“I love all things shrimp, and I would love to, but this is the afternoon for bride dress shopping and supper—or at least wine and dessert afterwards to make it a special day for Scarlett,” I answered.
“Then tomorrow night? I could pick you up at six.”
“I’ll be ready,” I said. “But right now, the rush is about to hit us, so I have to go.”
“I’ll be counting the minutes,” he whispered.
His deep drawl fired up my hormones and made me think about makeup sex. I might just start an argument so I could finally fall into bed with him.
At the end of the workday, all four of us piled into my SUV after we had closed the café.
“This makes it real,” Scarlett said as she fastened her seat belt. “I am getting married in a few days. I will be Mrs. Grady Mendoza, and we’re going to have a bunch of kids and live happily ever after.”
“I think I’m as excited as you are,” Tressa said from the back, where she sat beside Rosie. “I’ve never been wedding dress shopping. I hope you are blessed with a lot of children and that you and Grady are married forever.”
“We were talking about that last night, and we want to keep up the family traditions of meals on Sunday like his mama and daddy. They will have their fiftieth wedding anniversary in a couple of years, and we want to follow in their footsteps.”
I was proud of Tressa for giving Scarlett that blessing about kids. No one in the vehicle knew what that had to have cost her after she had lost her own baby in such a violent way.
“I don’t imagine any of us have been dress shopping, have we?” Rosie asked.
“Not me,” I answered. “Until I came to the Tumbleweed, I was married to poker, and a woman doesn’t have to buy a dress forthatwedding.”
“I was married once,” Rosie said. “But my mother made my dress. Since we didn’t believe in overdoing things, it was a simple white eyelet outfit with baby-blue trim. That was supposed to be my something blue. My underwear was something old. And Mama loaned me her pretty pearls for something borrowed. Even with all those good-luck things, it didn’t work.”
I plugged the bridal shop address into the GPS and made a left turn out of the parking lot, then a right onto the highway. “Stay on Highway 62 for the next seventy-five miles,” the tinny GPS lady’s voice said.
“What’s between here and there?” Tressa asked. “I lived in a small town in Mississippi my whole life and never been out of the county until now. This is all new territory for me, and even with the snow, it looks bare. I’m used to trees and lots of green.”
“There is one little gift shop and café between the Tumbleweed and the outskirts of El Paso,” Scarlett answered.
“Right now, all you will see is some dirty snow and a few really strong tumbleweeds,” Rosie chuckled. “When the snow melts and the tumbleweeds all have blown away, you will see dead desert grass and a few straggling yucca plants.”
“Are y’all sh ... teasing me?” Tressa asked. “That many miles with nothing?”
“Welcome to West Texas,” I replied and told her about my first drive from El Paso to the Tumbleweed. “But I understand that after this month, there aren’t as many of those pesky weeds. Maybe we won’t have to kick them out of the way on Scarlett’s wedding day.”
“I haven’t seen any,” Tressa said. “What do they look like?”
As if on cue, a couple blew across the road and got stuck in the snowdrift on the south side. “Your wish is my command.” I slowed down enough that she could see the thing out the side window.
“It’s just a big old round weed,” she said.
“Yep, and when the north wind blows, they migrate south in droves,” Scarlett told her. “The winter months—especially January—is when they are worse. You’ll see for yourself next year.”
“I hope so,” Tressa said. “I like it so much here that I never want to leave.”
I glanced up in the rearview mirror and saw Rosie reach over and pat her on the shoulder. “That’s music to my ears. Some of us took a while longer to trust each other.”
Tressa asked Scarlett what kind of dress she had in mind, and the conversation between them went from there. The wordtruststuck in my mind. I believed in Rosie and Scarlett more than anyone I had known in my life. I wanted to feel the same for Jackson, but a small part of my heart was still guarded. I’d only known him for a short time, and there was real chemistry there. Even knowing that, I could not put him through the agony I’d seen in my dream.
“You look sad, Carla,” Tressa said. “Did I say something wrong?”
“Not at all. I was thinking about how glad I am that you showed up when you did so that Scarlett can have a few days off.”
“Me too,” Scarlett said. “Matilda told me that some folks come into your life for a season, and some for a reason. I’m glad that y’all are in my life for more than a season, and I believe the reason is because we are a family, as Ada Lou says.”
“Thank you. I haven’t even been with y’all a week, and I already feel that ...” Tressa paused.
