Chapter 14
Texas farmers never complain about the spring rains, Brodie thought as he drove out to the farm on Monday evening.
The orchards, gardens, cash crops, and hayfields need all the water they can get before the summer heat arrives.
But after a hard day’s work in Tripp’s barn, Brodie wished for a nice night with stars shining brightly and maybe a conversation with Audrey.
The gray skies looked like they could open up with more rain anytime, but not even a fine mist had started yet.
The air was heavy with the aroma of blossoms from the fruit trees as Brodie went from his truck to Pansy’s pen.
“Are you ready for your evening stroll?” he asked.
She came out of her house and stood still for him to put the harness and leash on her.
Brodie picked her up over the fence, set her down, and let her take the lead when she started off in the same direction that she always went—down between the trees to the back fence and then across to the fence separating the two farms. She stopped at the corner, found a little dry section of hay under a tree, and plopped down on her belly.
Brodie leaned on the fence post for a few minutes.
He visualized Audrey on the other side, sitting on a blanket with her book in one hand and a glass of cold sweet tea in the other.
In his imagination, she had taken a shower after working in the fields all day, and her hair was still damp.
He took a deep breath and imagined the smell of her perfume, but there was no Audrey, not that evening.
“Damned fence,” he grumbled. “It’s just a symbol of everything that keeps us apart.”
Pansy stood up and tugged on the leash. He followed her down the fence row and back to the trailer. He lifted her over the edge, and as soon as he removed the harness and leash, she went right back into her house. With a sigh, Brodie walked back to his truck and stared at his toolbox in the back.
“I get the feeling you are trying to tell me something,” he said.
Finally, he slapped his forehead and chuckled. “Now I get it. Fence first and then we’ll tackle Bernie and Hettie.” He opened the red metal box, removed the wire cutters, and grabbed a pair of work gloves.
He jogged back to the place where he and Audrey had visited the night before and snipped each strand of barbed wire from the corner.
Then he moved eight feet down and clipped the wire from the wooden post, leaving a nice open space at the end of both farms. If there ever was a next time for him and Audrey to meet up, nothing would be between them but pure Texas air.
He whistled all the way back to his truck and tossed the lengths of wire into the back and then headed over to the broken fence near the front of the property.
He pulled up what was left of the rotted post out of the ground and threw it in the back of his vehicle.
He stopped whistling and hummed Josh Turner’s “Your Man” as he clipped away sixteen more feet of fence and added it to the pile.
“That should fuel Miz Hettie’s anger,” he whispered, and drove back to the Paradise.
As if Fate stepped in and took over his playlist, the very next song that came through the speakers was the same one that he had been whistling.
The lyrics talked about locking the door and turning the lights down low.
He turned down the lane to the Paradise and looked up to see that the dark clouds had moved to the northeast. Stars had popped out around a three-quarter moon.
He parked, got out of the truck, and met Joe Clay coming around the end of the house. “Looks like the clouds have parted, and we might have a good day tomorrow.”
Brodie sat down on one of the rocking chairs. “Depends on who you are. I don’t imagine it will be a good day for Miz Hettie.”
“How’s that?” Joe Clay eased down into the chair next to Brodie and propped his feet on the porch railing.
“I took out that sixteen feet of broken-down fence at the front of the property and eight feet at the back,” Brodie answered. “I don’t expect her to pitch a hissy about the back since she won’t even know about it, but that front part is going to cause a stink.”
“Yep, I suppose it will,” Joe Clay chuckled. “I can understand why you’d tear out a broken fence, but…”
“Audrey and I’ve visited through that back part, and I don’t like having strands of barbed wire between us,” Brodie answered.
Joe Clay removed his cap and fanned his face with it. “You like to live dangerously?”
Brodie nodded and sat in silence with his father for a few minutes before he replied, “There’s something between us that I can’t explain. I’m drawn to her, and the chemistry is hot. I don’t know that it would ever go anywhere—maybe it’s just the forbidden fruit thing—but I’d sure like to find out.”
Joe Clay put his cap back on and smiled. “There is a solution for the problem. Just throw Bernie and Hettie together.”
“What…how…?” Brodie frowned.
“Didn’t you promise to ask Audrey out if those two old gals got into another fight, and didn’t she agree?” Joe Clay asked. “I would be willing to help you out and instigate the whole thing myself if you are sure you want to date Audrey.”
Brodie laughed out loud. “You’d do that for me?”
“Yep, I would,” Joe Clay replied. “Which one do you think will win if Hettie and Bernie really get down and dirty?”
“My money is on Bernie. That dyed red hair covers up a lot of pure old mean,” Brodie said.
“I’m not so sure that Hettie couldn’t take her. She seems like a scrapper to me,” Joe Clay said. “But you need to be ready to step in with the question next time we get the chance.”
“I stay ready,” Brodie said.
“That’s my boy,” Joe Clay chuckled again. “Remember that this conversation never happened.”
“What conversation?” Brodie asked. “We were just talking about the great news that I’m going to be an uncle two more times.”
“Unless one or both of them have twins,” Joe Clay said. “Then you could be an uncle even more.”
“I love kids and big families,” Brodie said. “So, bring them all on.”
***
Rain had kept Audrey inside all day, and Hettie had declared that the good Lord sent rain for the crops and to keep folks in the house to do other chores.
Rather than argue with her aunt, Audrey had spent the entire day deep cleaning the small house and helping Hettie bake dozens and dozens of cookies with more than ninety percent of them going into the freezer for future use.
If all the people in Spanish Fort dropped dead the next week, there would be plenty of cookies to take to the funeral dinners.
“Been a profitable day,” Hettie said as she made her evening cocktail and headed to the living room. “We’ve earned the right to watch a movie tonight. I think we should watch The Hatfields and McCoys miniseries again.”
“You get it started,” Audrey said. “I’ve been cooped up all day. I need to get outside for some fresh air, and I’m living with a real feud right here in Spanish Fort. I’ve seen that series more than once, so I’ll just sit in on it when I get back.”
“You don’t know jack squat about feuds, girl,” Hettie snapped. “I lived with one for more than fifty years.”
“Then you get the whoopie button for today,” Audrey told her.
“I was out on the front porch a little while ago, and there wasn’t anybody but a pig over next door,” Hettie said. “So, who are you really sneaking out to see?”
Audrey winked at her aunt. “Like I said before, that is classified information. If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”
“You are the most exasperating person that God ever let set foot on this earth,” Hettie fussed.
“But you still love me,” Audrey said.
Hettie set her glass on the table and popped her hands on her bony hips. “Of course I love you, but sometimes I don’t like you.”
Audrey slipped out the back door and let her aunt have the last word.
She crammed her feet into the rubber boots on the back porch and headed along the edge of the cornfield toward the back corner.
Even though nosy Hettie hadn’t seen Brodie’s truck in the driveway, it might have been parked out by the pigpen.
She hoped that was the case, but she didn’t get her wish.
She sighed with disappointment when she reached the end of the path.
Her frown turned into a giggle when she realized that the back section of fence was gone.
“Is that an open, no pun intended, invitation to go over to his place anytime I want?” she asked as she walked onto Brodie’s property and up the trail between the trees to the pigpen.
If she and Brodie ever got serious without either Hettie or Bernie going to jail… The thought stopped when she remembered that there was something about a stolen pig in the series her aunt was watching that evening.
“Seems fitting,” she said as she peeked into the pen.
Pansy poked her nose out of her house and then went back inside.
“You are kind of cute. If I stole you and put you out in one of my barns like one of the feuding families did in the show, I wonder what would happen?” She asked, and then laughed at the silly idea.
She turned around and intended to step over the broken part of the fence but found that the old wooden post was gone right along with the wire, leaving another open space. She walked through it, went back to her house, and left her rubber boots on the porch.
“You’re back early,” Hettie called out when she came in the back door. “Your feller must be afraid of a little rain.”
Audrey took a bottle of sweet tea from the refrigerator and picked up the platter of cookies from the counter.
“The rain has stopped, and the stars are shining. I guess all the Callahan boys are worn out from working inside the old barn today, and not a one of them has the energy to come make out with me.”
Hettie ignored her and asked, “Did Brodie fix that fence?”
“Define fixed,” Audrey said and set the tea and cookies on the coffee table.
“I’m going to watch my movie and ignore you,” Hettie declared.
“Sounds good,” Audrey whispered.
***