“Baby! What abracadabra did you use on my ma? She called me all weepy and said the wedding plans were finalized and we’re getting married this fall?”
Maggie’s smile fills me with so much happiness as she turns and points at me.
“Not me, fairy godmother over here decided to remake herself and decided to drag us right along with her.” She laughs and grabs him for another hug. “The wedding isn’t the only thing we need to celebrate.”
She looks around the diner and sees that we’re the only ones left. Dolly is sitting at the counter, clearly done for the day but she sends us a wink letting us know she was happy to wait us out.
“Alright then, we should go out to celebrate and you guys can fill me in.” He turns to me with a cautious look. “Um, options are limited for that. You think you can withstand all the angst thrown your way if we go over to the Spur for dinner, Rain-bow Bright? Although, with that badass, man-eater haircut, he’ll be drooling too much to glare at you.”
I laugh at the ridiculous names he comes up with for me and nod.
“Yeah, that drama’s resolved so we’re good to go.”
Maggie’s eyes go wide as she cocks her head. “Resolved? As in you told them to fuck all the way off with their pathetic man-child glares or resolved like you told them, told them?”
I gather up our things and stuff them into the folder. “As in they put their heads together and figured it out after drunk me gave them a few hints I didn’t mean to. According to them, their father confirmed the rest. After they had most of the pieces, I decided it was pointless to withhold the rest and told them.”
Hetter’s looking at me like he’d enjoy some popcorn with his tea and then turns to Maggie with an enquiring look of desperation for the full story. The sacredness of the VAULT has her looking at me even though I’ve already said the secret’s out. I appreciate that so much.
“Unlocked and completely disarmed.”
Her head whips to face Hett and the words she’s been holding back for ten years come out rapid fire. “Their dad threatened to turn Luke out penniless, have her dad’s property foreclosed on, and made a VERY inappropriate sexual move on her and threatened her with worse if she didn’t leave.”
She heaves in a breath from spewing that recap without breathing once.
Hetter’s mouth drops open long and wide like he’s holding back a squawk of outrage as he turns his shocked eyes my way.
“That, that…slimy scoundrel! Someone should take that man out behind the woodshed with a willow switch!” he sputters.
Maggie and I share an incredulous look at his old fashioned and proper outrage when a hard crack has us looking over to the counter where a red-faced Dolly has just slammed down a salt shaker she’s refilled. Her lips peel back and an expression I’ve never seen before on sweet Dolly’s face has me almost stepping back in fear.
She pins Hetter with a dark look and snarls out, “Someone should put a little something extra in that man’s morning oatmeal to see him off to hell a little bit quicker!” She shakes her head at Hett as her expression shifts to exasperated and she mutters, “Behind the woodshed with a switch? What are you, eighty years old?” She harrumphs as she picks up the next shaker to fill up. “I swear, I love Jesus but I am NOT that saved! Wheelchair or no wheelchair, stroke or not, I have a mind to take my good cast iron skillet and use it on the back of that man’s head. God would forgive me. He knows what’s in my heart!”
Her eyes lift to mine and all I see is love and compassion. “I’m sorry you went through that, Rain. All that matters is you’re back where you belong now and we are so happy you are. Now, you youngsters skedaddle off to get some dinner so Clint and I can get home and start planning our cruise.”
Hetter perks up at that. “You’re going on a cruise, Dolly? That’s amazing! I don’t think you’ve ever gone on a vacation since I’ve been coming here as a kid. What prompted…”
Maggie slaps a hand over his mouth and with a wink at Dolly, drags him to the door and out. I gather the folders to my chest and start to follow them out but Dolly calls to me.
“Rain, honey - I know your daddy’s not here to tell you so I’ll say this in his stead. We’re right proud of you, sweetheart. You’ve grown into a lovely woman, inside and out.”
I choke back the tears that flood my throat and give her a trembling smile full of gratitude.
Rex
I’m keeping an eye on Starlight as she serves a table of rough-looking farm hands that came in with dirt still clinging to their boots and get fresh drinks for the regulars sitting at the bar when Hetter, Maggie, and Rain come in. I laugh when Rain ducks to avoid one of Hett’s hands as he gestures wildly and excitedly about something but my eyes go straight to that smooth, golden back of hers on full display when they walk deeper into the bar and take a seat at one of the high tops near the pool tables. Goddamn, my dick’s been semi-hard since I caught sight of her earlier.
I watch as she tosses her hair like she’s forgotten that she cut it and bite down as a flame of pure lust spears through me. I used to imagine wrapping all that long golden hair around my fist while I slammed into her from behind but this new cut? She dips her head to read the menu and that silky column of neck comes into view and I imagine dragging my lips and teeth down it as I hold her hips from behind and…
“Rex!”
The fantasy clears and I find a nervous Starlight twisting her fingers at the server station so I move down to her and she stutters, “S-sorry, I…I called you a few…times.”
“It’s all good, Star. I was lost in thought. What do you need?”
She places the farm boys' order with me then heads over to Rain’s table while I pull a pitcher of draft. I can’t seem to take my eyes off of Rain I’m so stunned by the change in her appearance. At least that partially explains why she disappeared into that trailer the last few days. I was getting ready to jimmy the lock if she went another day without answering my knocks. Even Luke was getting nervous when three nights in a row she didn’t answer his taps at her window, something she never refused him before when she lived here. Doubts flare through me. She’s still here but what if Chase is right and she doesn’t plan on staying? In my mind, everything is different now that we know she didn’t leave us by choice.
I curse at my distractedness when the pitcher overflows onto my hand and quickly shut the tap off. I grab a bar rag and wipe down the mess I’ve made, snag four mug handles with one hand, and grab the pitcher of draft to carry out to the farm boys. Star’s busy with another new table so I use that as my excuse to swing over to Rain’s to take their food order. I slide up right next to her so my arm brushes hers and feel sparks shoot down my arm at the contact.
