Chapter Twelve
“C ade did call, and we spoke this morning.” Maggie imparted the information to Tori as they walked up the sidewalk toward the courthouse. The morning had come in with a light frost, and people had left sweaters behind in favor of jackets. Winter in Texas kept one moving between closets each day. The calendar spoke of late winter moving toward spring, but she felt winter was reserving a secret still to come. “You did it, girlfriend. You finally got Cade Lockwood to listen to you. And this town will be the better off for it.”
“It was an effort by a lot of people, not just me. And I will be happy when all has been said and done and the springs are working for those who need their healing.”
“But you are the one that took on that stubborn cowboy. To use a metaphor here…this time it was you who stayed the course for eight seconds and brought home the gold buckle. He and the doctors are already going over what is needed to bring the pools in question into compliance. And to make them user-friendly to the patients. He isn’t letting the grass grow under his feet.”
“Well, that’s good. Keep me in the loop on what is going on.” They had reached the top step and stood at the door.
“You haven’t been talking with him?”
“Afraid I’ve been a bit busy with other things. There is always something else that needs attention on the list. And with that masquerade ball coming up that Leslie got passed by the council, I’m burning some late-night oil.”
“Stop it. You’re young and you need to be remembering that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” They had reached the door into her office suite and stepped inside.
“It means that you’re still young and beautiful and single. So get out there and find Mr. Right and cozy up to something besides traffic charts and sewer surveys.”
“Wise advice, Ms. Maggie. Hopefully our mayor will listen to it.”
Tori cringed inside. She did not need to turn around to know that Cade Lockwood was standing behind her. When would she learn to keep private conversations just that? Keep them on the other side of her office and its closed door. She turned slowly and found herself just a couple feet away from the man. Neutral smile, play the part.
“Mr. Lockwood,” she said. “I don’t believe you’re on my schedule today.”
“True, Mayor Parker,” he responded, his mimic of her greeting not lost on her. “But I did not think I needed to see you just to bring by your two pie plates that you left at the ranch for my crew. I told my housekeeper that I would drop them off.”
Wallace spoke up. “And I put them in your office.”
“And I need to get down the hall to my office,” Maggie said. “Good to see you again, Cade. Look forward to our meeting on Thursday. Bye all!” Maggie abandoned her.
“Thank you for doing that. I appreciate it. Have a good day.” She sailed around him and entered her office, closing the door behind her. Rude? Okay, maybe. Coward? Yes. She reminded herself that her new resolution was to keep Cade Lockwood far from her mind. Strictly business was the order of her days. Her list was long each day so she had plenty to keep her mind occupied. She sat down behind her desk, setting her coffee to the side, and began getting organized. The door opened and Wallace came in with the mail.
“Your appointment is here. It is a brief one with Dr. George from the hospital board. Then I expect the Ladies Guild to be early as usual. So if you finish with the good doctor early you can sail right into your next and maybe get out of here early today. Okay, don’t give me that skeptical look of yours. A person can hope, can’t one?”
“Yes, you just keep hoping, Wallace, for the both of us. Let’s not keep the good doctor waiting.”
And so the day was beginning and she had put the cowboy from her thoughts for a good five minutes. That was progress. She looked up with a smile at the door as her visitor entered. Then it froze.
“Good morning, Mayor Parker.” The doctor extended his hand and they shook. “I had breakfast this morning with our friend here, Cade, and thought it would be a plus to bring him along to this meeting to bring you up to speed on a couple of things. You don’t mind if he sits in with us?”
And what if she did? She smiled and graciously swept her hand toward the two empty chairs in front of her desk. “Of course not. Please make yourselves comfortable.”
She managed to get through the preliminaries by keeping most of her gaze on the doctor as he spoke. Very little attention landed on the cowboy who was dressed the part of a wealthy rancher that morning in a gray western-cut suit with vest, crisp white shirt and a black bolo tie with a silver etched concho with the Lockwood brand on it at the shirt’s collar. His Stetson rested on the crossed knee of one leg. Maybe he had an ‘engagement’ next with his lady friend? And there went her attention to the last thing the doctor said.
“I’m sorry, Ian,” she said. “Could you repeat that?”
“I was saying how helpful the Lockwood Foundation has been in getting things off the ground. It is amazing. Wait until you see what they have done and will still do out there and it…” His pager went off and he grimaced as he read the brief text.
“I’m sorry about the interruption, but I have an emergency consult,” he said standing. “Perhaps Cade can fill in any details in my absence. Let’s do lunch later this week, Tori. I’ll call you.” He was gone very quickly.
“Sorry.”
She was forced to look over at the man still seated in front of her. “It couldn’t be helped. But please don’t think that you must stay. Our meeting was to be brief anyway.”
“I take it that’s my cue to leave. I know you’re a very busy person.” He stood and so did she.
“I’ll take my leave. I know the way out.” But he paused with his hand on the doorknob and looked at her. “You know I agree with Maggie on the advice she gave you.”
“Advice?”
“The part about you being young and beautiful and needing to get out and find Mr. Right. I won’t repeat the part about traffic and sewers. But she is correct. There’s more to life than this office, Victoria. But maybe you’re afraid to venture outside it?”
“Afraid? I doubt I’m afraid. It’s a question of priorities.”
“So you don’t consider a husband, children, home to be priorities?”
“Dreams don’t always become realities, Mr. Lockwood. Some of us deal in the real world. My next appointment is here so I won’t keep you.”
He slid his hat onto his head and gave her one last look. “Realities can become priorities before you know it.”
*
“This is a nice break in my day, but it might not be in yours,” Matt said, shaking his head at his lunch companion. “I don’t know if chaperoning a playdate for a bunch of six-year-olds is often on your social agenda. And the meal offered on the grill is hamburger sliders, chips, and one of Jillie’s aunt’s trays of cupcakes for dessert. You could be having better fare at Tillie’s.”
“No way,” Cade replied, pushing back in the lawn chair and studying the group currently intent on redecorating the tree house in the corner of the yard. “Living dangerously on the back of a ton of mad bull might not be as challenging and not as much fun.” He took a swig of the soda that Matt’s daughter had presented him with on his arrival.
Matt laughed. “You might be right at that. But I promise we will have a grown-ups’ lunch next week.”
“It’s a deal.” Cade nodded. “You know, you’re a good dad. It can’t be easy being a full-time sheriff and a full-time single dad. Yet, you manage, and you’ve raised quite a young lady there.”
“Thanks for the compliment on my daughter. But I cannot take full credit. I don’t know what we would have done without Tori. I will always be grateful she wouldn’t take no for an answer when she wanted me to bring Jillie and myself here to Destiny’s River so she could help out with Jillie. It was my sis to the rescue as always.”
“As always? Are you talking about her dedication to the town also?”
“Well, there is that too, I guess. But you probably aren’t aware that the four of us—Tori, my sister Cassie, me, and my brother Rance—were raised in the foster system. Our mother died in a hit-and-run and we went to our grandmother. She eventually died of cancer, and we were placed into care. Tori always looked out for all of us. That’s why when she aged out, she worked and saved money and went in search of a place we could know as home. She decided that Destiny’s River was the place. And she was right. Each of us had the ability to go out and search out our own dreams with her help with money for schooling or whatever. I used to say that she was old long before she grew out of her teens. She fought battles of one kind or another. And she is still doing that wherever needed.”
“Plus she bakes amazing desserts, runs a whole town, and can handle a horse pretty good.”
“And according to my daughter she is the mostest awesome aunt in the entire universe.”
Cade grinned. “That sums it up.”
“Yes. And now why do I feel that you accepting this invitation was going to happen no matter what? This has something to do with Tori.”
Cade sat forward in his chair, the empty bottle going on the table. He met Matt’s inquiring gaze with a steady one on his part.
“You are a smart man. And an even better sheriff. What I can tell you is that your sister is good for this town. I believe that now. And anything else is something I’m not ready to share. But if that time comes, we’ll talk again. In the meantime, how about getting those burgers done? I’m hungry.”
*
“Remind me this is for charity—a good cause. And keep reminding me over and over. And then remember that you promised you would never expect this from me again.” Matt was trying to tie the bow tie for the third time and soon to be a fourth.
Tori gave an exasperated sigh and stepped up behind him. She batted his hands away from the material and began redoing the tie. “You are so helpless when it comes to dressing up. You spend too much time in uniform. Be still.”
“This is ridiculous, Tori. Why did you go along with this idea? What happened to the fish fry we used to do? That made money.”
“And that might still be done in the summer…when people want to be out on water and it isn’t freezing. Stop griping and go along with it. You might have fun. Who knows?”
“You remember that you promised that if Lisa Johnson or Sara Masters…or Janet Nelson bid on me…you will jump in and bid. Right? You worked it out with Maggie, right? You give her the money that you get from me and all will be well.”
She finished with the bow tie and patted it. “There…do not touch it again. And yes, I have your escape plan in place should one of those three bid on you.”
“How about you? Anyone you want me to save you from?”
“I’m not like you; I don’t take all of this to heart. People will bid and that is the whole point. We aren’t arranging a marriage contract tonight. And it’s dinner at the country club so no surprises. Look at it that you will get a great dinner out of it.”
“Tori, you need to get ready,” Leslie called from the hallway. “Your clothing is in the room next door. And, Matt, please don’t forget your mask.”
Tori followed Leslie into the dressing area next door. The door shut and Leslie couldn’t contain her excitement. “This is going to be such a hit…I can feel it. And when you come out in the gown and headpiece we got on loan from my aunt in New Orleans…it will be the showstopper. Of course, I’m just so disappointed still that we couldn’t get Cade Lockwood, the most eligible single of all, to participate. But he had to go to some meeting on the West Coast of all times. The show must go on.”
Tori slowly shook her head. “Remember what I said when you brought up this idea of your aunt and her costumes. I won’t be wearing anything risqué like you see during Mardi Gras in New Orleans…got it? G-rated.”
“Of course not. No R-rated outfits. PG at the most,” Leslie said, crossing her heart. “You will love it.”
There was a knock on the door and Tori’s hairdresser and the makeup artist that had been hired for the evening for all the women came in. Kristi was quick on reading the room and Tori’s level of patience. “Everyone out now so we can prepare your showstopper, Leslie.” She herded the woman from the room and shut and locked it.
“Thank you, Kristi.” Tori smiled as the pair began unpacking their wares on the dressing table.
“Just relax,” she said. “You’re in our hands now and there’s nothing to worry about.”
Tori did just that. She sat back in the swivel chair and let the masters go to work. Closing her eyes, she settled in as Kristi put some soft music on the radio and they began her transformation.
“Okay, we’ll touch up the makeup after we get you into the dress. And then again after we get your headpiece and mask on.” Kristi and Lily the makeup artist began taking the gown out of its bag. It was a massive skirt and train, heavy with shimmering spangles and jewels in shades of scarlet reds fading into the black sequined top. The headpiece was an incredible mass of long black pheasant feathers jutting from the red sequined mask that covered her face to just above the mouth.
“You have your red and black stilettos on. Now step in carefully,” the ladies instructed, holding both sides of the gown. They worked on securing the gown’s zippers and ties. Tori wasn’t allowed to see her reflection until they were complete with her transformation. When they added the headpiece, Tori was thrown a bit off-balance. Luckily, the ladies quickly righted her.
“The dress weighs a ton with all the beading,” Tori said. “And the headdress feels like someone set a brick weight on my head. The mask is itching. How am I supposed to act glamorous and mysterious in this?”
“Well, consider it mysterious in how you figure out the art of walking out on the runway without toppling over.” Kristi grinned. “Let’s put the scarlet lipstick on now and you’ll be totally glamourized.”
“Okay. Turn around slowly and look at the new version of you.”
Tori did just that…especially the slow part. And then she froze.
She was quiet so long that Lily and Kristi finally spoke.
“Tori…what’s wrong?”
“This is not G-rated. It would be hard pressed to say it’s even PG,” Tori began. “The skirt is slit so far up the side that there is no way I would dare sit down in it. And the top? What top? It’s cut almost down to my navel in front. The off-shoulder top is not there for much support.”
“Two positives.” Kristi spoke up. “First is that you are stunning in it…you might not think so but it could have been made for your figure or vice versa. Second…with the mask and headpiece, most people if not all will not know who you are. So you can have some fun with that. Isn’t that the point of the evening? Everyone is here to have fun and make some money for a good cause. So get out there and forget the comfort zone and have fun.”
Have fun. Forget the comfort zone. Right. Tori had a feeling that she would regret volunteering. And she might never live the night down.