Chapter 16
Audrey checked her reflection in the long mirror on the back of her bedroom door.
She’d put a few bouncy curls in her dark hair, and dragged out a lacy shirt she hadn’t worn in years and a denim skirt with a flippy ruffle that ended right above her knee.
She had two pairs of dress boots, but tonight she decided on the off-white ones with gold tips on the toes.
“Time to face the dragon,” she whispered, and hoped that her aunt had already put away more than one whiskey sour.
“No, that’s not right,” she said with half a giggle. “If she’s had that much alcohol, she will breath fire for sure.”
Hettie looked up from the television show she was watching and frowned. “Are we going to a rodeo?”
“ We aren’t going anywhere,” Audrey answered. “I have decided on which Callahan brother I want, and he asked me out. We are going dancing at Bo and Maverick’s bar after we have dinner.”
Hettie’s frown deepened. “What about our supper?”
Audrey recognized the tone and refused to go on the guilt trip that it offered. “There is leftover spaghetti in the fridge and half a coconut pie. I don’t think you will starve, but if you want something different, you can call Walter and ask him to drive you into town for supper.”
“What if I fall down and can’t get up or have a heart attack?” Hettie whined.
“Call me and then call 911. I bet I’ll beat them home, but if you are faking either one, I’m going to be really mad at you,” Audrey said.
Her aunt’s tone and expression changed. She narrowed her eyes and set her mouth in a firm line. “I’m sorry I’m such a burden.”
Audrey dropped a kiss on Hettie’s forehead.
“You are trying to guilt me into staying home, but it won’t work.
I’m going out. Brodie will be here any minute.
I won’t invite him in if you are going to be tacky to him.
While I’m gone, you can call Bitsy and y’all can pray that I will have a miserable evening and hate him. ”
Hettie wiped the kiss away. “Are you trying to join the two farms with a marriage license? Just remember it was a marriage license that split things in two pieces in the beginning.”
“No, ma’am,” Audrey answered. “What is mine is mine. What is his is his. Never the twain shall meet, not even if there happens to be a wedding cake in the very distant future. The world today doesn’t say that I have to give him what is mine. That ship sailed over a hundred years ago.”
“And women still ain’t got a lick of sense when it comes to men or the other way around either,” Hettie huffed. “I’m going to my room. I will not be a willing party to this thing, and if you ever do marry that man , I will not be at the wedding.”
“It’s a first date, not a proposal,” Audrey argued.
***
Brodie found a whole party waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs—Joe Clay, Mary Jane, both of his brothers, Ursula and Remy, and their baby, Clayton. “What’s this?” he asked.
Mary Jane brushed a bit of lint from his red-and-blue plaid shirt. “It’s the first date you’ve been on since you arrived.”
“I’ve been on half a dozen dates,” Brodie argued.
“Those weren’t real,” Knox said. “Those were prearranged by Bernie. This one is important because you did the asking.”
“Well, if y’all don’t let me get out of here…” he started and stopped when Bernie came through the front door.
Brodie took one look at her and mentally compared the expression on her face to the tornado that had just recently created so much havoc on his farm. “Evenin’, Aunt Bernie,” he said.
“Don’t you evenin’ me, Brodie Callahan. I had to find out about this date through the Spanish Fort gossip vine. You should have told me yourself.” She glared at him for a full twenty seconds, then broke out in laughter.
“Are you alright, Aunt Bernie?” Ursula asked.
“I’m just fine.” She wiped her eyes with a tissue that she pulled from the pocket of her jeans. “I couldn’t be better.”
Brodie glanced over at his brothers. Both had that deer-in-the-headlights look in their eyes, and poor old Tripp was easing back a step at a time toward the kitchen. Remy slipped an arm around Ursula as if he was protecting her and Clayton.
“What is so funny?” Joe Clay finally asked.
“I win!” she raised both her fists in the air.
“You win what?” Mary Jane frowned.
“I bet Hettie is having a Southern hissy fit. She’s made it clear that she doesn’t want Brodie and Audrey to date.”
“And that means if you don’t put up a fuss that you win?” Brodie asked.
“Reverse psychology again?” Ursula asked.
“Bingo!” Bernie shouted. “Ursula gets a shot of Irish whiskey instead of a gold star. Come on out to the trailer anytime in the next week and claim it. I don’t care who you boys date as long as you stay in Spanish Fort.
But”—she paused and shifted her focus to Tripp and Knox—“it’s my calling to try to help you two along.
However, I knew it would make Hettie set her heels even more if I pretended to be against Brodie and Audrey.
Now I can be all for it, and she’ll dig in even deeper. ”
“You are a witch,” Brodie whispered.
Bernie wrapped her arms round him, gave him a tight hug, and took a step back. “Thank you. That’s the best compliment I’ve had in months. Now, go on and make me proud.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Brodie said with a grin.