LOGINShare
Chapter 6.2
Last Updated:
2022-09-08 02:59:14Related chapters
LOVE 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 : 2022-09-08LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 7
The first customer entered the diner less than a minute after Dixie told Wade to unlock the door. Wade was still putting the keys away when the door opened.Having spent nearly all his time in the diner hidden away in the kitchen, Wade did not know more than a scant few of their customers, and even then, he didn’t know anyone’s name. He wasn’t going to be able to relate to people the way Dixie did, with a familiar ease. He would have to make up for it with that charm his mother claimed he had in abundance.This first customer was an elderly woman in a black-and-white flowered dress, a white pillbox hat and, of all things, white, wrist-length cotton gloves.“Good morning,” Wade called out from behind the counter. “Just sit anywhere and I’ll be right with you.”She eyed him suspiciously and sat near the front. Table two.Wade filled a water glass with ice and water and grabbed a menu. At her table, he presented them to her.“Young man, who are you and where is Dixie?”“Ma’am.” He gave h
Last Updated : 2022-09-08LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 7.1
We’re getting to know each other,” he said cryptically. “Speaking of ladies,” he added, “I’m supposed to tell you that Miz Ima Don’t-Make-Fun- of-My-Name Trotter will be taking a casserole to Pops this afternoon, so you’re not to worry about him sitting home all alone and starving to death.”“My, my,” Dixie said. “You really are getting to know the ladies, aren’t you?”He trailed his fingers down her back, then poked them in her ribs. She flinched, jerked away and shrieked with laughter.“Now I know where Tate gets his ticklishness from.” “Watch it, buster.”Laughing, he let her go. “I’ll have you know that I’m also getting to know the men, too.” He shook his head as if in sorrow. “I’m sorry to say, they don’t like me as well as the ladies do.”“Is that so?” She held a spatula out to ward him off as she circled around him to get back to the grill.“Yes, indeed. How was it the man from the hardware store, Frank, I think he said his name was, put it? Something about…oh, yes. My butt’s n
Last Updated : 2022-09-08LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 7.2
Wade’s hopes perked up. “Where is he?”The man banged on the side of the truck and yelled in Spanish for his son to come out. A moment later the back door of the van opened and a medium-height young man with the coal-black hair and dark brown eyes of his father stepped out.“padre?”“This man, he has work for you.”“For me?” The boy’s eyes lit up with excitement. “What kind of work?” he asked Wade.“Across the street, at the diner. Busing tables, washing dishes, pushing the occasional mop or broom. Are you interested?”“Yes, I am interested. When can I start?”“Right now, if you want. You’ll only work a few hours today, but tomorrow we’ll need you all day.”The teenager looked at his father. The man eyed Wade a long moment, then glanced at the diner. “Are you the boss?” the man asked.“No. The boss is the woman you spoke with the other day. Dixie McCormick.”“I remember. She seemed like a nice lady.” “She’s a very nice lady.”Finally the man gave the nod to his son. “You go straight b
Last Updated : 2022-09-08LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 8
That evening Dixie looked around her dinner table and felt her heart swell. She was so lucky to have her family gathered around her every night.Pops’s accident last night served to remind her never to take her life and the people she loved for granted.“So, Pops, how was Miz Ima and her casserole?” she asked.A deep red flush stole slowly up his cheeks. He scowled at her. Dixie hooted with laughter. “Boys, I think Miz Trotter is sweet onPops.”“You mean, like, boy-girl sweet on?” Ben asked, alarmed at the idea. “Exactly.”“Eww, yuck,” Tate said.“My sentiments exactly,” Pops muttered.“Shame,” Dixie said, laughing. “You’ve had a thing for her for twenty years.”The boys spent the next few minutes making gagging sounds. They had yet to learn the value of girls.“Have not,” Pops protested. “Why, she’s a good six months older than me.”“You know what they say about older women,” Dixie teased. “Oh, hush, you.” The red blush now reached the tops of his ears. “All right, all right,” she c
Last Updated : 2022-09-08LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 8.1
Dixie trembled with warring emotions. Fury, that Wade had failed to tell her who he really was. Humiliation at being duped. A gaping sense of loss for the man she’d thought she was falling for. A man who obviously didn’t exist.How could he? Damn him. “Wait until I get my hands on you, you rotten, no-good, lying son of a—” No one was allowed to swear in her house. She figured since she made the rule, she should abide by it.But, oh, she could think of quite a few four-letter words to call him.Outside, a shadow crossed her front window. She slapped the Off button on the TV just as a knock rattled the door.It was Wade.Oh, God. What was she going to say to him? She gnawed on her lip and paced the floor. Should she play dumb and see if he confessed? Maybe this was what he wanted to talk to her about.Should she confront him with what she knew rather than give him a chance to tell her first?Should she simply open the door and punch him in the mouth? Yes. She liked that last one the bes
Last Updated : 2022-09-08LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 8.2
“Dixie? Dixie!” He reached across the coffee table separating them and squeezed her knee, giving it a little shake. “Dixie?”Dixie shook herself out of the ridiculous trance or whatever she’d been in. “I’m sorry,” she said, her mind clear now, clear and vehemently denying the silly idea that kept leaping at her. An idea that was preposterous.“Dixie?”She pushed herself to her feet. “That’s an incredible story,” she said. “I’m sorry you had to go through such a traumatic experience. I assume that everything went well. You look perfectly healthy to me.”“I am healthy, especially if I keep up with my meds and exercise.” “Oh, well, that’s wonderful.” She started toward the front door, hermovements sharp and jerky. “I’m really glad for you.” “Dixie, come sit down.”“You’ve said what you came to say. Oh.” She stopped and turned around. “I forgot your check. Wait here.”“Dixie, sit down.”Her eyes were overbright. Her hands fluttered in the air. “I’m glad you came by to tell me this, but I
Last Updated : 2022-09-08LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 8.3
“Dixie?”“Yes?”“I might have his heart, and I might have come here because of his sons, but I’m not him. Do you understand what I’m saying?”“I never thought you were him,” she claimed.“Just so you don’t start looking for any more of his traits in me. I came here for the boys. Just to make sure they were all right since losing their father. I stayed because, yes, they were all right, because their mother made sure of it. I’ve stayed because of you, Dixie.”Dixie’s vision blurred. “What are you saying?”“I’m saying that the only thing I have now of Jimmy Don’s is a physical organ. The feelings I have for you, for the boys, are mine, not his. They have nothing to do with cellular memory or transplanted organs.”She swallowed again. “How do you know? How can you be sure?”“It’s easy,” he said with a shrug. “I just ask myself, if I’d met you before I got sick, would I feel the same way. The answer is…absolutely.”Dixie let out a breath she hadn’t been aware of holding. “Maybe you’d bett
Last Updated : 2022-09-08
Latest chapter
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
