Rainee waves her hand to get my attention. “Did you thank Miss Ethel for covering for you?”
“Of course I did.”
There’s a hard knock on the front door and like we spoke her into visiting, it’s Miss Ethel holding a casserole dish.
“You’ve been on my mind lately,” she says, her voice booming as she follows me into the small kitchen. She sets the dish on the table. “And I’ve been thinking that what you need now is a true sweetheart.”
“There aren’t any—” I’m trying to say there aren’t any men I want to date but she cuts me off.
“I know all the single men in town. Most of ‘em are pretty decent.” She frowns and her lips thin. “Except for Moonie Gabe’s oldest. That young man is meaner than a skunk nursing a hangover.”
I think for a second. “I don’t know Moonie Gabe or her sons.”
“Moonie’s the dad. Britches fell to his ankles, and he didn’t have on a lick of drawers. Everything was just a dangling in broad daylight. He bent over to get them and your momma’s the one who gave him that nickname.”
Rainee wanders into the kitchen. “You know him. Roger Stewart, that short guy who thought a cow was choking and he tried to give it the Heimlich.”
I remember now. “Oh, yeah! When he grabbed it, the cow got spooked and dragged his ass all over the town square.”
Miss Ethel lowers her voice. “That’s why the Gabes can’t have more kids. He took a hoof to the nuts and that was that.” She clicks her tongue.
Tempest joins us. “Hey, Miss Ethel.”
The elderly woman beams. “And you could also use a man, too.”
Tempest grins. “In ways that would make you clutch your pearls and tell Santa I was a very naughty girl.”
Miss Ethel belly laughs, then says, “Anyway, Stormy, I was looking for you because I know you felt beholden to me about your lovely car art.”
“Uh…” I smell a trap. But she’s correct in thinking I do feel indebted to her. “Is there something you need help with?”
“I do. I want your help planning and overseeing the rodeo this year. It’ll keep your mind off the breakup,” she says.
I would tell her that my breakup isn’t on my mind, but that’s not true. I still feel embarrassed that everyone and their third cousin knows about it.
Foolishly, I thought Likes Glue was different. I never thought he’d be like my father, the destroyer of love and family.
“The rodeo is a big event,” I say. And most of the town will be there looking at me, offering hugs and telling me they’re on my side. I know this because that’s the way it’s been since the breakup.
Miss Ethel nods “It is. It’s a lot of hard work and late nights.”
“She’ll need help,” Rainee says.
“With what?” Sunny asks as she walks into the kitchen to get a drink of water.
“The rodeo,” Tempest says.
“She can’t do that alone,” Sunny says.
“Of course she can’t.” Miss Ethel smiles, looking quite pleased with herself.
And then I definitely know it’s a trap.
“I’ve already spoken to Kannen. He’ll work with you on it,” she says.
Kannen? My brain supplies descriptions of him: Hot. Sexy. Cowboy.
Late nights together?
