Divine Phoenix (34 page)

Tuesday morning, Clay looked up from the gold setting he was preparing as Lily came in through the back door. She ended her cell phone call and slid her phone into her purse. She sat on her stool and turned slowly to meet his gaze.

“What did he say?” Clay asked as she looked up at him. There were tears shimmering in her eyes.

She sniffed hard and clenched her fists then shook her head, struggling with the tears as they sat together in the workroom. “Dad said he would come back to Divine and he finally told me what I didn’t want to hear.” Her words confirmed what Dirk had told them. Les Valentine’s time was very limited.

Clay rolled his stool over to hers, and he wrapped his arms around her, not caring if Tabitha and half of the town of Divine walked in and saw them. “I’m sorry, Lily.”

Lily relaxed and leaned against him. The trusting gesture in the shop workroom, where she rarely let her guard down, was meaningful. “At least I’ve had a chance to prepare. I told him that I’d be around all the time and I could get a nurse to come in.”

“Absolutely. You take whatever time you need with him. Did Jack say how soon the house would be ready? I wish Les would consider coming to our house.” Clay no longer thought of it as his house.

Lily shook her head. “He turned me down flat when I offered again. He said he can still get around, feed himself and take care of things. When he gets worse, he wants a nurse to come and for hospice to be called, when the time is right. He doesn’t want to be a bother, the ninny.” Her voice broke and a sob escaped, but she quickly recovered when they overheard Tabitha talking to a customer out front. “Jack said another week and it would be done.”

“Good. That way the time he has left isn’t spent in limbo waiting on the house.”

“Yeah, and it gives me time to find someone to pack him up so he doesn’t have to do the work. Clay, I know we agreed to leave her out of the loop for my privacy’s sake, but it might be a good idea to give Tabitha a heads-up about my situation with JT and also about my Dad. I don’t want her upset with me about missing work and making life harder for her. There is also the safety issue. It’s not fair for her to be oblivious about JT in case he pulls something, regardless of what a twatwaffle she can be.”

“A
what
?” Clay said, trying to hide his humor over such a serious topic.

“Twatwaffle. ‘A know-it-all, unaware of their shortcomings and highly critical of others.’ It’s my new favorite word. Rosemary taught it to me last weekend,” she added with a watery giggle. “Tabitha is a terrible gossip and I know it was a good idea to not let her in on my history and the divorce, but I don’t want her in harm’s way if JT decides to show up here.”

Clay nodded, knowing that Tabitha would probably not appreciate the care Lily demonstrated for her. She would go ape-shit over finding out that Lily was a
married
woman living with a single man…men, regardless of the circumstances.

“I’ll talk to her about it. So, your dad agreed to move to Divine and stay at the house?”

“Yes, I’m so glad he changed his mind. I’ve missed him so much. He sounded relieved when I told him the divorce should be final any day now. He was so worried about the legal entanglements with my inheritance.” She waved her hand dismissively with the last words as though she could care less about the issue. Clay knew she’d gladly trade it to keep her dad with her.

Clay was glad of the news that she would be a free woman, too, but for a totally different reason.

Lily checked her e-mail on the computer while packing up the order she’d just completed. “There’s an e-mail here from Grace. She’s having a surprise birthday party for Jack Friday night at the Dancing Pony and wants to know if we can come.”

“With the pig roast the next day? Where does that woman get her energy?”

Lily giggled and said, “I think she has plenty of help. What do you think? Dancing Pony on Friday night? I haven’t gotten to go there yet.”

Tabitha came through the doorway as Clay said, “Well, I think you’re overdo for a visit.”

“A visit where?” Tabitha asked absentmindedly as she looked through a storage cabinet and pulled out a roll of register tape.

Lily replied, “The Dancing Pony. We’re invited to Jack Warner’s birthday party Friday night. I was just telling Clay I’d never been there.”

“Oh,” Tabitha said flippantly as she waved her hand in a dismissive manner. “You haven’t missed much. Bunch of drunks and barflies.”

Peeved at her now constantly pissy manner, Clay said, “Tabitha, be nice. Ethan Grant is part owner of the Dancing Pony and a regular customer here, as are Jack Warner and Adam Davis.”

Tabitha screwed her mouth up and replied, “Seems like nothing good comes from hanging out there or spending time with all
those
people. You hang out with dogs and you’re bound to pick up some fleas. Just sayin’.” She peeled off the end of the roll as she went right back through the swinging doors without another word.

Lily rolled her eyes and sighed deeply as she turned back to her work table.

Clay shrugged, dumbfounded by Tabitha’s moods these days. “What a twatwaffle.”

Lily giggled and mimicked Tabitha’s snotty dismissive words. “
Just sayin’.
”

Clay rolled over to her and hugged her and kissed her head. Changing the subject, he said, “Sorry about your dad, Lily.”

Lily smiled at him and bit her lip as she nodded and staunchly went back to work.

* * * *

JT King wiped his hands on a greasy rag and pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his coveralls. He growled disgustedly when he realized who was calling him. Pain-in-the-ass bitch had cost him eight hours on the road last time he heard from her. He almost ignored the call but decided to take it in case she had information of value to him.

In his best Conway Twitty impression, JT said, “Hello, darlin’.” He heard the throaty giggle on the line and cringed at the croaky, put-on quality of it.

“Mr. King, Tabitha Lester here. I’m so sorry you were…evidently unable to…chat with your wife the other day. I thought you might want to know that I know exactly where she will be Friday evening.”

“You do? She has definite plans?”

“Yes. They’ll be at a nightclub here in Divine. The Dancing Pony. Their plans sound definite. They’re attending the birthday party of a friend. It would take a lot to miss it, I think, since they’re close with this particular ménage trio.”

“What?” What in the fuck was this woman rattling on about?

“A ménage trio. Well, actually I guess they’re more of a cuatro, I guess.”

“You mean a ménage a trois?” What the fuck was going on in Divine?

“Exactly. Clay, Del, and Lily are good friends with this particular group, for lack of a better term. One woman with three men. It’s sinful what they do.” One woman with three men? What kind of fucking pansies were these men that a woman needed three of them to satisfy her? Not exactly the arrangement he’d consider. It was food for thought down the road though. Once Lily was under his thumb—
What the fuck?
“Did you say Clay, Del, and Lily? Who the fuck is Del?”

Tabitha’s voice changed to a conspiratorial whisper. “Del is Clay’s brother. Mr. King, I have a sinking feeling they’re thinking about forming another ménage whatever…with Lily. Your wife. I thought you’d want to know she’ll be there, with them Friday evening.”

“Thank you, darlin’.” Over his dead body was Lily going to do anything besides get her ass back home to Durst. That divorce wasn’t going to happen, regardless of what he had to do to make that a reality. He had a feeling that Tabitha had no idea there was even a divorce in the works. “My Lily is just breakin’ my heart with this news you’ve given me.”

Tabitha’s tone became earnest, husky with emotion. “I would gladly serve you however I can.”

JT smiled, thinking how he’d like to test her devotion to that zealous statement.

“Well, I’m planning to retain the sanctity of our wedded vows, so I’ll be intervening with her. Just let me know if her plans change, darlin’. It’s a four-hour drive out there.”

Embarrassment colored her tone, and she giggled nervously, an unattractive sound. “Yes, sir. I know. I’m so sorry about last weekend.”

“Quite all right. I’ll be in Divine this weekend then. Thank you for your help. One thing, though. You don’t happen to have her cell phone number, would ya? And any idea what time?”

She gave him Lily’s unlisted number and promised to call back if she found out the time, and he ended the call and shoved the phone back in his coveralls. Once he had Lily back under his thumb, the divorce would go away.

If this opportunity hadn’t come along, it had looked as though he was going to need to take matters into his own hands. He’d never had a problem with Les Valentine, so this might fit into his plans after all. As it had stood, he was prepared to speed along Les’s death from cancer before she was beyond the ties of marital rights to her property. He needed that money and the guy was dying anyway. This way, he didn’t have to worry about Les’s blood on his hands. It was the perfect solution. Les could die naturally, and he could do away with Lily when he was done punishing her and enough time had passed so that there would be no suspicion on him. She’d just have a terrible accident, and no one would be the wiser. JT smiled in satisfaction as he went back to work.

* * * *

Lily sat perched on her stool eating a snack when Tabitha came back into the workroom later that afternoon. Lily cringed inwardly when Tabitha looked closely at what Lily was eating, but then remembered that she didn’t care what anyone thought about her having a snack. She could certainly afford it. For some reason it seemed to bug Tabitha that Lily was eating Girl Scout cookies. Maybe she was jealous that she couldn’t eat Clay’s cookies since she was allergic.

Tabitha seemed to swallow back her initial reaction and changed her tune when she asked, “So…you’re going to the Dancing Pony Friday night?”

“It looks that way.”

Tabitha shuffled from one foot to the other and seemed to be searching for a way to be…sociable. Lily appreciated the effort and asked, “Have you ever been there before?” Tabitha quickly shook her head. “Maybe you could try it, come out with us that night.” Lily couldn’t believe what she was offering. “You might meet someone nice. They have a dance floor. I’ll bet you’d have fun dancing.”

Tabitha’s face fell, and her posture seemed to sag. “Jane Herbert told me that a few weeks ago, before she…”

Lily knew they’d had a falling out during a lunch date a few weeks before. “Before she what?”

Tabitha shook her head and pursed her lips. “Before she got sucked into that environment. Emma Guthrie and her two lap dogs invited her out and set her up with some cowboy. Now he’s all she talks about.” Lily felt a little sad for Tabitha, but that feeling evaporated with her next words. “But the last thing I want to do as a good Christian is hang around with people who do things that go against nature and what the Bible clearly states—”

In a knee-jerk response, Lily cut her off and said, “Oh, you mean that part about loving your neighbor as yourself? Or the part about letting God be the judge of others? I’m a Christian, too, Tabitha. And I think it breaks His heart that as much harm is done by so-called good Christians as is done by God-hating atheists. They blame Him for what judgmental people do in His name. I’m sorry, I thought you might have a good time and relax a little. Forget I asked.”

What was she thinking? Tabitha was never going to change.

Without another word, Tabitha screwed up her lips, glared at Lily’s cookies one last time, then slammed though the swinging doors as Clay walked in the back door with his arms loaded down with a box and bag from the local office supply shop.

He must’ve caught the last of their exchange or picked up on the negative energy in the room and raised his eyebrows. “What was that about?”

Lily had a sick feeling in her stomach. “I just pissed Tabitha off. I was trying to be nice, but she gets on my nerves with that judgmental, Bible-thumping attitude of hers. I was trying to be nice.”

“Ah. And no good deed goes unpunished?”

“I guess. I invited her to come out to The Dancing Pony with us. I thought for a second she was considering it. It must be a sore spot because of her little tiff with Jane. Why does she have to be that way?”

“You’re asking me if I understand the inner workings of Tabitha’s mind?” he asked as he glanced at the monitor, drawing her gaze, too. Tabitha was talking on her phone at the front door. “I think jealousy is at the root of it all, a lot of jealousy over a wide variety of things. Her life is her cats and her friends. Her closest friend, Elizabeth Owen, is serving time in state prison, and she feels that our friends in ménage relationships are somehow all responsible for that. Then her friend Jane Herbert evidently switched camps on her and went to the
dark side
.”

“Are we back in middle school or something?”

Clay shrugged. “I guess so. I got your shipping boxes and business cards.” He stacked the things on the list she’d given him earlier on her workbench then bent to kiss her. His timing was impeccable because Tabitha chose that moment to fly through the swinging doors again.

Blocking Tabitha’s view of Lily with his body, Clay kissed her again and winked at her then gave an imperceptible shrug. Tabitha gasped but kept marching to the back.

Clay chortled, made big eyes, then in a singsong voice said, “
Oooh
, you’re in trouble
now
.”

Lily chortled and shoved his shoulder lightly before he stood and went back to unloading the bags and boxes. Tabitha trudged back through to the showroom, and Clay fought laughter as he said, “You know, she never gave me near this much trouble before you came along. I think you’re a bad influence.”

“On who? Her? Or you?”

“On me, baby. Ready to corrupt me some more?”

Lily broke into giggles. “Focus, Mr. Cook. We have work and you’re hell on my productivity.” She shook her pliers at him before going back to the piece she’d been working on before her snack. “I need to get done here because I have a test to study for and a report to write.”

“Are you going back to the ranch to do it?”

“Yes.” Lily knew he preferred her to do her schoolwork at the ranch because Del was usually around if she needed him.

Del planned to put the word out soon for a couple of ranch hands prior to paying a visit to the Carlisles’s. Chance and Clay had invited him out to their ranch to look at livestock, to bypass the middlemen at the cattle auction in town, after meeting him face-to-face at the hog hunt. Lily knew they would treat him fairly when he’d told her that he would take them up on the offer.

At the rate she was going with school, she’d be done an entire year sooner. Her degree would be one more step away from JT and the life he’d forced on her. She was the one in control of her destiny.

Gently wrapping the flexible silver wire around the nails on the wooden jig for the cloverleaf clit clip, Lily murmured, “I think I’m going to stop by Cheaver’s on my way out to the ranch and see if Rosemary can set me up with something pretty for The Dancing Pony.”

A wide smile crossed Clay’s face, and he murmured, “Lily Valentine in snug jeans, cowgirl boots, a sexy low-cut top and a cowgirl hat.
Nice
.” He emphasized the last word suggestively with a slow nod. “Ride ’em hard, cowgirl.”

Lily snickered. “In that case maybe I’ll get chaps and spurs, too.” An idea formed in her mind, and she smiled secretively. She pulled out her phone and sent a text.

“
Hey, Rosemary. Do you have chaps for women?
”

A minute later, Rosemary replied.
“You nasty girl! I love it! Yes, I can set you up, but you’ve gonna have to find your own G-string! We don’t sell those here!”

Luckily for her, Lily was already expecting a package that week from Hips and Curves. Red satin G-string, check! Red satin push-up bra,
check
!