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CHAPTERTHREE
“I’ve been so busy with life lately, Mom. The twins and Caleb and all. I feel like I’ve been neglecting you.”
Vidalia raised her eyebrows at her eldest daughter and continued sipping coffee from her favorite mug. It had a sexy cowboy on it, whose shirt vanished as the coffee level went down. Melusine had bought it for her last Christmas as part of the girls’ ongoing, good natured battle over who could get their mother the best present. Of course, Maya had won by delivering the twins on Christmas four years ago, and then Kara had tied her by bringing little Tyler into the family two Christmasses later. But Vidalia didn’t mind that they all kept trying. Mel’s mug certainly made the morning cuppa more interesting, and as a bonus, it discouraged that second cup Vidalia probably shouldn’t have. After all, you didn’t want to put the cowboy’s shirt backon.
Carefully, she set the mug on the kitchen table. “You haven’t been neglecting me at all, hon. We see each other every day.”
“I know, but we haven’t really talked, except about the kids.” She sipped her own coffee from a far less interesting mug, and said, “How are things with you, Mom? Anything...new?”
Subtle, she wasn’t. “Don’t beat around the bush, Maya. You’re too old for that. Just tell me what’s on your mind.”
Maya didn’t return her steady gaze. She looked past her instead, into the living room where the twins were playing with the plethora of toys Vidalia kept on hand, but eyeing the ornaments on the giant balsam fir tree as if they would far prefer to play with those.
“I heard a stranger came into the Corral last night.”
“Strangers come into the Corral every night.” She wasn’t going to make this easy on her firstborn. Vidalia was an adult woman and she didn’t need supervision from her offspring. And yes, she was feeling very defensive about this. About Bobby Joe. And for good reasons that were her own fault and not Maya’s. Still, she couldn’t help bristling a little.
“I heard you went outside to talk to him. And that you seemed...flustered.”
Vidalia shrugged. “I wouldn’t say flustered is the right word. And he’s not a stranger. He’s Bobby Joe McIntyre.”
“So who is he? What’s going on?”
“You mean you don’t remember him?” Vidalia asked.
“No.” Maya tilted her head and frowned. “Should I?”
Shrugging, Vidalia examined the now half-naked cowboy on her mug and thought Bobby looked better. He’d looked better then, and he still looked better to her. She’d always had a weakness for that man.
“He used to be a local.” Vidalia shrugged as if it didn’t much matter. “He bought the old feed & grain place, and he’s turning it into a big glitzy tourist trap he calls a saloon.”
Maya blinked, maybe not expecting the answer she got. “So...you don’tknowhim.”
“Oh, Iknowhim.” Vidalia got up from the table and went to the coffee pot on the counter for a refill. Never mind that it put the cowboy’s shirt back on. She’d take it off again in short order. “He was my handyman, back when you and your sisters were still young enough to respect your mama’s privacy. You must’ve been about six. He and I turned a run-down motel into the OK Corral on a shoestring budget with nothing much more than elbow grease and determination.”
Maya frowned as if trying to remember. Vidalia thought she might if she gave her a few more clues, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to. “What’s this guy’s name again?” she asked.
“Bobby Joe...that is Jason Robert Joseph McIntyre.”
“Jason Robert Jos....JRJ McIntyre? The Texas Billionaire?” Her eyes were bigger than an Oklahoma harvest moon just then.
Vidalia just shrugged. “He was no billionaire back in the day,” she said, thinking back. “Poor as a church mouse, and pretty much alone in the world. We had him over for Christmas dinner two years in a row. Maybe three. And he brought you gifts every time. Remember those little rag dolls with the black button eyes you all got one year? And there were four pairs of shiny black patent leather shoes another. He even got the sizes right.”
Maya was frowning. “Four...then it was before Selene came along?”
Vidalia got up from the table and wandered to the sink to dump out that second cup she shouldn’t have poured. “Must’ve been. Who can remember?”
“Sounds like you remember it pretty well.”
She didn’t look back around at her daughter, probably because she was afraid Maya might see her guilty secret in her eyes.
“So you and he were...close.”
Vidalia turned then, and speared Maya with her eyes. “Just what are you asking me, daughter?”
“I just...I thought you and Caleb’s dad–”
“Caleb’s father is a city slicker, born and bred. You can’t possibly think that was ever going to go where he wanted it to.”
