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He shook his head. “You’re just pretty enough to take a man’s breath away, is all.”
Her smile seemed to falter. She lowered her eyes.
“What’s wrong, Vidalia?”
“Nothing. I....” She sighed. “Nothing. I mean, thereissomething. But I don’t want to ruin our day with it. So I’m gonna put it out of my mind and just enjoy this. And being with you.”
“Is there someone else?” he asked, because he couldn’t stand not to know.
She looked him right in the eyes. “There’s never been anyone else, Bobby Joe. You said you never got me outta your mind. Well, I need to be honest and admit that I never got you outta mine either. I never will.”
A little rush of alarm went through him. He lowered his head, guilt rising up in his chest. He should tell her. He didn’t expect her to return his feelings at all, much less this quickly, this easily. Her words to him were a dream come true, but it just wasn’t fair. He had to tell her. He couldn’t let her fall in love with him before she knew he was dying.
He couldn’t.
“I never got over you, Bobby Joe. And I don’t imagine I ever will. But I did a bad thing to you way back then, and I’ve got to make it right with you now. Before we go any further. I’ve got to tell you–”
“There’s something I’ve got to tell you too, Vidalia,” he said very softly. He met her eyes, dreading that discussion. And then a father walked past them, dragging a pine tree and carrying a little girl on his shoulders, and they were laughing their way through a chorus of Jingle Bells. Bobby smiled and felt lighter. “But not today,” he said. “Today, let’s just get some Christmas trees, have fun, and not worry about anything heavy. Okay?”
She smiled brightly. “That is more than okay,” she told him.
* * *
The scene in the parking lot in front of the Long Branch Saloon was like something out of an old western film. The five daughters of Vidalia Brand stood shoulder to shoulder facing the three sons of Bobby Joe McIntyre. About ten feet of recently laid blacktop stretched between them.
Kara Brand had made the call asking for this meeting. Jason had felt bristly, like his family was about to be accused of something and had expected a hostile encounter. He hadn’t been all that worried about it, though. At least not until he’d seen them.
He and his brothers might as well have been face to face with a gang of super models. The apples had not fallen far from the tree in this family. Robert and Joey were as rocked by their beauty as he was, but he hoped they also noticed that every last one of them was wearing a wedding ring. Off limits. The McIntyre’s didn’t roll that way. If there was one thing their father had managed to drum into them during their upbringing, it was that you didn’t so much as flirt with a married woman. Hell, not even a going steady girl, when they’d been in high school. It was probably the one item in their father’s moral code that stood above all others.
A handful of cars came and went, and he didn’t miss their sudden deceleration or the rubber necking drivers.
Finally, he cleared his throat and walked closer, extending a hand to the apparent leader, “I’m Jason McIntyre.”
“Maya Brand.” She smiled a little stiffly and shook his hand with a respectably firm grip.
“These are my brothers, Robert and Joseph,” he said, indicating the two men who flanked him.
“My sisters,” she replied. “Edie, Kara, Melusine and Selene.” She nodded at each girl as she named them.
His defensiveness relaxed a little. “Those are all names of goddesses, aren’t they?”
“Mama had high expectations for her daughters,” Maya said. “Robert, are you named for your father?”
Rob said, “We all are. Dad’s full name is Jason Robert Joseph.”
More traffic passed, slowed. More drivers gaped.
“We don’t get inside soon, there’s gonna be a crowd gathered,” Melusine said. “And if we’re gonna have a shootout, it oughtta be at the OK Corral, so we might as well talk instead.”
Nodding, getting her attempt at levity, but not thinking it very funny, Jason led the way, held the door for the females and let them enter first. The youngest one, the platinum blonde with the very blue eyes, looked around in wide-eyed appreciation. “This place is amazing. Wow, is that a player piano?”
“It is,” Joey said, sounding proud. Of the three of them, he was the one who was eating all this up. He loved finally being included in one of their father’s projects and was diving headlong into the whole outlaw skit nonsense Dad had planned for them. It wasn’t surprising. Joey was the fun-loving kid of the family, and he was taking Selene to show her the piano, tinkling the keys and pointing out the hidden controls.
Robert was harder to read. He’d always been laid back, easy going, never had strong opinions about much of anything. But his go-with-the-flow attitude had been replaced by heartbreak recently when his long-time girlfriend had jilted him.
Jason didn’t imagine their father’s news was going to be easy for either of his brothers to take.
“Pick a table, ladies,” Joey called, going behind the bar for the tray of cookies he had waiting. “I raided the kitchen after you called. Bring that coffee, will you Rob?”
