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.After a brief conversation about Isabel on the way to the restaurant, she was not mentioned again.Pete flirted outrageously with Kathleen, and Johnny didn’t seem to mind.“How did a pretty girl like you settle for this ugly old cowboy?”“He was the only Best Ail-Around Cowboy in town,” she retorted.“I had to settle for him or nothing.It was an accident that we met.” Kathleen glanced at Johnny’s relaxed and smiling face.“I was being hijacked out on the highway when this cowboy came charging over the hill on his trusty steed, his six-guns blazing.The bad guys knew when they were outgunned and hightailed it before a shot was fired.I swooned,” she said dramatically, “in the arms of my hero.”Johnny chuckled.“Horse hockey.You never swooned in your life.”“That explains how you met; but after you were around him for a while, couldn’t you tell that he didn’t have much between his ears?”“Well, I did wonder what was holding them apart, but he was so—pretty and—he was the Best All-Around Cowboy at the Tillison County rodeo.What’s a girl to do?”“All right, you two.You’ve had enough fun at my expense.I’ve got some pretty good stories I can tell about Pete.You see there was this older, married woman who lived over in Ringling and Pete—”“Whoa, there partner.You start telling that, and I’ll have to tell Kathleen about the time you and Jude went to town and swiped a freezer full of ice cream off Mrs.Miller’s back porch.Henry Ann was mad as a hornet when she found out about it.”“She was really afraid that someone had seen us and we’d get caught.Mrs.Miller, the old busybody, had been spreading gossip about Henry Ann and Tom, so Jude and I decided to get even.” Johnny flashed a grin at Kathleen.“Poor Henry Ann.I bet she had her hands full with you.”“When will I get to read some of the stories you’ve written?” Pete winked at the waitress and slipped the check she placed on the table into his shirt pocket.“How—did you know about that?” Kathleen’s eyes darted from Johnny to Pete.“Jude told me.Then Johnny told me that you’re writing a book.I’ve never known anyone who wrote a story, much less a whole book.”“I’ve not written the whole book yet.I’m just working on it.”“I’ve not known anyone who was even working on one.” Pete placed a generous tip on the table for the waitress and stood.“Where do I buy the magazines?”“You don’t have to buy them.I’ve got copies I can lend you—if you’re serious about reading them.”“I’ve got on my serious face.Didn’t you notice? Say, Johnny, what say we stop off at the town hot spot and have a beer so I can dance with the town celebrity.”“Only if you give me the check.This was my idea.” Johnny helped Kathleen on with her coat, then reached to yank the check out of Pete’s shirt pocket.“Keep your cotton-pickin’ hands to yourself.You can pay for the beers.Is he always so grabby, Kathleen?”“Always.” Kathleen felt light, airy, giddy, happier than she had been in a long time.They crowded into the front seat of Johnny’s car.Kathleen sat close to him, her shoulder tucked behind his.His hand brushed her knee as he shoved the car into gear and they took off.When he turned to look at her, their faces were only inches apart.Tremors of joy went through her.She wondered if he could feel the beat of her heart through the breast that was pressed tightly against him.You’re happy tonight, my Johnny.Is it because you are with me or your cousin, Pete? Are you remembering how it was between us after we discovered our love and before Mary Rose was born?“I was discharged in San Diego.” Pete’s arm lay across the top of the seat behind her.“I could hardly wait to get into civilian clothes and go to a beer joint without keeping an eye out for the MPs.Know what? It wasn’t as much fun as I thought it would be.I was lonesome for the red hills of Oklahoma.”“At the Norman Naval Base where I was discharged, they loaded us on a bus and took us straight to the train station.”“He came home to a parade through town.” Kathleen glanced at Johnny and saw his teeth clench and a muscle jump in his jaw.“How do you know?” Johnny asked.“I was there.” Kathleen wished she’d not mentioned his homecoming.“I didn’t see you.”“You were too busy looking at the girls swooning over the returning hero.” She turned toward Pete.“The band played, ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home.’““Golly-bill, I’m out honky-tonkin’ with a real live hero and a celebrity.”“Dry it up,” Johnny growled as he turned in and parked in front of the Twilight Gardens, “or I’ll leave both of you here and you can walk back to the clinic.”“The place is jumpin’ tonight,” Pete said dryly, observing that only two other cars were parked at the joint.“Just the way I like it,” Johnny said in a faint faraway voice that only Kathleen could hear.She wondered if he was remembering the night they sat in front of this place in his old truck? It was strangely the same, even though some of the neon had dimmed from around the windows and the building needed a coat of paint.The parking lot was as full of chuckholes as it had been seven years ago.Kathleen struggled to keep her breathing even as memories swamped her, making her eyes misty.It was here that she and Johnny said the words that bound her to him forever.Not even their marriage ceremony was as binding to her as the declarations of love they made that night.She had given him her love unconditionally.She was still his, even if he no longer wanted her.“Let’s go in and liven up this place.” Pete got out of the car and held out his hand to Kathleen.Inside, Kathleen paused to allow her eyes to adjust to the darkness.A row of booths lined three sides of the small dance floor.The bar was at the end.Neon beer signs provided the only light except for the dim glow from the jukebox selectors at each booth.None of the booths were occupied.“This is our lucky night,” Johnny said dryly, and Kathleen wondered if he was sorry that they had come here.“We have our choice of booths.Choose one, and I’ll get the beers.”Kathleen slid into a booth at the back.“Don’t want anything to happen to my new hat,” Pete said, and hung his light-colored Stetson on the peg above the selector before he sat down opposite her.“It cost me three dollars.Imagine paying three dollars for a hat.”“It’s a nice one.”“You love him, don’t you?” he asked abruptly.There was no doubt in Kathleen’s mind what he was talking about.She looked straight into serious blue eyes that seemed even bluer because of his tanned face and answered honestly.“I’m crazy about him.Always have been and always will be.”“I thought so [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]