Ruby took her box and sat down. Elaine waited her turn, and when they all had their lunches, they sat around Glory Rose’s dining room table. Ruby had ordered an extra side of mac and cheese for Jade, and Glory Rose fed fish-shaped crackers to Chance.
“I want a baby name update too,” Glory Rose said. “I can’t believe he suggested Orangelo.”
“Half the time, I can’t tell if he’s kidding or not,” Clara Jean said. “I told him, just because we own a produce farm, doesn’t mean we have to name our sonKaleorChard.”
Elaine practically choked on her chocolate chip cookie. Yes, she ate dessert first, because she enjoyed eating and didn’t have a mother to tell her she couldn’t. “Chard?” she managed to choke out.
Clara Jean rolled her eyes. “It’s better than Stallion.”
“Stallion?” Camila asked. She was a solid, stalwart, steady presence in Elaine’s life, and she really loved her cousin. “I’m not repeating any of these to Gun.”
Elaine zeroed in on her. “Are you going to have a baby?”
“I mean, not right now.” Camila smiled and scooped up another bite of macaroni salad. “I’m not pregnant or anything, but I imagine Gun and I will have a family one day.”
“One day soon?” Glory Rose pressed.
“I don’t know,” Camila said. “We’ve talked about it, and we’re just enjoying being married.” She shrugged and took another practical bite of her apple. “My momma asks me every other month if I’m going to have a baby soon. I think she’s dying a little bit inside. She wants to be a grandma so bad.”
Elaine knew that feeling, though on a different level. Her momma didn’t ask her when she was going to have a baby, but she’d spent much of the last year helping Elaine find something to do with her life. Now that she’d opened her center for women, Elaine knew her next step would be to find a boyfriend—a man she could spend more than a couple of hours with, who she wanted to share her whole life with, and build a family with.
She had dated quite a bit in the past, but she honestly felt like she’d jumped the gun a little bit. She hadn’t known who she was, or what her life was supposed to be, or what she should do with it, until very recently.
But looking around the table at the two young moms seated with her, and Clara Jean about to become one, and Camila already married, Elaine realized on a more macro-level that she was the only single woman there.
“I actually think my favorite name that Tate has come up with,” Elaine said. “Is Zucchini, and calling him Zuke, like Zeke.”
“Please never say that out loud to my husband,” Clara Jean said, and they all laughed. “Did you talk to Trap about helping with the horse escape artist?” she asked Ruby.
“Yes,” Ruby said, with some relief in her voice. “He said he’s going to come over in the morning.”
Elaine had heard Ruby’s frustrations about the horse and how JJ wouldn’t ask for help. She’d decided to ask Trap herself, as the man seemed to be able to make anything out of wood and nails. Elaine knew, because he’d installed her entire hardwood floor and redone her roof when she’d bought her house in town.
Trap worked hard, and he felt like he had a lot to prove, and that gave him the motivation that perhaps some others might lack.
“Has Conrad told you guys about Easton and Marta?”
She looked around the table, and Camila said, “Nope, I haven’t heard anything.”
“They’ve been looking at diamond rings,” Elaine said, and her throat narrowed just the tiniest bit. “They couldn’t find anything they liked here in Three Rivers, so they’re going to Amarillo on the weekend.”
Her triplet brother was highly analytical and left-brained. He could take apart any machine and put it back together again, and if something stopped working in Elaine’s house, she called Easton first. He’d always marched to the beat of his own drum, and the fact that he’d been able to find someone who could love him told Elaine there was someone out there for everyone.
Even you?she wondered as she moved on to her turkey, avocado, and provolone sandwich. She sure hoped so.
“They’re really fun,” Glory Rose said. “We’ve done a few double-dates with them.” She met Elaine’s eyes. “And you know who else we’ve gone out with?”
“Who?” Elaine asked.
“Austin.”
“Mm, yes.” Elaine nodded. “He has a new girlfriend, I think.” She frowned at her cousins and friends. “I mean, sort of. He told me, and I quote, ‘I don’t like that label.’” She shook her head. “I don’t get what the problem is with cowboys and adding a label to their relationships. He’s dating her. He’s holding her hand and kissing her. He doesn’t go out with anyone else. Why can’t she have the label of girlfriend?”
“I’m pretty sure he told Conrad she was his girlfriend. We went out with them on Friday.”
“Who is it?” Camila asked, swinging her attention from one end of the table to the other.
“Yeah, I don’t know this either,” Clara Jean said.
