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  “Well, it damned sure wasn’t sex or I’d have hung up on you and went back to it. Hell, if it had been that good I wouldn’t have even answered the phone.”

  Austin giggled. “Get a cold beer. Sit down and we’ll talk while you take a break.”

  “That I can do because I wasn’t cleanin’ or havin’ good sex,” Pearl said.

  “I’m coming to Henrietta tomorrow and I’ll either bring hamburgers from the Dairy Queen or we can go there to eat. But I couldn’t wait that long to hear the story from the horse’s mouth. Ever since you were a kid, trouble has followed you.”

  “Chaos,” Pearl said.

  “One and the same. So start talking and only stop when you get a drink of beer.”

  Pearl laughed. “You’d better bring hamburgers here because Lucy and I’ve got a full house tonight. We’ll be cleanin’ rooms all day long tomorrow. Now where do you want me to start and are you planning on getting any sleep tonight?”

  “Rye is out coon huntin’ with his brothers. If I get sleepy we’ll put it on pause and do the rest tomorrow.”

  Pearl took a long swig of beer and started. “Once upon a time there was a red-haired fairy who—”

  Austin laughed so hard. “You, darlin’, were never a fairy. You were born with horns that I had to clip when you were a kid. Wings were never your thing so why in the hell did you think you could fly down a flight of stairs?”

  “Who’s tellin’ this story?”

  “Okay, red-haired fairy child, go on.”

  Pearl grinned, settled into the corner of the sofa, and told her story.

  ***

  Wil surfed through the channels on television but nothing took his attention. He and Digger took a long walk out around the barn, checked on the cattle, the moon, and the stars, and went back inside when Wil’s nose was so cold it began to ache.

  Digger raised his head and perked up his ears. He looked toward the door and growled deep in his throat.

  “I hear it,” Wil said.

  He hoped that the vehicle they both heard would be Pearl. He was halfway across the floor when the doorbell rang. He peeked out the triangular pane of glass at the top of the door to see the three O’Donnell brothers: Rye, Raylen, and Dewar.

  He slung the door open and said, “Come on in. Want a beer?”

  “No, we got cold ones in the back of the truck. Thought maybe you’d like to go do some coon huntin’ with us. Put on some warm boots and bring old Digger. He’ll like the run,” Rye said as all three men filed into the foyer.

  “Give me five minutes. Y’all make yourselves at home.” Wil took the stairs two at a time. Coon hunting took a second seat to an evening with Pearl, but it might get him out of the wide-awake doldrums.

  “Man, that wasn’t five minutes. If I’d have known you could get ready that fast I wouldn’t have even took off my coat,” Raylen said when Wil came down the stairs fully dressed carrying his shotgun.

  “I slept all day. Spent the night up with Red so she wouldn’t fall asleep, and then we slept all day and now I’m wide awake. I’m glad y’all showed up,” he said.

  Raylen slipped his arms back into his buff-colored work coat and grinned. “You slept with Pearl?”

  “Yep, I did, as in shut your eyes and go to sleep.” Wil whistled for Digger and headed for the truck. “How we going to do this?”

  “We got Blue, Amos, and Moses in the pens in the back. Last time Digger didn’t have a problem with old Moses. We could put him in there with him or he can sit up between you and Raylen in the backseat,” Rye said.

  “Throw him in with Moses,” Wil said.

  Rye opened the tailgate and Digger hopped up on it. He unfastened the cage that housed Moses and Digger ducked his head and went straight inside. He and Moses touched noses and sat down beside each other.

  “Looks like they’re goin’ to get along fine,” Raylen said.

  All four men got into the truck and Rye drove around back of the house, down the tractor path, behind the barn, and to the very edge of Wil’s land. Back where it hadn’t been cleared off and the pecans, oaks, and mesquite created thickets of trees that attracted coons, coyotes, and possums.

  They unloaded and turned the dogs loose. Moses gave a mournful old howl and led the pack into the woods. Men followed dogs in a trot. The dogs stopped at the base of a pecan tree that was all of thirty feet tall. A possum hung on a low limb from its tail, his beady little eyes tormenting the dogs.

  “Digger, you know that’s not a coon. Nose like yours can’t be fooled by a stupid possum. Go on,” Wil said.

  Digger put his nose to the ground and took off with the rest of the dogs behind him.

  “You got a thing for Pearl Richland?” Raylen asked.

  Wil removed his cap and raked his fingers through his hair. “Hell, I don’t know. It started out on Christmas Eve and has been something wild goin’ on ever since. Might just be adrenaline.”

  Raylen clapped a hand on his older brother Rye’s shoulder. “Remember when you first saw Austin? Wasn’t no doubts there. You was plumb in love from day one. Colleen didn’t think Austin would convert from city girl to country girl but she did. Hard to believe they can give up them high-heeled shoes, ain’t it? Maybe you done stood too close to Rye and got yourself a case of lovesick blues like he had, Wil. Only one way to cure them kind of blues and that’s to marry the girl.”

  “I wasn’t that bad from day one. It took at least to day two.” Rye laughed. “Moses is baying. They’ve got one treed.”

  “What’s your plans with Pearl?” Dewar took off in a slow jog.

  “I don’t know. It’s complex and confusin’. Why are you askin’?” Wil followed.

  “If you was in love, I wouldn’t want to get in your way. I might’ve got in Rye’s way with Austin, but we could all see from the first that they belonged together. But if you ain’t sure, then I might be interested myself. Always did have a thing for redheads and I liked her the first time Colleen brought her to the house. Just been draggin’ my feet.”

  Jealousy flared up in Wil’s soul. Instant, red-hot jealousy that he’d never felt before. “I’d appreciate a little time, Dewar. Maybe a month or two.”

  “You got it. How about if you ain’t sure by Valentine’s Day then I’m free to take her dancing,” Dewar said.

  “Sounds more than fair to me.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe I ought to give ol’ Wil some more time. He’s kind of slow. Now if it was Ace who had her marked for his territory, it would be a different story. I saw him checkin’ her out at the New Year’s Eve party, but he already had a woman hanging on him and he couldn’t do anything about it,” Dewar said.

  Wil slapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t be callin’ me slow, partner. I ain’t the only one that’s still single. Now that Rye’s married, you are next in line. You better hurry up or else Gemma is going to find a wife for you.”

  Dewar grinned. “I like a girl with some spunk and a little temper. Makes for an interesting life. I wouldn’t want a woman who walks behind me and puts up with my bullshit. I want one that’ll stand up for herself and back me up. I see that in Pearl.”

  “Y’all tryin’ to railroad me into something?”

  “Naw, man, we just visitin’ while we’re out huntin’ come coons. There goes Moses again. We’d best find what he’s got treed,” Rye said.

  ***

  Austin grilled Pearl for details about who won the shot challenge, but all she got was that they both passed out after the exact same amount of liquor. She wouldn’t be pinned down to whether or not she and Wil had done anything more than sleep in the same room that night.

  Finally, at midnight, Austin yawned and said that she was hanging up but that she expected more details at lunch the next day. She’d bring hamburgers for Lucy, Pearl, and herself, along with chocolate malts and French fries. According to Austin, calories and fat grams melted away to nothing when women were in the middle of a gossip fest.

  Pearl barely hung up whe
n the phone rang again. She checked the caller ID and flipped the phone open. “Hello, Jasmine.”

  “How’d you know it was me?”

  “Caller ID. It still comes up E&J. So it had to be you or Eddie Jay, and if it was that sumbitch and I said your name, he’d hang up on me which would be fine. He never was good enough for you and I knew it from the beginning, but you wouldn’t listen, no sir,” Pearl said.

  “Who died and made you a prophet?” Jasmine asked.

  Pearl giggled. “Dammit! I didn’t know that when someone died I got to be a prophet and got my own keys to the pearly gates. I thought those keys come in the mail. I been checkin’ every day for my whole life and now you tell me someone has to die. Well, hell’s bells!”

  Jasmine’s laughter was so loud that Pearl wondered if the young mother in room one right next door heard it.

  “You are so damn good for me. I may move to Henrietta or where was that other place? Ringgold?” Jasmine said between the hiccups that the laughter had left behind.

  “Come right on, darlin’. If you ever get the itch for another man, I know a couple of sexy-as-hell cowboys named Raylen and Dewar who are yummy.”

  “What about that cowboy who you spent the night with? Is he yummy?” Jasmine asked.

  “Yes, he is, but we slept all day. Together, yes. Sex, no.”

  “Fallin’ down a flight of stairs scared you, did it? You was afraid to do any more sinnin’ because you’re afraid that you done sinned enough for a whole month?” Jasmine asked.

  “Something like that.”

  “So you had sex with him after you slept with him all day? You can’t beat around the bush with me, girlfriend. I’m the queen of that art!”

  “How in the world did you find out so quick about my accident? Oh, I forgot that Momma…”

  “Yep, that’s right. Your momma told my momma all about it.”

  “God bless! That woman can find out more in two phone calls than a detective could in six months. They ought to give her a badge and a gun. She’d clean up the whole state of Texas.”

  “She’s a mother. They’re naturally nosy,” Jasmine said.

  “Okay, enough about me. Tell me the dirt. Why did you really decide to kick Eddie Jay out? Come on, girl, ’fess up.”

  “Jadeen Jones.”

  “No shit!”

  “Yep, and I think it’s been goin’ on for about a year now that I’ve seen that son of hers. He’s just a baby but he’s the spittin’ image of Eddie Jay. Blond hair and blue eyes. And guess what else? Kid’s name is Jay Edward. Crazy thing is he kept telling me we weren’t ready to get married and have kids. Guess that part of his life was saved for Jadeen and I was just the fool who kept house for him, cooked for him, and picked up his clothes at the dry cleaners. Can’t you just see his mother if he marries Jadeen after all the things she’s said about her since we were kids?”

  Pearl opened another beer and sat down at the kitchen table. “Sorry, darlin’.”

  “Thank you. Crazy thing is I hope he does marry Jadeen. Kid shouldn’t be raised up without a father, even if he is a worthless sack of shit like Eddie Jay.”

  Pearl remembered the women in ten rooms of her motel that night. She wouldn’t wish Eddie Jay Chandler on a single one of them or Jadeen either. No woman deserved to be physically abused. Or mentally, and Eddie Jay was a pro at the latter. Jasmine was a helluva lot better off without the fool.

  Chapter 14

  Pearl overslept the next morning. When she awoke Lucy had checked everyone out of the motel and was busy cleaning rooms. She dressed in a hurry and rushed out to room four where she and Lucy fell into their normal routine. But the song in her heart that kept playing over and over was that she had a date with Wil that night. A real date with just the two of them and she was giddy just thinking about it.

  “What are you thinking about?” Lucy asked.

  “Why?”

  “You’ve got a smile, but you are blushing.”

  “It’s the rushin’ around that got me all flustered,” Pearl said.

  “You sure it’s not your head?” Lucy narrowed her eyes.

  “I’m sure, Lucy. Positive sure. Other than a bruise on my leg and one on my shoulder, nothing is wrong. Wil asked me out on a real date tonight. We need to talk about how many nights a week you want to work in addition to the cleaning duties.”

  “All of them,” Lucy said.

  “That’s not right. How about you work Monday and Tuesday, take Wednesday off in case Luke ever calls, and then work Thursday and Friday. And we’ll split the weekend according to whoever has plans. I’d like to have Saturday night this weekend if that’s all right with you and you can take off on Sunday night.”

  “That sounds more than good to me. I love working the desk, Pearl. It makes me feel like I’m somebody,” Lucy said.

  Pearl touched Lucy on the shoulder and she didn’t flinch. “You are very important, Lucy Fontaine. Don’t you ever forget it.”

  Lucy nodded and pushed the cart to the next room where she’d strip beds, vacuum, and clean the bathroom. Pearl would come in behind her to make the beds and restock towels and toiletries.

  Pearl was putting out towels in the room Lucy had just left when her phone vibrated in her pocket. She grabbed it and read the text message: Miss me?

  She typed back: Yes.

  Lunch in an hour?

  Instead of or in addition to bowling?

  The phone rang before she could type in another message.

  “Hello?”

  “Do you really miss me? You sound all sexy. Did I ever tell you that I like the gravel in your voice? It turns me on,” he said.

  “Wil!”

  “Well, it does. I was teasing about lunch. I’ve got too much to do today to get away. I’ll pick you up this evening.”

  “I’ll be ready.”

  He chuckled and hung up the phone. He’d never met anyone like her and that scared the devil out of him. The sex was fabulous. She was witty and fun. But what if all she wanted was a good time? That could be a heartache in the making because he wanted so much more.

  ***

  Pearl dressed in jeans and a dark green sweater. She wore her cowboy boots and picked up a bag with her shoes and bowling ball in it. She’d never dated until Vince came into her life that summer. She and Jasmine talked about boys until they came close to fraying the subject at the corners, but neither of them ever found a boy that really took their eye.

  Then Vince changed her life when he asked her if she’d like a ride home on his big Harley motorcycle. He’d lived next door to her their entire lives. They’d played together as children, but he’d been too perfect for Pearl with his blond hair and pretty blue eyes. He seldom ever said a word to anyone, and he made perfect grades in school and never, ever got into trouble. Then it all changed. He let his hair grow long and although he kept up his grades he was constantly into trouble.

  She had crawled on the back of his cycle and that had started it. She was in love. There was lots of heated making out sessions but they waited until graduation night for the big event. Her folks thought she was at Jasmine’s so she had the night covered. His were waiting up when he got home at dawn. They knew which motel he’d been in and that Pearl had been with him. If he went away to his grandmother’s in Wyoming, they wouldn’t bring the Richlands in on the knowledge.

  They took his cycle, his cell phone, and his credit cards. He wrote her two letters, which she still had tied with a ribbon in her keepsake box on the attic. The first told her what had happened and that he’d write every day.

  She waited every day for the letters that never came. Until a month later the second one showed up in the mailbox. It was the most difficult letter he’d ever had to write but he had to do it. He’d been acting out, fighting the true calling in his life. The next day he was dedicating his life to God and planned to become a priest. In time, he would go to Africa and do mission work. He was sorry that he’d gotten her tangled up in his rebellion and he�
�d love her always but his first and true love was God.

  And that’s when Pearl Richland’s heart broke into a million pieces. She declared she’d never give her heart to another man to be shattered again. She’d date. She’d have fun. But serious relationships weren’t for her. Then Marlin came along and proved it all over again.

  She looked into the mirror.

  “And that brings me to today. Have I changed my mind?” she asked.

  “Pearl, you alone back here?” Lucy called out.

  “Come on in. I’m just getting ready. Is Wil out there yet?”

  “He just now drove up.”

  Those five words erased every single thought of Vince and her first dates. By the time Wil was in the lobby she couldn’t have remembered a single date during the last twelve years. She only had eyes for Wil.

  “Well, look at this; you’ve got your own bag and shoes. I’m impressed.” Wil took the bag from her and slipped the other arm around her shoulders.

  “It’s not my first time,” she teased.

  “Aha, and I thought I was going to show you up,” he said.

  “I don’t think so, cowboy.” She giggled.

  “Y’all have a good time and don’t hurry home. I’ll turn out the lights at eleven,” Lucy said.

  “Thanks, Lucy,” Pearl said over her shoulder as Wil steered her out to the truck.

  Wil opened the door for her, leaned in to give her a scorching hot kiss, and then whistled “Hello Darlin’” by Conway Twitty as he rounded the front of the truck and crawled into the driver’s seat.

  “You look gorgeous tonight,” he said as he started the engine.

  “And you look sexy as hell.” She slid across the bench seat to sit close to him.

  After all, it was a date!

  Chapter 15

  If she hadn’t gotten distracted by those tight jeans stretched across his damn fine butt she might not have rolled that gutter ball. And if she hadn’t then she would have beat him, but when the tally was done, he had four more points than she did.

  “You’re pretty good,” he said as he removed his shoes and slipped his feet back into his boots.