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Chapter 4.1
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2022-09-08 02:47:31Related chapters
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 4.2
A commercial came on the air. Both boys flipped over to look at Wade. “Do you have to go?” Ben asked.“Can’t he stay?” Tater begged.“Hey, thanks, guys,” Wade said before Dixie could speak. “But I’ve gotta get home and get my beauty rest.”The boys snickered and made gagging noises.Dixie opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch. Wade said good-night to the boys and followed. He stood next to her, with the only light on the dark porch coming from the open front door behind him and the streetlight down the block. Two houses away, a dog barked. Such a normal sound. But Dixie didn’t feel normal. She felt…expectant. She wanted—“What?” Wade asked. “What, what?”“You looked like you wanted to say something.”Dixie chuckled. “Didn’t we have this conversation earlier today?” “It does sound familiar, albeit reversed. So, what’s on your mind?”She was tired of this seesawing of her emotions, of not knowing what to do about it. Of denying herself. She decided to go for it.“I’ve bee
Last Updated : 2022-09-08LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 5
“Mom?”“What is it, hon?” Dixie stood in her kitchen and smoothed a hand over Tate’s unruly hair.“How come you’re only wearing one shoe?”Dixie looked down and sighed. Well, damn. “Because I’m old and forgetful.”“Ha!” Pops cackled. “If you’re old, what’s that make me? Time to get to work, you guys. As soon as your mother finishes getting dressed.”Dixie rolled her eyes and went in search of her other shoe. It had been like that since she woke up.Longer. Her mind had been in a fog since she’d watched Wade walk away last night. She’d almost let the boys go to bed without a bath. This morning she’d tried to put two earrings into the same hole in her ear. She’d brushed her teeth without toothpaste. And now she’d nearly left the house wearing only one shoe.All this because of one kiss. Okay, two, but who was counting? Two kisses from a man who took her breath away.Had it really been so long since she’d been with a man that a couple of kisses could knock her for such a loop?The answer
Last Updated : 2022-09-08LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 5.1
“Astronomical, I’d say.”“Yeah,” Wade agreed. “Hey, listen, we should both get back to work. If you’ll point me to the office.”“Sure. Down the hall, right across from the main entrance.” “Thanks.” Wade started past the man, then paused. “We should gettogether for a beer sometime.” Then he thought better of it. “Or…not.” Carlucci nodded. “Yeah. Maybe not.”The fireman went back to his mopping while the CEO went looking for a ten-year-old.A young woman behind the counter in the school’s office looked up Ben’s classroom and gave Wade directions. He got the book to Ben and made it back to the diner, having been gone under thirty minutes total.“Thank you, Wade,” Dixie told him.“You’re welcome.” And my, he thought, how polite they’d become with each other. Polite and distant. All because he’d been unable to keep his hands and his mouth, to himself.“Dixie,” he said softly as she turned to leave. She paused, turned her head toward him. “Yes?” “Did I ruin things?”She frowned “Ruin what?
Last Updated : 2022-09-08LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 5.2
“Yeah, you know, moving forward at a pace faster than walking?” “Maria, quit dancing around the subject and spill it. What the devil areyou talking about?”At that moment a middle-aged couple entered the diner, and at the same time Wade came out of the kitchen to bus tables.“Never mind,” Maria said out of the side of her mouth. “Tell you later.” Her friend, Dixie decided, had lost her marbles.Dixie seated the new couple, gave them menus and took their drink orders. She returned to the kitchen right after Wade. Considering Maria’s comments, Dixie didn’t dare look him in the eye. No way could she explain away something she didn’t understand.As it turned out, she had no need to explain anything, because Wade made no attempt to engage her in conversation. In fact, when she did finally look at him, he seemed as preoccupied with his own thoughts as she’d been with hers.It surprised her, then, that with the way they were all but avoiding each other, and he had no specific invitation fro
Last Updated : 2022-09-08LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 6
In the top half of the fourth inning the sky opened up. The only warning was a big fat drop of rain here and there. Then nothing. Then, whoosh!Even if anyone had an umbrella with them in the stands or out on the field, there was no time to get one up to prevent a serious soaking. This was no gentle shower, but a torrent of hard, cold bullets of water hurtling down with enough force to hurt.The bleachers erupted in curses and shouts as spectators scrambled down the risers to race for the shelter of their vehicles. Wade followed Dixie and Pops to the end of their bench, then they started down the stairs. He saw it happen as if in slow motion and was helpless to prevent it.Lightning shot a jagged spear from cloud to ground no more than fifty yards away. The explosive sound was deafening. The smell of sulfur stung the eyes and nostrils.In reaction, Dixie jerked and slipped on the rain-slicked stairs. To regain her balance she waved her arms wildly, but in the process she accidentally
Last Updated : 2022-09-08LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 6.1
“Does anybody live here with you?” Ben wondered.“No. Just me.” He went directly to the dresser in his bedroom and scooped out shorts and socks, then, from the closet, jeans and a shirt and a dry pair of shoes. In the bathroom he grabbed a towel.“Cool, man, you’ve got your own TV.” Tate grabbed the remote and started pushing buttons.The television came on at a blare.“No time,” Wade turned the set off. “We have to go.”He wouldn’t have been surprised if they had dragged their feet, or darted off to the kitchen or bedroom or bathroom, anything to explore and delay. They were, after all, boys.But they followed him out and climbed up into the SUV with no argument, squishing in their wet sneakers.The rain had stopped. The sun streaked golden and rose from the western horizon. It looked odd, with the sky overhead still dark and gray.The next stop was the McCormick residence, maybe four minutes away by car. He would have used one of the keys Dixie had given him, but the boys bolted ahe
Last Updated : 2022-09-08LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 6.2
“Sure was glad you were around tonight,” Pops offered.Wade opened two bottles of beer and gave one to Pops. With a sigh, he sat on the opposite end of the divan. “I was glad to help.”“She does too much,” Pops said, looking older than Wade had ever seen him. “Has too much on her plate. Business, employees, mortgage, two young boys, an old man who can’t manage his own two feet without tripping over them.”“I think if you asked her, she’d say those were good things. All of them. If I hadn’t been there tonight, she would have handled everything just fine.”“Maybe, but we’d still be wet and cold without the dry clothes you brought.”“There is that.”“See? She needed you tonight. We all did. Which makes me want to ask just how long you plan on hanging around.”Wade took a sip of beer and leaned back to hide the fact that his heart started pounding. “So, are you asking?”“She doesn’t have a man to stand for her.”“Oh, yes, she does. She’s got you,” Wade said. “Don’t sell yourself short, Po
Last Updated : 2022-09-08LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 6.3
“No!” Dixie and Wade said in unison. “You’re staying home,” Dixie stated.“And that’s that,” Wade added. “Surely the two of us can manage for a while in the morning. If it looks like we won’t make it on our own, you can call in help. Or maybe that man who came by looking for work will come back.”Pops squeezed one eye shut and peered at the two of them with the other. “It could work. If everybody hustles.”Dixie had to agree. It could work. “If business is light. I can’t believe I’m hoping business will be light. Still, I guess we’ll give it a try. And, Wade, I really appreciate this extra effort. We’re all of us grateful for your help tonight.”“Hell, girl, don’t go thanking him. He’ll start thinking he’s not one of the family, and I guess we’ve pretty much adopted him after tonight.”She smiled. “I guess you’re right. He’s ours.”She had no idea, Wade thought, just how true that was. At least, his heart was theirs. In more ways than one, if the emotions tumbling around inside him me
Last Updated : 2022-09-08
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LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 36.1
“How…? When…?”“Brenda 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.”“What is it, Daddy?” Jasmine asked. He couldn’t move.“It’s us,” Pammy cried. “Mama and us girls in the backyard.”It had always been one of Riley’s 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 he’d ever seen. His vision blurred.“Lemme see, Daddy, lemme see,” Cindy cried.When he finally looked up at Amy, he didn’t know what to say.She leaned toward him and kissed each of his eyelids, then his mouth. “Merry Christmas, Riley.”Amy was gratif
LOVE IN TEXAS 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 didn’t mind. There was always time for a few heated kisses when they weren’t 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 Chapter 35.1
“Okay, bring them to the den. We’ll let him sit in his recliner while we doctor him,” 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.“Here’s the deal, girls. Your daddy’s barely hurt at all. No more than one of you falling off your bicycle and getting a few scrapes.”Pammy poked out her lower lip. “Are you sure?”“I’m 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.”That got a round of smiles out of the girls.“I’m telling you this so you won’t worry about your daddy just because he moans and groans now and then over his aches and pains. It’s jus
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 35
All the way to the hospital on the hill at the south edge of town Amy kept her mind blank. She couldn’t 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 shouldn’t be long.They told her she had to wait.She told them, “Point me toward Riley Sinclair right this minute and you might live to see the end of your shift.”“Security!”“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Amy said as she started down the hall. “If you’ve got a security guard here in the middle of
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 34.2
“Good morning.”She barely bit back the shriek that threatened at the scare his voice gave her when she hadn’t realized he’d come in. “Good morning,” 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. “I called you last night,” he said quietly.Amy’s stomach clenched. “Did you?” “Several times.”She could see his hand resting on the edge of her desk. “I must have been out.” Heaven help her, she’d turned into a liar, she thought with dismay.“Amy, will you look at me?”She 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. “Riley, I…”“Don’t, Amy. If it’s this hard for you even to look at me, I guess we have a bigger problem than moving too fast.”“I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to do. I’m driving myself crazy here.”H
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 34.1
“I’m going to be tied up most of the day,” Riley said. “So I don’t know if I’ll be able to call you until late.”She smiled sadly. “You don’t need to call me. We’ll see each other at the office Monday. I’m not that insecure that I have to hear your voice and know where you are every day.” Ha. Liar.“Are you telling me you don’t want me to call?”With a groan and a laugh, Amy shook her head. “I guess I deserved that, but no, that’s not what I’m saying. If you want to call me and have time, I’d love to hear from you. If you don’t have the time, or merely don’t want to call, I promise not to take your lack of calling as a personal rejection. How’s that?”He chuckled. “I think you’re right. I think we don’t know each other as well as we thought we did. I’m going to leave now, before I make an even bigger ass of myself.”Amy 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 Marva’s beauty consul
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 34
Amy regained her wits as she did her breath—slowly. The warm weight of Riley Sinclair anchored her where she lay. Was he the anchor she’d beenseeking all her life? The person with whom she could put down roots?Her heart, so recently slowed to normal, gave a leap. She wouldn’t make the mistake she’d seen so many of her friends make, that of thinking one night of good sex—okay, mind-numbing sex—meant happily ever after.She tightened her arms around Riley’s shoulders, still not sure of her own emotions, let alone his.“You’re thinking too hard.” She gave a start. “What?”He pushed himself up onto his forearms and cradled her face in his hands. “I guess I know you better than I thought. Right now you’re trying to decide if this means we know what we’re doing.”“Home builder, child rearer and now mind reader?” She ran her hands up and down his arms. “Or are you thinking the same thing?”“I won’t be capable of rational thought for a while yet.”She smiled and stared at his chin to avoid
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 33.2
She chuckled at his thick Gypsy accent. “Good point. However, they never predict a woman will meet a man who’s short, pale and ugly, either. He’s always tall, dark and handsome.”By 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 couldn’t 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 situation—a 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 other’s eye. But they would probably have bruises from the tightness of their grip on each other’s hand.They were silent on the way home. Not even the radio br
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 33.1
“I’m learning that,” she said. “Ernie the mailman says Jack over at the hardware store drank too much and wrecked his daddy’s car last week.”“Yup. And he had Ernie’s cousin’s daughter with him. Which explains why Ernie’s telling everyone in town. Jack’s lucky that Ernie doesn’t have a shotgun.”“Considering what Marva thought of me this time last week, I’m pretty glad she doesn’t, either.”“So,” he asked a moment later. “This isn’t what Marva helped you pick out, is it?”“Yes, it is. I know nothing about style or fashion. She and Darnelle basically had their way with me,” she added with a slight shudder.Riley laughed at her. “Maybe Marva’s getting smarter with the years. I would have thought she’d go for ruffles and bows and lace.”“She might have, but I reminded her I’m a crack shot with an M-16, and I know where she lives.”Riley laughed, then shook his head. “I wish Cindy had something like that she could hold over Marva’s head, and that she’d use it.”“Cindy? Why?”“I’m afraid s
