Crazy Little Thing Called Love (14 page)

Devin was rambling about adding more hands to
the ranch to help with the new land and the stock they’d be able to
purchase to graze it. He was half-listening. It was a fact that if
they added the extra acreage they’d eventually need more hands and
more hands meant they could buy more cattle and breed more as well.
As far as he was concerned that was years away at best though if he
mentioned that his brother would just scowl at him for raining on
his parade.

Maddie McBride sidled over with a coffee mug
and gave them a grin, “Morning boys. It’s been a while.”

“Morning.” Zach did his best to ignore the
fact that despite their ages the people in Fate would always refer
to them as boys. Together they were a group, the West boys or those
poor West boys who lost their daddy. He’d hated it for as long as
he could remember.

“Hey Maddie.”

“Good to see you again.”

His brothers were more polite. They returned
the smile and the greeting since they’d known Maddie all her life.
She was friends with Riley but she’d been batting her lashes at
Devin as long as Zach could remember, not that his brother ever
seemed to have noticed.

Seeing her opening, Maddie laid it on thick.
Cooing over how handsome they all looked in their dress clothes.
Offering to get them an extra biscuit or soft drink to go. Flirting
as easily as breathing.

It had always been like that around Fate.
Zach was mature enough to admit it wasn’t so much that they were
great catches. Sure none of them looked like they’d fallen out of
the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down but the
attention of the nice ladies of Fate came more from a lack of
options.

It was a small town and couples married
early. They were probably the last of a handful of single men over
the age of twenty-five that hadn’t already been married, divorced
and have a gaggle of kids following them around. Problem was, he
didn’t foresee the status quo ever changing but the women of Fate
had other plans.

That’s why he steered clear these days. The
last thing he needed was one of them getting attached and thinking
he was Mr. Right. He hadn’t had any problems finding someone to
hook up with over the years but he’d taken his game outside Fate a
long time ago. He wasn’t sure his brothers had wizened up to that
trick yet.

As was natural in small towns, most of
Maddie’s flirting came at the expense of gossip. She told them all
about how Dana Wright was expecting a baby girl. She told them that
the Newton family might be moving away because Mr. Newton got an
offer to teach in Fort Worth. She told them about how Lyle Carter
had been taken to the hospital in Amarillo and that Bluebell had
refused to leave his side.

That was a story he’d heard at least a dozen
times in the past few weeks, not that he gave a shit. Lyle Carter
was dying, everybody in town knew it and like with most things
everyone in town had an opinion about it. Working on a ranch of
mostly men he’d always assumed the gossip ran a bit slower but that
hadn’t stopped his hands from gossiping as much in the barn as in
the bars after hours.

Some of the nice people of Fate thought
Carter was a mean old man who hadn’t bothered to tell his only
daughter how sick he was. Others thought Bluebell was a spoiled
little brat that had stayed gone until her daddy was on death’s
door and only came back now to get her inheritance. Not that he
cared but he wasn’t so sure where he fell.

“Zach, earth to Zach, did you hear me?”

He looked up into the almond shaped eyes that
were staring at him with a hint of annoyance now and mustered up
his best smile, “Sorry, Maddie. Just distracted by how pretty you
look this morning I guess, what were you saying?”

She blushed. She stammered. He tried not to
smirk. Maybe he still had a little bit of game after all.

“I was just saying my birthday is next week
and we’re all going over to Sully’s for some drinks. You should
join us. I’d love to see you there.”

“Really? How old are you turning?” He knew it
was rude to ask a woman her age but he didn’t care.

Even if Maddie had been his type, which she
wasn’t, he knew for a fact she was far too young for him. Some men
might get off on having a pretty young girl flirt and fall all over
herself for him. He wasn’t one of those guys. He liked his women
old enough to know what they were doing and without any childish
notions of love and marriage. Maddie did not fit that bill.

“Twenty-three.” She grinned, “You should come
do a shot with me.”

He didn’t snort which was a miracle unto
itself. When he’d been twenty-three he’d already been running the
ranch for five years. When he’d been twenty-three he’d been trying
to keep Devin out of trouble and saving every dime, nickel and
penny he could scrape together to send Riley to Tech. He hadn’t had
time for shots.

“I don’t think so.”

“Why not? Your brothers are going to be
there.” She blinked innocently.

“Oh they are, are they?” He tried not to
frown when his brothers gave him the same innocent smirk.

They’d already agreed knowing full well it
put Zach in the hot seat. He had the uncomfortable task of either
looking like an asshole by saying no again or agreeing and not
showing up. Going wasn’t an option. He’d rather stand in front of
his own tractor and let it mow him down than spend a night with a
group of twenty-three year old girls.

“Look, Maddie I…”

The bell over the door at the front of the
diner dinged. It wouldn’t have caused much of an interruption unto
itself. It must have dinged at least a dozen times as customers
went in and out while they’d been eating. This time it was
different though because that one ding rang loud over the now
silent diner. Everything fell into a hush and Zach followed the
eyes of all the others to see what had caused such a
disruption.

When his eyes landed on the face of the woman
who’d caused enough of a disruption in his life to last a lifetime
already he figured he should have known. Her blond hair was pulled
into a messy ponytail on top of her head. She was wearing a rumpled
cutoff sweatshirt that appeared to be at least a size too big and
fell off one shoulder with a pair of holey jeans. She looked a
little pale, her blue eyes a little too big on her drawn face.

Truth be told she looked like hell. Which was
why he couldn’t for the life of him explain why his body reacted
like a horny high-school kid that had just set sights on the head
cheerleader in a mini-skirt. Damn Bluebell Montgomery Carter to
hell if he’d do a thing about it though.

Blue could feel every set of eyes in the
diner land on her. She could practically hear her own heart rate
the silence was so thick. Obviously the gossip mongers had been
busy while she was away in Amarillo but she was too tired to care.
She wanted a latte, a real live latte instead of that sludge they
served at the hospital or the black as night stuff Arlene made for
the hands in the bunkhouse.

She knew her appearance wouldn’t help
matters. No doubt the minute she turned her back they’d all be
whispering about how awful she looked. She was going to let them.
She’d been in her own personal hell for nearly two straight weeks
so they could all go there if they thought she cared about what
they had to say.

Still, when her skin itched she knew it
wasn’t from one of the casual observers. It only took her eyes a
second to pick up on what her body already knew. Zach West was
here. Great, just great. She avoided direct eye contact. From the
look burning on that handsome face he was still mad at her for what
happened at Molly’s wedding.

Right now she was too exhausted to be
humiliated. She’d be humiliated after she got her latte and some
caffeine into her veins. She’d be humiliated after she got a decent
night’s sleep. Right now, her brain was only working on auto-pilot
so not even the memories that came from seeing him, the ones of his
smooth lips or coarse hands on her body were going to do much for
her.

“Oh, Bluebell. Hi!” A pretty young girl
holding a pot of coffee careened towards her with a sad pout, “I
was so sorry to hear about your daddy.”

It took her a couple extra seconds to place
Maddie in the apron. Molly’s younger sister had always been a
quiet, sweet girl. She’d been one of the only other unmarried
bridesmaids so they’d bonded a little. She’d also been the crier.
Blue returned her hug lightly and prayed the girl didn’t erupt into
another fit of tears now.

“Thanks Maddie.”

“How’s he doing?”

She half expected to see the gleam of delight
in the other woman’s eyes. No doubt every nearby table was waiting
with baited breath for her answer. It would be all over town in a
matter of minutes. The only reason she answered was that Maddie
looked like she actually cared and it had been a while since
somebody asked her that question with honest concern. She took a
deep breath and shrugged.

“It’s touch and go still. He’s in and out of
consciousness but the doctors said we should be able to move him
home soon.”

Which was why she was back in Fate now. She’d
come home to make the necessary preparations. Her father could come
home from the hospital but only if she set up a home health care
system. He needed a nurse and a bunch of pain meds and IV’s and
other necessities to make him comfortable.

She hated that word. Comfortable. The doctors
kept saying they just needed to make him comfortable. How was she
supposed to get comfortable with her father dying? She
couldn’t.

But he’d finally turned to her and scowled
that if she was going to insist on putting her life on hold and
sticking around she might as well figure out a way to get him home.
He refused to die in a hospital in Amarillo. She refused to think
about him dying at all but she’d eventually given in and offered to
go back to the ranch to prepare it for him.

How was she supposed to prepare the ranch for
his death? She had no idea where to start. Step one had been
getting a freaking latte. That’s as far as she’d gotten in her
planning.

“Well it’s good to hear he’ll be home. I’m
sure he hates being cooped up in a hospital.” Maddie stroked her
arm comfortingly.

“You have no idea.”

“I’d heard you were heading back to Denver
after the wedding. Are you still leaving soon?” Maddie asked.

“No. I’ll be sticking around for a
while.”

She shoved a loose hair behind her ear and
tried to push down the nausea that came along with that statement.
She had no idea how long a while would be. She was stuck in Fate
just as she’d feared. She was stuck watching her father die and she
had no idea how long that would take or if she’d even be able to
handle it.

“Excuse me; I’m just going to get a latte.”
She stepped around Maddie, “Thanks for asking about Daddy.”

“Of course, we put him on the prayer list at
the First Baptist.” Maddie offered.

Blue moved to the counter but she kept her
head down. She was fully aware that while a lot of the diners had
at least pretended to return to their meals and coffee a particular
set of green eyes remained trained on her. She might not have the
energy to worry about Zach’s reaction to her continued presence in
Fate but that didn’t mean she was oblivious to the dark cloud that
hung over his head as he glared at her.

“Thanks again.”

“Here, let me get you that latte.” Maddie
gave her another pat on the shoulder and slipped behind the counter
while Blue awkwardly perched on one of the stools. “We were all
wondering where you disappeared to during Molly’s reception. You
left so early we didn’t know what went wrong. I guess now we
do.”

Her head jerked up before common sense could
tell her not to do it. Her eyes met Zach’s. He was sitting close
enough to hear the conversation and his eyes narrowed. His dark
brows furrowed and she ducked her head again.

Something had definitely gone wrong alright
but it hadn’t had a thing to do with her father. Still, she’d thank
her lucky stars if the people in town chalked up her rushing out of
the reception to him. It was better than the alternative.

“Yeah, I had to go because of my daddy.
That’s why I couldn’t stick around and say goodbye. I wasn’t
thinking clearly.”

That deep chuckle that made her insides quake
echoed in her ears. Zach was laughing at her. Let him, odds were he
wouldn’t contradict her story since she’d all but left him with his
pants around his ankles. That had to be as humiliating for him as
it had been for her right? She was going to have to bet on it.

“I wouldn’t have been thinking clearly if I
got the call my daddy was in the hospital either.” Maddie assured
her, “Your latte will be just a couple of minutes. It’s a new
machine but it’s a little slow setting it up. We don’t get much
call for those around here.”

“No problem.” Blue kept her head down,
thinking to remain as invisible as possible and then changed her
mind, “I’ll just run to the restroom while I wait. Be right
back.”

She slipped off the stool and practically
raced down the back hallway to where she knew the bathrooms were
located. She didn’t need to use it. She just needed somewhere to
hide out for a couple of minutes until she could make her escape.
She couldn’t sit out there in the diner amid the silence of their
judgment knowing the place would erupt in gossip when she walked
away. She should have known better than to stop in town but she’d
been half-asleep and in desperate need of decent coffee.

Washing her hands she took stock of the mess
that she looked like in the chipped mirror. She’d lost some weight
since she didn’t have an appetite the past two weeks. Arlene kept
shoving food at her and she kept giving it to the nurses. How she
was supposed to eat when she felt like throwing up most of her
waking hours was beyond her.