floor and extended her hand. “I’m Kel y King and this is my husband, Walt. We knocked on the door at the house but no one answered, OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 247

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and then we saw Jasmine’s truck parked out front so we walked on back here. You must be Lucy.”

Kelly’s dark brown hair was cut in a feathered back style, and her makeup was perfect. Her eyes were brown and her smile sweet. Lucy could see where Jasmine got her height, her hair, and her pretty lips, but her green eyes came from her father.

Lucy shook her hand and said, “Yes, I’m Lucy. I work here for Jasmine as chief cook and bottle washer.

Delilah, my cat, and I have a room in the ranch house but I spend a lot of my time in here cooking for the crew.

Would y’all like a glass of tea or a cup of coffee?” Walt King stuck out his hand to Lucy. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lucy. Jasmine has talked so much about you and her other friends that we feel like we already know all of you. And thank you for the offer, but we just had something cold.”

Kel y nodded. “We had coffee and drinks with our lunch, then Pearl insisted that we have tea at her place, and on the way back over we had to stop for gas so I had a Diet Coke. I’m addicted to them, I’ll admit it.” Jasmine stood up and hugged both her mother and her father. “Welcome to the Double Deuce. Remember when I was a kid and wanted to live on a ranch like Pearl? Well, I got my wish.”

Lucy winked at her and that gave her courage to go on.

“As you’ve already figured out, this is the bunkhouse where our permanent crew lives. They each have a bedroom and bathroom behind those doors. This is the great room where everyone eats together at breakfast and supper. They take sandwiches to the field with them at lunchtime. All those wonderful smells floating OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 248

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around are from Lucy’s cooking. Daddy, you’ll have to talk recipes with her. You almost beat me here. I just got in from the café.”

Lucy pointed at the door. “Ace and some of the guys are out there working on a tractor so you can go meet them now and, Mr. King, I share all my recipes. Maybe we can talk cooking later on after you have a tour of the place.”

Before Walt could answer, Ace slung the back door open and carried the empty tea jug inside. He had black grease smears on his forehead, sweat rings on his dirty T- shirt that had the sleeves cut out, his barbed wire tat right out there in plain sight, and his jeans looked like they’d been pulled through a mud hole backwards.

“Hi, darlin’, you are home early. You didn’t tell me you were bringing home company today,” he said.

Jasmine crossed the room, tiptoed, and kissed him on a clean spot on his cheek and said, “Ace, meet my parents, Kelly and Walt King.”

He set the jug on the cabinet, wiped his hand on his hip pocket, and extended it toward Walt. “Glad to meet you, sir. Just got finished fixin’ a tractor so I’m not cleaned up. Still got a few hours of work left. Want to tag along with me?”

“Be glad to, son. Used to like to go over to John Richland’s place for an afternoon and work with him,” Walt said.

Ace turned to her mother, took Kelly’s hand in his, and brought it to his lips. He brushed a kiss across her fingertips and said, “You don’t look old enough to be Jazzy’s momma. You’d pass more for her sister. Me and Walt are going to leave you women folks alone. Jazzy, darlin’, OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 249

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give your momma the tour up at the house and show her all around. I’ll be in to clean up in a couple of hours.” He and Walt were talking tractors and cows when they shut the door behind them.

“Oh, my!” Kelly gasped. “He is a charmer, isn’t he?

Even in his work clothes, I can see where you would be attracted to him, Jasmine. And all that pretty curly hair. I’ve always wanted a granddaughter with Shirley Temple curls and blue eyes. I can already see her in a frilly little pink Easter dress with a big bow in her hair.

And Christmas, oh how pretty she’ll be.”

Lucy butted right into the conversation. “If y’all will excuse me I need to check on my roast and get some hot rolls started for supper. Jasmine, I reckon you want to show your momma the house, don’t you? I’m thinkin’

we’ll have supper at five tonight. These folks won’t want to be drivin’ too much in the dark. Unless y’all was plannin’ on spending the night? I could sleep on the sofa if you wanted to stay over.”

“Oh, my no! We didn’t come prepared to stay.

We’re just visitin’, but it would be nice to have supper at five. I’d like to stop at the Gainesville Mall on the way back to Sherman. Maybe I’ll just glance at the little girl dresses.” Kelly gave Lucy a broad wink and locked arms with her daughter. “Lucy, you cal me Kel y. When anyone says Mrs. King, I think they are talkin’ about Walt’s momma. Jasmine, let’s go see your new house. I bet I can come up with al kinds of ideas to spruce it up.” Jasmine mouthed “thank you” at Lucy and led her mother off toward the house.

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Later that night, after her parents went home and the rest of the house was quiet, Ace drew Jasmine into his arms and kissed her on the forehead. She smelled of coconut-scented shampoo and sweet- smelling soap.

“That went fairly well even if I didn’t intend to meet your folks looking like I just went swimming in a fresh hog wallow,” he said.

Jasmine threw an arm across his broad chest and sighed. “They want to buy my café, Ace. If she can’t have a wedding, then she’ll just buy my café and make me have babies. I can’t sell my café, and I can’t tell them why. And I tried to call you but it went straight to voice mail.”

“Tell her no. Simple as that. Besides, I don’t think she can make you have babies. I might be able to do that, but not your momma.” He chuckled.

Jasmine slapped him playfully. “It’s not funny.” Ace propped up on an elbow. “Yes, it is. If anyone deserves to be in a pout, it’s me. I felt like shit, them seeing me the first time all nasty and smelling like bacon. I would have liked to make a better first impression than that. So don’t get on your high horse with me, Jazzy.”

“Men, especially ranchers, can be all dirty and… why did you smell like bacon?”

“Because I couldn’t budge a nut off a bolt on the tractor and Lucy said that bacon grease would take care of it so she smeared it up good with grease and then I twisted the nut off and got it al over my hands. Then I wiped my hands on my jeans.”

“Ranchers can do things like that and it’s okay, and my dad liked you so it doesn’t matter,” Jasmine said.