Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Zinnia couldn’t sleep. Big surprise. Who could have predicted that? Ha, ha.
Going to bed when Tex wasn’t asleep in his room was unsettling. Wrong. The day would come when he’d ask to spend the night at a friend’s house, but this wasn’t that day.
He wasn’t far away, though. She could easily check on him. Or not so easily. And that was the other reason she lay in the dark, eyes open, wishing Mari would come home so they could talk.
When the front door finally opened and the kitchen light came on, she leaped out of bed and barreled down the hall. “I’m up. I hope you’re not exhausted because—”
“Whoa, Zin! Is something wrong?” Mari tossed her backpack on a kitchen chair.
“No, no. Everybody’s fine. It’s Monty.”
“The foal or the cowboy? I saw his truck is still here.”
“See? The name’s already a problem. I’m calling him Montgomery.”
“Which one?”
“The cowboy. I can’t change the foal’s name. Tex loves it.”
“His name’s Montgomery? I figured it was Montana.”
“No, Montgomery.”
“Should I call him that, too?”
“Totally your choice. He said I could use that to avoid confusion, which we’re clearly going to have.” She studied her sister. “You look tired. I should let you go to bed.”
“You look stressed. Let’s make cocoa.”
“I love you.” She hurried to a cupboard. “I’ll get the pan.”
“I’ll get the milk.” Mari opened the fridge.
“We haven’t done this in a while.” The routine soothed her in so many ways. Measuring the ingredients, she heard her mother’s voice — three sugars to one cocoa powder. The first time she and Mari had made it without supervision, they’d mixed that up and produced something too bitter to drink.
Mari set the milk carton on the counter next to the stove. “We made cocoa Sunday morning.”
“That’s different.” She added water and stirred until she had chocolate syrup. “I meant making it at night before we go to bed, like Mom and Dad used to do.”
“Yeah. Not exactly a healthy habit.”
“No, but once in a while….”
Mari gave her a sideways hug before taking a couple of mugs from the cabinet above the sink. “Like when you can’t sleep.”
“For example.” She poured in the milk until she had the color they preferred, not too dark, not too pale.
“I should probably go close Tex’s door. We don’t want him waking up.”
“No worries. He’s asleep in the barn.”
“What?”
“Only because Monty, I mean Montgomery, is out there with him. I emphasized it’s a one-time thing.”
“Let’s hope he gets that. He asked me if his foal can sleep in his room, so be prepared for that request.”
“I’ll just point out the little deposits that baby leaves in the straw. Should do the trick.”
“Is that why you can’t sleep? Your baby boy isn’t in his bed?”
“That’s part of it.” She filled the mugs and ran water in the pan while Mari carried the mugs to the sturdy kitchen table Graham had bought thirty-some years ago.
“And Montgomery’s the other part.”
“Yep.” She joined Mari at the table.
“He kissed you.”
“Nope. He’s been a perfect gentleman.”
“You kissed him?”
“I did not.”
“But you wanted to.”
“So many times. But I can’t.”
“Because you’ve forgotten how? I would almost believe that after—”
“Stop it, Mar. You know why I can’t. Tex is at a very impressionable age. He already has a crush going on. Monty doesn’t want to become a father figure, but if he and I start hanging out together, Tex could start thinking of him that way.”
Mari cradled her mug and took a sip, her gaze thoughtful. “So don’t hang out together.”
“That’s my plan, too. I’m going to the party on Saturday, but after that, I won’t have much reason to see him. I don’t even have to be here when he comes to check on little Monty.”
“Little Monty? Is that what you plan to call Speckles’ baby?”
“It just came out. Maybe.”
“So you’ll have Little Monty and Big Monty?”
“Oh, good Lord, no.” She laughed. “That’s terrible.”
“I kinda like it. He is tall, and he probably has a good-sized—”
“Watch it, sis.”
“Don’t tell me that hasn’t been on your mind. Looks to me like Big Monty’s the whole package, if you get my meaning.”
“I guess we’ll never know, since I won’t be ‘hanging out’ with him.” She added air quotes.
“You might get the answer if you made a nighttime visit to his house.” She took a hefty swallow and put down her mug.
“His house? What the hell?”
“Look at it this way.” She wrapped her hands around the mug. “You’ve been celibate for going on four years now. But you don’t want to risk another bad marriage and I get that. Big Monty doesn’t want to settle down, either, so he’s the perfect—”
“Stop calling him that.” Her words came out breathy. Mari’s outrageous suggestion had gained traction in her fevered brain. But how could it work? She couldn’t just—
“If you want to keep it from Uncle Graham and Tex, you’ll have to sneak over there on my nights off so I can cover for you if need be. It just so happens I’m off tomorrow night.” She glanced at the kitchen clock on the wall. “Or I should say tonight, since it’s one o’clock already.”
“I couldn’t do it, Mar. That’s not my style.” Meanwhile her deprived libido loudly contradicted that statement.
“Oh, well, then. Forget it. I wouldn’t want to interrupt this cloistered life you’ve chosen just for a delicious romp in the hay with Big Monty.” Picking up her mug, she took another drink.
“He strikes me as a straightforward guy. He might not go for something like this.”
“Are you kidding me Zinnia Dawn Harrison? Men throw themselves at you! If you show up at his door he’ll think he’s died and gone to heaven. Oh, but maybe you don’t know which door is his. I understand there are multiple dwellings over there.”
“I know which one.” She gulped. “But I’m not doing it.”
“Maybe before he leaves in the morning you should find a moment to run the idea by him and see how he reacts.”
“I’m certainly not doing that!”
“Why not?”
“Even if I said something, which I won’t, I can see myself chickening out. I don’t do this kind of thing, Mar. I just don’t.”
“Tough times call for tough measures.” Mari gestured toward her untouched mug. “Drink up. You’re wasting perfectly good cocoa.”
She glanced down. No steam. She took a sip. Mostly milk.
“You need a spoon.” Mari left the table and crossed to the silverware drawer. “All the chocolate has sunk to the bottom. Which come to think of it, describes your sex life.” She returned and handed over a teaspoon. “Come on, scaredy-pants, stir things up.”
“It’s scaredy-cat.”
“It can be either. Look it up. And scaredy-pants fits your situation better.”
“What if Tex finds out?”
“He won’t. It’ll only be a couple nights a week. You’ll leave after he’s asleep and return before he wakes up.”
“What if somebody at the Laughing Creek Ranch sees me coming and going?”
“News flash, ranch folks work hard during the day and sleep hard during the night. Leave before dawn and they’ll never know you were there.”
“Monty wouldn’t get a good night’s sleep, though.”
Mari started laughing. “If you think he gives a damn about that, you haven’t been paying attention.”
She ducked her head to hide a smile. Her sister was right.
“Are you doing it, then?”
“No. Seriously, it’s not me.”