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Chapter 26
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2022-09-27 19:31:19
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LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย Chapter 26.1
Maybe funny stuff my girls would enjoy hearing about their mother. Is there anything like that you can tell them?โAmy puffed out her cheeks and exhaled. โWhew. Thatโsโฆโ โToo much?โโNo,โ she said thoughtfully. โItโs a great idea. Brenda would love that you thought of it, and it would go along with, well, other elements of their Christmas gifts.โโWhat other elements?โShe flashed him a smile. โNever mind that.โโSpoilsport,โ he muttered with half a smile. โLetโs not make this about Christmas, if youโve got something similar going there.โโWhat do you have in mind?โHe glanced at his watch and winced. โIโm a little short on time right now. If youโre serious about the stories, what about telling them to the girls, and I can videotape it so they can play it back whenever they want to?โโThat sounds like a great idea.โโIf youโre free this evening, you could come over and we can figure out the logistics.โAmyโs pulse raced. โAll right. What time do you want me?โ Something flared in his e
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2022-09-27LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย Chapter 26.2
Instantly his pickup echoed with little-girl chatter. In the short trip home he learned every important thing that had happened that day at Tribute Elementary. The chattering and giggling, even the arguing, was music to his ears. Especially the squeals of delight when he told them Amy was coming to supper and afterward would tell them a story about their mother.Brenda, thank you for sending Amy for the girls. They needed whatever pieces of their mother Amy could provide. Riley tried to tell them as much as he could, but Amy knew a part of Brenda that he didnโt. He was probably more eager to hear about it than the kids.The doorbell surprised him. He wasnโt ready. Heโd wanted to clear her out of his mind before facing her again. Too late now.โItโs Sergeant Amy,โ Pammy called from the front hall.He heard Amy answer, heard Jasmine and Cindy chime in. Laughter.Giggles.Riley washed his hands at the kitchen sink, and, still drying them, sauntered to the front hall to greet their guest.
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2022-09-27LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย chapter 26.3
Cindy tugged her through the door. โThis is my bed.โ She raced across to the bed farthest from the door and bounced her little rear on its pink- flowered quilt with a pink-and-white ruffled pillow sham and matching dust ruffle. A little girlโs fairy-tale bed.In the far corner, near the foot of Cindyโs bed, sat an old wooden rocker. โThatโs Jasmineโs bed, the yellow one in the middle,โ Cindy said.โโCause sheโs the middle sister, and the blue bed by the closet is Pammyโs. She likes blue. A lot.โโShe does, huh?โโOh, yes,โ Cindy asserted. โYouโre gonna tell us a story?โ โI thought I would, if you want.โโSit here.โ Cindy patted the smooth oak seat of the rocker. โItโs our story chair.โAmy had a sudden picture of Brenda sitting in this very chair, holding one of these beautiful darlings to her breast to nurse. Another followed, of Riley holding a crying baby in the middle of the night while Brenda slept down the hall. The chair took on sacred proportions in her mind. She looked to Ril
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2022-09-27LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย Chapter 27
The next afternoon, when Amy returned to her motel room from a longwalk after lunch, a message awaited her. Riley had called and left a number and a request for her to call him back.Amy sat on the side of her bed and stared at the phone. Last night something had happened. Sheโd been thinking about it all day and had yet to figure it out. One minute sheโd been telling the girls about Brenda missing cottonwoods and grass, the next, Riley had been showing her to the door.She could only assume that hearing so much about Brenda had stirred up old memories and grief, and he had suddenly needed to be alone.Amy ached for him and prayed that the girls had not suffered the same reaction. They hadnโt seemed sad. They had seemed curious and interested in what she had to say about their mother. Of course, at their ages, Brenda wasnโt as real to them anymore as she was to Riley. His entire life with her must seem like yesterday.He was surely calling to tell her he didnโt want her to tell any m
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2022-09-27LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย Chapter 27.1
With his gaze on the road in front of him, he shrugged. โItโs just that few people actually move here. Most people move away.โโIf that were true, this would be a ghost town by now.โโOkay, a slight exaggeration. But why pick Tribute? You could live anywhere.โโThe fact that I can live anywhere I want is why Iโm here. I guess Iโve loved it here since those terrible, hot nights in the desert, when I beggedBrenda to talk about something, anything. Brenda talked about Tribute and how much she loved it. I mentally adopted the town. Iโve never lived in one spot longer than a few months, always being shuffled from one relative toanother while my mother took off for parts unknown.โ โWhat about your father?โShe shrugged. โNever met the man. Iโm not sure my mother knows who he is. I never thought to myself, โI wish I had a dad, or a mom who stayedput.โ It wasnโt parents I always wanted, it was a home. A hometown. For more than a year Iโve held Tribute in my mind, and now, here I am.โโWow.
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2022-09-27LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย Chapter 27.2
โBlack gold,โ he agreed. โThe whole town was pleased when they outgrew this site and built a new, larger place at the edge of town. A good bit of our economy depends on the oil industry. They do good, the town does good. The town does good, Sinclair Construction does good. Come on. Iโll show you around.โWhy, she wondered. Why did he want her to see his office? But she wasnโt quite ready to ask. She figured he would explain himself soonenough. For now she would simply enjoy his company. Questions could come later.The front door of the business was locked; Riley had to use his key to let them in. โYou donโt have full-time office help?โ she asked.โNot yet. Fanny comes in a few hours a week and takes care of the bookkeeping. Sort of.โAmy chuckled at his dire tone. โHowโs that working for you?โ โHmph. Not well. You want a job?โShe laughed. When he didnโt, she gave him a closer look. He didnโt appear to be kidding. In fact, he looked, if anything, hopeful. โAre you serious?โโAs a hea
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2022-09-27LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย Chapter 28
โYouโre back,โ Riley noted, sounding slightly surprised. โYou werenโt gone very long.โAmy hung up her coat and stuffed her bag under her desk. โLongenough to grab a slice of pizza. Did anything exciting happen while I was gone?โ she asked them.The elderly woman winked at her. โRiley came in. Thatโs always exciting.โโFanny,โ Riley drawled, โyou keep up that sassy talk, youโll turn my head. Next thing I know, Albert will be calling me out for making time with his wife.โFanny tittered like a young girl. โOh, go on with you. You better watch this one,โ she told Amy. โHeโs a sweet talker, he is.โโIโll watch him. Did you get that problem taken care of this morning?โ she asked him.โTurned out to be a simple misunderstanding. Maryann thought we were forgetting her laundry room.โโYou canโt forget a ladyโs laundry room,โ Fanny stated. โI wouldnโt dream of it.โAmy mentioned the pile of paperwork that she had moved from thesurface of her desk into the hanging files and asked what Riley
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2022-09-27LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย Chapter 28.1
He gave her a cheesy grin. โNone taken.โIf Amy thought she and Riley might be more comfortable with each other after that exchange, time proved her mistaken. Over the next days, shefound herself going out of her way to avoid eye contact, and making sure she didnโt put herself within touching range of him. She stepped over tolook out the window or looked down to study the contents of a drawer more times than she cared to count.By the time she realized what she was doing, she realized that he seemed to be pulling the same avoidance maneuvers. Of course, for her to realize he wouldnโt meet her gaze, she had to look at him. If anyone was watching the two of them, they were probably getting a good laugh. There they were, two grown people, so uneasy with each other that they scarcely talked, never got near each other, wouldnโt look at each other, used anyone handyโpoor Fanny got it most oftenโas a go-between. And she looked suspiciously as if she was about to burst into laughter at any
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2022-09-27
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LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย Chapter 36.1
โHowโฆ? Whenโฆ?โโBrenda had the photo with her. She knew she wanted to do something, but all she could think of was to blow it up. I ran across a guy on the Internet who does oil paintings from photos. I thought she would like that.โโWhat is it, Daddy?โ Jasmine asked. He couldnโt move.โItโs us,โ Pammy cried. โMama and us girls in the backyard.โIt had always been one of Rileyโs favorite pictures of Brenda and the girls. In fact he had a copy of it right now in his wallet. Brenda, sitting in the grass, with Pammy and Jasmine on either side and Cindy in her lap. He had taken the picture himself just before Brenda shipped out, nearly two years ago.The artist had enlarged it and copied it in oil. It was perhaps the most beautiful portrait heโd ever seen. His vision blurred.โLemme see, Daddy, lemme see,โ Cindy cried.When he finally looked up at Amy, he didnโt know what to say.She leaned toward him and kissed each of his eyelids, then his mouth. โMerry Christmas, Riley.โAmy was gratif
LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย Chapter 36
The rest of the week until Christmas passed in a blur. Amy spent much of it with Riley and his girls.There were errands to run. There was more shopping to do, both in town and beyond. There were videos to rent and watch and a movie to see in Waco. There were friends and neighbors to meet.Amy wondered what those friends and neighbors thought of Rileyshowing up with her, but they were all friendly. They were especially nice when Riley told them that she had served with Brenda. That served as a good, acceptable reason for them to be together without too much overt speculation.They were seldom alone, she and Riley. There was little time for it with the girls always around. But Amy didnโt mind. There was always time for a few heated kisses when they werenโt looking, or after their bedtime if Amy drove herself home.She had her own last-minute Christmas things to take care of, too.Things she could not do around Riley or his girls. But with a few phone calls, a quick trip here and there
LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย Chapter 35.1
โOkay, bring them to the den. Weโll let him sit in his recliner while we doctor him,โ Amy suggested. She craned her neck to peer down the hall.Seeing no sign of Riley, she led the girls a few feet away into the kitchen and gave them a conspiratorial wink.โHereโs the deal, girls. Your daddyโs barely hurt at all. No more than one of you falling off your bicycle and getting a few scrapes.โPammy poked out her lower lip. โAre you sure?โโIโm sure. I was there in the hospital when the doctor checked him over.He does have stitches on the side of his head, but not much else. But the thing is, guys are different than girls. Guys are bigger and stronger than we are. At the same time, when they get the least little scrape, or catch a cold, they turn into helpless babies. They need help with every little thing.โThat got a round of smiles out of the girls.โIโm telling you this so you wonโt worry about your daddy just because he moans and groans now and then over his aches and pains. Itโs jus
LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย Chapter 35
All the way to the hospital on the hill at the south edge of town Amy kept her mind blank. She couldnโt allow herself to think. She scarcely allowed herself to breathe. An accident. Riley. Deer. Truck. Ditch. The words hurled themselves at her one after the other, like heat-seeking missiles.At the last stop sign before the hill, she hit her brakes too hard and her tires slid across the intersection. She was lucky no other cars were coming. She held her breath until the car straightened out, then eased up the hill and skated into the parking lot of the hospital.With a prayer on her lips, she rushed into the hospital and demanded to see Riley.They told her she should sit down. They told her it shouldnโt be long.They told her she had to wait.She told them, โPoint me toward Riley Sinclair right this minute and you might live to see the end of your shift.โโSecurity!โโOh, for heavenโs sake,โ Amy said as she started down the hall. โIf youโve got a security guard here in the middle of
LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย Chapter 34.2
โGood morning.โShe barely bit back the shriek that threatened at the scare his voice gave her when she hadnโt realized heโd come in. โGood morning,โ she managed. She stared at her computer screen and typed in her password to log on.His footsteps crossed from the door to her desk. He stopped there. โI called you last night,โ he said quietly.Amyโs stomach clenched. โDid you?โ โSeveral times.โShe could see his hand resting on the edge of her desk. โI must have been out.โ Heaven help her, sheโd turned into a liar, she thought with dismay.โAmy, will you look at me?โShe had to. She knew she had to. She even wanted to. Maybe. Sort of. She swallowed, wishing she knew what to do, what she wanted, what was best for them. If there was a them.Slowly she raised her gaze. โRiley, IโฆโโDonโt, Amy. If itโs this hard for you even to look at me, I guess we have a bigger problem than moving too fast.โโIโm sorry. I donโt know what to say. I donโt know what to do. Iโm driving myself crazy here.โH
LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย Chapter 34.1
โIโm going to be tied up most of the day,โ Riley said. โSo I donโt know if Iโll be able to call you until late.โShe smiled sadly. โYou donโt need to call me. Weโll see each other at the office Monday. Iโm not that insecure that I have to hear your voice and know where you are every day.โ Ha. Liar.โAre you telling me you donโt want me to call?โWith a groan and a laugh, Amy shook her head. โI guess I deserved that, but no, thatโs not what Iโm saying. If you want to call me and have time, Iโd love to hear from you. If you donโt have the time, or merely donโt want to call, I promise not to take your lack of calling as a personal rejection. Howโs that?โHe chuckled. โI think youโre right. I think we donโt know each other as well as we thought we did. Iโm going to leave now, before I make an even bigger ass of myself.โAmy sighed and watched him through her window until he drove out of her parking lot. Then she slid to the floor, exhausted. She had gone from letting Marvaโs beauty consul
LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย Chapter 34
Amy regained her wits as she did her breathโslowly. The warm weight of Riley Sinclair anchored her where she lay. Was he the anchor sheโd beenseeking all her life? The person with whom she could put down roots?Her heart, so recently slowed to normal, gave a leap. She wouldnโt make the mistake sheโd seen so many of her friends make, that of thinking one night of good sexโokay, mind-numbing sexโmeant happily ever after.She tightened her arms around Rileyโs shoulders, still not sure of her own emotions, let alone his.โYouโre thinking too hard.โ She gave a start. โWhat?โHe pushed himself up onto his forearms and cradled her face in his hands. โI guess I know you better than I thought. Right now youโre trying to decide if this means we know what weโre doing.โโHome builder, child rearer and now mind reader?โ She ran her hands up and down his arms. โOr are you thinking the same thing?โโI wonโt be capable of rational thought for a while yet.โShe smiled and stared at his chin to avoid
LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย Chapter 33.2
She chuckled at his thick Gypsy accent. โGood point. However, they never predict a woman will meet a man whoโs short, pale and ugly, either. Heโs always tall, dark and handsome.โBy tacit agreement, the talk did not return to the subject of we. They finished their dessert, then drove to a nearby multiplex movie theater. They couldnโt decide which movie to see. In the end, they nixed the love story, the romantic comedy, the family Christmas movie, the war epic, and went for the movie with no elements that spoke to their personal situationโa safe, sensible science-fiction action thriller.It was just their luck that there was a hot, erotic love scene near the end of the movie. The kind of scene that sent hot blood pulsing in intimate places. Riley and Amy both stared studiously at the screen, each making certain not to catch the otherโs eye. But they would probably have bruises from the tightness of their grip on each otherโs hand.They were silent on the way home. Not even the radio br
LOVE IN TEXAS ย ย ย Chapter 33.1
โIโm learning that,โ she said. โErnie the mailman says Jack over at the hardware store drank too much and wrecked his daddyโs car last week.โโYup. And he had Ernieโs cousinโs daughter with him. Which explains why Ernieโs telling everyone in town. Jackโs lucky that Ernie doesnโt have a shotgun.โโConsidering what Marva thought of me this time last week, Iโm pretty glad she doesnโt, either.โโSo,โ he asked a moment later. โThis isnโt what Marva helped you pick out, is it?โโYes, it is. I know nothing about style or fashion. She and Darnelle basically had their way with me,โ she added with a slight shudder.Riley laughed at her. โMaybe Marvaโs getting smarter with the years. I would have thought sheโd go for ruffles and bows and lace.โโShe might have, but I reminded her Iโm a crack shot with an M-16, and I know where she lives.โRiley laughed, then shook his head. โI wish Cindy had something like that she could hold over Marvaโs head, and that sheโd use it.โโCindy? Why?โโIโm afraid s
