Chapter 20
Brodie met Tripp and Willa Rose at the door before they could even knock. “I thought y’all might be bringing Pansy home again. Come on in out of the cold.”
Willa Rose handed Pansy off to Brodie. “Bernie must have already called.”
“Yep, she did and said the pig ruined your blind dates,” Brodie answered. “But she also said the dates weren’t a total bust because Willa Rose’s date called Aunt Bernie immediately afterward and asked her to fix him up with Melanie.”
“And…” Audrey came out of the kitchen. “I just got off the phone with Tertia, who said Pansy wasn’t the whole cause, but also two little boys who almost destroyed the place.
I told her to post a sign inside the front door that says, ‘Misbehaved children will be sold to the circus.’ She declares that she will do it and drive them up to Ringling and give them to the carnival folks.
They can charge a ransom for the kids if Melanie wants them back. ”
“That reminds me of that O. Henry story Mama read to me when I was a little girl,” Willa Rose said.
“‘The Ransom of Red Chief,’” Audrey said with a chuckle. “I loved that story.”
“Me too, and I wouldn’t sell them to the carnival.
I would write Melanie’s phone number on their foreheads, drop them off on Zeb’s porch, and speed away.
Got to admit that even though we had a couple of dates that surpassed every fiasco on record, we have to say thank you to Pansy for helping get us out of those disaster dates. ”
“What are you going to do with the pig to keep her off the roads and away from the Paradise and café?” Tripp asked.
“We’ve decided to keep her in the garage,” Audrey answered.
“Hopefully, she won’t find a way to root out of that place.
Brodie, take her on out there, and y’all take off your coats.
I’ve set the table for four, and you are having supper with us.
The stew is ready, and I just took the bread out of the oven. ”
“Thank you.” Willa Rose hung her coat on the rack inside the door. “I’m starving.”
“It’s just beef stew and hot rolls, but after what you’ve been through, it might settle your nerves. Tertia told me all about it. I can’t believe that a mother would allow her children to act like that—especially in public.” Audrey led the way into the kitchen.
Tripp laid a hand on Brodie’s shoulder as they followed the women. “You have no idea how horrible it was. All the customers were checking out with to-go boxes. Tertia and Noah were ready to close up the café for good by the time my date got offended and left.”
“All my blind dates combined wasn’t that bad.” Brodie chuckled.
“I believe you. Not much could top tonight. You can mark it on the calendar that on this very day, I vowed that I would never go on another blind date. Not even if Aunt Bernie cries and promises me the moon.” Tripp pulled out a chair for Willa Rose, seated her, and then sat down beside her.
“At least those wild boys didn’t stab Pansy,” Willa Rose said. “If I see Melissa…”
“Melanie,” Tripp corrected her with a grin.
“Whatever! I don’t like either name, and if she ever brings those two kids toward my store, I hope I see her coming in time to lock the doors and hang the CLOSED sign out,” she finished.
Audrey filled four bowls with stew and passed them around the table. “You are too nice, Willa Rose. I’d hate to think what I might do if they ever came to the farm.”
“From what I hear, they could tear up a tractor with a feather,” Brodie said.
“They wouldn’t need a feather,” Tripp declared. “They could do it with their fingernails and not even break one. But we’ve got news that goes beyond those wild boys.”
“You are dating?” Audrey asked.
“No,” Willa Rose declared before Tripp could form a single sentence.
“It’s even bigger than that,” Tripp teased.
“Aunt Bernie will be glad to know that this evening didn’t create such a catastrophe that y’all decided to fall into each other’s arms for a little comfort,” Brodie said between bites.
Willa Rose held out her bowl for Audrey to fill. “If she ever gets it in her mind to set me up again, I’ll move to Alaska, or maybe even Siberia.”
“I’m going to tell her that I’ll go with you,” Tripp said. “That should make her move on to Knox.”
Audrey passed the breadbasket around the table. “Okay then, if that’s not the news, what is?”
“Pansy is most likely pregnant,” Willa Rose said. “If I’m right, she will have a litter sometime around Easter, and she’ll have about anywhere from six to a dozen little piglets.”
“Maybe you should get in touch with Finn and tell him that he owes you pig support,” Tripp teased. “Or perhaps it should be Zeb since he was the actual owner of the carnival at the time.”
“What are we going to do with a dozen piglets?” Audrey groaned.
“Give them away, and then take Pansy to the vet,” Tripp answered. “Unless you want to take her now, and not have any babies next spring.”
“No!” Audrey said without hesitation. “She has weathered snow and a long walk every time she ran away. Taking her babies away from her wouldn’t be fair. We will keep one little girl piglet and have her fixed early on. That way Pansy will have a friend and maybe stop running away.”
Audrey’s words stuck in Willa Rose’s head: have a friend and stop running away .
Since a few days before Thanksgiving, she had made more friends in Spanish Fort than she had left behind in Poetry, Texas. And then there was all the chemistry between her and Tripp.
So, why are you still running away from this place? Vada’s voice whispered in her head. Don’t be too stubborn to admit that you are as happy here as Hank is.
Tripp nudged her on the shoulder and set off a whole room full of sparks. “Earth to Willa Rose.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I was off in another world. What did I miss?”
“Brodie wants to know how many of the piglets you want,” Audrey said.
“Depends on a lot of things, but don’t give them all away before I make up my mind,” she answered.
“The deciding factor is whether you go back to Poetry or stay here, right?” Tripp asked.
“No, it’s whether I can take care of a pet properly wherever I land permanently,” she answered, but her mother’s words kept playing through her head.
***
“Why would you worry about taking care of a little piglet properly?” Tripp asked on the way back to the café parking lot that evening. “I’m told that they are easy to train to a litter box. They’re kind of like a cat that way.”
“Maybe I don’t want anything to remind me of Spanish Fort if I leave,” Willa Rose answered.
“Oh, honey, those kisses we shared will often come back to your memory.”
“What makes you think so?”
“Because you will dream about them,” Tripp replied.
“Will you?”
“I already do,” he answered as he parked beside her SUV, got out, and jogged around to open the door for her. “But just to keep me from forgetting how hot they were…”
She barely had time to moisten her lips before his mouth closed on hers, and heat filled her whole body. She leaned in to his chest and felt his heart racing through both their coats. When the kiss ended, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Just to be sure I don’t forget,” she murmured as she kissed him again.
They were both panting when she took a step back. Tripp scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the back of his truck. With a free hand, he unlatched the tailgate and hopped up on it.
“It would be a terrible thing to have trouble remembering something this good,” he said with her in his lap.
“I’m really good at forgetting what I don’t want…”
He cupped her cheeks in his hands and brought her lips to his again.
Willa Rose’s mind swirled in circles as the whole world disappeared.
She and Tripp were the only two people on the earth, and nothing—not weather, people, or even other thoughts—could make her jump down off his lap and hurry over to her own vehicle.
He finally drew back and took a couple of long breaths. “Think you will forget that?”
“Your place or mine?” she asked.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, I am, but don’t think this is anything other than a fling.”
“Then neither your place nor mine,” Tripp answered. “But I will follow you home to be sure that you make it, and then I’ll go on to my house, take a cold shower, and dream of this.”
She hopped down off his lap. “You are a strange person, Tripp Callahan.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Most men would jump at a chance to have a sexual relationship with no strings attached.”
“I’m not most men,” he said. “Seems like a waste of time to me.”
“Maybe it would be good enough that it wouldn’t be a waste.”
He walked her to her vehicle. “I’m not arguing that idea, because it probably would, but the aftershocks of the heartbreak wouldn’t be worth it.”
Her hand brushed against his, but he made no effort to lace his fingers with hers.
She had never made such a bold suggestion before in her life—not even with her fiancé.
With them things had just progressed slowly to the spending-the-entire-night stage.
But after a make-out session with Tripp, her whole body screamed for more than kisses.
“Good night,” Tripp said as he opened the door for her and then headed for his truck.
She slapped the steering wheel several times on the drive home and stomped into the house like an angry second-grade kid. She made herself a cup of hot chocolate, drank one sip, and left it on the table.
What are you waiting for? Her mother’s voice was back in her head. You know what you want. Own it. There’s no reason you can’t stay in Spanish Fort, other than your pride. So, take a deep breath and listen to your heart.
“But what if I make a big mistake?” she muttered.
Vada didn’t have anything more to say, but rather left Willa Rose on her own to make her own choice in the matter.
“You used to preach that every choice had a consequence.”
Still nothing.
Willa Rose took that to mean her mother was through talking.
She grabbed her coat, put it on, and hoped that she wasn’t making the biggest mistake of her life.
She got into her SUV and started the engine.
Before she backed out and headed toward Tripp’s house, she made the decision that if Knox’s truck was there, it would be an omen that she should turn around and go back home.
No vehicle other than Tripp’s was in front of the house, so she did what Vada had told her.
She took a deep breath, made her decision, and marched up to the porch.
That’s when she lost her courage and told herself that she was acting on impulse just like Hank did when he made the decision to move from Poetry.
“But he is happy, and I don’t know where I stand on that issue.” She quickly made a mental list of pros and cons about staying in Spanish Fort. The pros outweighed the cons by a long shot, so she raised her fist to knock on the door, but it seemed so forward, even for a modern-thinking woman.
Tripp made the decision for her when he swung the door open and stood before her in nothing but a pair of pajama bottoms. “Is everything okay?” he asked with a concerned expression.
“No, it’s not. I want more than a fling, too, and I’ve made up my mind to stay in Spanish Fort,” she blurted out, “and I don’t care if Bernie loses all her bets.”
“Are you sure about this?” Tripp asked.
“Not really, but my heart tells me if I leave, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. Are you going to invite me in, or do I have to ask again: my place or yours?”
“Well,” Tripp stood to one side and motioned for her into the house, “since we’re both already here at my place, I’d say that my place would be the better choice.”
When she was inside, she removed her coat, tossed it over on the sofa, and took his hand in hers. “Guest bedroom or yours?”
“You choose,” he said and pulled her to his chest, then started a string of long, lingering passionate kisses.
“Your room it is then. The bed would get crowded if Knox came sneaking in the house in the middle of the night.”